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Just got an ATV2

X

xheathen

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 5, 2010
300
17
Just opened it up and got it unwrapped last night.

Honestly... I have to give it a "wow". Very cool all around. I've seen enough discussions around Boxee verus Roku versus ATV to make my face bleed, but actually using the ATV? It's absolutely beautiful and it was a pretty vast improvement over watching Netflix through my Wii :)

I did have a question regarding wireless connections. Right now, I have cable @ 3mb going into a wireless router. I CAN get the connection up to 10mb for an extra $20 a month, but has anyone seen a huge difference between those speeds wirelessly? The bottleneck is what the router can do so I'm not sure if it's worth it.

I've yet to stream stuff through my computer in the next room, but so far this is one very cool gadget :)
 
S

spice weasel

macrumors 65816
Jul 25, 2003
1,255
9
xheathen said:
Just opened it up and got it unwrapped last night.

Honestly... I have to give it a "wow". Very cool all around. I've seen enough discussions around Boxee verus Roku versus ATV to make my face bleed, but actually using the ATV? It's absolutely beautiful and it was a pretty vast improvement over watching Netflix through my Wii :)

I did have a question regarding wireless connections. Right now, I have cable @ 3mb going into a wireless router. I CAN get the connection up to 10mb for an extra $20 a month, but has anyone seen a huge difference between those speeds wirelessly? The bottleneck is what the router can do so I'm not sure if it's worth it.

I've yet to stream stuff through my computer in the next room, but so far this is one very cool gadget :)
Click to expand...

Congratulations on your purchase. I love my ATV2.

I can't say whether or not the extra bandwidth will be worth it for you because I don't know how Netflix streaming performs with just a 3mbps connection. I'd dare say, though, that you will be missing out on the highest definition Netflix offers (not really HD as they advertise, but it's a pretty darn good picture for streaming).

Your router should definitely not be the bottleneck in that scenario though, unless you have some major signal strength issues. Even an old 802.11b router gets a theoretical 11mbps max, and continually throttles down by a factor of two as signal strength decreases.
 
belvdr

belvdr

macrumors 603
Aug 15, 2005
5,945
1,372
I don't believe I've seen a router limited at anything less than 10Mb before.

My DSL is 6Mb and I can see pixelation from different streams. I am looking to upgrade to the 24Mb service when it comes available.
 
X

xheathen

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 5, 2010
300
17
Cool thanks. I might just do that. We watched a TV tonight and it was as good as any DVD I can remember seeing (not super high quality, so I don't think I'm getting that top tier of quality).

We're in the middle of deciding on renovating our TV room, which if we do I'll be able to get cat5 to that room so I could just plug in. So I think if I can do that, I'll keep my current level. If not, time to upgrade :)
 
B

benoitgphoto

macrumors 6502
Jul 19, 2007
264
2
xheathen said:
Cool thanks. I might just do that. We watched a TV tonight and it was as good as any DVD I can remember seeing (not super high quality, so I don't think I'm getting that top tier of quality).

We're in the middle of deciding on renovating our TV room, which if we do I'll be able to get cat5 to that room so I could just plug in. So I think if I can do that, I'll keep my current level. If not, time to upgrade :)
Click to expand...

For Renting HD stuff (if you would like to do it) through the iTunes store, your 3 mbps won't cut it to watch instantly ...at that speed, for a 2 hours average size movie, you would have to wait 30 to 45 min before being able to start to watch it.
 
X

xheathen

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 5, 2010
300
17
Good to know. I just checked again and I can get a 15mb for like $20 more a month, so I'm going for it :)
 
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newagemac

macrumors 68020
Mar 31, 2010
2,091
23
If you upgrade, you will be able to get Netflix's highest quality HD streams and iTunes HD content will be able to stream immediately with no wait. Both are noticeably better than DVD (especially iTunes HD) so if you are happy with it now, you should be very pleased with your upgrade.
 
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