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Airplay Mirroring and video streams - Stuttering?

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bp1000

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 7, 2011
1,476
185
I'm trying out streaming video from my mba to my HD TV via the new airplay mirroring option but i'm finding that i'm getting choppy playback.

It seems the higher the quality the more frequent the stuttering during playback.

Netflix HD is a particular problem. (I'm mirroring Netflix as i'm running Netflix U.S.A through a proxy which isn't possible from the U.K on the ATV directly).

Is Airplay mirroring not intended to deliver HD video or could i do something to improve matters?
 
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ArchieNL

macrumors newbie
Jun 30, 2012
21
0
I have the same problem; just any movie more on 720p or better quality level immediately starts stuttering through Airplay.

Did anybody by any change found any app or option to render 720p or more streaming through Airplay without handling issues?

Airparrot can extend your desktop but they also suck at rendering video through Airplay. Back to the HDMI cable or are we missing something? :confused:
 
zhenya

zhenya

macrumors 604
Jan 6, 2005
6,929
3,677
What sort of network is the computer and ATV connected to? Video over AirPlay will be extremely sensitive to network quality, all the more so with HD.
 
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a3vr

macrumors member
Jun 28, 2012
33
11
The Airplay mirroring works good, but its definitely not perfect. What I don't understand is why a 720p .mkv file plays better on my apple TV through my iPad using AirVideo through my macbook than just straight from the macbook.
 
hallux

hallux

macrumors 68040
Apr 25, 2012
3,437
1,005
I just tested mine, using MplayerX and streaming HD video (1920x1080 source resolution), AirPlay mirroring to an ATV2. I get SOME stuttering but it's bearable. The MBP and ATV are both on my wireless-G network, the source machine is wired to the router. I think what helps in this case is that MplayerX buffers the video to the Mac, once the buffering is done it should stream to the ATV smoothly, which seemed to happen with a couple of the videos as I watched them longer (it smoothed out).

Overall, pretty slick, and could result in running slideshows for people.
 
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bp1000

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 7, 2011
1,476
185
The test was from my MBA to my ATV2, both connected via WiFi to a 54Mbps network.

Signal quality is strong on both devices when i checked using WiFi diagnostics in ML.

To compare, i ran the same VOD video feed air play from my mac and then did exactly the same VOD feed using air play from my iPhone (again connected to the same wifi network).

The iPhone 4s had no buffering or stuttering. The MBA running ML was stuttering and freezing at least once every minute, if not more.

I think there is a definite problem with ML and airplay on my MBA.
 
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PaulKemp

macrumors 6502a
Jun 2, 2009
568
124
Norway
I dont know, my apple tv is connected wired to the router. While the iMac is connected with wireless N 5 GHz. Link speed of 450 Mbit/s in Network Utility. Should be more than enough.. Still getting some 'choppyness', it looks like a frame here and there is skipped. I specially see it in fast moving action scenes. DAMNIT! Watchable, but not anywhere like a WDTV Live that seems like 1to1 frames. File size of movie doesnt seem to matter. The one I watching now is like 7.5 Gb and 720p. Also using 'best for display', not best for airplay (only resolution, doesnt matter with 720p tv).
 
jwilcox09

jwilcox09

macrumors member
Oct 22, 2007
98
0
Boston
The problem is, especially with wifi, the throughput rates are almost never what the theoretical speed is. I'd plug both in to the wire and see if that helps. Also make sure that you don't have a lot of other things "downloading" anything or using the net at all. I know my connection tends to get bottled up quite quickly. It also might be related to the "technical limitation" that is related to why only certain macs can do the airplay mirroring (I think its something in the graphics chip).
 
R

RaptorsFan

macrumors newbie
Aug 7, 2012
1
0
Same problem!!

bp1000 said:
The test was from my MBA to my ATV2, both connected via WiFi to a 54Mbps network.

Signal quality is strong on both devices when i checked using WiFi diagnostics in ML.

To compare, i ran the same VOD video feed air play from my mac and then did exactly the same VOD feed using air play from my iPhone (again connected to the same wifi network).

The iPhone 4s had no buffering or stuttering. The MBA running ML was stuttering and freezing at least once every minute, if not more.

I think there is a definite problem with ML and airplay on my MBA.
Click to expand...


I have a new Macbook Air 2012, Apple TV 2 and I have tried wired and wireless connections both still result in stuttering during video airplay to the ATV2.

I have even bought a new Airport Extreme Router just to confirm it is not the router and it still didn't help.

I have brought all items in the same room with wired connections and still same issue.

I was thinking maybe ATV 3 might help since it has 2 wifi antennas and faster processor.

Have tried everything I could think of.

This was one of the main reasons I bought a Macbook Air for this airplay feature. Very frustrated.

Any thoughts; any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
 
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petedgr8

macrumors newbie
Aug 8, 2012
1
0
If you change the Apple TV to 720p and use MaplyerX, the video stream is actually watchable with a stutter here and there but def better than before.
 
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Actie

macrumors newbie
Jun 9, 2010
9
0
Can anyone speak to the lagginess of things like word processing or Internet browsing over airplay mirroring? That's what I'm most interested in doing.
 
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hipnetic

macrumors 65816
Oct 5, 2010
1,266
562
Just bumping this thread to report that I, too, see stuttering. I'm going to do some more testing, but my test so far was playing an NFL Game Rewind (video playback via Safari - not sure what underlying video technology that is) on my 2011 Macbook Air 13", and Mirroring to an Apple TV 2 (720p model) which is hard-wired via ethernet. The quality was poor enough stutter-wise that I would not be able to watch it for any extended period of time.

Today I'll try to remember to test the same thing but going to the ATV3 in my living room.

FWIW, I bought a 3rd party Thunderbolt-to-HDMI cable from Amazon a month or so ago for under $20, and that may be a decent option for anyone who's looking to stream video from their Macbook to their TV on occasion. One big downside would be that I wouldn't be able to easily pause, etc. Can someone recommend a good iOS app which I could use as a remote mouse for that purpose?
 
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ProphetX

macrumors 6502
Feb 8, 2011
359
115
hipnetic said:
Just bumping this thread to report that I, too, see stuttering. I'm going to do some more testing, but my test so far was playing an NFL Game Rewind (video playback via Safari - not sure what underlying video technology that is) on my 2011 Macbook Air 13", and Mirroring to an Apple TV 2 (720p model) which is hard-wired via ethernet. The quality was poor enough stutter-wise that I would not be able to watch it for any extended period of time.

Today I'll try to remember to test the same thing but going to the ATV3 in my living room.

FWIW, I bought a 3rd party Thunderbolt-to-HDMI cable from Amazon a month or so ago for under $20, and that may be a decent option for anyone who's looking to stream video from their Macbook to their TV on occasion. One big downside would be that I wouldn't be able to easily pause, etc. Can someone recommend a good iOS app which I could use as a remote mouse for that purpose?
Click to expand...


I personally use the vlc remote app. It works wonders with all the features it has.
 
H

hipnetic

macrumors 65816
Oct 5, 2010
1,266
562
ProphetX said:
I personally use the vlc remote app. It works wonders with all the features it has.
Click to expand...
That looks like an app for controlling VLC running on the computer. In the usage example I provided, I'm playing video within a web browser. I'm pretty sure I'll need more of a mouse/touchpad simulator.
 
J

jakan

macrumors newbie
Oct 8, 2012
1
0
I had the exact same problems regarding the stuttering and lagging while using airplay - both audio only and video and audio together. I just found out that for me, the problem was with my wireless router. It had caused me problems in the same area before (connection drops on PS3 network and so on) so i connected a separate wireless router to my existing one and now everything is fine and smooth.

Hope this helps, gl.
 
M

manthe

macrumors newbie
Apr 28, 2011
5
1
hipnetic said:
Can someone recommend a good iOS app which I could use as a remote mouse for that purpose?
Click to expand...

HippoRemote Pro! Great App - must install small, innocuous client app on your Mac. The app has dozens of profiles that 'natively' control tons of different apps, players, browsers - even profiles for specific web sites like Netflix, Amazon, HULU, etc. well worth it.
 
B

bully3002

macrumors newbie
Feb 25, 2013
1
0
...

I started with the following option: a MacBook Air 2012 and Apple TV2. I tried to play through airplay mirroring a movie using vlc. quite often stall and I could not enjoy the view. after I changed atv2 to ATV 3 and vlc player was replaced by mplayerx , everything works as I wanted in the first place. Both are wireless connected to internet through Airport Extreme.
 
msjones

msjones

macrumors 6502
Oct 18, 2007
429
4
Nottinghamshire, UK
It may be worth changing the channel your router operates on.

I have recently had to adjust a network for a friend as he were experiencing crap stream quality to his roku players. A quick network scan showed most routers in the area running on channel 6. Once we changed the channel, network speeds were vastly improved.
 
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Tomnewton

macrumors newbie
Jun 17, 2013
1
0
iMac stuttering on Apple tv but NOT on MacBook Pro??

Hi Everyone,

I have a strange problem, hopefully you can help me out because I'm pulling my hair out trying to work it out.

When I stream 1080p films through my MacBook to the the apple tv it works perfectly but when I try through the iMac it stutters. I've tried streaming youtube through my MacBook and mirrored it onto the apple tv and it works fine but again on the iMac it stutters?? I thought it could be the wifi signal at the iMac but I put my MacBook next to the iMac and it works fine.

I'm not sure what else to do.

Hope someone can help.

Thanks
Tom
 
D

DianeK

macrumors regular
Jun 4, 2013
222
8
Tomnewton said:
I've tried streaming youtube through my MacBook and mirrored it onto the apple tv and it works fine but again on the iMac it stutters?? I thought it could be the wifi signal at the iMac but I put my MacBook next to the iMac and it works fine.
Click to expand...
Do both computers have the same OSX?
 
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