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I'm in the same position as Laurim...my iTunes downloads smoke...start within a few seconds...

Ill use this analogy and jump on the bandwagon ....

My ATV2 starts within a cpl Seconds and dont get one pause through the whole movie .....
Doesnt seem to be the store and i have never had a problem !!! Ever !!!!
 
I own an ATV v1, and that has always been fast when renting out films/tv series - I always let the unit fully download the media, which takes 20-30mins on my 20mb adsl connection. The unit is hooked up via an ethernet cable.

Two days ago I replaced my Netgear DG834N with a Draytek 2710n and then noticed that rentals take hours, to the point where I leave them downloading overnight. I thought it was the new router, but I've been over its settings many times, can't see a thing wrong. I have rented out and fully downloaded 3 films over the past two days and they have all taken many hours.

I can only conclude that the store is messed up for me, I just can't get a solid answer :(
 
Not using an apple tv. Its Itunes on a mac mini. It is wired internet. In the 2 years I have had the mini as part of my home theater the downloads were very fast. The problems started after I downloaded the lasted version of Itunes.
I got a free rental from Vudu when I signed up for their service and it downloaded nice and fast. Never used home sharing.
15mbps down and 3mbps up.
 
I have the "hockey puck" ATV i got my gf for our 3rd anniversary. One great dinner later, it says Ready to play in 1 hour 52 minutes.

Netflix plays instantly.

DNS is set to google dns: 8.8.8.8

If i set it up as the at&t uverse connection netflix doesnt even start.

if I knew it would have been this bad i would have bought her a wii and just use my netflix account.

This sucks... =(

Can some of the people that have this working properly put their configs to see how you guys make it work?

Thanks.

Kildjean
 
I have the "hockey puck" ATV i got my gf for our 3rd anniversary. One great dinner later, it says Ready to play in 1 hour 52 minutes.

Netflix plays instantly.

DNS is set to google dns: 8.8.8.8

If i set it up as the at&t uverse connection netflix doesnt even start.

if I knew it would have been this bad i would have bought her a wii and just use my netflix account.

This sucks... =(

Can some of the people that have this working properly put their configs to see how you guys make it work?

Thanks.

Kildjean

Not so sure I can help but here is my set-up :

1. Cable Internet and DNS servers are the ones from my ISP. I'm in Canada and I have a canadian and a US iTunes accounts.
2. Cable modem plugged in the latest Airport Extreme base station
3. Apple TV is connected on the AEBS 5 GHz WIFI network.
4. I have the latest version of everything (SL 10.6.5, iTunes 10.1, router firmware, Apple TV OS, etc)
5. My ISP speed is 30 Mbps BUT I was on their lower 7.5 Mbps and it was working fine. The reason I upgraded was to get higher amount of data transfer limit (because of the Apple TV)

In my experience, the Apple TV works very very well on both my iTunes accounts. Starts HD rentals within few seconds. I use it everyday. I configured it on the 5 GHz band to optimize the speed but it was working fine on the 2.4 GHz band IN MY ENVIRONMENT.

Now...getting back to your issue, you can't compare Netflix to iTunes HD stuff as Netflix adjusts compression rates or quality based on your transfer speed. And iTunes HD stuff is 5.1 surround sound, not Netflix...so iTunes = mucho more data than Netflix.

1. What is your ISP advertised speed and what is the actual (measured with www.speedtest.net) in Mbps
2. How is the Apple TV connected ? Wireless or ethernet ?
3. If wireless, what is your setup (router brand and model, g or n network, which band, distance of router from Apple TV, etc)
4. If wireless, did you try wired ?
5. WHY using Google DNS ?

Trust me, the Apple Tv works well, considering you have a correctly configured network and an appropriate internet speed.
 
Why are people using a google dns? You should be getting a dns direct from your internet service provider or have something like Airport manage your dns if you have a mac network. Try to not introduce potential roadblocks to your connection.

I just ordered HD Predators from iTunes and it was ready in 1.5 minutes, the slowest download I've ever had. My speedtest download speed immediately before and after was just under 4 Mbps.

I have Comcast basic cable internet, up to 12 Mbps download. My modem is wired to my Time Capsule, which assigns dns to everything on my wireless home network. The wireless signal is picked up by an airport extreme that is connected by ethernet to my ATV2.
 
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I just ordered HD Predators from iTunes and it was ready in 1.5 minutes, the slowest download I've ever had. My speedtest download speed immediately before and after was just under 4 Mbps.

Interesting...Just rented a TV show episode and it was the slowest download I've ever had too. It was ready in about 30 sec and even paused a few seconds after start waiting for the buffer to fill up. I stopped it and restart the episode and it never stopped again and worked flawlessly. Looks like Apple has some possible bandwidth issue tonight.
 
Interesting...Just rented a TV show episode and it was the slowest download I've ever had too. It was ready in about 30 sec and even paused a few seconds after start waiting for the buffer to fill up. I stopped it and restart the episode and it never stopped again and worked flawlessly. Looks like Apple has some possible bandwidth issue tonight.

I don't know if that's necessarily true because usually when I do a speed test I get numbers like 7, 8 and even over 12 Mbps. I blame my wimpy 4 Mbps speed last night. It would have been interesting to know what your speed test was.
 
I had this same problem too. In fact, I gave Apple TV two tries before I gave up. I did get refunds for the failed attempts, which was good and they were very responsive.

I finally resolved my overall connectivity issue in my household but changing my router completely. I went from a D-Link 825 to the Apple Extreme and I connected my Apple Express as well and now all my connections for all devices in the household is a lot more stable.

We rented a HD movie through the Apple Store and it start immediately, faster than Netflix even. There was only one hiccup during the movie, but other than that the picture quality, stability, and signal strength was great!
 
I tried to rent a movie using the new Apple TV in SD and it told me it would be ready in 2 hours 50 minutes (the old Apple TV could play SD movies almost immediately).

So instead we rented it on my MacBook Pro connected to my TV, and it was able to play almost immediately in iTunes.

This is definitely an issue with the new Apple TV. My Apple TV is connected via gigabit ethernet, the MacBook Pro was connected via wifi.
 
I tried to rent a movie using the new Apple TV in SD and it told me it would be ready in 2 hours 50 minutes (the old Apple TV could play SD movies almost immediately).

So instead we rented it on my MacBook Pro connected to my TV, and it was able to play almost immediately in iTunes.

This is definitely an issue with the new Apple TV. My Apple TV is connected via gigabit ethernet, the MacBook Pro was connected via wifi.

I and others have the same Apple TV as you and have zero issues. Therefore, it's not the Apple TV but something specific to your setup, the UK iTunes store or you need to reset your Apple TV for some reason. If there was a problem with ATV 2 in general, we would ALL have issues. Looking back at some of your posts, you had some issues with the previous ATV so maybe it just won't work for your particular situation. Having a gigabit ethernet doesn't guarantee you have speed, just the potential for speed. Go to speedtest.net, try it out and tell us what you get.
 
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I rented a movie on my MacBook Pro last night and it said it would take 24 hours! I waited for about 20 minutes and tried a restart and a redo, but the number didn't budge. I ended up renting it with Comcast OnDemand instead and asked Apple for a refund :(
 
It would be helpful if people having issues would immediately do a speed test when they have trouble so we can weed out the possibility of a poor internet connection.
 
I did a speed test and was getting 15 down, 3 up whilst iTunes was giving me a 24 hour download time.
 
I did a speed test and was getting 15 down, 3 up whilst iTunes was giving me a 24 hour download time.


How is the Apple TV connected to the network ? Wired or wireless ? If wireless, please share your network settings ( g or n network, band, channel, distance from the router, etc). Can you try to connect the Apple TV with ethernet cable and retry to rent something ?

As Laurim said, I have the same Apple TV as you and have 0 issue with extra slow downloads. They start within seconds...
 
Hey people - just signed up because of this thread, coz I'm having similar issues with slow downloads on the apple TV.

My setup is...

Internet comes into the router, forwards a WAN IP (I get 8 with my ISP) to my Airport Express, and all my devices are wireless.

My normal throughput when downloading is 600Kb/s which in my experience should be enough to stream 720p content - but I regularly get buffering issues whilst watching HD films from iTunes, and also get the 'movie will be ready in 800mins' message. However, I'm hoping my diagnostics may go towards working out what's going on with the apple tv's that experience this. I've not got any solutions, just information that I've found out.

Firstly, to resolve the '...800 mins...' message, if you go into settings > itunes, and stop it downloading - when you restart the rental, it's fine. This to me sounds like a buffering issue (however I'm aware that some people don't experience this, so it's a little weird).

Secondly, watching youtube on my ipad/imac streams and buffers instantly - but on the apple tv it doesn't. Youtube vids seem to take forever buffering, even buffering nearly 100% of the video before playing. I can fast forward and rewind, which shows the video ok, just can't play it. If I use Airplay from the ipad, again I see long buffering times. Switching back to the iPad, the video resumes instantly. Again, this seems like a buffering issue to me.

Thirdly, I sometimes have to restart home sharing, on the apple tv in order to connect to my imac. Most of the time it's ok however, but again points to some kind of network issue.

Fourthly, recently I've been getting packetloss on my connection, which is resolved when I reboot my router, but I've only noticed it a few times. I also suspect my Airport express, as it's a factory refurb - but again, my imac and ipad are fine, so I'm not convinced it's either of these.

As all my devices are wireless, they're all in the same collision domain - I also think this maybe part of the problem, but I've not got a long enough ethernet cable to test this. My DNS settings also point to my ISP - I've also tried setting static TCP/IP in the apple tv, but this doesn't change anything.

So it's a little annoying, but I feel this issue is 75% the apple tv not liking something on my network, but I was under the impression it was the same wireless chipset, and OS as in the ipad?? It's perhaps not as clear cut as I'd hope - but if it were iTunes, surely we'd all be getting the same problems. Also the fact I get the same symptoms with Airplay and youtube, again suggests that iTunes isn't the problem here.

So sorry to waffle on, but it's just an endless stream of contradicting diagnostics - just had to get it out!
 
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For those experiencing slow download speeds on the ATV2--try moving the box to another location. I moved the ATV a few feet away and my wait time for Inception (HD) went from 6 hours to ready to play within seconds. I am convinced the issue is interference with another device. Try moving the box--I think this will solve the problem for many of you.
 
What kind of devices interfere?

For those experiencing slow download speeds on the ATV2--try moving the box to another location. I moved the ATV a few feet away and my wait time for Inception (HD) went from 6 hours to ready to play within seconds. I am convinced the issue is interference with another device. Try moving the box--I think this will solve the problem for many of you.

While I remain convinced that there is an iTunes problem at the root of the slow download issues I had not as yet considered moving the :apple:TV2 - mine sits just below the Sony TV on a cabinet that contains a DVD Player and a Freeview (DTT) PVR - just behind is the powerline network (wired/wireless) plug.

Could any of these devices interfere with the :apple:TV?
 
For those experiencing slow download speeds on the ATV2--try moving the box to another location. I moved the ATV a few feet away and my wait time for Inception (HD) went from 6 hours to ready to play within seconds. I am convinced the issue is interference with another device. Try moving the box--I think this will solve the problem for many of you.

This is interesting - my apple tv is just below my plasma TV, and it's on it's side. Could explain the issues I've been having... will defo try this. :D
 
Solution to slow AppleTV/Netflix problems

It seems that this is a Netflix problem.

At home I have 3 AppleTVs. After the latest software update all but one of the ATVs experienced pauses and buffering problems when streaming Netflix videos. I connected to the Netflix web site and went to Your Account > Manage Netflix ready devices and computers.

It seems that Netflix allows 6 connected devices to each account. In my case there were 4 appletvs, 1 iphone 4 and 1 mac. However I've never actually connected 4 appletvs, so it seems Netflix kept the old ATVs from before the software update in its registry list.

Unfortunately, it seems that once you hit the 6 device limit, Netflix doesn't tell you you have too many devices registered. The devices in the list work fine, but any extras over the 6 device limit get REALLY slow. Deauthenticating all the extra devices on the Netflix web site seems to fix the problem so that now all my ATVs work fine without any pauses or buffering issues.
 
My downloads start within just a few seconds on my Roku box and BluRay DVD player and takes almost 15 min or more on Apple TV. This is my first Apple product that I have ever had that I can say I am disappointed in! Vudu on my BluRay player rocks! Rented the movie Devil last night in HD and it started instantly with no hiccups and looked great! I guess for now I will just use the Apple TV for airplay to share my photos and videos from my iPhone.
 
The first few downloads have been fine, then one would jump all over the place ... 9 hours to go ... 4 hours to go ... 7 hours to go. After a while, it started even though it had not downloaded completely, then I had the misfortune to pause it about half way through and it went back to the "loading" screen and had to redownload what it had already downloaded!!! I was also given the random time distortion field until it was ready.

With another, started it and it said it would be about 2 hours, so I just left it, went back an hour later and it displayed the same exact time. So I unplugged the Apple TV and restarted it, and the download time dropped to under an hour ...

I think the ATV2 is a great device for rentals, for those films you want to see but not buy and know it will be years before they are shown on TV, but I don't expect to have to reboot it and guesstimate when the film will be ready.
Apple need to sort this out.

I'm connected via wifi, by the way.
 
Just wanted to state that this isn't an ATV2 problem only, as ATV1 owners also seem to be having this issue. Of course this doesn't help one bit in resolving the situation at hand sadly.
 
I've had the new Apple TV for a month or so now.

Have rented about 10 HD movies and they all started within 30 seconds with no buffering problems.

I have rented these movies at different times of the day

My setup is thus:

7Mbps Broadband

Wireless N 5/2.4 Ghz router.

Apple TV and router in the same room

Apple TV connected wirelessly

Google DNS

No special setup just plug n play
 
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