I mean honestly. I have had Apple TV for a year now and often (especially recently) it never seems to work off the bat. Either I have to restart my comp, or the ATV, or both. I get errors saying "the selected file format could not be played" only to restart itunes and have it play perfectly!?

My itunes is always on and the ATV is always showing as a device. I think there is something inherently wrong with it. Of all the components in my HT and computer its the only one which consistently gives problems.

Anyone else notice this? Seems like it has got worse since the latest itunes update.

Wired tends to be more reliable than wireless.

But even though mine's on wireless, it's been considerably more reliable than yours has been, judging by that description.

Anyone else notice this? Seems like it has got worse since the latest itunes update.

Mine behaves the same way. I have to reboot it or restart itunes fairly often (every few days to a week). I also have an "always on" setup with a wired network connection.

My favorite part is when I rent a movie and try to play it, I get a white screen most of the time. So to rent a movie, I have to wait for the entire movie to download, then reboot the atv and then play the rented movie.

Mine behaves the same way. I have to reboot it or restart itunes fairly often (every few days to a week). I also have an "always on" setup with a wired network connection.

My favorite part is when I rent a movie and try to play it, I get a white screen most of the time. So to rent a movie, I have to wait for the entire movie to download, then reboot the atv and then play the rented movie.

yup..i get the white screen as well. It usually works after a reboot, but I dont have to wait until it stops downloading.

Here we go again. Another movie I have watched many times before off ATV is giving me the "the selected file format format could not be played error". I am honestly one step away form ditching it.

Fact is, it should work every single time.

Here is what happened. I wanted to watch a movie with the following specs

Size 1.38gb
Bit rate: 125 kbps
Total Bit rate 1411kbps
kind: Protested MPEG-4 video file
video codec H.264

After trying the following here is the result
Tried to play right away: Error message
restart itunes: Error Message
Restart ATV: Error message
Take movie out of itunes then bring it back in: error message


** I have watched this movie in itunes before, and some other movies work.


Any suggestions?

I've gotten that error message before and nothing short of rebooting worked for me and even then not always; I've been on the Mini for a while instead.

Just turned on the ATV to check it out and now I can't even get the library loaded (just spins on 'Loading Library' forever; Maybe mine is too large...

I've pretty much given up on ATV personally; Also lost passthrough on the mini under all Apple software (itunes9, qt, etc.);... discouragement reins in this household...

ken

wow, sorry for all those troubles.

I must say that overall my ATVs (I have two) have been very very reliable, in fact, I have been amazed by them.

I have had some problems here and there, but nothing major really. In fact the one I have in NY (the one I bought as soon as it came out) has never had a problem, may be a couple of reboots.

The other one I have has given me the white screen problem for a while but then that went away with a software update. It made me discover key combos on the remote to do various things especially rebooting, very handy ! A reboot was all I needed when I had the white screen. But yes, pretty annoying nonetheless.
Anyhow, since the update, back to flawless.

I have heard of others having real issues with this product. And I can't help but being amazed that experiences can be so hugely different.

I deeply love my ATVs because of how well they work and a friend of mine hates his to death because it never works. Go figure. Could it be different internet connections?

My ATVs are both used wirelessly.

The other one I have has given me the white screen problem for a while but then that went away with a software update. It made me discover key combos on the remote to do various things especially rebooting, very handy ! A reboot was all I needed when I had the white screen. But yes, pretty annoying nonetheless.

So what are the key combos you figured out? I get the white screen all the time and would love the key combo for rebooting?

Mine has worked flawless since day one using wireless from an Airport Extreme but I do
have friend that has experienced troubles but his is hacked.

So what are the key combos you figured out? I get the white screen all the time and would love the key combo for rebooting?

To reset it, hold down Menu and - for six seconds. Then follow instructions, it will ask you wether you want to restart...

For more remote commands go here:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3176

Sorry about the white screen...so weird, I had it too for some time and then it went away. Is your aTV software up to date ?

Good Luck.

My ATV was purchased when the product launched but died within a year- probably the HD- it sure runs hot. It was replaced under warranty and no hardware problems since.

I watched a streamed movie recently that ran into buffering problems at the very end of the flick- wife was unhappy and I probably won't try to stream again (this was over wireless n and for all I know it could have been Comcast throttling bandwidth). Downloaded and saved content always plays fine.

A while back I had ownership problems with some iTunes-purchased video content and had to reset the ATV and mess with iTunes to get my purchased content to play back. No problems since. My ripped/converted content never had these problems.

I like the product and use it mostly for music playback but I would not recommend it to anyone at this stage. It just feels stale. It needs:
An app store (widgets, visualizers, enhanced codec support, simple games, additional applications (security cam viewer?))
More contnet- lots more
BR/DVD accessory drive (yes, I undertsand Apple's problem with this)
Accessory HD (USB port) (and move to SATA architecture)

The sad reality is that it's actually kind of miraculous that any "media extender" type products still exist in the marketplace at all. None of them has been successful to any degree. The best of the lot (AppleTV, XBox360, PS3) only exist because of connections to more popular products (the iPod and Video Games).

I love my AppleTV for its elegant interface. I lament it for its limitations, and I hate it for its bouts of non-reliability (is that a word)?!

All-in-all, ANY media extender (including the AppleTV) is only recommended if you are a hobbiest who loves to tinker. They just aren't mainstream.

Hopefully they'll be mainstream "enough" for them to stay alive for at least a few more years until the next big breakthrough comes along.

I agree with that- lots of product wreckage in this space.
Disney has been promoting a new, more flexible DRM scheme- this was covered in the WSJ yesterday- something I hadn't heard of before. And everyone is anticipating some kind of tablet that would probably integrate with ATV. And there was mention of "air ship" for the "holiday season" in the recent Apple conference call. And the iTunes Album stuff.
Perhaps something big is pending- to distract from MS's Win 7 launch?
So much potential here...

I love my AppleTV for its elegant interface. I lament it for its limitations, and I hate it for its bouts of non-reliability (is that a word)?!

All-in-all, ANY media extender (including the AppleTV) is only recommended if you are a hobbiest who loves to tinker. They just aren't mainstream.

Sad, but true.

That said, while I like to tinker, my wife loves our ATV. She'd love it a lot less if I hadn't put the back-end work into it to load it up with movies, though. She would never have the patience needed to deal with the multi-step process of ripping, handbraking, and tagging needed to get movies onto it.

Sad, but true.

That said, while I like to tinker, my wife loves our ATV. She'd love it a lot less if I hadn't put the back-end work into it to load it up with movies, though. She would never have the patience needed to deal with the multi-step process of ripping, handbraking, and tagging needed to get movies onto it.

There's no question that the AppleTV has the potential to be very family friendly. For the last couple of months, the reliability has been top notch, and my daughters (12 & 11) use it pretty extensively without any issues whatsoever. They especially love the Movie Previews.

Although it is surprising what kids can figure out on their own. I also have my Intel iMac (located adjacent to the living room) connected to my living room HDTV as a secondary monitor. On their own, my kids figured out how to put the iMac in mirrored display mode, switch the A/V receiver to the iMac input, and fire up Front Row to watch movies on the HDTV - without anything remotely considered direction from me.

There's no question that the AppleTV has the potential to be very family friendly. For the last couple of months, the reliability has been top notch, and my daughters (12 & 11) use it pretty extensively without any issues whatsoever. They especially love the Movie Previews.



That's funny! My wife and I enjoy the previews as well. Some look amazing in HD and some are better than the movies themselves. LOL

My ATVs (two) have been very good considering I'm on wireless. I do find that setting up Static IPs and Customized Firewall settings has really helped.

Some of my purchased cartoons have a bad habit of declaring "they are unauthorized to play" on my AppleTV when I try to play them. This happens selectively to specific titles like "Ferdinand the Bull".
I visit Apple's support forums and the resolutions are so dramatically complicated and time consuming I have to punt- I have better things to do. So I avoid iTunes purchases going forward.
DRM is my principle issue with the product; its just not an Apple experience and I'm surprised they haven't resolved or killed it.:mad:

The sad reality is that it's actually kind of miraculous that any "media extender" type products still exist in the marketplace at all. None of them has been successful to any degree. The best of the lot (AppleTV, XBox360, PS3) only exist because of connections to more popular products (the iPod and Video Games).

I love my AppleTV for its elegant interface. I lament it for its limitations, and I hate it for its bouts of non-reliability (is that a word)?!

All-in-all, ANY media extender (including the AppleTV) is only recommended if you are a hobbiest who loves to tinker. They just aren't mainstream.

Hopefully they'll be mainstream "enough" for them to stay alive for at least a few more years until the next big breakthrough comes along.

I guess it all depends on how you define success...but in general I disagree with you. I do no tinkering and my wife is a huge user of our ATVs and she's never even dreamed of tinkering.

Ours work perfectly, really and we love them. No reliability issues in our experience. I am sure we are not alone.

There are obviosuly limitations, but for our usage it's really good. I am not sure about your calling this a "media extender" and associating it with PS3 or xBox ?

Windwaves- are you wired or wireless for internet access?

That's funny! My wife and I enjoy the previews as well. Some look amazing in HD and some are better than the movies themselves. LOL

Not unexpected... even with the worst movies you can usually clip together 60 seconds or so of generally appealing footage. So let that be a lesson... if the trailer only looks marginally good then its a sure sign to steer clear!! :)

Oh and to be somewhat relevant, to those wondering wired is usually going to provide you the best overall results especially in the overly crowded airwaves like apartment buildings, and city dwellers but even where I live, lots of mountains, lakes and open spaces I still took the effort to run ethernet to both the master bedroom TV and family room. Since I did it myself the time and effort I expended seemed like a no brainer.. Tho, if you intend on keeping a civil home my advice is to make sure you can do it right (in other words, minimal visual evidence you were ever there)... or hire someone.

Windwaves- are you wired or wireless for internet access?

wireless - both of them. In fact, they are on two different networks/houses, and different providers. One is in a manhattan building !!

try the new 3.0 software (requires itunes 9.0.2)- much improved performance for me:
faster load times
no reboots so far
loads full library - (mine was too big for full loading before)
faster interface
internet radio

ken

The new software is indeed an improvement- I didn't relaize how placing all of my content at the bottom of the activity list was bugging me.
I'm going to rent a movie with the Ethernet connected to see if I have any pauses- although Ethernet isn't a viable option until I renovate.

I think I'll add some additional codecs while I'm at it...

update - more than a week in and not a single reboot (unusual for mine); Looks like a winner for now; I still get hit and miss with my mini on passing through m4v DD5.1 - was working for a while, but QT seemed to have broken it again; But the ATV plays it rock solid, so I sticking with that for time being...

ken

We are not alone!


"Despite a hasty fix to repair the last update, reports of problems continue to pour in"
http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/11/08/apple-tv-is-still-on-the-fritz/

Here we go again. Another movie I have watched many times before off ATV is giving me the "the selected file format format could not be played error". I am honestly one step away form ditching it.

Fact is, it should work every single time.

I never could account why this has happened, along with the atv not being seen and having to restart Itunes all the time, I moved on, using a PC with XBMC and could not be happier, the interface is stunning, the thing plays any format I throw at it, and plays the file everytime.

This thread is Deja Vu all over again (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1140758&highlight=reliable+apple+tv). I feel your pain. My AppleTVs are very reliable now. The tricks, I think, are a wired (not wireless) connection and iTunes 9 or above.

Edit: And connect your media directly to your mac -- not on a NAS.

the latest continues to be very stable for me; I'm wireless with the ATV to Airport
and pseudo NAS with Time Capsules attached to Mac via wired Ethernet (mac is wireless to Airport.

Sometimes the 'video format not recognized' error comes up the first time due to a time out waiting for the TCs to spin up; Just reselect the movie again when this happens... (a rare event for me as I'm usually spun up)

ken

I use my ATV occasionally and every time I do, I end up regretting it. Just this past Wednesday, I tried to rent a movie and got the white screen. This happens almost every time I try to rent something. We end up waiting 5 minutes while I reboot and try it again.

I'm a longtime Apple user (since 1993) and this is the first product from them in a while that I deem as subpar (for Apple).

and I have been a user since 1983 (Apple IIe!) and not to worry, there have been many other products from Apple that totally sucked :) software and hardware. Still, way better than the competition, in my view.

Now, your aTV issues are not normal, period. Have you tried the various things mentioned in this thread ? You might find other answers/suggestions in the Apple forums, I would suggest doing a search there using "white screen".

I would not settle for less. The aTV ought to work, it does work for most.

I don't have a lot to contribute to this thread. But I get a chuckle every time I click on it. Best. Thread. Title. Ever.

Those of you who are having problems: I feel your pain.

and I have been a user since 1983 (Apple IIe!) and not to worry, there have been many other products from Apple that totally sucked :) software and hardware. Still, way better than the competition, in my view.

Now, your aTV issues are not normal, period. Have you tried the various things mentioned in this thread ? You might find other answers/suggestions in the Apple forums, I would suggest doing a search there using "white screen".

I would not settle for less. The aTV ought to work, it does work for most.

I agree that my issues should not be normal, but they appear to be common occurrences with the Apple TV (I believe even you stated that it happened with you). Before I pretty much gave up on the box, I looked for solutions on the Apple forums. I always update the firmware when a new update is released and I pretty much figure that should be the extent of my involvement. After trying to use it for something so simple numerous times and to get the white screen, you pretty much resort to using other devices. There have been many times when I just rent something from Amazon and view it on my Roku box and have never had a problem once.

The Bottom line is that ATV is a crappy product and not well designed. the "no server is without problems" comment is BS and not acceptable. I bou ATV because I assumed it would work as advertised, but it simply does not ( I have had it for almost 2 years now). I have been in the HT hobby for 12 years and the two worst products I have bought are the ATV and Harmony 1000 remote.

The Bottom line is that ATV is a crappy product and not well designed.My ATV is rock solid and worth every penny I paid. Of course, it's been running Mythbuntu (http://code.google.com/p/atv-bootloader/) since the day I pulled it out of the box. I mean, who wants a slick looking, silent media frontend that can't support HD?

I've seen better Apple products but I'm not bitter about it. The aTV was relatively inexpensive and I've enjoyed countless hours of music playback. Much, much better than any CD player anywhere near it's price (assuming you have a good DAC or PrePro for the D/A and pre stage).
Just wish we had the visualizer(s).

For the sake of balance my ATV is Ethernet hard wired and it works great. It's reliability has been solid an I have nary a complaint. My MacMini is a media server in my dedicated theater and my ATV is to extend music and the occasional movie in my family room. Sorry to hear about those problems that others are experiencing. My ATV is about 3 years old.

My ATV is rock solid and worth every penny I paid. Of course, it's been running Mythbuntu (http://code.google.com/p/atv-bootloader/) since the day I pulled it out of the box. I mean, who wants a slick looking, silent media frontend that can't support HD?I've been running XBMC on my ATV since I bought it 3 months ago, and even with daily use I think it may have crashed twice. The experience is not as smooth as the original Xbox, but XBMC beats the pants off of the default ATV UI in both stability and compatibility. Anybody who is having problems should seriously consider making up a patchstick (http://code.google.com/p/atvusb-creator/).

My ATV's have been operating much better with 3.01 installed. So far no white screens or other issues. Let's hope it stays that way.

Ughh.

Its almost like it has its good weeks and bad weeks...how can that be explained? The last 5 movies I have tried to stream using ATV i have got that "selected file format could not be played". The only solution is to unplug the ATV and restart it.

lets not forget it ...it is a "hobby" after all.

lets not forget it ...it is a "hobby" after all.

true...

In my 15 years of this hobby thou the ATV is in the top 3 for most frustrating.

Is what it is, but that doesnt mean I have to like it or recommend it.

i think he means steve jobs has referred to the appleTV business as a "hobby" for apple a couple of times...

for the record i've never had such problems with my aTV. but i don't add it as a FairPlay device and take care of all that nonsense before syncing the movies to the aTV. the rest of the content was processed with handbrake and that seems to work fine. i usually do not ever stream to it; everything played on the aTV is synchronized to it.

i think he means steve jobs has referred to the appleTV business as a "hobby" for apple a couple of times...

for the record i've never had such problems with my aTV. but i don't add it as a FairPlay device and take care of all that nonsense before syncing the movies to the aTV. the rest of the content was processed with handbrake and that seems to work fine. i usually do not ever stream to it; everything played on the aTV is synchronized to it.

that's the way I run as well - pretty much without problems; My library is many times larger than my ATV drive - but the automatic sync makes sure all is referenced including artwork - streaming on demand for media not on the drive...

ken

true...

In my 15 years of this hobby thou the ATV is in the top 3 for most frustrating.

Is what it is, but that doesnt mean I have to like it or recommend it.

If your having this many problems with the Atv, you should of returned it and got another one.
Why keep it and become more frustrated? I knew a couple of people that got "bad" Atv's and returned them 3 weeks later.
There new one's never had any problems since then.(going on 6 mos.)

I currently own three of these and stream without any problems.

I think you just got a bad one.

If your having this many problems with the Atv, you should of returned it and got another one.
Why keep it and become more frustrated? I knew a couple of people that got "bad" Atv's and returned them 3 weeks later.
There new one's never had any problems since then.(going on 6 mos.)

I currently own three of these and stream without any problems.

I think you just got a bad one.

Ill try that and report back. Fact is it didnt work when I got it, then it did work for a while, then stopped, worked and now requires a unplug and plug every time before streaming a movies.

Ill call apple to see what they say.

Having said that I would bet that its not a hardware problem, and know its not a user error. IMO ATV does not work like it should.

This thread title really is a good one. :)

That being said, I've done all kinds of hackage and other attempted tricks to it, and it's suffered through my abuse w/o batting an eyelash.