Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Streaming movies to ATV3 from iTunes, USB vs NAS

N

nickosbad

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 16, 2009
188
43
Hi all, quick question regarding network bandwidth

I currently have my ATV3 hard wired to my router, upstairs is my iMac with movies on a USB drive, now when I stream to the ATV3 I know there is a 1 way stream going from the iMac to the ATV

Also connected to the same router as the AtV3 is a NAS drive, my question is....if I put the movies on the NAS and play them through the ATV & iTunes does the data first go to the iMac then back to the ATV (2 streams) or will it go direct from the NAS to the ATV so long as iTunes is running

Basically the my 2.4ghz N network probably won't cope with 2 simultaneous 25mbps streams.....or will it???

Cheers, Nick
 
P

profets

macrumors 603
Mar 18, 2009
5,114
6,146
Just to confirm - with movies on the NAS, you're still sharing them using iTunes on the iMac?

I'm pretty sure in that situation the media is being streamed from the iMac to the Apple TV, with the iMac grabbing the data (movies) from the NAS.

Outside of jailbreaking the Apple TV, I don't believe there is a way to get movies direct from a NAS to an Apple TV - Maybe actually if there is a decent iTunes server built into the NAS software? Don't think so though, there was some talk of it in a thread here related to Synology NAS.
 
N

nickosbad

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 16, 2009
188
43
I was experimenting this evening and with my library on the NAS, it takes ages for the remote app to populate the items and artwork, with a HDD connected direct to the iMac it loads instantly, video plays quicker too

I think I'm gonna store my 1080 versions on the USB HDD for use with the ATV3 and the 720 versions on the NAS as my bedroom TV will play them direct from the NAS, I can still use these as SD versions in my itunes library for syncing with my iPad mini

Damn Apple and their stupid streaming restrictions....just give us direct NAS streaming!!
 
P

profets

macrumors 603
Mar 18, 2009
5,114
6,146
A lot can depend on the NAS type as well.

Let's hope for some sort of SDK/App Store for the ATV in the future. It'll quickly open up many options I'm sure.
 
P

Pyromonkey83

macrumors 6502
May 24, 2009
325
0
This is dependent on how your library is set up. Personally, I have my files set up so that my library.xml file is physically on my iMac. This allows your iMac to "cache" the metadata of each file and have it prepared for use whenever it needs to. Then I just mount the NAS drive and have all of my movie files stored on there. Since the drive is mounted through the interface of the iMac, it will bounce the video from the NAS -> iMac -> Apple TV so you need a decently robust network infrastructure. Personally, I do this by hardwiring the iMac to my gigabit router, then have my Apple TVs (I have 3 of them, 1 Gen 2, 2 Gen 3) on wireless. I have had all 3 playing different movie streams at the same time and had no issues with stuttering on this setup. Also, since all of the artwork and metadata is stored on the iMac, there are no latency issues with that on the TV's or through the remote app.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom