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I don't think iTV needs 802.11N to work perfectly

M

mrploddy

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 19, 2006
65
0
I know that a lot of speculation has been going around that the iTV is betting the bank on using 802.11N to give sufficient bandwidth for streaming movies. However I'm not so sure about that.

I did a test of moving some TV shows to a Maxtor NAS drive and then tried streaming them to my Macbook over wireless. Note that my macbook is CD not C2D so it doesnt have a pre-N card in it.

My router is a Linksys Wireless G router and I was a few feet away from the router and the NAS was connected to the router through a switch and 4/5 feet of cable via 100mbps ethernet.

The playback was flawless without any frame drop, I tried Step Up and Cheerleader Nation and both played back fine. The ONLY thing I'd comment on was that seeking was a bit laggy so maybe Job's is cleverer than he thought and maybe we won't need to replace our wireless kit after all....

-mrploddy
 
I totally agree, I have an eyeHome and I have no problem streaming high def footage from my powerbook or macpro to my plasma downstairs.
 
Apple will have to adopt 802.11n soon though, even if it is just to keep up with the rest of teh computer world.

What I find funny about this wireless thing is that shops like PC World are telling everyone to upgrade to 802.11n for superfast wireless when all the have is a router and 1 laptop and they use the router to connect to the internet which has a bandwidth limit of, at most, 8Meg! They could use 802.11b and not notice the difference!
 
Was that high definition video? HD is the new buzz word - a serious contender can't not support it.

I have 1.5Mb/s DSL, and I can download a TV show from iTunes almost in real time - it takes about 55 minutes for a 45 minute show, so I just have to wait for 10 minutes after starting. 2Mb/swould be fast enough.

So yes, wireless b would be fast enough for standard definition, and theoretically wireless g would probably be fast enough for HD, but there are issues with streaming video over Apple's implementation of wireless g.
 
mrploddy said:
I did a test of moving some TV shows to a Maxtor NAS drive and then tried streaming them to my Macbook over wireless.
Click to expand...
Of course it's easy to stream standard definition video over just about any wireless standard. But the key is HD video, especially 1080p. I can't download 1080p movie trailers from Apple's site in real time on a 6mb internet connection, but 802.11b has a theoretical max of 12mb and then 802.11g has a theoretical max of 54mb (anyone wanna confirm the real world speeds for those?).

So it does seem like the current Airport (not counting pre-n) hardware should be able to handle it, but there's probably something that were missing here.
 
Yep, I've been streaming 1080p over an 802.11g network for near a year now. I'll still be upgrading to the iTV so I can play the protected iTunes files and for the built in wireless so I can use this AirPort express on some speakers.
 
If iTV's going to work in my house, I'm going to need to be able to stream HD without significantly slowing down the network for the rest of the folks here.

Streaming 480p (or whatever my regular DirecTV TiVo records in) works, but the network's pretty much useless to anyone else.
 
Wifi N will mean that it doesnt take all of the network bandwith up so you can still do file transfers etc at the same time.

On the overhand as apple tv has a harddrive you could transfer the files you wanted across before using them.
 
Just like how sony pushes 1080p as the true hd resolution
companys are pushing draft n as the equivalent in hd product.
When in reality is not needed i have streamed hd content from a desktop computer in my living room to my room.

No Lag.
 
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