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Airport Extreme Base Station (N & Dualband) and 7.4.2 - Videoplayback still stutters

DaveTheGrey

DaveTheGrey

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 28, 2003
616
2
I had a working mediacenter using my MBP, the "old" AEBS N, and an attached USB Airdisk where I was storing my movies.
Then I replaced the AEBS with the new dualband one (so I moved over from my old N with 7.3.2 to the dualband with 7.4.0 prinstalled) because of 2 iPhones in my household which constantly made a G out of my N network.
I dont know what's the problem - the dualband AEBS or its firmware but:
When I try to stream a movie or when I copy a file from the airdisk every 10-30 seconds the transfere rate falls down to 0 MB/s and then goes back. When I'm copying a file this equals simply in a longer time that the transfere takes but if I'm watching a movie with VLC the playback stutters.
This is SO annoying.
I know that I could simply tell VLC to buffer more video in order to "fix" this, but come on... It worked with the old AEBS and 7.3.4
I was hoping that 7.4.2 will fix this, but it doesn't.

iStat shows this curve:
Bild 4.png


What I tried:
Firmware 7.4.0 + 7.4.1 + 7.4.2
resetting the AEBS
using a different videoplayer
using a different mac
using a different wireless option
using a different airdisk
using a usb hub
using no usb hub
Edit:
tried different wireless channels
tried different multicasting optiions
tried a different usb cables
tried a different Dualband AEBS

Does anyone else, with a similar setup, experiences the same problem or is it in fact hardware related?


Dave

Edit: This doesn't happen when I download or stream something from the internet so I think it's airdisk related.
 
Have you tried using different wireless channels? You may be experiencing interference from nearby access points
 
I too am having this problem but am using the previous non dual band model. I cant stream hd movies off the airdisk even though i am using 5g and when i transfer files and open up network performance my spped is like a heartbeat going up and down constantly. It's driving me nuts. I just want to watch my hd movies without any stutter
 
DaveTheGrey said:
I had a working mediacenter using my MBP, the "old" AEBS N, and an attached USB Airdisk where I was storing my movies.
Then I replaced the AEBS with the new dualband one (the minute it came out) because of 2 iPhones in my household which constantly made a G out of my N network.
I dont know what's the problem - the dualband AEBS or its firmware but:
When I try to stream a movie or when I copy a file from the airdisk every 10-30 seconds the transfere rate falls down to 0 MB/s and then goes back. When I'm copying a file this equals simply in a longer time that the transfere takes but if I'm watching a movie with VLC the playback stutters.
This is SO annoying.
I know that I could simply tell VLC to buffer more video in order to "fix" this, but come on... It worked with the old AEBS and 7.3.4
I was hoping that 7.4.2 will fix this, but it doesn't.

iStat shows this curve:
View attachment 179571


What I tried:
Firmware 7.4.0 + 7.4.1 + 7.4.2
resetting the AEBS
using a different videoplayer
using a different mac
using a different wireless option
using a different airdisk
using a usb hub
using no usb hub

Does anyone else, with a similar setup, experiences the same problem or is it in fact hardware related?


Dave

Edit: This doesn't happen when I download or stream something from the internet so I think it's airdisk related.
Click to expand...


Same issue, although I am not convinced this is a dualband problem.
 
DaveTheGrey said:
it's ok if it's not. I'll change the topic then. :)
Important is, the apple tech I'm emailing with, knows now that I'm not the only one!
Click to expand...

Dave the grey I managed to sort mine out today mate. I had my hdd plugged into a USB hub before going into the base station as I was sharing a printer with it also. I unplugged the USB hub and this fixed the problem. I am now streaming HD video perfectly.
 
Dave the grey as a last ditched attempt mate try a different cable going from your harddrive to the base station. Grabbing at straws I know but anythings worth a try.
 
May be a range issue as the 5.8GHz has shorter range than 2.4GHz. Anyway you should debug the problem by going from the most basic (g only with a specific channel etc) and add factors one at a time to see where it stops working.

p.s. Have you tried testing in Windows?
 
I tried different cables as well as different external hds.
As I said, I had no such problem with this setup and my old AEBS N with firmware 7.3.2. All this started with 7.4.0 and the dualband AEBS.
Didn't tried it with windows because I don't have a copy but thanks for the tip!
 
DaveTheGrey said:
I tried different cables as well as different external hds.
As I said, I had no such problem with this setup and my old AEBS N with firmware 7.3.2. All this started with 7.4.0 and the dualband AEBS.
Didn't tried it with windows because I don't have a copy but thanks for the tip!
Click to expand...

Try and get a copy of the 7.3.2 firmware and roll the Dualband back to it.
 
DaveTheGrey said:
It's not possible because the dualband was shipping with 7.4.0.
can't downgrade below that.
Click to expand...

Does your old aebs still work when you plug it back in? Is anything else connected other than your mac? Are you using your password In the keychain?can you take your aebs, airdisk and mac to a friends and see if it works there?
 
DaveTheGrey said:
It's not possible because the dualband was shipping with 7.4.0.
can't downgrade below that.
Click to expand...

Apple is really fumbling the ball on these firmware updates. Every time one comes out I foolishly upload it only to find that my wireless will tank unceremoniously and I have to revert back to 7.3.2.

Not sure if it's related but I have a persisting issue with my AEBS N (pre-gigabit) and an AE N extending it. Similar issues to you - drop-outs and terrible throughput. My most recent troubleshooting step has been to use the AE as the bridge to my Verizon Fios router and have the AEBS extend this. It's not ideal as I've lost an airtunes output and the airdisk has to be located away from my office but (knock on wood) it seems to have resolved my throughput issues between my Mac Mini Media center and the rest of the network.

It's really f****** annoying to have to spend such an excessive amount of time trying to resolve Apple's botched firmware.

To the OP - do you still have your old AEBS and who is your ISP? Reason I ask is that most ISP's will give you some kind of router that could easily serve your iPhone and misc G clients without interfering w/your N network. That's how I have my N/G setup
 
srexy said:
To the OP - do you still have your old AEBS and who is your ISP? Reason I ask is that most ISP's will give you some kind of router that could easily serve your iPhone and misc G clients without interfering w/your N network. That's how I have my N/G setup
Click to expand...

That is how i am running my set up as well. I am running in bridge mode. i have my netgear serving my i phone and housemates laptop and the aebs set to n only just for my mac. I understand your frustration though OP the whole point of having dual band is so you dont have to bridge.
 
jeb1 said:
Does your old aebs still work when you plug it back in? Is anything else connected other than your mac? Are you using your password In the keychain?can you take your aebs, airdisk and mac to a friends and see if it works there?
Click to expand...

1. Unfortunately I don't have my old aebs any more.
2. I tried it with my mac as the only client
3. Yes I'm using the keychain
4. I tried it with several different computers so there is no point to go to a friends with my aebs and the airdsk

thanks for your time!
 
jeb1 said:
I understand your frustration though OP the whole point of having dual band is so you dont have to bridge.
Click to expand...

Thanks jeb1 and srexy for your kind words :)
I described to the apple care tech support level two and they replaced my aebs, unfortunately it didn't solve my problem...
Waiting for a firmwareupdate... :(
 
Sorry to hear about your problems, I was upgrading to Dual Band from the previous AEBS w/ just Wireless-N, but to be honest I read to many problems like this with the new AEBS, so I instead bought the D-Link Dual Band router and it works flawlessly, I have G in 2.4 ghz mode only and N in 5Ghz mode.


But I am sorry to hear about your problems. Hopefully they get resolved soon.
 
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