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My 2nd gen Apple TV pretty consistently freezes the video but not the audio of purchased content (movies or TV shows Edit from iTunes-see comment below) at exactly 10 minutes in. It doesn't happen 100% of the time, but it does probably 75% or more. My work around is to hit the menu button to exit the movie and then play it again resuming where I left off. Usually it'll only happen once, but rarely it will continue to freeze at random or at 10 minute intervals. I have fast internet and a good WiFi connection. This has been happening consistently for over a year. Has anyone seen this problem? Any idea how to fix it?

Update: My old TV (2008 Samsung) died so I replaced it with a 2015 Sony which unfortunately didn't solve the problem. Nobody else seems to have this problem, so I'm pretty sure that my Apple TV is slightly broken. I'll probably just replace it when Apple releases a new model (hopefully next month).

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  • is it specific to who is the source for the video?
    – Ruskes
    Commented Feb 4, 2015 at 3:36
  • @Buscar웃 Yes, it's the stuff from the iTunes store, but it's all purchased through the Apple TV, not from a computer that shares it with the TV if that makes sense. It doesn't happen with Netflix content.
    – Nogwater
    Commented Feb 4, 2015 at 3:39
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    Do you use your ISPs DNS servers, or have you changed them to, say, Google's DNS, OpenDNS, etc.? I recall reading a few years back that Apple's CDN (Content Distribution Network) had issues, especially on the AppleTV, if you'd changed your DNS because it assumed you were at a different geographic location. This may still be the case.
    – D.G.
    Commented Feb 4, 2015 at 6:27
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    Freezes the video, but not the audio? Are you using a separate audio connection (the optical port), or is the audio coming over the HDMI? Has your TV or receiver changed in the past year? This could be some kind of HDCP or HDMI-handshake issue, but probably only if you are using a separate connection for the audio.
    – jimtut
    Commented Feb 5, 2015 at 3:29
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    It does sound a bit like an HDCP error, especially as it's only with iTunes content. Do you have another TV that you could try? The ATV is very portable, so maybe even try it at a friend's house? I think you said you watch content directly from the store (from the "cloud"), and not from a computer-based iTunes with Home Sharing, so you should be able to take the ATV to anyone's house and try it there.
    – jimtut
    Commented Feb 5, 2015 at 12:11

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
1

Try restarting your Apple TV.

Hold down the Home and Play buttons on the Siri remote, or hold down the 'down' button and the menu buttons.

Images below

The light will flash quickly, then let go of the buttons. You will see the apple logo.

Try watching your movies now!

Image 2

Image

I hope this works for you!

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0

It sounds like something is going wrong with the way the AppleTV software is communicating with the iTunes CDN. Does anything similar happen when you try listen/view TV Shows, Video Podcasts, or listen to (fairly long) songs? The reason I ask, is it may help differentiate why it is occurring with videos and not other iTunes media.

There is a very big difference in the way that Netflix and Hulu stream their content as opposed to an iTunes movie. iTunes actually downloads the entire movie onto the AppleTV and begins playing it when enough has downloaded so that the playhead won't catch up to the downloaded portion.

Netflix and Hulu (and most others) don't use this method. They use a more "on-the-fly" streaming approach which takes up minimal space on the AppleTV's hard drive.

I guess what I'm trying to say is this:

  1. You could have a software issue (or maybe the drive on the AppleTV is full of cached data—which would be odd)
  2. Or you have a hardware issue: maybe the internal HD is failing, the internal airport card, etc.

To fix a software issue, the easiest and best thing to do is to completely reset the AppleTV. To do that, follow the instructions here.

To fix a hardware issue (if the restore doesn't work), if it's been under a year, I would take it in to the Genius Bar or call Apple at 1-800-275-2273.

Best of luck to you!

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4
  • Thanks for the suggestions Ben. I don't use the Apple TV for music or audio only content like podcasts so I haven't seen it there. The reason I think it's not network/CDN related is that I would expect all of the content (audio and video) to stop and it to go into a please wait / spinning icon kind of state if it was downloading/buffering more content. I would also expect it to happen at more random times instead of exactly 10 minutes in. I'll try the reset/restore method and reply when I have a chance.
    – Nogwater
    Commented Feb 4, 2015 at 17:28
  • To follow up: I did the reset/restore, but sadly that didn't fix it. I downloaded the latest Mythbusters, started watching it and the video (but not audio) froze at 10 minutes exactly. So strange. Maybe it's a hardware issue, but I don't know how that could cause this behavior. Sadly, my Apple TV is too old for official support. Maybe if they come out with a new one this year, I'll get it.
    – Nogwater
    Commented Feb 5, 2015 at 5:29
  • Interesting... Do you have a friend that has an AppleTV? Could be interesting to see if theirs does the same thing on your home configuration.
    – Ben Holland
    Commented Feb 5, 2015 at 5:35
  • That's a good idea, but sadly no. I guess I need to get new friends. :)
    – Nogwater
    Commented Feb 5, 2015 at 5:40
-1

Based on the comments, I would suggest trying a new HDMI cable. We use our Apple TV almost every day and I've had one HDCP error in two years.

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-1

You can solve this in 4 steps:

  1. Go to Settings
  2. Go to the General menu
  3. Go to the Autolock section
  4. Set it to Never
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