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As a followup, I watched two complete movies over the past 2 days without an issue.
 
Also Disappointed.

Hardwired into DSL, also. Replaced my Roku (streamed wonderfully) with ATV2 and sometimes it streams Netflix with no problem, and sometimes it freezes every two seconds during a movie until I have to finally shut it off. No trouble streaming YouTube. Thinking of moving the old Roku back to the living room.
 
Hardwired into DSL, also. Replaced my Roku (streamed wonderfully) with ATV2 and sometimes it streams Netflix with no problem, and sometimes it freezes every two seconds during a movie until I have to finally shut it off. No trouble streaming YouTube. Thinking of moving the old Roku back to the living room.

I have cable and no problems with netflix streaming from apple tv or ps3. I believe it''s your dsl connection. I dont think it can handle video streaming well. I had the same problem and i then switched to cable.
 
I have cable and no problems with netflix streaming from apple tv or ps3. I believe it''s your dsl connection. I dont think it can handle video streaming well. I had the same problem and i then switched to cable.

I have cable and yesterday no issues, but today I did. it was tiling and skipping, we switched to my Samsung Blu Ray player and it was fine (played same movie). I checked my internet levels under the modem GUI and levels were perfect, so it is the Apple TV.
 
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richpjr said:
I got an ATV2 for Christmas and moved the old ATV to my bedroom. One of the things I was excited about was to be able to stream Netflix shows on it. I tried to stream a movie tonight and the ATV first said Netflix wasn't available, I retried and it found the movie in my queue. Started watching and every minute or two it would freeze for about 30 seconds and then resume. I turned on my PS3 and started watching the movie - no pauses whatsover. Switched back to the ATV and it paused every minute or two again. Anyone else having issues with Netflix streaming?

I have the same problem. It's a pain b/c I don't like switching devices all the time.
 
I have the same problem. It's a pain b/c I don't like switching devices all the time.
It may be a problem on the back end. I suspect that different devices use different servers and services since the ATV2 does not support subtitles and the PS3 does.

Of the three CE devices I have tried NetFlix streaming on (TiVo, Samsung BluRay, and ATV2) the ATV2 is by far the best. Haven't tried it on the Wii.

B
 
I have the same problem. Just last night my girlfriend was trying to watch a movie on Netflix in the bedroom ATV. When it started stuttering she just rolled her eyes and moved to the living room to watch it on the PS3. She knows the drill. It's definitely not my network, be it Internet or local, I can stream from Netflix on the PS3 in Full HD with 5.1 sound.

The ATV will also stream HD 5.1 content from iTunes just fine. So again, it's not an internal network bandwidth issue.

Like the previous poster, I suspect Netflix content is being served from different servers depending on the device. It's possible the ATV content delivery servers are getting hammered with better-then-expected sales of ATV's.
 
Last night we were watching Netflix and the movie started to pause almost every minute. I rebooted my Airport Extreme router. Same problem. Rebooted the AppleTV2. Same problem. Quite and restarted iTunes for the heck of it. Same problem.

Moved the Airport Extreme from the guest room to the living room where the AppleTV almost has a line of site to the router. No more problem! The Netflix movie didn't stop or hiccup not even once (knock on wood).

Son of a . . . I should have moved it to the living room weeks ago! Now all our wireless appliance have stronger signals, especially my AppleTV which I use to connect to the router's 5Ghz band.
 
May I ask what the minimum bandwidth is for streaming Netflix without getting annoyed by it stopping to buffer and such. Also bandwidth for smooth streaming of standard def vs hd. What do you guys have for bandwidth? I only have 950k down / 256k up. will i have issues?
 
Seeing the complaints here, I don't think it's a Netflix issue.

I beg to differ. We make the assumption that it is somehow Apple's fault, but Netflix must be using different servers for the different platforms since they all seem to support different features.

The ATV and PS3 do not support Silverlight, so they will not get their content from the same place as a PC or Mac. The Wii doesn't support HD, but does support subtitles, The PS3 supports HD and subtitles, the TiVo also doesn't support Silverlight but and supports HD but no subtitles, etc...

So, why do we assume that switching platforms is an apples to apples comparison?

We know that some combinations of ISP and DNS can royally screw up ATV streaming, but that's not Apple's fault.

The only way that Netflix (and indirectly Apple) can know there is a problem is by letting them know.

What do you guys have for bandwidth?

I'm on a FiOS 25/5 plan and just verified that's what I'm getting according to speedtest.net, and even with that I still have some issues. Mainly audio dropouts and the occasional stall.

B
 
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I'm on 15Mbs and on my ATV2 usually about half way through a movie my audio will drop out and I fix it by pushing home once and then re-watching the movie, selecting resume watching and I'm usually good for the rest of the movie. Last night I had a movie with sync issues, my normal quick fix didn't work. I watched another show and I didn't have the issue.

I find its all very strange at the moment. Some where along the lines hands aren't shaking properly. Everything works great on my ATV2 except netflix.
 
I was having the same issue with Netflix, run wirelessly through an Xbox 360. (I just like the interface better on the 360 than the ATV2.)

Switching over to the ethernet connection was the best thing I have ever done for my streaming quality.

No matter what the 'official' specs for wireless N, etc. are, you never know what issues you will have until you test them in your home with your own content and hardware.

Now, wireless is only for my mobile devices..phone, etc.

Wireless, in my experience, just isn't as reliable as a wired connection.

Very happy with the wired CAT5e connection for my ATV2 and my 360.
 
I beg to differ. We make the assumption that it is somehow Apple's fault, but Netflix must be using different servers for the different platforms since they all seem to support different features.

The ATV and PS3 do not support Silverlight, so they will not get their content from the same place as a PC or Mac. The Wii doesn't support HD, but does support subtitles, The PS3 supports HD and subtitles, the TiVo also doesn't support Silverlight but and supports HD but no subtitles, etc...

So, why do we assume that switching platforms is an apples to apples comparison?

We know that some combinations of ISP and DNS can royally screw up ATV streaming, but that's not Apple's fault.

The only way that Netflix (and indirectly Apple) can know there is a problem is by letting them know.



I'm on a FiOS 25/5 plan and just verified that's what I'm getting according to speedtest.net, and even with that I still have some issues. Mainly audio dropouts and the occasional stall.

B

One thing I have noticed about Netflix, is that they have very good customer service. I would call them and let them know about any issues you are having.

Every time I have had to call them they have been very professional and bent over backwards to make sure I was a happy customer.

Your mileage may vary, but that's been my experience.

I am quite sure they would love to know if there is a pattern to any issues out there.
 
I don't use an ATV, but on my Mac Mini I set my Netflix to never play the HD version of the show. I can't tell any difference between HD and the highest level of "non-HD" quality on my 40" Samsung LED TV. YMMV, of course.

This *really* speeds things up.

Give it a shot maybe?
 
The ATV and PS3 do not support Silverlight, so they will not get their content from the same place as a PC or Mac. The Wii doesn't support HD, but does support subtitles, The PS3 supports HD and subtitles, the TiVo also doesn't support Silverlight but and supports HD but no subtitles, etc...

So, why do we assume that switching platforms is an apples to apples comparison?

Great post.
 
It's not just NetFlix. My AppleTV can't even play a movie trailer without taking 5 min. to load! All content that is streamed from the ATV is very slow compared to other devices out there. I keep saying this and everyone keeps saying that it's my internet and that is not the case. I can stream perfectly from my Roku box, Bluray player, and Mac. I now have hooked the Roku box back up and just use the ATV for photos and music for now.
 
Chances are it's your router. Try it at someone elses house, you'll be amazed when it works fine!
No it's not. I have one ATV2 on wifi, one on ethernet. Same issue on both. Streaming HD content from my mac works perfect. It's netflix that 's the issue...and only on the ATV2
 
No it's not. I have one ATV2 on wifi, one on ethernet. Same issue on both. Streaming HD content from my mac works perfect. It's netflix that 's the issue...and only on the ATV2

Have you tried switching DNS servers? It's a known issue for Netflix streaming on ATV2 that using particular servers confuse it in a way that other platforms don't seem to be sensitive to.

B
 
Same problems as others.

OK, I have Cox "Premier" service, which claims "up to 20 Mbps"...which can mean just about anything. At times everything has been great, but yesterday I was getting buffering on Movie Trailers and Netflix both.

I am hooked direct to a Time Capsule. I have tried numerous DNS settings, but always go back to my ISPs DNS recommendations. I have set DNS on the Time Capsule. I have tried both DHCP and manual on the ATV.

I am confused about one thing. I have DNS set on my TC (both primary and secondary), but do I need to do that on the ATV also, or just set DNS for the same as my router? (10.0.1.1). Also, you can only set DNS on the ATV if you set up manually.

I am looking for a new firmware update.
 
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