I'd really recommend against using wireless networking for streaming video applications. The bandwidth is too variable for many streaming systems to cope with. If you can't get an Ethernet cable from your router to the ATV (or any other streaming video device) then look into the Ethernet over power adapters. Although not full fast Ethernet speed, these still run faster than most people's external Internet connection so you won't have a bottleneck for streaming video. Switching to a hardwired connection will often stop video from stuttering every time you or your neighbor answers a cordless phone.
Early adopters of Apple's second-generation Apple TV are reporting issues with streaming HD rentals and problems completing "HDMI handshakes" between the new Apple TV and their HD TVs.
Several discussion threads on Apple's support forums related to issues with HD rentals not loading and HDMI connectivity problems have reached hundreds of posts in length as increasing numbers of Apple TV owners report having trouble with the device.
Some users report that Apple TV displays HD rental wait times of hundreds of minutes, while other video, such as trailers, HD Netflix movies, and YouTube begin playing after just a few minutes. "At one point, the HD movie was going to take over 3,000 minutes to load," wrote one user.
Though a portion of the users have resolved the issue by upgrading to higher bandwidth Internet, others report the problem occurring even with high-speed connections capable of handling HD video.
Another Apple support thread details potential compatibility issues between Apple TV and a number of HD TV sets. Users report frequent "HDMI handshakes" between the TV and Apple TV, with the picture returning with inverted colors. A user-compiled list of TVs affected includes models by Philips and Sony.
The Apple TV 4.1 firmware update, which was released last week alongside iOS 4.2, does not appear to resolve either issue.
Apple unveiled the revamped $99 Apple TV in September with a focus on 'the cloud' and streaming media. With just 8GB of onboard storage, Apple's new set top box serves as a hub for content streamed from the Internet, computers, or iOS devices.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced in October that the company had sold 250,000 Apple TVs in "just a short amount of time."
eh, i have a Roku and it flakes out if the hdmi cable is over 6 foot (had a 9). if you look hard enough you can find something 'wrong' with everything....
My Apple TV1 works faultlessly over wifi with 4-5 second wait over DSL internet connection of 4 to 4.2 Mb/s in Ottawa, Canada.
About to try an Apple TV2 in central Mexico with 2 Mb/s nominal DSL speed, measured from 1.5 Mb/s at quiet times down to 0.5 Mb/s during peak periods. Wish me luck.
I have no such experience. Movies are available almost in seconds for me. Perhaps those with delays have slow internet, it has to buffer.
As to HDMI, I actually just installed a switcher for multiple HDMI sources and find that when i switch to the AppleTV it is instant, switching to FiOS TV takes several seconds to establish a signal. I was interested to note this as I assume it shows what a great signal it generates.
Wireless streaming is Flawless on FiOS and Apple Airport Extreme! Anyone with an issue is probably not using .11n or has older .11g device sharing the router or they simply don't have the bandwidth to start with (e.g. low end Comcast with high contention ratios).
I always worry that many of the long threads complaining about anything by Apple are partly (if not mainly) filled with deliberate FUD artists doing anything they can to try to damage an Apple products reputation, remember antennae gate? Absolutely nothing has changed in the iPhone4 except the read out calibration and yet it is a huge success and the FUD has died away and the product is a massive success globally.
When such bad PR starts people start imagining or blaming things that otherwise they might have figured out were issues they could easily fix such as bad cables or not gripping a phone hard in a very weak signal area. That is the whole point of FUD attacks, the feeble minded buy in.
Just the usual bullshit from a tiny minority of users who seem to always have trouble with everything they touch. We all know the type, always complaining about their computer locking up, their ice maker crapping out, their Toyota taking off by itself when they actually hit the accelerator pedal instead of the brake, and of course their smartphone "death grip." There's one in every family. Now with the internet they can find each other, have a giant circle jerk, and point fingers at Apple, at&t, their neighbors, the Pope, Obama. I have one of 'em where I work. Every morning he comes in to find his work computer hosed in some way and then starts banging the mouse on the desk while cussing up a storm about the "idiots" in IT.
You sound a bit grumpy this morning. Nevertheless, while I agree some people seem to have a multitude of issues with their electronic devices, I think it is readily apparent the ATV2 has some issues with HDMI (Some Sony and Phillips HDTV's) and extended wait times when streaming rental movies. (You will note that almost all of those without a streaming issue have very high speed internet connections. It should not take a 20MB connection to reasonably stream a movie.).
My Apple TV1 works faultlessly over wifi with 4-5 second wait over DSL internet connection of 4 to 4.2 Mb/s in Ottawa, Canada.
About to try an Apple TV2 in central Mexico with 2 Mb/s nominal DSL speed, measured from 1.5 Mb/s at quiet times down to 0.5 Mb/s during peak periods. Wish me luck.
My suggestion for when you get to the slower connection is to simply start it downloading and pause play. Then leave it for about ten minutes or more before watching to allow a really good head start in the d/l. I used to do this with Apple TV mk 1 when on vacation and in slow connection areas. The more you let it get ahead the smoother the watching will be.
I'd really recommend against using wireless networking for streaming video applications. The bandwidth is too variable for many streaming systems to cope with. If you can't get an Ethernet cable from your router to the ATV (or any other streaming video device) then look into the Ethernet over power adapters. Although not full fast Ethernet speed, these still run faster than most people's external Internet connection so you won't have a bottleneck for streaming video. Switching to a hardwired connection will often stop video from stuttering every time you or your neighbor answers a cordless phone.
I'd suggest you invest in an Apple Airport Extreme, you describe something like I remember a decade ago
Perhaps this is the reason for the new data center which last I heard is due to go on line before the end of the calendar year - could easily be to add more on-demand content bandwidth to support the increasing number of subscription and on-demand type activities.
I've had the 1st gen AppleTV... it is actually sluggish as far as moving through the menus, etc etc. It always felt like an inferior device to me.
The new $99 version is a lot better... faster through the UI, I love that it connects through Netflix and the Netflix navigation is same as the rest of the navigation. I watch a lot of Netflix and the load times werent' bad at all.
The pictures could be better quality though. Many of the pictures i took with HD and it looks like it compresses them too much... still, the pictures look good to the average viewer.
The AppleTV is connected via ethernet... not sure if wireless is causing the problem with everyone else. Though I did take my AppleTV to my parent's and sister's house over the holiday week and both had low end HD TVs and their wireless connection was from a neighbors house... so the signal was very low... The AppleTV connected well and was able to play with a few exceptions... but I narrowed that down to my sister turning on the microwave! LOL
My 1st Gen ATV takes some time to load up an HD rental over the last year. We just rented Kick-Ass and it took 20 minutes before we could start playing it.
When we first got the ATV a couple years ago, our first HD rentals only took 30 seconds to get to the point to start watching. My RoadRunner account is pretty constant at 8-10mbps so I don't know if it's that or the iTunes servers. Plus I've had to restart my ATV due to the handshake issue.
Just the usual bullshit from a tiny minority of users who seem to always have trouble with everything they touch. We all know the type, always complaining about their computer locking up, their ice maker crapping out, their Toyota taking off by itself when they actually hit the accelerator pedal instead of the brake, and of course their smartphone "death grip." There's one in every family. Now with the internet they can find each other, have a giant circle jerk, and point fingers at Apple, at&t, their neighbors, the Pope, Obama. I have one of 'em where I work. Every morning he comes in to find his work computer hosed in some way and then starts banging the mouse on the desk while cussing up a storm about the "idiots" in IT.
Boy you're some kind of douche bag aren't you? I have over $10k worth of Apple products and this is my first time with issues.
Boy you're some kind of douche bag aren't you? I have over $10k worth of Apple products and this is my first time with issues.
No bullshit about it -- there's a problem.
My old Quadra 840av still works fine, but my last MBP was a total failure. I've noticed that these days things, especially computer equipment, aren't built as tough like they used to be.
By any chance was your AppleTV Hail damaged back in October?
My old Quadra 840av still works fine, but my last MBP was a total failure. I've noticed that these days things, especially computer equipment, aren't built as tough like they used to be.
By any chance was your AppleTV Hail damaged back in October?
I have a Quadra 840 av too but IMHO my MacPro and MacBook Pro are built 1000 times better. I could drop either on the Quadra and it would be annihilated
i wonder if the user reporting "3,000 hours" to download a movie checked that their wireless network was still up.
i don't spend $5 to rent movies through my aTV, but everything streams fine from iTunes.
no HDMI issues with an aquos tv, either.
Actually, I just remembered once seeing that on my old ATV once and fell of the chair laughing. I started over and everything worked fine.
I recall a few OSs ago Disk Repair often said something similar for the first few seconds. I often wondered if they were like easter eggs put in by Apple programmers for a joke. It would not be too hard to program these messages to say "Oops having a connection issue" if ever the time were more than 30 seconds ...
Well, iTunes rentals may be doomed. If it weren't for Netflix on the new ATV I wouldn't have bought and probably many others wouldn't have either.
For $7.99 unlimited monthly rentals, many of which are HD, it simply can't be beat. The 24 hour window/ high cost of an iTunes $5 per rental is not worth it to me.
The Netflix HD rentals stream so smooth and look amazing.
And I can watch them on my iPhone with the Netflix App!!!!
I have a Quadra 840 av too but IMHO my MacPro and MacBook Pro are built 1000 times better. I could drop either on the Quadra and it would be annihilated
Drop a Mac Pro on anything and it would cause some serious damage. That thing is a beast.
However, I'm pretty sure if I dropped an MBP on a Quadra, the MBP would suffer much more damage. My Quadra has definitely seen its rough and tumble, and still powers up! My comment was more about the electronic parts than the casing.
Comments
It's just not ready for prime time yet. As I've said before, 2.5/5.
It is just a hobby. Don't worry about it.
Early adopters of Apple's second-generation Apple TV are reporting issues with streaming HD rentals and problems completing "HDMI handshakes" between the new Apple TV and their HD TVs.
Several discussion threads on Apple's support forums related to issues with HD rentals not loading and HDMI connectivity problems have reached hundreds of posts in length as increasing numbers of Apple TV owners report having trouble with the device.
Some users report that Apple TV displays HD rental wait times of hundreds of minutes, while other video, such as trailers, HD Netflix movies, and YouTube begin playing after just a few minutes. "At one point, the HD movie was going to take over 3,000 minutes to load," wrote one user.
Though a portion of the users have resolved the issue by upgrading to higher bandwidth Internet, others report the problem occurring even with high-speed connections capable of handling HD video.
Another Apple support thread details potential compatibility issues between Apple TV and a number of HD TV sets. Users report frequent "HDMI handshakes" between the TV and Apple TV, with the picture returning with inverted colors. A user-compiled list of TVs affected includes models by Philips and Sony.
The Apple TV 4.1 firmware update, which was released last week alongside iOS 4.2, does not appear to resolve either issue.
Apple unveiled the revamped $99 Apple TV in September with a focus on 'the cloud' and streaming media. With just 8GB of onboard storage, Apple's new set top box serves as a hub for content streamed from the Internet, computers, or iOS devices.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced in October that the company had sold 250,000 Apple TVs in "just a short amount of time."
[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]
eh, i have a Roku and it flakes out if the hdmi cable is over 6 foot (had a 9). if you look hard enough you can find something 'wrong' with everything....
About to try an Apple TV2 in central Mexico with 2 Mb/s nominal DSL speed, measured from 1.5 Mb/s at quiet times down to 0.5 Mb/s during peak periods. Wish me luck.
As to HDMI, I actually just installed a switcher for multiple HDMI sources and find that when i switch to the AppleTV it is instant, switching to FiOS TV takes several seconds to establish a signal. I was interested to note this as I assume it shows what a great signal it generates.
Wireless streaming is Flawless on FiOS and Apple Airport Extreme! Anyone with an issue is probably not using .11n or has older .11g device sharing the router or they simply don't have the bandwidth to start with (e.g. low end Comcast with high contention ratios).
I always worry that many of the long threads complaining about anything by Apple are partly (if not mainly) filled with deliberate FUD artists doing anything they can to try to damage an Apple products reputation, remember antennae gate? Absolutely nothing has changed in the iPhone4 except the read out calibration and yet it is a huge success and the FUD has died away and the product is a massive success globally.
When such bad PR starts people start imagining or blaming things that otherwise they might have figured out were issues they could easily fix such as bad cables or not gripping a phone hard in a very weak signal area. That is the whole point of FUD attacks, the feeble minded buy in.
Just the usual bullshit from a tiny minority of users who seem to always have trouble with everything they touch. We all know the type, always complaining about their computer locking up, their ice maker crapping out, their Toyota taking off by itself when they actually hit the accelerator pedal instead of the brake, and of course their smartphone "death grip." There's one in every family. Now with the internet they can find each other, have a giant circle jerk, and point fingers at Apple, at&t, their neighbors, the Pope, Obama. I have one of 'em where I work. Every morning he comes in to find his work computer hosed in some way and then starts banging the mouse on the desk while cussing up a storm about the "idiots" in IT.
You sound a bit grumpy this morning. Nevertheless, while I agree some people seem to have a multitude of issues with their electronic devices, I think it is readily apparent the ATV2 has some issues with HDMI (Some Sony and Phillips HDTV's) and extended wait times when streaming rental movies. (You will note that almost all of those without a streaming issue have very high speed internet connections. It should not take a 20MB connection to reasonably stream a movie.).
Hope your day improves.
My Apple TV1 works faultlessly over wifi with 4-5 second wait over DSL internet connection of 4 to 4.2 Mb/s in Ottawa, Canada.
About to try an Apple TV2 in central Mexico with 2 Mb/s nominal DSL speed, measured from 1.5 Mb/s at quiet times down to 0.5 Mb/s during peak periods. Wish me luck.
My suggestion for when you get to the slower connection is to simply start it downloading and pause play. Then leave it for about ten minutes or more before watching to allow a really good head start in the d/l. I used to do this with Apple TV mk 1 when on vacation and in slow connection areas. The more you let it get ahead the smoother the watching will be.
HDMI handshake? Well, that's the problem. It requires a fist-bump.
Fist-bump? Well, that's the problem. It requires a full TSA Pat Down for HDCP to work right!
I'd really recommend against using wireless networking for streaming video applications. The bandwidth is too variable for many streaming systems to cope with. If you can't get an Ethernet cable from your router to the ATV (or any other streaming video device) then look into the Ethernet over power adapters. Although not full fast Ethernet speed, these still run faster than most people's external Internet connection so you won't have a bottleneck for streaming video. Switching to a hardwired connection will often stop video from stuttering every time you or your neighbor answers a cordless phone.
I'd suggest you invest in an Apple Airport Extreme, you describe something like I remember a decade ago
The new $99 version is a lot better... faster through the UI, I love that it connects through Netflix and the Netflix navigation is same as the rest of the navigation. I watch a lot of Netflix and the load times werent' bad at all.
The pictures could be better quality though. Many of the pictures i took with HD and it looks like it compresses them too much... still, the pictures look good to the average viewer.
The AppleTV is connected via ethernet... not sure if wireless is causing the problem with everyone else. Though I did take my AppleTV to my parent's and sister's house over the holiday week and both had low end HD TVs and their wireless connection was from a neighbors house... so the signal was very low... The AppleTV connected well and was able to play with a few exceptions... but I narrowed that down to my sister turning on the microwave! LOL
Out of five stars, I give it 4
When we first got the ATV a couple years ago, our first HD rentals only took 30 seconds to get to the point to start watching. My RoadRunner account is pretty constant at 8-10mbps so I don't know if it's that or the iTunes servers. Plus I've had to restart my ATV due to the handshake issue.
I hate HDCP.....
Just the usual bullshit from a tiny minority of users who seem to always have trouble with everything they touch. We all know the type, always complaining about their computer locking up, their ice maker crapping out, their Toyota taking off by itself when they actually hit the accelerator pedal instead of the brake, and of course their smartphone "death grip." There's one in every family. Now with the internet they can find each other, have a giant circle jerk, and point fingers at Apple, at&t, their neighbors, the Pope, Obama. I have one of 'em where I work. Every morning he comes in to find his work computer hosed in some way and then starts banging the mouse on the desk while cussing up a storm about the "idiots" in IT.
Boy you're some kind of douche bag aren't you? I have over $10k worth of Apple products and this is my first time with issues.
No bullshit about it -- there's a problem.
Boy you're some kind of douche bag aren't you? I have over $10k worth of Apple products and this is my first time with issues.
No bullshit about it -- there's a problem.
My old Quadra 840av still works fine, but my last MBP was a total failure. I've noticed that these days things, especially computer equipment, aren't built as tough like they used to be.
By any chance was your AppleTV Hail damaged back in October?
i don't spend $5 to rent movies through my aTV, but everything streams fine from iTunes.
no HDMI issues with an aquos tv, either.
My old Quadra 840av still works fine, but my last MBP was a total failure. I've noticed that these days things, especially computer equipment, aren't built as tough like they used to be.
By any chance was your AppleTV Hail damaged back in October?
I have a Quadra 840 av too
i wonder if the user reporting "3,000 hours" to download a movie checked that their wireless network was still up.
i don't spend $5 to rent movies through my aTV, but everything streams fine from iTunes.
no HDMI issues with an aquos tv, either.
Actually, I just remembered once seeing that on my old ATV once and fell of the chair laughing. I started over and everything worked fine.
I recall a few OSs ago Disk Repair often said something similar for the first few seconds. I often wondered if they were like easter eggs put in by Apple programmers for a joke. It would not be too hard to program these messages to say "Oops having a connection issue" if ever the time were more than 30 seconds ...
Getting in early here... Apple is D00med!!!
Well, iTunes rentals may be doomed. If it weren't for Netflix on the new ATV I wouldn't have bought and probably many others wouldn't have either.
For $7.99 unlimited monthly rentals, many of which are HD, it simply can't be beat. The 24 hour window/ high cost of an iTunes $5 per rental is not worth it to me.
The Netflix HD rentals stream so smooth and look amazing.
And I can watch them on my iPhone with the Netflix App!!!!
I have a Quadra 840 av too
Drop a Mac Pro on anything and it would cause some serious damage. That thing is a beast.
However, I'm pretty sure if I dropped an MBP on a Quadra, the MBP would suffer much more damage. My Quadra has definitely seen its rough and tumble, and still powers up! My comment was more about the electronic parts than the casing.