Ideas on Baby Monitor Interference btwn Mini and ATV?

[aidanpendragon]

Appreciate any ideas to troubleshoot baby monitor interference disrupting the signal between my Mac and Apple TV 4. I'm trying to stream mp4 video from iTunes on my 2011 Mac Mini to my ATV 4 using AirPlay. Unfortunately, when the baby monitor receiver unit is on, videos won't load--I can browse the iTunes library but not play any videos, which attempt to load/buffer but time out. The monitor is definitely the source of the problem, because when we power down the receiver (the camera's on all the time), videos will load/stream with no issue. The monitor runs on 2.4GHz.

I welcome any ideas on how to get around this. Are there ways to shift the connection between my Mini and ATV onto a different band? (I'm not even sure which band they are using to communicate, presumably 802.11n?) The devices are in different rooms/floors and a direct Ethernet connection to either isn't an option.

I'm also presuming the two units are talking directly and not going through my router? Is there a way to route the stream through my router first? (The router also broadcasts on 802.11n but isn't affected by the baby monitor.)

Thanks.

 

[waw74]

all wi-fi devices talk to the router, not directly to each other.

802.11n can work on both 2.4 and 5ghz. and chances are your router is broadcasting on both bands.
you should be able to give the different bands different names. then you can make sure the devices that need it connect to the 5gHz.
Your devices should be able to talk to each other no matter if they're connected to 2.4, 5, or wired.

5gHz doesn't go through walls and other obstacles as well as 2.4, so the 5 signal probably won't be as strong on the other floor. and there is a chance it might not work.

another option is powerline networking, you plug the boxes into the outlets in your home, and they use the power wires to talk to each other. most of the time the remote unit will have a wi-fi radio in them (some may not have an ethernet jack). Friends have had good luck with TP link. Just search "powerline networking" at amazon.

 

[schlotz]

My bet is the baby monitor is using 2.4 ghz. Try setting the mini and atv4 to use 5 ghz. Of course you will have to set your router accordingly. EX) mine is set so they broadcast different ssid's one for the 2.4 and another for the 5 ghz band. In your case have the mini & atv4 logged into the ssid associated with the 5 ghz.

 

[aidanpendragon]

Thanks, all. The 5 GHz seems to work. I hadn't tried that before because the equip. is on three different floors, but it works.