ATV2 - How to find out progress of movie rental downloads??

[MyAppleWorld]

Hi

I have just purchased my first rental directly on the apple tv (2nd gen) but I am totally clueless as to when it will finish downloading?

I only have 4mb line so I know it's going to take a while but it would be nice to find out how long is left??

On the movie's screen, the thumbnail has appeared at the top of the screen but it just says "loading"

If I click onto the movie I get an option to "Play" but surely it isn't ready because it's only been 20 minutes!

What will happen if I click "play" whilst it still says "loading"

thanks

 

[hutchej]

I've had an Apple TV Gen 1 for about a year now and have rented countless movies.

In terms of the movie being downloaded, at 2% my Apple TV usually indicates that the movie is ready to be played and continues to download in the background as I'm watching. I have never had any lag, jitter, or stops while watching a movie on my Apple TV. Do keep in mind that I do have a decent internet connection speed though.

Are you finding that when you click play the movie studders along? Is that why you want to wait for it to completely download?

 

[mstrze]

If I click onto the movie I get an option to "Play" but surely it isn't ready because it's only been 20 minutes!

Let's say it's downloading in real-time...it's probably faster than that, but just for argument's sake:

Right now, you have at least 20 minutes of video that is able to be played back on your ATV...and 20 minutes later, you will have 20 more minutes able to be played back....your movie will end before you run out of buffered data.


2% is the point at which my ATV says it's 'safe' to watch. Even with a 4Mb connection, you probably get to that point within a minute or so for SD...and within a few minutes for HD.

I have a 12Mb connection and can watch SD items almost immediately and HD within about 30-45 seconds....no more than a minute.

Remember, all you need is a little bit of the movie buffered so that if there is a slowdown later on, you won't run out of movie to cause a freeze or delay.

(2% is a 2-3 minute buffer for a full-length movie which is more than enough on a capable internet connection...On slower connections, it likely buffers more before it is allowed to play, yet I cannot confirm this.)

What will happen if I click "play" whilst it still says "loading"

It will play.

 

[pjarvi]

The 1st gen AppleTV show2 the progress in 2 places: beneath the movie title and in the "Downloads" section of the Settings menu. If the 2nd gen doesn't have either of those it is just another thing that makes me happy I stuck with a 1st gen.

 

[Zeneth]

Let's say it's downloading in real-time...it's probably faster than that, but just for argument's sake:

Right now, you have at least 20 minutes of video that is able to be played back on your ATV...and 20 minutes later, you will have 20 more minutes able to be played back....your movie will end before you run out of buffered data.


2% is the point at which my ATV says it's 'safe' to watch. Even with a 4Mb connection, you probably get to that point within a minute or so for SD...and within a few minutes for HD.

I have a 12Mb connection and can watch SD items almost immediately and HD within about 30-45 seconds....no more than a minute.

Remember, all you need is a little bit of the movie buffered so that if there is a slowdown later on, you won't run out of movie to cause a freeze or delay.

(2% is a 2-3 minute buffer for a full-length movie which is more than enough on a capable internet connection...On slower connections, it likely buffers more before it is allowed to play, yet I cannot confirm this.)



It will play.

what do you press to make it play?

we have the same issues and we try to press all the buttons and nothing happens..

Zeneth

 

[pruppert]

On ATV 2, the movie download progress can be seen in General Settings, iTunes store. Go down the stop download option (but don't click on it) and it will show your download progress.