Cannot stream movies from itunes on apple tv 3rd gen

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Level 1

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Cannot stream movies from itunes on apple tv 3rd gen

Here's the situation.

I have a 3rd gen Apple TV that is wired to the router that is plugged into my cable modem. My Xfinity internet connection is 36 Mbps at least.

movies streaming from iTunes are either prone to buffer for a few seconds frequently or take forever when initially "loading..."

netflix movies on the same device play flawlessly

trailers for movies streaming from iTunes play flawlessly

I have a Samsung blu-ray player that is wired to the same router.

VUDU movies streaming from the VUDU server play flawlessly

I have an iMac that is wired to an extended wifi access point that is wirelessly connected to the same router that the other two are connected to

movies streaming from iTunes play flawlessly

I've done the following troubleshooting steps

#1. restarted the Apple TV (multiple times)

#2. restarted the cable modem and router (multiple times)

#3. switch to using SD resolution

#4. confirmed that I'm running the latest version of iOS for Apple TV (7.2)

This used to work. Now it doesn't.

I've got around 60 or so iTunes movies but am seriously considering switching to VUDU for my future download purchases.

Apple TV

Posted on Nov 19, 2015 9:30 PM

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Answer 1

vazandrew

Level 8

40,366 points

Nov 19, 2015 10:33 PM in response to RandyShed

Test current connection via speedtest.net

Make sure DNS is set to auto (settings - general - network)

Test on another network

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Answer 2

RandyShed Author

Level 1

0 points

Nov 20, 2015 7:45 AM in response to vazandrew

Couldn't figure out a why to do a speed test on Apple TV.

On my Mac going through the same cable modem

speedtest.net down: 45.14 Mbps up: 6.43 Mbps

settings-general-network-ethernet

Config IP: Automatic

IP Address: 192.168.1.21

Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0

Router: 192.168.1.1

Config DNS: Automatic

DNS: 192.168.1.1

So, my router IS my DNS for the apple TV. Should I set it to something else?

Testing on another network will be trickier. I'll need to take it to someone else's house. I'll reply here after I do that.

Thanks for replying.

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Answer 3

RandyShed Author

Level 1

0 points

Nov 21, 2015 12:12 AM in response to RandyShed

I've found the answer in another post here

Why can't I play purchased movies on my Apple TV? And why does iTunes match not work on my Apple TV?

settings->general->Time Zone->Set Automatically changed from "off" to "on" and now everything is working again

Tested with three movies: First one, watched all the way through, second, watched for ten minutes, third, watched for ten minutes

No buffering except for the "loading..." screen at the beginning.

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Answer 4

RandyShed Author

Level 1

0 points

Nov 24, 2015 9:28 PM in response to RandyShed

New wrinkle

The "loading..." forever issue was resolved after I set the Time Zone to "Set Automatically"

The "stuttering" or "buffering every few seconds" issue came back the next day.

I resolved this by doing a restore of my Apple TV.

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