Streaming movies from iTunes to Apple TV

jjholmes93 · Sep 1, 2011, 07:18 AM

Rented our first movie through iTunes this weekend to watch on ATV2. I was quite disappointed by two things. 1.) It's not like Netflix or video on demand where you can watch it right away. It took nearly 45mins for the movie to download. We thought we could watch it right away. Did we do something wrong or is that how it goes?? 2.) Once the video was downloaded, there was no audio. Apple support was great and refunded our account, but is this typical??

sandyjmacdonald · Sep 1, 2011, 07:21 AM

I normally just rent right on the Apple TV rather than in iTunes. It takes about 30 seconds to buffer, and then it's ready to go. Might be a better option?

jjholmes93 · Sep 1, 2011, 08:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sandyjmacdonald

I normally just rent right on the Apple TV rather than in iTunes. It takes about 30 seconds to buffer, and then it's ready to go. Might be a better option?

I thought that is what we were doing. We selected the movie right through Apple TV, but I believe it's coming through iTunes right?

sandyjmacdonald · Sep 1, 2011, 08:41 AM

Ah, ok, I thought you meant that you rented in iTunes on your computer and then tried to watch it on the Apple TV.

I've never had any trouble renting directly on Apple TV. Like I said, buffering usually takes about 30 secs and then th movie is ready to watch.

Maybe it's the speed of your internet connection?

davehutch · Sep 1, 2011, 09:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sandyjmacdonald

Ah, ok, I thought you meant that you rented in iTunes on your computer and then tried to watch it on the Apple TV.

I've never had any trouble renting directly on Apple TV. Like I said, buffering usually takes about 30 secs and then th movie is ready to watch.

Maybe it's the speed of your internet connection?

Can you tell me what download speed you have? Apple quote that you should have 6Mb minimum for instant playback, but I was a bit disappointed to find that having 4.6Mb means I have to wait 40 minutes for an HD movie to start playing

whooleytoo · Sep 1, 2011, 09:42 AM

Was it a HD movie? What speed is your broadband?

I'd guess the bitrate of a compressed 720p movie would be about 5-6Mbps. If your download speed is faster than that it should buffer for a few seconds then start playing, but if your (actual) speed is any slower you'll pretty much need to wait for almost all the movie to come down before playing.

whooleytoo · Sep 1, 2011, 11:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davehutch

Can you tell me what download speed you have? Apple quote that you should have 6Mb minimum for instant playback, but I was a bit disappointed to find that having 4.6Mb means I have to wait 40 minutes for an HD movie to start playing

That shouldn't be too surprising, with a 4.6Mb connection you're probably getting 3-4Mbps download speeds as opposed to the 6Mbps required; so for every hour of HD content you'll likely require 20 to 30 minutes of buffering.

Even if you had exactly a 6Mbps connection, it would still require buffering in case of any drops from the maximum speed.

davehutch · Sep 1, 2011, 12:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by whooleytoo

That shouldn't be too surprising, with a 4.6Mb connection you're probably getting 3-4Mbps download speeds as opposed to the 6Mbps required; so for every hour of HD content you'll likely require 20 to 30 minutes of buffering.

Even if you had exactly a 6Mbps connection, it would still require buffering in case of any drops from the maximum speed.

It would be good if Apple could give a minimum, constant speed required for instant playback...or maybe we could figure it out?

sandyjmacdonald · Sep 1, 2011, 02:09 PM

My download speed is 13.07 Mbps. That probably explains why buffering only takes 30 secs for me.

davehutch · Sep 2, 2011, 03:34 AM

I did the first part of an experiment last night, wherby I had a stored HD rental on my Mac, which I then played through the ATV2.
Played straight away and continued to stream from the Mac to the ATV a little faster than it played, which meant it was continuous and didn't pause.

Next part of the experiment is to start downloading it on the Mac, then as soon as I'm able to play it, send it through to the ATV.
I'll let you know what happens and whether I can start watching it sooner than if I rented through the ATV

Sep 1, 2011, 07:18 AM	#1
jjholmes93 macrumors newbie Join Date: Jul 2011	Streaming movies from iTunes to Apple TV Rented our first movie through iTunes this weekend to watch on ATV2. I was quite disappointed by two things. 1.) It's not like Netflix or video on demand where you can watch it right away. It took nearly 45mins for the movie to download. We thought we could watch it right away. Did we do something wrong or is that how it goes?? 2.) Once the video was downloaded, there was no audio. Apple support was great and refunded our account, but is this typical??
	0

Sep 1, 2011, 09:42 AM	#6
whooleytoo macrumors 603 Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Cork, Ireland.	Was it a HD movie? What speed is your broadband? I'd guess the bitrate of a compressed 720p movie would be about 5-6Mbps. If your download speed is faster than that it should buffer for a few seconds then start playing, but if your (actual) speed is any slower you'll pretty much need to wait for almost all the movie to come down before playing. __________________ Mac <- Macintosh <- McIntosh apples <- John McIntosh <- McIntosh surname <- "Mac an toshach" <- "Son of the Chief"
	1

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Sep 1, 2011, 07:21 AM	#2
sandyjmacdonald macrumors 6502 Join Date: Jun 2009	I normally just rent right on the Apple TV rather than in iTunes. It takes about 30 seconds to buffer, and then it's ready to go. Might be a better option?
	0

Sep 1, 2011, 08:41 AM	#4
sandyjmacdonald macrumors 6502 Join Date: Jun 2009	Ah, ok, I thought you meant that you rented in iTunes on your computer and then tried to watch it on the Apple TV. I've never had any trouble renting directly on Apple TV. Like I said, buffering usually takes about 30 secs and then th movie is ready to watch. Maybe it's the speed of your internet connection?
	0

Sep 1, 2011, 02:09 PM	#9
sandyjmacdonald macrumors 6502 Join Date: Jun 2009	My download speed is 13.07 Mbps. That probably explains why buffering only takes 30 secs for me.
	0

Sep 2, 2011, 03:34 AM	#10
davehutch macrumors 6502 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Croxley, Herts	I did the first part of an experiment last night, wherby I had a stored HD rental on my Mac, which I then played through the ATV2. Played straight away and continued to stream from the Mac to the ATV a little faster than it played, which meant it was continuous and didn't pause. Next part of the experiment is to start downloading it on the Mac, then as soon as I'm able to play it, send it through to the ATV. I'll let you know what happens and whether I can start watching it sooner than if I rented through the ATV
	0


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