I am having a strange issue with Channels on just a single Apple TV 4K device. I have a 4 apple TVs in my home. Every room has an orbi satellite ethernet wired so I have great signal in each room. I have a single room that has a problem. When watching live TV this single apple TV stutters and when watching it seems as though it stops then has to catch up constantly, jerky motion with a stutter every 2-3 seconds. I thought it was a network issue as I have an Orbi mesh network, but all my apple TVs are on WiFi and all have a satellite within 20 ft. I figured if it were connectivity, if I disconnect the satellite that is in the same room having issues, it should get worse or at least change. When I did that nothing happened same issue same symptom. I have been reading about mesh networks and the problems with streaming not to mention other issues I have had so I am going to pull my Orbi network and go back to a traditional router setup tomorrow to see if I can figure this out. It is so annoying yet I don't want to go back to cable. Any help or troubleshooting tips is appreciated. If the new network has the same issue I am going to swap AppleTV units next.
Hardwire is always better.
But not always necessary.
Our AP currently has nine (9) devices connected via 5GHz and two (2) via 2.4GHz. The 5GHz connections include three streaming devices (FireTVs and MiBox's), two iPads, and a Blu-ray player that streams.
I've never had regular inexplicable glitches in network performance from any of them. Not ever.
I'm pretty certain I did this before, but, just to be sure, I'm doing it again. I have three channels recording on the DVR, have the three streamers in-service watching one each of the recordings, and have my iPad on another channel. So I'm occupying all four tuners.
I can't watch all the devices simultaneously, but the two sitting by my computer haven't glitched yet. The one my wife is keeping an eye on hasn't, so far. I haven't seen the one in the living room do so as I walked by. Each of the four channels is running 10-15Mb/s. Two of them are sports, so they're tending to stay up around the 12-15Mb/s range. The other two are paid commercial advertising, and sticking around 10-12Mb/s.
Neither the AP nor the NAS are breaking a sweat. They're each averaging about 12% CPU load--if that.
Oh, what the heck... <adds his phone to watch something pre-recorded (1080i)...> No problem.
Looks like the LAN connection to the AP briefly hit 260Mb/s at one point.
Replaced the Orbi network with a single router setup. Things are better on the problematic atv4k. I’ll wait a week before I claim success.
But always better...
I consider streaming over WiFi to be something for emergencies only. Not for general streaming.
Two more things you might try just to be sure you know where the real problem is (this would require setting up the Orbi's again but it might help you figure out where the problem really lies):
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Try switching the locations of the ATV's put one of the ATV's that doesn't have a problem in the location of the one that does and see if it has the same issue (also put the problematic ATV in one of the "good" locations and see if it still has the problem).
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Switch out the Orbi unit locations to see if maybe you have a problematic Orbi unit (ie see if an Orbi from a known "good" location does better in the room where you had the problem, and if the one from the "bad" location does better in another room).
You may not be having any issues with that particular ATV with the old router but it's still possible there's something about that one particular ATV unit that doesn't like the Orbi's (in which case getting a new one might fix the problem and let you continue to use your mesh network which is presumably has other advantages for you over the older single router setup you had before). It might turn out to be one of the Orbi units that's the problem too, or it might even be something odd about the room/location you have the ATV in! (or the location of the Orbi in that room?). Anyway just some troubleshooting suggestions so you can be totally sure where the problem is.
Thanks for the ideas. I tried similar steps without good results. Considering other issues I had with the orbi network (inability to force 2.4ghz radio, problems with FaceTime and AirPrint) I just resorted to a Blackhawk router that sends enough signal to the house and so far things are improved. Luckily I purchased the Orbi at Costco so I got a refund. Bottom line, I am pretty sure my problem was my network, not the HDHomeRun hardware, Channels app or Apple TV.