AppleTV 1st generation not working

I have three First generation Apple TV's, two of which are usually not connected (spares). One day everything was as usual, the next day the in use machine won't do anything and is not responsive to the remote. I get out one of the spares and it starts fine and within a minute is acting EXACTLY as the first machine and unusable. Third machine same result. Obvious they received something over internet to preclude being used. Second and fourth generation Apple TV's seem normal. I thought I was safe with my first generation machines when Apple stopped support but never anticipated them being "bricked" without notice. I enjoy First generation over all the others and cannot imagine why it was made inoperable.

I have the 1st Generation Apple TV and it has been working just fine for years, up until last week (week of May 1, 2017).

Like OP, I suddenly have no iTunes Store content under any of the menus (Movies, TV, Podcasts, Music). Thankfully, the movies, music, and photos that I synced from my iMac remain fully available.

However, getting them to play or pause is nearly impossible because the entire interface has slowed to a crawl. Response to any remote button command takes 2 seconds to a minute or more.

I am guessing Apple made software changes to the iTunes Store that are incompatible with the 1st Gen ATV. I think the ATV is repeatedly attempting and failing to contact Apple, and the continuous timeouts are slowing down the machine. Like what happens to my iPhone Mail app when I lose LTE in a tunnel.

I tried disconnecting the Ethernet and that helped slightly, but didn't completely solve the slowness.

I tried logging out and back in to my iTunes Store account (which took an eternity with my long password) but that did not help. I do have 2-factor authentication turned on for my Apple ID, but I didn't get a login failure message, and the settings screen went from a generic "Log In" to showing my Apple ID as logged in.

Apparently, something like this happened to 1st Gen ATV users in 2014, but it was a brief service interruption that Apple was able to resolve within a few days.

I am hopeful Apple might solve this, but with rumors of a new generation ATV coming out, my speculation is Apple is preparing a new backend server system for that, and the new backend is incompatible with the 1st Gen ATV.

It had to happen someday. Let's face it, this is a 10 year old device that predates the iPhone. Honestly, I'm surprised Apple supported it this long with syncing, rentals, purchases, and even syncing w Disney app purchases. Every time they came out with a new version of iTunes, I expected them to drop 1st Gen ATV support. Apple really went the extra mile to keep this thing alive as their technology has advanced. Talk about return on investment.

Apple has fixed the problem. iTunes Store connections and content are restored, and 1st Gen ATVs are running at normal speed again.

More here:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7938210?answerId=31743767022#31743767022&start=10&tstart=0

Please send feedback here:

https://www.apple.com/feedback/appletv.html

This is a known issue with no known resolution, Apple is aware of issue. I would recommend contacting Apple to have your case documented

I just turned off two-factor authentication (or whatever it's called) from my Apple ID account settings page. The Apple TV signs in now. Maybe this is a fix.

How did you contact Apple? All of our Macbooks show up as devices on the support page, but not the Apple TV.

Thanks,

Charles