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Apple TV 4K Gen 1 to Gen 3 is a downgrade

tong_si_nan_pei

tong_si_nan_pei

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 7, 2020
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I live in a hot country and have been watching high-bitrate content on Plex for a long time. Had never had problems with the Gen 1, but the Gen 3 does not seem to have sufficient passive cooling to sustain this for more than 15-20 minutes. At first, the content starts stuttering, then everything stops with the below error.

Just a PSA for anyone who plays high bitrate content looking to upgrade.
IMG_0359.jpeg
 
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I find that very odd because my Apple TV 3rd gen is like stuffed between the wall and a wooden cabinet and I’ve never had any issue with overheating. And I also watch very high bitrates movies using Infuse (Plex). Something must be wrong with your unit or your ambient temperature is like 50C.
 
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firewire9000 said:
I find that very odd because my Apple TV 3rd gen is like stuffed between the wall and a wooden cabinet and I’ve never had any issue with overheating. And I also watch very high bitrates movies using Infuse (Plex). Something must be wrong with your unit or your ambient temperature is like 50C.
Click to expand...
I wonder how I deal with this situation. Normal streaming doesn’t have any issues, so I can’t just go to the Genius Bar and start playing questionable material from my Plex. It’s already outside the return window, too.
 
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slyronit said:
I wonder how I deal with this situation. Normal streaming doesn’t have any issues, so I can’t just go to the Genius Bar and start playing questionable material from my Plex. It’s already outside the return window, too.
Click to expand...
A mini fan or lower AC setting?
 
This actually concerns me slightly, as my Apple TV 4K Gen 1 is indeed in a box in the wall (along with my Frame TV box). It must get hot in there and tbh, I am shocked that it has never overheated. It's starting to slow down and glitch out occasionally but it's gotten daily use for like 8 years, so I'm not even upset. But a new unit is in my near future...
 
cire1244 said:
This actually concerns me slightly, as my Apple TV 4K Gen 1 is indeed in a box in the wall (along with my Frame TV box). It must get hot in there and tbh, I am shocked that it has never overheated. It's starting to slow down and glitch out occasionally but it's gotten daily use for like 8 years, so I'm not even upset. But a new unit is in my near future...
Click to expand...
Yours has a fan, the 3rd gen doesn’t.
 
I further discovered that if I change my HomeKit hub from the Apple TV to one of my HomePods, the heating problem is less frequent. I have 2 cameras and around 6 HomeKit devices.
 
That posts mentions the Apple TV doing the decoding with CPU, do you not have a Plex server doing that then just streaming it to the Apple TV?
 
firewire9000 said:
That makes sense then. Try Infuse, your Apple TV should accept most of the video codecs without needing to transcode in the server.
Click to expand...
Yes, I am using infuse for movies for the time being, but I keep having to go back to Plex for Live TV & DVR, so it’s not a full replacement.
 
It is a known issue on the 2022 ATV4K3.

But, mostly impacts games, and some content on Plex. Using a heatsink with a fan will most likely help.

I am hoping that the next ATV has active cooling.
 
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Get a long HDMI & power cable and keep it near AC or a fan if infuse Is not an option.
 
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