Apple TV Update Brings New Problems - UPDATED

In the motion picture industry, a "take" refers to each filmed "version" of a particular shot. Let someone flub a line or miss a cue, and on you go to the next take.

This process continues until everyone gets it right

That being the case, it would seem that Apple TV's "Take Two" monicker is appropriate. Especially when we consider Friday's latest 2.0.1 update.

After installing 2.0.1, my Apple TV constantly loses its 802.11n network connection. I've had my Apple TV permanently drop off the network at least a half-dozen times while in the middle of streaming movies, and twice while browsing titles.

That particular "Take Two" 160GB Apple TV exhibited none of those symptoms immediately prior to the update, nor does a second, version 2.0 Apple TV I tried moving to the same location.

Facts which would also seem to absolve the iTunes server (a 2.8GHz iMac) as well as my AirPort Extreme-based network.

Once it occurs, the only way to reconnect the Apple TV to the network is to go into setup and re-enter the 802.11n WPA network password (a major pain), or to pull the plug on the Apple TV (since the silly thing doesn't have an on/off button) and restart the system.

Upon which everything is just fine... until the next time it disappears off the network.

This occurs both with my own content, and with features purchased from the iTunes store.

I'm going to acquire another Apple TV for testing on Monday, and then update it to 2.0.1 to see if I nail things down. It could be the software, or I could simply be having issues with that particular Apple TV.

But until I figure out what's what, I would NOT recommend installing the 2.0.1 update. Especially since there's no way to "downgrade" to the prior release.

And if anyone else has had the same problems, please let me know.

I suspect, however, that we're now waiting for "take 4".

Director?

* * *The same issue has been reported by several people over at MacUser, so it's not just me. Do NOT upgrade.

Comments

[TMARTINE]

this is a problem only for those using 802.11n over 5 GHz with "Use wide channels" enabled...

the work around is to uncheck "Use wide channels" or switch to 2.4 GHz... do that and all is good.

also to restart an AppleTV simply press "Menu" AND "-"/ down button.. this will take you to a menu where you get the option to restart... a lot better than pulling the plug... also on that menu are diagnostics and go to back to factory default install...

[tmartine]

just to be clear... to get the maintenance menu you need to press and hold for a few seconds "Menu" AND "-"/ down button

[Michael Long]

@TMARTINE: Thanks for the tip. Disabling "wide" slows down my network significantly, and the 2.0.1 Apple TV still hangs occasionally, freezing the picture for a few seconds before continuing on.

This while the "2.0" model still works like a champ. It may be a "known" issue, and there may be a workaround, but I'd still recommend waiting for the next software release.

[John Jacobs]

The next leopard update is supposed to have a raft of "AirPort connectivity" fixes. Maybe those will work their way downstream to the Apple TV.