Since the update to tvOS18 the lag on DIRECTV Stream has been awful. Live and recorded shows lag, but commercials play fine. I’ve restarted, reset and tried WiFi and Ethernet without resolution. Help me Apple.
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
Apple TV 4K, tvOS 18
Same issues here. Lag on syncing with DIRECTV. Had shadowing issues with live sports etc. unwatchable.
I fixed it by turning off the Match Content feature in the appletv settings. All good now.
Same issues here. Lag on syncing with DIRECTV. Had shadowing issues with live sports etc. unwatchable.
I fixed it by turning off the Match Content feature in the appletv settings. All good now.
I have been speaking with Directv Stream support since posting this community question. They claim I am the only one who has called with this Audio/video buffering issue. I was walked through all the steps Trazbyte mentions in their response multiple times. Directv has done video calls with me to see the issue and claims to be elevating the issue to their developers. I was told to delete the app, give it 72 hours and an update should be released. The issue still has not been resolved. The Directv Stream app has not been updated since August 2024 and has a user rating of 2.3 out of 5 stars on the App Store! Directv is now offering to allow me to pay for one of their streaming devices. Directv claims they will refund the cost of the device. This is the only fix for now. Both live tv and recorded shows have been affected since the tvOS18 update. After a few seconds the video quality reduces and the audio and video no longer sync.
Mine is also doing the same where it starts out fine, then it gets choppy/laggy and then the audio is out of sync by a good 3 minutes give or take if I let it play to see if it fixes itself. I’ve deleted/reinstalled the app, restarted Apple TV, rebooted my modem/router, checked the cables. Everything that I’ve read as a suggestion, I’ve tried. All other apps work just fine.
lag
I presume you mean ‘buffering’, as a small shift in time wouldn’t impact viewing.
Try this for any misbehaving app:
Developers have had a long time to prepare their apps for tvOS 18. Some may have chosen to wait until it was released. You may just have to wait for Direct TV to post an update compatible with tvOS 18. Make sure your tvOS settings are set to automatically download and install app updates.
I too am having issues with tvOS 18. I have several AppleTVs 4Ks in the house. Luckily only one has updated to tvOS18. I am experiencing the same issue with the video getting choppy and the audio gets out of sync. I am Ethernet connected. Tried the basics of deleting and reinstalling the app and have gone as far as resetting the device. Nothing has worked to resolve the issue. Changing the resolution does nothing. Content matching does nothing, charging the chroma does nothing, refresh rate, nothing.
In other apps, I notice some jitters and shadowing. Amazon, YouTube, Netflix all experience this. Also experience these issues in Movies in my library from time to time.
This seems like a codec issue.
"This seems like a codec issue.”
Apple uses industry standard codecs, not proprietary ones.
Experience the same issues. Extreme lag after upgrading to tvOS18. Choppy video, and the sound gets twice as loud over a period of time. Other apps not affected. I’ve uninstalled/reinstalled the app, changed HDMI, reset Apple TV. Nothing has fixed this yet. Pretty annoying.
DIRECTV temp workaround is to set video to 4K HDR and disable both match contents… then restart… working for me until they find a permanent fix
tvOS 18.1 and Oct 24 DIRECTV update have fixed it for me… I’m back to Dolby Vision and match content with no issues now
Updating to the latest 18.1 update and updating Directv has resolved the lagging issue.
Ours was set on 4K SDR with both match contents turned off. I’ll try 4K HRD and see if that fixes anything. Did they say anything about the chroma settings?
Nothing about Chroma…
I’ll try this. My workaround has been to use dtv credentials to access network content via their apps. Frustrating as it’s been a week now with no updates.
Only way I found to fix it is to reset the AppleTV and not let it upgrade to 18 by turning off automatic updates. I’ll likely wait a while before updating once there is a confirmed fix.
Lag on DIRECTV Stream since tvOS 18 update despite troubleshooting
