Netflix on Apple TV "Recently Watched", "Suggested for You", and "Currently Unavailable" glitches?
I turned on my Apple TV (2010) tonight, went to Netflix to continue a show, clicked on Recently Watched, and was greeted with a blank screen. I hit menu to go back up a level and suddenly there was a different menu devoid of the Recently Watched (and Suggest for You) options. I went up a level again, went back down, and the personalized menu was back, but Recently Watched still wouldn't work. I tried a third time only to find a "Netflix is currently unavailable" screen pop up. Menu up and down and Netflix was suddenly available again. So what's going on with that?
Unlike the rest of the fairly snappy Apple TV UI, Netflix always takes its sweet time and makes us wait through an "Accessing Netflix" screen. Similar to the iTunes Store and App Store app interfaces, Netflix has an internet-fed backend. Its backend goes to Netflix's servers, however, not Apple's. Those personalized options, Recently Watched and Suggested for You have to be generated and presented in real-time so if there's a problem with that real-time, personalized system, I guess you get the bug I got.
UPDATE: @getwired sounds like he's nailed it:
Looks more like Netflix was having auth/API problems. 3rd one is a failure, 2nd same as 1st, save user ID-based API feeds.
According to Twitter I'm not the only one having this problem on Apple TV (or Wii).
Internet problems for the internet age? How's your Netflix on Apple TV working?
Editor-in-Chief of iMore, Executive Producer at Mobile Nations, co-host of Iterate and ZEN and TECH, cook, grappler, photon wrangler.
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The same thing happened to me tonight as well! At least I'm not alone... Hopefully this is fixed soon.
Ask any Roku customer, Netflix goes down on average twice a week. Get used to these kinds of messages. Oh, and Netflix goes down at about 11PM every Wed night for server upgrades and maintenance.
Samething over here Rene.
I have had a great experience with Netflix on my Apple TV! Runs much faster than it does on XBox 360 for me.
Die in a fire, Sara; you worthless spamning piece of garbage. Ok? Thanks so much!!!
No problems with Netflix on PS3 so far but perhaps I didn't use at the times when it went down. Any other Netflix/PS3 users out there having issues?
i have a horrible time with netflix on apple tv - the shows always freeze then buffer then start up only to stop a few mins later - this never happens with the apple shows so i don't think its my internet connection (unless time warner is doing something when it detects nefflix) i don't think netflix has the servers necessary to run a streaming service. what do you guys think?
As it is, a real not ready for prime time player. Color me dissapointed!
Maybe related to the major outage Comcast had last night?
We have a number of Internet enabled devices (TV, blu-ray, iPad, appleTV and iPhones) and by far the appleTV is the best. We have run into some issues with Netflix on our Tv upstairs. But, it is not the same experience on other device.
There are a number of variables to take into account. The one I would focus on more so than others is the ISP. It is common knowledge that the ISPs are known to slow connections as they see fit.
This has happened to me on several occasions too. I just back out of Netflix and go back in. This has resolved the issue for me all but one time.
This is off topic but what are the chances of Hulu coming to AppleTv? I think if Hulu came to the AppleTv I would ditch cable. It's on the iPad so I don't think it would be a giant leap to have it on AppleTv also.
My only problem with my new apple tv is that the audio will just cut out and the video will continue to move forward. All I have to do is rewind the program a few sec and it fixes the problem but I have to do this every 10 min or so. I also updated my software and it didn't seem to help any.
I have experienced the same problem/bug and switched over to our Roku box, which is usually fine. Netflix definitely struggles with demand at times, but this appears to be a bug somewhere.
This has haPpened to me as well. Though for me, doing a hard escape to the main menu (holding down menu button) works for me everytime, restoring everything. However, your results may very.
@Kyle
I didn't know you could do a hard reset, thanks for the tip.
I have had no problems with Netflix on my PS3 (or my iPhone), though admittedly I was not watching either last night when Rene was having problems with Netflix on AppleTV.
I HATE watching Netflix on the AppleTV. It either freezes like last night, not accessable, or starts the program for one second then takes me back to the home screen. I have finally given up and went back to my Xbox for streaming. I have never had a single problem with the Xbox. I hate that I do everything on the AppleTV but can't use Netflix!
My Xbox 360 is far better at viewing Netflix than my AppleTV (2nd-gen). I frequently am unable to access Netflix from my AppleTV, while I can switch to my Xbox and watch shows without trouble. When the Xbox encounters a problem with the network stream, it stops all playback until the stream catches up. When the AppleTV has a problem, it stops just the video, or fast-forwards 30 seconds, or does some other bizarre thing.
I'm glad the AppleTV was only $100, because I'd be a lot more disappointed if I'd spent more on it. I hope that future software updates will fix these problems.
It's not unique to Apple TV - at least not the "Netflix is currently unavailable" part - that happens on the Wii from time to time as well. My bigger problem is the sound quality - either too quiet to hear, or too loud!
Apple tv is great everything works effortlessly except netflix not reliable !!!!
Took me a little while buy i figured out how to do it. Unplug your apple tv
I have the same problem, this is the second time "recently Watched" and " suggestions for you" have disappeared......Plus the little white light on the ATV2 has gone out?