Live playback issues

Channels iOS Troubleshooting
#1

A few weeks ago I started having problems with live TV playback. It seems like the stream is buffering (the stream freezes and then recovers after some number of seconds, skipping ahead in the stream) and it happens every time I'm viewing, at varying intervals.

My setup is the following:

  • 1 HDHR Prime, 1 HDHR Quatro
  • 2 Apple TVs 4th gen, 1 HD, 1 4k
  • Tuner sharing disabled
  • Streaming quality set to Original
  • All devices are hard-wired via gigabit ethernet

Data points:

  • The issue occurs on both Apple TVs using either HDHR device.
  • If I reduce the in-home streaming quality from Original to 1080p the issue does not occur
  • Recordings do not experience the issue
  • A linux laptop, plugged into the same switch as the Apple TV, streaming from the same HDHR (on a separate tuner) using VLC does not pause when Channels on the Apple TV does.
#2

Is everything plugged into the same switch, or are there multiple switches chained together?

I would advise you to run a speedtest between the devices:

You can also install the free apps InstaTV or VLC on the same ATV4 and see if it has a similar problem streaming from your HDHR.

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#3

I have a managed switch as my core switch (HDHR devices are connected here) and unmanaged switches connected to the Apple TVs.

A speedtest returned the following result:

Download - 530.43 Mbit/s
Latency - 4.61 ms
Jitter - 2.54 ms

VLC on the Apple TV experiences the same issue.

Removing the unmanaged switch seems to fix the issue so I'll continue investigating.

Thanks for the pointer!

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