Apple TV UI slow and sluggish, lags

Plex Players Streaming Devices
1

Server Version#: 1.22.3.4523-d0ce30438
Player Version#: 7.17 (1424)

For the last while the Apple TV UI has been slow and laggy. Like, really laggy. Moving between sections on the main screen takes a second or so and when changes have happened (ie: new tv shows appeared) it takes several seconds for the section to update (with the shows jumping around as it figures out what’s been watched or not) if you have just gone into the app.

This didn’t used to happen. Using the web app or ios app work fine, so wondering if it’s something to do with a new client update or something on the server? This has definitely been something in the last month or so.

This is on the Apple TV HD (the one just before the first 4k version), which is a couple of versions old now, but all the other apps I use (netflix, youtube, etc) all work just fine with no lag.

8 Likes
2

Similar issues for me on both the latest 4K ATV and ATV HD units. When opening TV Shows, the episode numbers shuffle around the screen. Have to exit Show and re-enter before it will settle down.

Server version# Version 1.23.0.4459
TVOS 14.5 (18L204)
Player 7.17 (1424)

3

Yeah. Plex on ATV is quite buggy. Good luck getting support for it. All these ATV threads have crickets and span back years.

2 Likes
4

Same issue here with the ATV HD (4th generation). There was a pretty severe change in responsiveness of the UI in the last two weeks.

5

Same issue here on the ATV HD too. It’s starting to be hard to use it!

6

Same here on 4K

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I wouldn’t say crickets, @sergiou87 was very responsive when I had issues, but it seems like he left Plex around the end of last year/beginning of this year. I’m not sure who specifically took over his responsibilities though, but if you find it tagging them in posts usually helps get their notice.

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Don’t really want to get into a debate regarding issues on responsiveness or lack thereof of Plex staff on overarching ATV issues, just go through the threads, particularly the issues concerning audio sync, Dolby Vision color correction, PIN masking etc. We have been raising posts on these for a while, some of them for years on some of them. As you rightly put it, as if late almost every single ATV post has no response.

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Just as a note I am having no issues with actual playback, just the UI.

1 Like
10

Same. The playback has been fine for me but navigation of the UI is slow and laggy, often causing me to kill and restart the app. This is on ATV 4K.

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Hi, sorry to hear performance has been bad for you folks, we’re investigating this issue and some more details would help us get to the bottom of it:

  • Is the poor performance you’re seeing a long delay in updating the items displayed on screen, or is it jerky slow frame rate, or is it both?
  • Do you see this poor performance only on the Home Screen, or can you reproduce it when on a particular source (like the Recommended screen for your Movies library for example)?
  • If you could capture logs from the Apple TV app immediately after you see the poor performance, and then DM them to me here, that could really help us get to the bottom of your issue. Here’s info on how to get the logs: Apple TV Logs | Plex Support

Sorry again for this issue, and thanks for your help getting to the bottom of it.

2 Likes
12

Hi again, we’ve been looking into this and we believe we’ve made some good strides on improving these issues.

If you’re on our TestFlight betas, please install 7.18 (1571) and see if it improves the problems that you’re seeing. If you’re not on our betas, and you see these performance issues and would like to test the fix, please DM me with an email address and I’ll add you to our beta.

4 Likes
13

For me it’s both slow updating (ie: a show has been watched and returning to the home screen and waiting for it to adjust to pull the next episode into the tray, or showing a movie as half watched) as well as jerky / slow frame rate.

This seems to be restricted to the home screen, the library screens seem fine.

Next time I’m able I will capture a log. Would a short video of the issue help at all? Of course when I took it it didn’t do it as badly as normal, but it might give you an idea of what I’m seeing.

I’m not on testflight, but I will test if you are able to get me in, or let me know where to apply.

14

Thanks for the info. A video wouldn’t hurt, might help us get to the bottom of it.

But I’d love you to try the latest TestFlight build first and see if it improves much for you. The public beta joining link is currently full but I can add you to it manually if you can DM me an email address to send an invite to?

I think we’ve improved the jerkiness / frame rate side of things a bit, and we’re also testing some more improvements internally.

We haven’t looked into slow updates yet, but will have a dig on that too in the coming weeks.

1 Like
15

Did you pickup on this identical thread?

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I have been on the latest beta and it’s definitely snappier than the stable release. Still some kinks to sort out but we’re getting there.

17

I’m having the same issues and would love to try the beta, do I need a separate invite to my iOS beta invite?
I’ve had to resort to another player tonight as my library is taking over a minute to load, and similar load times when trying to play files, while in other apps and on Plex iOS it loads instantly. Once everything is cached it loads up much faster, but that initial load period is painful.

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Sure thing, I’ll DM you. I’ll also send you the video - can’t attach movies here so I’ll send a Dropbox link.

Thanks.

19

The grey screen happens before the Plex symbol comes on the screen and it just stays like that and eventually goes back to the Plex logo. Sometimes have to do it 2 or 3 times before Plex opens (closing the unopened app first), then when opening a tv ep, it takes 30-60 seconds to open. Only seems tp happen on Apple TV as all other forms (Web, iPad etc) all open Plex straight away and the TV shows are immediate.

20

Hi there, I’m also having this issue and would love to try the beta but it seems full. Is there a way to sign up? Thanks!