What's a good wireless router that I can use to stream media to Apple TV?

I know you said you are looking for lower price alternatives to the Airport Extreme, but it really is the best thing on the market for what it does. So simple and easy to configure and it just works.

Airport Express will allow you to plug a HDD into it and access it on all computers on your network. That USB port can also be used with a hub to add more HDDs or even a printer.

If you do not need that, and do not want to pay for an Airport, then I suggest that you take a look at Netgear routers. I used them before switching to Airport and was happy with them.

emaja said:

Airport Express will allow you to plug a HDD into it and access it on all computers on your network. That USB port can also be used with a hub to add more HDDs or even a printer.

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Absolutely not! Careful what claims you make.

Airport Express only supports printers. It is the Airport Extreme that allows HDD.

Kilamite said:

Absolutely not! Careful what claims you make.

Airport Express only supports printers. It is the Airport Extreme that allows HDD.

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See what happens when I type after a couple of single malts?

Sorry. I indeed meant Airport Extreme, NOT Airport Express.

Thanks for the catch.

Just got an Apple TV this weekend, and was concerned that my wifi router (a Thomson 'G' one that o2 gave free with their broadband) wouldn't be up to the job but it streamed video perfectly. Syncing content took forever, I bought a series of 24 on my Apple TV, started syncing to my iMac at 4pm and it had 4 episode still to do at midnight.

I use a Netgear DG834N without issue.

For the money, this router can't be beat especially since it can be flashed with your favorite 3rd party firmware (Hyperwrt, DD-WRT, Tomato, etc).. It is only G/G Speedbooster (when flashed) but it works incredible with TV. On a side note, I have installed about a dozen of these in peoples home all flashed with 3rd party and all work great still.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833124190

marklight said:

Actually come to think of it - is there the ability to select a media file from the apple tv to have it synch. Say I wanted to watch a movie- and maybe I didn't have the best connection ( i got skipping) is there a way to just select a piece of media to synch, so I could then say wait a few minutes come back and it'd be on my apple tv ? (i know you could probably do this on your computer, but I'm looking for a less computer oriented solution)

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Not sure, am new to this, but if 13 hours of video took me 8 hours to sync I would think it'll take more than a few minutes. A few minutes might be long enough to build up a buffer if you start it playing and pause it.
The content I watched is recorded via EyeTV and exported to either iPhone or Apple TV format, and neither format has skipped. Yet.
I was thinking I's have to lay ethernet cable, as my main computer is a G5 iMac and so has only 'G' wifi, but think I'll manage to live without it.

I have used a Belkin Pre N wireless router for a couple of years and it has performed flawlessly. It serves a mixture of 802.11g and n devices.

When I got my Apple TV in February it’s AirPort client found and hooked up with the Belkin router without incident. The same was true with my MacBook Pro, which I got in March.

I use the Belkin router to wirelessly stream my ripped DVD movie files from my MacBook to my Apple TV. As noted, it’s worked flawlessly and has been fast enough to suit me. The best part of the Belkin was that its price was only $89.99, which was only half the price for an AirPort Extreme, $179.00.

i'm using my old Linksys WRT54G substitute with high gain antenna from Linksys and it works fine with streaming to AppleTV downstairs to the living room.

i would suggest checking your current wireless transfer rate in activity monitor. If i use the standard antenna, i only get a max of 100-200kbps transfer rate with my setup and i can't even get streaming to work, it is just too slow and forget about sync as well, it'll take ages too.

my current setup, distance between iMac and router around 12m, and router to AppleTV around 9m (downstairs), both got 1 less than full signal bar indicator and streaming transfer rate is around 600kbps - 1.2mbps. Now only the kids movies are sync to AppleTV, and others are watched through streaming.

if you are looking for a small coverage area, i think any known brand wireless G router will do fine (for a small budget). if you currently don't have a router, maybe Airport Express 802.11n is enough? $99 for multi purpose router is hard to beat i guess

edit (add): you won't be able to attach usb HDD to airport express though, only usb printer and music streaming

In regards to Netgear, I've had issues with some of those older MR814 models. They were cheap but in the long run a mistake to go with. Between myself and friends I convinced to buy and help setup (long distance troubleshooting is a bear!), within a year they were all acting flakey or outright dying. It will be awhile before I go Netgear again.

msantoso said:

i'm using my old Linksys WRT54G substitute with high gain antenna from Linksys and it works fine with streaming to AppleTV downstairs to the living room.

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I have an old Linksys WRT54-G wireless access point, too. It used to serve as my router but I replaced it two years ago because its range was inadequate to satisfy the needs of my wireless network. The Belkin N, with which I replaced the old Linksys, has much greater range so that all my wireless devices can be used from anywhere in my house. I believe that the increased range provided by 802.11n routers over that available from the old g routers is at least as valuable as the speed increase.

I now use the old Linksys as a wireless adapter for my TiVo Series3. It has been great in that application.

Do you really need to be wireless? If you can move stuff around could yuo run wire? It is worth trying to make wire work because it is so much faster and more reliable. It is really not hard to punch a 1/2 hole through drywall. Maybe you can't wire everything but you can wire some of it. In my houes the desktop computers are wired and the wireless router only serves the one notebook. Normall large flat screen TVs don't move so there is no harm in running a write to them. Heck yu already have the A/C power cord and Cable TV wire going to it. You can likely get an cat5 wire there too.

Airport Extreme

Save yourself a lot of trouble and just buy an Airport Extreme. With the time you will save not screwing around with some other router, you can set up a lemonade stand and recover the extra $20. You can get a used 802.11n Airport Extreme (looks identical to the current model but is not gigabit Ethernet) for ~$100 on eBay.

I actually spent a little bit more and bought a time capsule - I wasn't really looking for an n router (I had been using my mac to create my wireless network), but I wanted to start backing up regular (after nearly loosing 160 gigs of family stuff, including photos), and it seemed like a good way to go. A bit more (300 before discount) than just buying a 500 gig hard drive for sure, but I've got a rock solid n router and gigabit ethernet for anything I hook up with copper.

and I've got a lot more peace of mind about having future hard drive problems, and not having to spend a week of my life trying desperately to recover lost data without causing further damage to the drive...

Just my .02. It hurt the wallet for a few minutes to purchase it, but I forgot all about that once I got it home and set up. Works like a champ, easy to use, works perfect on both the mac and windows, and you can use the drive as an NAS as well. Still have the USB port open on the back if I want to share more than just the printer I have hooked up to the mac (which I'll be doing next week), or add an extra hard drive to the network for storage.

great solution, IMHO.

mkaake said:

I actually spent a little bit more and bought a time capsule - I wasn't really looking for an n router (I had been using my mac to create my wireless network), but I wanted to start backing up regular (after nearly loosing 160 gigs of family stuff, including photos), and it seemed like a good way to go. A bit more (300 before discount) than just buying a 500 gig hard drive for sure, but I've got a rock solid n router and gigabit ethernet for anything I hook up with copper.

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I’ve been considering a Time Capsule, too. It’s certainly an elegant solution, an n router with 1 gig Ethernet and wireless backup, all in one box. I have hesitated for a couple of reasons, though. First, I don’t really need a new wireless router as my Belkin Pre N satisfies my needs. Also, some users have been dissatisfied with how the Time Capsule’s wireless backup function works. They seem to be a distinct minority but it’s still a worry.