Getting a very odd bug in Channels ATV recently (<2 weeks)

Channels Apple TV
#1

Hey all:

I’ve used Channels for over a year now, and love it. Recently, on my Apple TV 4 (non-4K), I’ve been seeing an odd issue where the video artifacts heavily and playback completely stops. This happens roughly every 5-10 min on any HD channel. The odd thing is, the app actually treats it as a physical “pause”, albeit with video corruption: if I “fast forward” to the end of the recorded period, regular video resumes, although it will eventually freeze and corrupt itself again.

I am fully hard-wired with Gigabit in my home (all devices on ethernet), so I know it’s not a bandwidth issue. I’m running the latest Channels release on tvOS 11.2.1. I can stream video normally from the HDHomeRun Prime if I use the HDHomeRun app or a web browser, and all other playback of media on the ATV works without issue.

This wasn’t a problem until roughly two weeks ago. Has anyone else seen this sort of behavior? Thanks!

#2

If you click your HDHR on my.hdhomerun.com and click into the channel list, are your hd channels marked as “AVC”?

Have you tried playing with the InstaTV app on the same ATV4 to compare?

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#3

A few of the channels are AVC, but not all of them. I have not tried with the InstaTV app; does that have similar functionality?

#4

Try another app on the same device to rule out network issues. InstaTV and VLC are both free inn Apple TV.

#5

OK, I tried both VLC and InstaTV. The same behavior happened, although less frequently than it did on Channels. Interestingly, in InstaTV, I watched the on-screen info as the channel streamed and then broke down, and it did not show anything abnormal–the buffer continued to grow at the same rate as it had, and it showed no degradation (from a setting perspective).

My next step is going to reboot my network equipment–my router and my core switch. I have tried rebooting everything else (Apple TV, HDHomeRun Prime) and it’s made no difference. Maybe this will do the trick.

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