Bad experience with Apple TV

[Blackjack200]

So just wanted to vent a little and maybe solicit the experiences of others...

My parents had a Netflix accound for 3 or 4 years. They cancelled it a few months ago because they found themselves managing their queue poorly, and as a result they'd get movies they didn't really want, then sit on them for weeks at a time before either sending them back unwatched or forcing themselves to watch them so they could be sent back. They liked the streaming service but the movies they wanted to watch were never available for streaming.

I thought Apple TV would be the perfect solution for them: a much broader menu for online streaming and no monthly charges to make them feel obligated. I gave it to them for Christmas and after some fun times getting it set up (not Apple's fault as my father is still using arcane WEP security on his WIFI network) it seemed to work okay. We paid $1.99 for an episode of "The Daily Show" to test it out, and it worked pretty well.

Then we tried to download a movie to watch on New Year's eve. We picked a recent release to rent (I think it was "Help" or "The Help" or something) and started the download before dinner. After dessert we settled in to watch and discovered that the movie would not be ready for another 10 hours. WTF? That defeats the whole point! Oh well, I thought, at least it's a little quicker than ordering a movie on Netflix. And it doesn't rely on the mail. With a little forethought you can oder a movie on Saturday morning or Friday evening and it will be ready by Saturday night. So I spoke to my dad on the phone yesterday and he tells me that he was watching the movie with my mother the other night, they accidently went back out to the main menu while trying to pause it, and ended up having to wait four hours before the movie could resume again. Ugh!! BTW, they have DSL and get 1-2 Mbps. Yeah, I know that faster internet would help. But they had no problems with Netflix streaming, and they never had any issue with PQ or SQ if offered.

cliffs:
Got Apple TV for my parents for Christmas
Rented movies take like 12 hours to download
Even after the download is complete, if you exit to the main menu, you lose everything you downloaded
Not happy at all.

FWIW I have an iPhone and plan on getting a MacBook Air eventually, I like Apple products, but this is just a terrible experience.

 

[alent1234]

i have 2 iphones, ipad 2 and MBP in the house and i'm not crazy about the apple TV

return it and get a blu ray player for them or a roku box

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

I think the 360 has the best interface in regards to this. It starts streaming immediately and just tweaks the quality based on your speed.

 

[Patranus]

Sounds like a network issue to me.
Rent movies all of the time and they have all started within 30 or so seconds on renting them.

 

[ponyo]

:biggrin:

 

[alent1234]

if you set your parents up on google dns, don't do it. it's part of the problem

 

[ponyo]

Huh? AppleTV doesn't download movies.

yes it does. have you used one? And if you buy movies from Apple, his parents experience is spot-on.

 

[ponyo]

It sounds like his parents are on old firmware.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

yes it does. have you used one? And if you buy movies from Apple, his parents experience is spot-on.

It doesn't download it in the traditional sense. It buffers it. There's nothing on the device for long term storage.

 

[TheStu]

I think the 360 has the best interface in regards to this. It starts streaming immediately and just tweaks the quality based on your speed.

In this case he is talking about renting from iTMS not streaming from Netflix. Can you rent movies on the XBox? I don't have one and am honestly asking. I rented a movie on the PS3 and it had to download first as well.

 

[Patranus]

yes it does. have you used one? And if you buy movies from Apple, his parents experience is spot-on.

Of course it "downloads" the move movie but doesn't "download" then entire movie before it starts playing - its called buffering.

Like I said, I download movies all of the time and they all start within 30 or so seconds.
I did run into an issue trying to buy it on an iPad and then having slow download time to airplay to it an AppleTV but no issue on the AppleTV itself.

Just my personal experience.

No profanity guys
-ViRGE

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

In this case he is talking about renting from iTMS not streaming from Netflix. Can you rent movies on the XBox? I don't have one and am honestly asking. I rented a movie on the PS3 and it had to download first as well.

Yeah you can rent movies on Xbox. It's always cool to say "xbox pause" and it pauses while watching.

 

[TheStu]

Yeah you can rent movies on Xbox. It's always cool to say "xbox pause" and it pauses while watching.

I keep thinking about getting a 360, mostly just so i can play crackdown and all the halo games. But that also sounds really cool.

Sorry to take things a little off track.

OP, as someone else said, make sure you aren't using google dns.

 

[Blackjack200]

They're not using any DNS service. I'm starting to wonder if it is the router, it's one of those good old Linksys WRT54G routers from back in the day. I'll hookup a new WAP the next time I'm there and see if that does the trick.

 

[alent1234]

how close to the router is the apple tv? if you have a macbook check the signal to noise levels. the program is in core services or something like that

 

[Blackjack200]

Unfortunately I don't have one, my gf has one though so next time we're both there maybe I'll try it. The router is fairly close, but it is on a different floor.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

I keep thinking about getting a 360, mostly just so i can play crackdown and all the halo games. But that also sounds really cool.

Just remember you do need the Kinect to do the voice commands. And with the new update, Kinect is built-in to pretty much all of the UI now, so you truly could do 90% of everything you need to do just with your voice.

 

[sportage]

I have 2 appleTV's. Both work great. I also have high speed internet. The 2nd gen appletv only streams, no ability to store. BTW, I also love vudu and they now allow actual downloads to devices what can store, like a computer. Maybe something to consider. But appletv doesnt support vudu, thats my gripe.

 

[MotionMan]

I can guarantee you that it is 100% the fault of their network/router/wifi/whatever and not the AppleTV.

Good luck with any other device you decide to buy because the problem will remain.

MotionMan

 

[Zaap]

I can guarantee you that it is 100% the fault of their network/router/wifi/whatever and not the AppleTV.

Good luck with any other device you decide to buy because the problem will remain.

This.

Isn't it a universally accepted fact that "Internet at your parent's house sucks"? Even when they actually do have wifi.

Personally I wouldn't use any streaming media device not connected to Ethernet.

 

[ponyo]

This.

Isn't it a universally accepted fact that "Internet at your parent's house sucks"? Even when they actually do have wifi.

Personally I wouldn't use any streaming media device not connected to Ethernet.

I wouldn't say that. My cousin had the exact same experience as the OP parents when he rented movie from Apple on his AppleTV2. It took all day/night to download the movie so he could watch it. He has 1.5mb down DSL too. He complained to me. I laughed. So I jailbroke and installed XBMC for him and added Hulu and Amazon Prime Streaming. He's happy and everything works. And he hasn't bothered me since.

 

[fr]

1.5Mbps is really slow for streaming video.

 

[MotionMan]

BTW, I have had no such problems with my AppleTV2.

MotionMan

 

[Adramalech]

BTW, I have had no such problems with my AppleTV2.

MotionMan

Neither have I. I have been using it for streaming of Netflix and content from our computers with no issues. It really could be the internet connection or possibly an old router.

 

[ponyo]

1.5Mbps is really slow for streaming video.

It's OK for 480p videos. It's the 720p stuff that it will be too slow. Hulu and Amazon Prime videos stream fine on Apple TV2. You can control and lower the bitrate on Hulu and Amazon Prime plugins if it starts buffering on 1.5Mbps.