More troubleshooting
boecher....thanks for the advice. Friend I have tried about everything and let me say that my xbox and ATV2 stream netflix the worst. I have my original ATV2 in my bedroom working off wifi on original modem and the wii was in kids room working off the old modem that handled the my paid 20Mbps speeds. I would have problems with buffering frequently with my ATV2. Now the wii wasn't perfect, but it was more solid than ATV2.
Anyhow, later and most recently when I rebuilt home theater set up in living room with 3d tv, receiver, components (xbox,ps3,dtv) and bought another ATV2 along with relocating the wii in the living area. This is next to modem. I then upgraded the modem and connected up a switch for all the components. This allowed a hard wired connection to everything. I figured, ok now the ATV2 will get a constant feed with no interruption potential over th wifi in the bedroom. Sure enough, same thing. I don't get it always or constant, but enough to disrupt my experience on movies. Same exact as it was in the bedroom.
I started switching ports initially. I then went in and messed with DNS setting and left it open, tried googles, which has been suggested by others experiencing problems. I connected it directly and thought that helped and at first it seemed like it did until I threw on Blue Streak and sure enough right away. So I have reverted to the PS3 and it never happens. The wii doesn't connect hard wire and it still holds a good connection. The xbox was horrible as it kept resizing images. My iPad, iMac, and Macbook have no interruptions. I waited for the new update which just came out recently and it did the same on a movie.
I decided not to even use it for the sake of getting into movie only to get interrupted when I know I don't have to with the PS3 connection. So I came on here to whine about it, because I like the ATV2 interface. I also get some really good viewings, but it is real hit and miss.
Now many on here have identified a potential issue with the varying feeds that the Internet Service Providers give. i.e. you probably won't get a perfect 20Mbps download rate for 2 hours straight. So some units, like Roku and PS3 might do a better job at caching the stream to prevent interruption of playback. This might explain why others in country are not experiencing because their ISP get a more stable constant feed. Apple might just need to do some tweaking on the cache to allow some flexibility for the different providers across the nation. Which might be the case with some providers like PS3 or roku,etc... This is all just a theory at this time.
I do know it is not just my set up. As many stated here and apple tech support their is a concern out there on this. Even if it was my set up...think about everything that I just did. 2 ATV units...different modem, changing DNS settings, rebooting, wifi, hardwired. Trying all this while another unit like the PS3, wii, ipad, macbook, are all working fine off same feed. This points to one problem with the software on ATV. Just my guess at this point in time.
@rockinred... I read the steps you have taken and there are a few I mentioned that I couldnt tell if you did them.
1. Use ONLY the ATV2 with NOTHING else on the LAN. Sure, it should work with other devices, but we're troubleshooting here.
2. Try the ATV2 on a friend's LAN. Again, we're troubleshooting. MAybe you got a bad batch of ATV2s. Not likely, but again, we're trying to rule in or out the ATV2 being the problem. If it works OK on a friend's network then it IS your ATV. If it doesn't work then does he have the same Internet provider, etc.
3. Is if the router? Try another router. Again, like you say, the PS3 works, and the ATV2 could have a problem, I'm not disputing that. But if all it takes for you to be able to use your ATV2s is a new router, would you be willing to do that? If yes, then it's worth a try. Stores usually give you 15 days to return merchandise. If no, then you'll have to wait until there's a fix for the ATV2 that allows it to work with YOUR particular setup.
Here's an example of devices causing problems. I have the AirPort Extreme base station. It's been running great. I then plugged in a AirPort Express and my WiFi has been pretty crapping for streaming to my iPad AND to my MacBook Pro. I upgraded the firmware to the latest version yesterday (it was only .1 behind the latest) and still the same. I get 424ms, 2.26Mbps, DN 0.21Mbps UP. I just unplugged the AirPort Express (and turned off the MacBook AirPort and turned it back on) and my speeds are now 21ms, 26.85DN, 1.04UP. So even Apple router don't work well (and this is a known issue with AirPorts and extending the networks).
So even if you don't have an Apple router, there could be SOMETHING that's causing the Ethernet to be marginal, JUST enough to affect the ATV2 and not bad enough to affect the PS3, etc.
So, the question is whether you want to troubleshoot to get to the root of the problem or just use the PS3? I can understand both options as I've had other unrelated problems I've had to solve and sometimes I just go with the easiest way out.
I've had a couple of days when the ATV2 hiccuped while watching a movie, but it was nothing serious. Once, ironically, was even when I was watching a movie and thinking to myself how clear the picture was and that it was amazing that this was streamed live over the Internet. I think that if the ATV2 would buffer about 1 minute of video it would make things run a lot smoother, but then if you're skipping to a new point in the movie, does it buffer another minute or just play and try to buffer in the background?
I've seen hiccups just watching YouTube, etc. It seems that almost all video playback doesn't buffer that much ahead of time. Why can't it do a quick test to see how fast the connection is and then decide how much to buffer so that it doesn't run out of data? I guess, unless we write the programs, it's difficult to know what choices there are to make on all this.
TV and have QOS issues. If the