Why does Netflix work better on Xbox 360 as opposed to AppleTV?

I have used the following devices for years(except one), I have also  tested them with wired and wireless connections. My download speed is  about 14 MB/Sec. 1. Apple TV from year 2011 2. PS3 from year 2008 3. Amazon FireStick from 2015 (only for a few months now) I have listed them in this order of performance and stability purely based on my owb experience. Hardware-wise, the Amazon FireStick has the best specs. However, it is one of the worst streaming players. :( Apple TV Pros 1. Works as expected 2.  I can see adaptive streaming working. The resolution changes depending  on the connection quality and the best feature is that it goes back to  good video quality when the connection becomes better. 3. Well thought of, smooth and intuitive interface. Especially with recommendations based on your viewing history Cons 1.  Occasionally reboots for no reason (very rare though). But after reboot  all existing app issues are gone. So reboot might probably be caused by  limited hardware resources, kernel faults, etc. I am only hoping there  will be a better hardware soon. I will spend any money on this. 2.  No updates available for years and years. I understand the secrecy part  and buiding a better product. But not knowing when the next update is  due is kind of scary. Well that is Apple anyway. 3. Infrared remote is really-really annoying. I wish they had a bluetooth remote. 4. Apple remote app is buggy and would require restarting the app after the a few minutes to get hold of the control. 5.  Airplay is still unstable. I have changed routers, network setup, etc.  It is never stable (sorry I had to put this one in although it has  nothing to do with streaming) PlayStation 3 Pros 1. Mostly works as expected 2. I can use the PlayStation blutooth remote. No need to be in line of sight. Cons 1. Adaptive streaming doesn't work too well but it is ok. Video quality  remains the same even after improved intenet connection. Trust me on  this one, I have implemented QoS to test this. Yes my life is that sad! 2.  PlayStation store to download apps couldn't be any more difficult than  it is. I wish Sony will understand that ease-of-use is what will make  the product more demanded. 3. Clunky user interface. (I am an Apple fanboy, this could have  something to do with my opinion). Movie recommendations are all over the  place. Make your own decision here. Amazon FireStick Pros 1. Mostly works as expected and fast 2. I can use the FireStick bluetooth remote. No need to be in line of sight. 3. Quite fast to load videos. Whether it will stay that way is another question. Cons 1. Adaptive streaming doesn't work too well, but it is ok. Video quality  remains the same even after improved internet connection. 2. Amazon store to download apps couldn't be any more difficult than  it is. I wish Amazon will understand that ease-of-use is what will make  the product more demanded. 3. Not many  apps are available for the firestick. The Hulu app really sucks big  time. Clunky icons and bad movie recommendation UI. The subtitles  disappear if you resume from a previous session of the video. Only way  to get it back is reload the video and fast forward. So annoying! 4.  Streaming gets stuck halfway. No option to resume from that point. The  checkpoints seem to be atleast 30 minutes before. It would be ideal if  it is five minutes or so. So this is really bad in terms of streaming. PlayStation  and Amazon Firestick seem to use the same app. Could be by the same  developer? The issues in both is inherent. I am not sure how they handle the updates. Conclusion Apple  TV is the winner with streaming considering its interface and less muscle.  It just works. I still use Apple TV although I have the muscle of  FireStick. It is a stable player and streams really well. I really hope there is a hardware upgrade soon. Please give me bluetooth remote.  I will buy it the first day it is released. (I have never  done this with any other Apple product). I  hope the app and device developers at Amazon and Sony take this as a positive  criticism. I am trying to embrace other products, but the  quality of these products give me no confidence.

I own an Xbox 360, a first-gen Apple TV, and the new second-gen.  Aside from the fact that I find the Xbox's interface incredibly annoying, I have no technical issues with any of the three. Are you using a third-party DNS server other than what's provided by your ISP?  I've heard of that causing major download delays for iTunes rentals, and I imagine that could also affect Netflix on the Apple TV. Otherwise, there's nothing inherently better about the Xbox's Netflix capability over the Apple TV's.  I hate to say it, but if it's not a DNS issue, it may be that you have a faulty Apple TV box.

Just took my Apple TV to France, where I hooked it to what must be the world's slowest internet connection. Nothing would play on it. Nothing apart from Netflix. (which seamlessly switched between HD and lower res streams). For me, the 360 was unusable as a network player because of the god awful fan noise.

I have experienced a similar problem -- lagging play on a 2nd gen Apple TV, but the Xbox 360 always plays the title perfectly -- and it shouldn't be my connection, as I've got 50 down / 5 up.  My first guess would be that the caching is different in the two pieces of software -- perhaps the Xbox version of the code is more efficient and better at judging your connection speed than the Apple TV, selecting the proper resolution of content and caching quicker / "longer" to keep the skips from happening.  Twice now I've had to turn to switching to watching a title on the Xbox 360 to keep it from pausing.