Internet speed to stream 4K from iMac to Apple TV?

[johannnn]

I have some 4K movies on my 2017 5k SSD iMac that I would like to stream to my Apple TV 4K through Home Sharing or Plex. I have 100mbit down and 10mbit up. The Apple TV has wired internet, and the iMac has wifi.

I have previously been using this setup for 1080p and it works perfect. But what about 4K? Does the iMac use the 10mbit up to send the data to the Apple TV? Or how does that work? I’m just wondering I need to get higher internet speeds or not.

Does HDR work through Home Sharing btw?

 

[fiddysent]

I think you can download the movie to your Apple TV through iTunes and run it directly from the unit

 

[Juicy Box]

AFAIK, both PLEX and home sharing uses your local network.

They both use the internet for authentication, but they should work without the internet as soon as it authenticates.

So, to answer your question, it does not use the 10Mbps upload speed to stream to your devices locally.

If you have buffering issues, this could mean a few things, one being a bottleneck in your network. I am not saying you are doing this, but many people upgrade their internet to speeds that they do not need, and speeds that they would never see because their home network won't perform at those speeds.

Why not just try streaming it to find out?
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stream to my Apple TV 4K through Home Sharing

I think you can download the movie to your Apple TV through iTunes and run it directly from the unit

I think I remember reading something about iTunes not supporting 4k local streams. This was when the ATV4k came out, so I am not sure if things have changed since then.

I am not 100% sure about this. I would just use Plex anyways.

 

[priitv8]

I think I remember reading something about iTunes not supporting 4k local streams. This was when the ATV4k came out, so I am not sure if things have changed since then.

I am not 100% sure about this. I would just use Plex anyways.

It is not possible to download 4K versions of purchased iTunes movies.
But it is perfectly possible to store your own 4K movie in local iTunes library and homeshare it to appleTV.

 

[Juicy Box]

It is not possible to download 4K versions of purchased iTunes movies.
But it is perfectly possible to store your own 4K movie in local iTunes library and homeshare it to appleTV.

Yeah, I think this is what I was reading about. I don't have a 4K tv yet, so it didn't really concern me at the time of reading.

That said, I have been distancing myself from many of Apple's ecosystem apps, such as iTunes.

Plex has been a good replacement for iTunes, and I would recommend that over iTunes.

 

[bopajuice]

At the very least I would say you would need a 5 ghz wireless connection to stream 4k movies from your iMac to your AppleTV. A 5 ghz 802.11ac connection runs faster than 2.4 ghz.

"5GHz radios support significantly higher maximum data rates in network standards 802.11n and 802.11ac. Home devices that generate or consume the largest amount of network traffic, like video streaming units or game consoles, generally run fastest over 5 GHz links".

 

[misterstyle]

I have some 4K movies on my 2017 5k SSD iMac that I would like to stream to my Apple TV 4K through Home Sharing or Plex. I have 100mbit down and 10mbit up. The Apple TV has wired internet, and the iMac has wifi.

I have previously been using this setup for 1080p and it works perfect. But what about 4K? Does the iMac use the 10mbit up to send the data to the Apple TV? Or how does that work? I’m just wondering I need to get higher internet speeds or not.

Does HDR work through Home Sharing btw?

Hey Johan,

Did you manage to work this out ? I have the same issue over here....
have an LGOLED4k tv with Plex on it...keeps buffering when I stream from my Imac over wifi....
it's almost 2020 and I cant even stream 4k from my macbook pro 2018 or imac 2013.

 

[HDFan]

I have some 4K movies on my 2017 5k SSD iMac that I would like to stream to my Apple TV 4K through Home Sharing or Plex. I have 100mbit down and 10mbit up. The Apple TV has wired internet, and the iMac has wifi.

I have previously been using this setup for 1080p and it works perfect. But what about 4K? Does the iMac use the 10mbit up to send the data to the Apple TV? Or how does that work? I’m just wondering I need to get higher internet speeds or not.

Does HDR work through Home Sharing btw?

There are no simple answer to your questions. It all depends ....

1. Assuming your 100/10 Mb results are an internet test from something like speed test, as stated by "vertical smile" that is irrelevant for local media on a local network. To determine your local network capabilities you can use an app like Lakehorns' Network Speed Tester. Install on your mac and your Apple TV.

Network Speed Tester – Lakehorn

Here are my hardwired results as shown on my Apple TV:



and my wireless results (5 Ghz):



Bandwidth needed depends on the media and the application serving the media to the Apple TV. For Plex I have seen a ripped 4K movie peaking at 267 Mbps. Average is much less, ~42 Mbps, depending upon the content.

Plex Wired:



Plex Wireless:



An iTunes Movies Anywhere 4K import ranged from about 15-25 Mbps. I use Infuse when I want a full DTS-MA soundtrack, but don't have the Infuse bandwidth results.

3. Home Sharing can show different movies that iTunes. It will show download iTunes movies, but not movies imported from Movies Anywhere. Cannot confirm or deny that home sharing does not do HDR.

4. A hardwired connection is going to give you the best results. Wireless can be extremely variable, particularly if you are in an area with congested networks. In Plex I often get the "your server is not fast enough to stream this video" message" even though I have plenty of horsepower left on my Plex server and the network test shows that I have ample bandwidth. Still trying to figure it out.

In summary:

1. Get the fastest network connection available between your iMac and Apple TV. Hardwired is likely best.

2. Experiment with different apps (Plex, Infuse, iTunes Movies, Home Sharing, ...) to see which gives the best results.