Hi, sorry for the newb question, but I am on the verge of pulling the trigger on an ATV , and am wondering how much time it takes between hitting the download button on a movie in iTunes (both SD and HD), and when its ready to watch? many thx.
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How Much Time to Download a Movie from Itunes
- Thread starter torontoboy
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It depends completely on your internet connection. We can tell you nothing from what you have given us.
I have cable with 5M down. HD movies take less than 2 minutes to be ready. SD movies are basically instantaneous.
I'm a little particular though, I like to wait until the entire movie is DLed before I watch it, just so I KNOW there wont be any hiccups. That can take up and hour or so with an HD movie.
I'm a little particular though, I like to wait until the entire movie is DLed before I watch it, just so I KNOW there wont be any hiccups. That can take up and hour or so with an HD movie.
Fair enough. I have a high speed connection through the phone lcompany as ISP (Bell Sympatico in Canada). Also have a Time Capsule and speedstream modem. I think that's it.
For the last year or so I have had super fast downloads. I have a strong cable modem connection. Usually HD rentals are ready to watch within 45 seconds.
However, recently I have found that downloads are taking a really really long time... hours.
I was even forced against my will recently to rent a standard definition movie with my kids recently and it took a very long time.
I found many conversations googling this issue. seems it has been for last couple of weeks. It doesn't seem to be a topic here. Anyone else experiencing this issue? From the threads I have read, it appears to be an apple issue. I am surprised there hasn't been an uproar on this forum.
here is one thread:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1838952&tstart=0
Mark
However, recently I have found that downloads are taking a really really long time... hours.
I was even forced against my will recently to rent a standard definition movie with my kids recently and it took a very long time.
I found many conversations googling this issue. seems it has been for last couple of weeks. It doesn't seem to be a topic here. Anyone else experiencing this issue? From the threads I have read, it appears to be an apple issue. I am surprised there hasn't been an uproar on this forum.
here is one thread:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1838952&tstart=0
Mark
On my 20 mbps cable modem in California:
SD movies: more or less instantly available
HD movies: 15-45 seconds
It not only depends on the bandwidth of your internet connection, but also on the perceived bandwidth from your location. Even if you have a fast internet connection, the shared network segments between you and Apple may not be that fast.
One quick test would be to just fire up iTunes and purchase a movie. It'll download to your computer, but it'll give you an idea of how long it'll take to download to ATV. If it's a 120-minute movie and it downloads in 100 minutes, your movie will start almost instantly, 120 minutes and you might need to wait a minute or two, 150 minutes and you might need to wait a while. That's assuming ATV gets the movie from the same data center as iTunes, of course.
ATV downloads 1% of the movie or so, then if the download speed is greater than real-time it'll let you start watching it. If your connection slows down and you run out of buffered movie, it'll pause until it can continue.
All in all, I can get into ATV, find a movie, purchase and start watching it before I can even LOAD my Cox On Demand menu. And my ATV, set to 1080P mode for my 56" 1080P HDTV, looks fantastic. SD movies seem to be better than SD on Cox, and HD movies are breathtaking (I have both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray, and ATV is close - I'll take a $4.99 HD rental over a $30 BluRay disk any day). I currently have ATV streaming from a Mac Mini, but once or twice a week I need to restart iTunes because it loses the connection to ATV (iTunes issue, not ATV).
Other than that and the fact that I want to hook a USB drive up to ATV and have it be my media hub without the need for the Mac Mini, those are my only complaints. I think ATV is a fantastic price, it seems to sell well around here, I have quite a few friends who are happy with it, and I think Apple will keep building their game.
I've only rented HD stuff on my aTV and so far I have had no problems. I've rented, walked away to make popcorn or grab a beer and its ready to watch when I get back. I'm not there to time it but it definitely takes me less than 1-4 minutes.
I've heard the complaints about it taking a very long time for some people but I have never yet experienced this in the dozen or so times I've rented HD content.
I've heard the complaints about it taking a very long time for some people but I have never yet experienced this in the dozen or so times I've rented HD content.
I've got a 50Mbps connection in Colorado, and while I generally buy Blu Rays and convert myself, I have rented a few episodes of TV shows before they are available on Blu Ray. In these instances they begin streaming within 10 seconds every time.
I've also checked my connection through Apple's servers by downloading them straight to my computer first which takes roughly 5-10 minutes for a 40 minute show like Breaking Bad (1080p, roughly 2GB per episode). This equated to a possible connection of about 5MB/sec or 40 Mb/sec. Pretty close to maxing out my full connection.
Overall it will depend on your connection speed with iTunes servers as well as your download speed from your ISP. You can check your internet connection here: http://www.speedtest.net
Almost all of Apple's HD content is encoded at about 5Mbps, so if you reach significantly higher (10-20Mbps)than that number you can expect near instant availability on streaming. Anything under 5Mbps and you should expect to wait a while for the stream to become available, or it may be better to go with SD instead.
I've also checked my connection through Apple's servers by downloading them straight to my computer first which takes roughly 5-10 minutes for a 40 minute show like Breaking Bad (1080p, roughly 2GB per episode). This equated to a possible connection of about 5MB/sec or 40 Mb/sec. Pretty close to maxing out my full connection.
Overall it will depend on your connection speed with iTunes servers as well as your download speed from your ISP. You can check your internet connection here: http://www.speedtest.net
Almost all of Apple's HD content is encoded at about 5Mbps, so if you reach significantly higher (10-20Mbps)than that number you can expect near instant availability on streaming. Anything under 5Mbps and you should expect to wait a while for the stream to become available, or it may be better to go with SD instead.
+1, my experience on all movies is near real time to startup. The movie buffers for a few seconds and then downloads as you watch. I have never had a movie pause in the middle to let the download catch up. And to give weight to "never," I usually rent/purchase 4-5 movies a week.
I have horrible download times with iTunes/AppleTV. Things are ready to watch within 10-15 seconds, but if I'm downloading something it's not that fast. I'm not really complaining because it's fast enough to start watching a movie while it's downloading. I average 120 Mbps down with Comcast's Extreme 105 service. So my cable modem isn't the rate limiting step. I think Apple's servers are taxed.
normally I'm better at noticing these things...
Your wireless network is getting interference from your neighbors or something else such as microwave. Cable modem speed are also impacted from neighborhood usage.
I don't have any problem on Verizon Fios.
I don't have any problem on Verizon Fios.
My Apple TV's and desktops are connected via CAT6 cables. The slowest portion seems to be Apple's servers. WiFi speeds are still pretty good in my house.