• AnyStream is having some DRM issues currently, Netflix is not available in HD for the time being.
    Situations like this will always happen with AnyStream: streaming providers are continuously improving their countermeasures while we try to catch up, it's an ongoing cat-and-mouse game. Please be patient and don't flood our support or forum with requests, we are working on it 24/7 to get it resolved. Thank you.

FAILS TO SUPPORT APPLE TV 3RD GEN (AnyStream V 1.0.6.1 (64 bit))

Randy Storey

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After opening a new Mastercard just to purchase AnyStream I've learned that the downloads video do no support playback on Apple TV (3rd Gen).

I've made numerous downloads from both Amazon Prime and Netflix and all of these downloads when played on any of my three Apple TV (3rd Generation) result in the error:

"An error occurred loading this content. Try again later"

This is no problem playing on my single Apple TV 4K, iMac, or MacBook Pro.

I previously reported an issue where the Apple TV (3rd Gen) stopped playing video an continued playing audio 7 minutes into a video. Those video's still play with the same issue.

I've rebooted the AppleTVs and my iMac used to download the video's on my Windows 10 VM.

I find it disconcerting that after going to the effort and expense to purchase the application it fails to be supported by the primary hardware device I use. I wonder if your developers even tested a full range of hardware playback devises.
 
What exactly do you feel falls under 'full range of devices'. You can't possibly expect them to purchase and test every single gevraagd of every single device there is that supports video file playback.

You say it yourself that you other apple devices play the files fine. Which means the files themselves are perfectly fine. It's your apple tv devices that don't live the files. You need to find out what's different between the apple tv's and you're other apple products they do work on.

It can be an audio codec it doesn't like, a video codec, it may not even support mp4...

I hate to say it, but the trial version does exist for a reason. The trial didn't stop you from testing the downloads on all your devices, did it?

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk
 
Chances are (very likely) that the supplied content is coded at complexity way past what Apple TV gen 3 can cope with. Moral of the story: don't buy Apple crap.


Edit: quick trip to the proverbial Mecca of the followers at
Code:
https://support.apple.com/kb/sp648

reveals:-

  • H.264 video up to 1080p, 30 frames per second, High or Main Profile level 4.0 or lower, Baseline profile level 3.0 or lower with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats

Yup, if you're pulling highest quality content with multi-channel audio, you're choking the piece of junk single core Arm chip Apple sold you at an extortionate price.


Edit 2: just came across this one
Code:
https://www.anandtech.com/show/5687/apple-tv-3-2012-mini-review/4

it seems Apple TV maxes out at 5Mbps where as the "normal" mean bitrate for videos that at least one provider uses is over 7Mbps peaking at over 20Mbps; so the problem's really with Apple not AS that works exactly as intended.

Remember: Apple TV is only ever guaranteed to work with stuff supplied by Apple or through their channels; welcome to the Apple eco-system!
 
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Can Apple TV even play downloaded files directly without any extra software, or do you have to install some third party app for playing them? If so, which app do you use?
 
After opening a new Mastercard just to purchase AnyStream I've learned that the downloads video do no support playback on Apple TV (3rd Gen).

I've made numerous downloads from both Amazon Prime and Netflix and all of these downloads when played on any of my three Apple TV (3rd Generation) result in the error:

"An error occurred loading this content. Try again later"

This is no problem playing on my single Apple TV 4K, iMac, or MacBook Pro.

I previously reported an issue where the Apple TV (3rd Gen) stopped playing video an continued playing audio 7 minutes into a video. Those video's still play with the same issue.

I've rebooted the AppleTVs and my iMac used to download the video's on my Windows 10 VM.

I find it disconcerting that after going to the effort and expense to purchase the application it fails to be supported by the primary hardware device I use. I wonder if your developers even tested a full range of hardware playback devises.

I haven't tried these on my old AppleTV 3 but I can tell you that at least for Amazon Dolby Digital Plus (e-ac3) audio is not supported on that so be sure to chose AAC audio and also embedded subtitle which should work. Also won't support h265 (though Anystream doesn't seem to support those streams).

For Apple TV 3 my advice is to use Compressor (it's only $50 from the App Store) and re-encode everything and simply set the output to be compatible w/ Apple TV 3. If you are only interested in lossless files here then it's time to update to AppleTV 4 or 4K.

EDIT: Another option that will work is put the files on your iPhone and mirror it on AppleTV 3. It will stream to that and convert the files to play properly. That's assuming you have a newer iPhone.
 
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I appreciate all the comments, except for the bias commenter (0x0x0x0x0 who bashes a developer without any intelligible language with automatically caused me to ignore. With the addition of AnyStream I have the full suite of their tools and this is the first time I have ever identified an issue. As a systems engineer with over 35 years working in teams developing highly complex systems and have worked on systems that have successfully integrated Apple, Microsoft, and Open Source hardware and software in support of customers. I understand all the points made. I also understand that the 3rd Generation Apple TV is end of life but it is still occasionally receiving updates from Apple.

My use case is that all of my audio and video content is maintained on a NFS server and I use a Mac Pro TV application that points directly to the NFS to play the content using Home Sharing. This allow me to stream the content to any Apple device.

After using Windows for many years in my personal environment I moved to an Apple environment and found that it required less system maintenance, was more secure, less vulnerable, and most importantly provided a more seamless integration with external devices. In order to keep my options open I also run Windows and Linux VMs for other capabilities and functions that are better suited them their environments.

Bottom line is that I will replace my two remaining 3 Generation Apple TV's but I will also may delve deeper to find a solution because I know there are many users out there without the means to consistently update to the most current hardware or the knowledge of our to overcome the design obstacles of developers. I would consider this thread closed.
 
I appreciate all the comments, except for the bias commenter (0x0x0x0x0 who bashes a developer without any intelligible language with automatically caused me to ignore. With the addition of AnyStream I have the full suite of their tools and this is the first time I have ever identified an issue. As a systems engineer with over 35 years working in teams developing highly complex systems and have worked on systems that have successfully integrated Apple, Microsoft, and Open Source hardware and software in support of customers.

Your report of "FAILS TO SUPPORT..." in caps (read: screaming) does not make you sound like you're "engineer" with over 35 years of experience and a "developer" in the slightest. What your rant shows is that you (a) don't understand the hardware; (b) don't understand H.264 coding; and most importantly (c) can't write a half-decent bug report.

As an engineer/developer, you still can't write a proper bug report: how does the Apple TV connect to the NFS server---wire, air, wishful thinking, for example?.. As an "engineer/developer" you've made literally ZERO effort to figure out what the problem is, yet you rushed to blame a tool for something that the tool doesn't even do---have you ever heard what "they" say about engineers blaming tools?..
 
After opening a new Mastercard just to purchase AnyStream I've learned that the downloads video do no support playback on Apple TV (3rd Gen).

I've made numerous downloads from both Amazon Prime and Netflix and all of these downloads when played on any of my three Apple TV (3rd Generation) result in the error:

"An error occurred loading this content. Try again later"

This is no problem playing on my single Apple TV 4K, iMac, or MacBook Pro.

I previously reported an issue where the Apple TV (3rd Gen) stopped playing video an continued playing audio 7 minutes into a video. Those video's still play with the same issue.

I've rebooted the AppleTVs and my iMac used to download the video's on my Windows 10 VM.

I find it disconcerting that after going to the effort and expense to purchase the application it fails to be supported by the primary hardware device I use. I wonder if your developers even tested a full range of hardware playback devices.
Like Ch3vr0n said, had you taken advantage of the generous trial you would have known all of this. That's what a trial is ( to try the product before buying it) so, Randy, I am sorry you are having issues but it is what it is. Use it the way its made to be used. Thank you for your feedback.
 
Most people can sidestep these issues by simply using Plex Media Server and Client software which is free for basic use. If you want more advanced features you’ll need to buy a Plex Pass.

This naturally bypasses the need to buy new hardware.
 
After opening a new Mastercard just to purchase AnyStream I've learned that the downloads video do no support playback on Apple TV (3rd Gen).

I've made numerous downloads from both Amazon Prime and Netflix and all of these downloads when played on any of my three Apple TV (3rd Generation) result in the error:

"An error occurred loading this content. Try again later"

This is no problem playing on my single Apple TV 4K, iMac, or MacBook Pro.

I previously reported an issue where the Apple TV (3rd Gen) stopped playing video an continued playing audio 7 minutes into a video. Those video's still play with the same issue.

I've rebooted the AppleTVs and my iMac used to download the video's on my Windows 10 VM.

I find it disconcerting that after going to the effort and expense to purchase the application it fails to be supported by the primary hardware device I use. I wonder if your developers even tested a full range of hardware playback devises.

Try not using a device that's almost 8 years old, and a device that was finicky with video files at launch and lacks any App Store or updates now. Get a cheap roku or another recent streaming box for that.
 
Most people can sidestep these issues by simply using Plex Media Server and Client software which is free for basic use. If you want more advanced features you’ll need to buy a Plex Pass.

This naturally bypasses the need to buy new hardware.

Except in this case this device is so old it has no App Store, or Plex. iTunes sharing is the only way to do anything on them unless it is Jailbroken.
 
speaking of crap that wont play crap ...I still use my old (haven't been in production for I don't know how long) WD TV-connected media players by default which have played everything up through full blu-rays whereas top of the line rokus don't want to play $#!*
 
The ATV3 was never jail broken so you are out of luck there. please don’t fall for any site claiming to have an atv3 jailbreak solution.

the WD devices were really good! but roku and all modern devices are really designed for streaming. WD was part of that era that also produced the boxee which was also pretty good. they were focused on your media/content, not streaming services
 
Is this thread still going on?! :-O
Maybe change your name to Karen and demand to speak to the manager? ;-)
 
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