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mic j

macrumors 68030
Mar 15, 2012
2,663
156
Great news! The new modem worked..I can now stream the large files relatively quick. I purchased a netgear N600 dual band router ($79.99 at Best buy) which is much better than the old antiquated one I had been previously running.

Thanks so much for all those that helped!

If anyone is having issues with the spin- make sure you have an fast router!
Your old one's speed was fine. But BR's bitrates need a fire hose instead of a garden hose. :D
 

Confuzzzed

macrumors 68000
Aug 7, 2011
1,630
0
Liverpool, UK
So in summary, do we need modifying all ripped files that brick ATV 3 on a spinning wheel? I have ATV 3, a 3 year old Time Capsule and a 2 year old Airport Extreme for my home network. Do I need new equipment?

Currently the ISP provided router is also working as a wifi router to minimise blackspots in my house. The ATV 3 is not connected to it BUT could it be that it's confusing the other routers in disturbing the daisy chain? Would buying a third Airport Express and changing the ISP router to modem only function fix my problems or do I need to modify the files?
 

mic j

macrumors 68030
Mar 15, 2012
2,663
156
So in summary, do we need modifying all ripped files that brick ATV 3 on a spinning wheel? I have ATV 3, a 3 year old Time Capsule and a 2 year old Airport Extreme for my home network. Do I need new equipment?

Currently the ISP provided router is also working as a wifi router to minimise blackspots in my house. The ATV 3 is not connected to it BUT could it be that it's confusing the other routers in disturbing the daisy chain? Would buying a third Airport Express and changing the ISP router to modem only function fix my problems or do I need to modify the files?
You don't mention what type of files you are trying to stream, mkv or mp4?

Most people who stream BR mkv's use a hardwired aTV. The bitrates/files sizes of BR mkv's are just too large to consistently stream without hiccups. Not saying it can't be done, but it is definitely on the edge (or beyond).

Also before doing anything else, I would recommend you "Optimize" your files using Subler or, if using Handbrake "Web Optimize". That often works for getting rid of the "spinning wheel". Subler takes maybe a minute to do it. Handbrake will take hours because you are transcoding the file.

Finally, I have a ISP supplied wifi router (g only) connected to a AEBS (and before that a TC) and it does not interfere with the Apple routers.
 

Confuzzzed

macrumors 68000
Aug 7, 2011
1,630
0
Liverpool, UK
You don't mention what type of files you are trying to stream, mkv or mp4?

Most people who stream BR mkv's use a hardwired aTV. The bitrates/files sizes of BR mkv's are just too large to consistently stream without hiccups. Not saying it can't be done, but it is definitely on the edge (or beyond).

MP4s, the reason why I think it may be partly to do with the network is that even projects saved to iTunes from iMovie require disproportionate amount of time buffering. Despite the ATV3 showing a good signal. No way around it though for me as I live in a big old house, with thick walls and the ATV3 lives furthest away from the primary wifi source which is the time capsule. If my daisy chain is not working as it should (it seems to be on Airport Utility) that could explain the problem.

I'll try optimising with Subler (and may even resort to using Handbrake even though I ripped the files using another 3rd party software) and see if it makes a difference, otherwise, I need to start moving Airports around and sorting out my daisy chain.
 

mic j

macrumors 68030
Mar 15, 2012
2,663
156
MP4s, the reason why I think it may be partly to do with the network is that even projects saved to iTunes from iMovie require disproportionate amount of time buffering. Despite the ATV3 showing a good signal. No way around it though for me as I live in a big old house, with thick walls and the ATV3 lives furthest away from the primary wifi source which is the time capsule. If my daisy chain is not working as it should (it seems to be on Airport Utility) that could explain the problem.

I'll try optimising with Subler (and may even resort to using Handbrake even though I ripped the files using another 3rd party software) and see if it makes a difference, otherwise, I need to start moving Airports around and sorting out my daisy chain.
Yep, definitely try the optimization first. It's an easy solution if it works. It really shouldn't matter for this whether the transcode was done with HB or some other app. If your BR mp4's are in the 5-20GB file size, that is an indication that whatever you used is producing something similar to HB.

Also, in the Airport Utility, you can see the connection speed between the aTV and router. You may want to check that.
 

Confuzzzed

macrumors 68000
Aug 7, 2011
1,630
0
Liverpool, UK
Yep, definitely try the optimization first. It's an easy solution if it works.

Quick update, using Subler certainly helped although it's not a terribly intuitive platform I have to say.

When you launch the App for the first time (and you have to transfer it over from Downloads to Applications manually then press the Option key whilst firing it up as Apple's sandbagging won't let you otherwise). The way I have navigated through it initially) there is no initial project screen so you have to go to File ---> New ----> select the movie from iTunes library then add to queue and from there go to View Queue from the top menu. There I select "Optimize" only and press "Start" It literally takes a few seconds and when I try and stream on ATV3, there is some initial buffering the first time you play a movie but subsequently it's much faster.

Of course, once you are in the View Queue interface, you can simply add projects by pressing "+"
 

mic j

macrumors 68030
Mar 15, 2012
2,663
156
Thanks for your posts by the way. Just to be clear, I am not using BR, just vanilla DVD
Well, that explains some. I have not found dvd's to benefit very much from Optimization. In theory, it should have an impact, but with the small file sizes of regular dvd, they normally load pretty quickly anyway.
 

Confuzzzed

macrumors 68000
Aug 7, 2011
1,630
0
Liverpool, UK
Well, that explains some. I have not found dvd's to benefit very much from Optimization. In theory, it should have an impact, but with the small file sizes of regular dvd, they normally load pretty quickly anyway.

Care to guess what the hell is going on with my almost insensent spinning wheels? Hopefully what I did helped (it seems to take for ever to start the first time, but on playing a second or third time does seem to start much faster). And it's not the case with all rips
 

mic j

macrumors 68030
Mar 15, 2012
2,663
156
Care to guess what the hell is going on with my almost insensent spinning wheels? Hopefully what I did helped (it seems to take for ever to start the first time, but on playing a second or third time does seem to start much faster). And it's not the case with all rips
Let me make sure I understand your setup: You have an ISP provided wifi router (g/n/or both; 2.4/5GHz or both?), your TC (I assume g/n, dual band) is bridged to it, you have an aTV that is really far away with several walls in the path. Is all that correct?

Go to you Airport Utility. Single click on the TC and you should see the aTV as one of it's clients. Hover your pointer over the aTV and a window will comes up that describes the connection type/speed. Let us know what you find.
 

Confuzzzed

macrumors 68000
Aug 7, 2011
1,630
0
Liverpool, UK
Let me make sure I understand your setup: You have an ISP provided wifi router (g/n/or both; 2.4/5GHz or both?), your TC (I assume g/n, dual band) is bridged to it, you have an aTV that is really far away with several walls in the path. Is all that correct?

Go to you Airport Utility. Single click on the TC and you should see the aTV as one of it's clients. Hover your pointer over the aTV and a window will comes up that describes the connection type/speed. Let us know what you find.

wifi router (g/n; yes. 2.4/5GHz both but not dual band currently set on 2.4GHz), your TC (I assume g/n, the TC is 3 years old so not sure it's dual band to be honest. I assume not). I also have an Airport Express base station as a bridge (halfway between TV and TC). It's the AEBS that aTV is a client of.

The movie files are on the computer (iMac 2012) which is sitting in close proximity to the TC and is attached to it via ethernet cable but VERY far away from the TV. The TV is in close proximity to the ISP router but in order to stream from the iMac, I don't have it hooked to the ISP router so that it can be on the same network as the computer.
 

mic j

macrumors 68030
Mar 15, 2012
2,663
156
wifi router (g/n; yes. 2.4/5GHz both but not dual band currently set on 2.4GHz), your TC (I assume g/n, the TC is 3 years old so not sure it's dual band to be honest. I assume not). I also have an Airport Express base station as a bridge (halfway between TV and TC). It's the AEBS that aTV is a client of.

The movie files are on the computer (iMac 2012) which is sitting in close proximity to the TC and is attached to it via ethernet cable but VERY far away from the TV. The TV is in close proximity to the ISP router but in order to stream from the iMac, I don't have it hooked to the ISP router so that it can be on the same network as the computer.
I'm on the run right now, but one thing I will comment on, is that I have been unhappy running my AE in bridge mode. It tends to slow things down because it is communicating 2-ways with the TC. Sometimes that is the price you have to pay to get wifi into an area that you couldn't get it normally but if you can avoid it, I would. Have you actually ever tried the aTV not using the AE?
 

Confuzzzed

macrumors 68000
Aug 7, 2011
1,630
0
Liverpool, UK
Have you actually ever tried the aTV not using the AE?

Actually not. But doubt if I would get the TC wifi signal down to the aTV without it. It's simply too far. But got home to it just now and it seems even Lion king (had been the worst offender up until now) is now playing without buffering so whatever I did with optimizing must have worked. Kids are happy!! Once again thanks for all your help
 

SABOND21

Guest
Feb 17, 2011
16
0
Ogre, Latvia
The same problem

I have a kind of the same problem. I have Cisco Linksys EA4500 router (very powerful - the speed of downloading to MacMini is around 16 MegaBYTES per second, so the LAN WiFi speed is incredible). This router supports HDD attachment, so I have connected 1.5TB HDD to it. Everything is up to date. Any streaming from this HDD to MacMini works instantly. The router is configured to recommended by Apple settings. I am trying streaming 1080p .m4a movies using iPad 3 16GB (using FileExplorer App) from my Network HDD to AppleTV and here is what I found:

1. If I am streaming file, which is around 12 GB or less - everything works perfect.
2. If the file is bigger than 12 GB it takes about 15 minutes to preload (buffer) it for Apple TV.
3. YouTube works instantly.
4. AirPlay works perfectly for games.

In my case it seems it is the problem of the system I have made - signal goes very long way (first)iPad -> (than to) Router -> (back to the) iPad -> (than again to the) Router -> (and only than to) AppleTV. When I am watching movies on MacMini from this HDD attached to the router - everything is fine, but when I enable AirPlay to AppleTV it starts to do long preload...
 

Notechy

macrumors member
Apr 11, 2015
67
11
Surrey
I had the same experience. What had been a flawless :apple:TV3 experience suddenly became what you described. I wonder if it has anything to do with the minor software update from a few days ago?

I would select a movie to play, a frame of the movie would pop on screen and then the forever wait spinner would spin. If I waited a very long time, I would see minor progress on the buffering bar. If I waited still longer, a bit of the video might start playing but then it would catch up to the (too) slow stream feeding the (pre)buffer.

At first, I thought it might be just the new movie I encoded, so I went back to stuff I knew had streamed just fine from prior views. Same effect. Then, I went to a small encode from a DVD (knowing this would be both small file size and smallish Mbps). Same effect.

I've got a wired network that has always worked fine. I checked the AEBS and tested streaming to other devices. All fine. Then, I did the simple thing: unplug the :apple:TV3, wait about 30 seconds, plug it back in. This solved the problem (at least for now). If I was guessing about possible causes, I would guess there might be a bug in the :apple:TV3 software that increasingly eats up the buffer space until there is hardly any left. Then, when you want to stream a film, it's trying to load it into what would be the equivalent of too-little buffer slower than it plays.

The unplug-wait-plug move probably clears the kludge out of the buffer memory. However, if this is a bug, it will likely repeat from similar use (probably leading to another unplug-wait-plug in the future). Otherwise, it may just be the classic case of needing to occasionally cold start tech to flush all of the memory. Try it and see if that solves your problem too.

Apologies for thread resurrection, but found it when I googled my problem.

Short home video clips put through Handbrake to the ATV3 preset. On iMac. Made available to ATV3 via wifi, some in Home Movies, more in Photos. All hopelessly slow to load, then pause for buffering.

Problem seems wholly solved by simply unplugging the ATV3 and rep lugging it!
 
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