Streaming issues...

[FreeState]

Okay I have had the AppleTV since it came out with no problem. I have always streamed from a MacMini with the iTunes library stored on a FireWire Drive over Airport extreme (A/B/G).

I just recently got the new Airport. I set it up with the iTunes library on two external USB drives with a USB port as an Airdisk, worked great until yesterday. I started to stream a movie (Bable 3.7 GB 720p) that I had watched before with no problem. It starts to stream and then buffers about every 5 seconds. Tried it with about every movie (I have over 500 gigs of movies) nothing worked.

I tried using streaming from my N enabled MacBook Pro with 4gigs ram same problem.

My set up is Airport Extreme(N) network with an Airport Extreme(A/B/G) bridged. (I want a pure N network and have the A/B/G for my iPhones and two older Macs). All the airports and the AppleTV are up to date with firmware etc. OSX 10.4.10 on all Macs.

Here are the different things I have tried:

• MacBook Pro connected to Airdisk (Airport set at N only 5ghz)
  
• MacBook Pro connected to Airdisk (Airport set at N only 2.4ghz)
  
• MacMini connected to Airdisk via Airports ethernet with Airport on the computer turned off (so it did not pic up the G router).
  
• MacMini connected to Airdisk via Airports ethernet but streamed to AppleTV via the airport(A/B/G).
  
• All of the above with the AppleTV connected to the old Airport network bridged at G and with the AppleTV networked with the Airport N router.
  

Any ideas what Im doing wrong?

 

[JohnR]

I have streaming problems with my Linksys G router. I don't know if it's the router or the AppleTV.

This came out earlier last week:
http://www.quickertek.com/products/appletv_triband.php

Get Better Wireless from your Apple TV.
Having trouble streaming that HD content with your new Apple TV? Want it to work in the other room?
This can happen by adding an external antenna to your Apple TV. What we are offering here is a signal increase of up to 50 %. This will greatly increase range and should eliminate cut out caused by wireless interference. The current Apple TV does not have any external antennas.

It's not cheap though

 

[Shoesy]

My goodness that's some ugly technology

It's not cheap though

Or pretty!

 

[sandman42]

network congestion?

I'm totally shooting from the hip here, but maybe someone can confirm. My guess is that the TV 'calls' the data from the Mini, which 'calls' it from the Airdisk, the data then goes to the mini, back to the airport extreme, then to the TV. In other words, I don't think the Mini routes the data directly from the Airdisk to the TV, so it has to go through the Extreme twice. This might be too much network traffic for the system to handle at the rate needed to keep the movie streaming smoothly.

It seems to me that at N rates you should be ok (just a guess), but are you sure everything's running at N rates? I'm still unclear on what happens on a mixed G/N network (whether things slow down to the speed of the slowest client, like they do on a mixed B/G network).

 

[thecombatwombat]

Sandman's description sounds pretty accurate to me.

I've found that Airport Disk performance is pretty abysmal in all cases. When it first came out, I was trying to use it to as a repository for my MythTV box. The machine was attached via ethernet, but playback would stutter terribly. I had to tell the software on the linux machine to be ridiculously aggressive with its caching. My Airport is a first gen with only fast ethernet. They may have improved performance on the newer gigabit model.

As Sandman was saying, you're likely seeing a lot of collisions with that setup. I'd have a look at the "Network Utility" in your /Applications/Utilities folder. In the bottom right of its "Info" tab there might be some helpful clues.

Also, how many bars of signal does your airport get, and how many networks overlap your own? Are any of the overlapping networks N capable?

In my house I also have an n capable mac, a g capable mac, an Apple TV, and an airport disk, so I could try more or less duplicating your setup if you'd like. The hard drive I was using for the Airport died recently though, I just sent it out for warranty yesterday. I imagine it will be a while before I get it back.

 

[FreeState]

Sandman's description sounds pretty accurate to me.

I've found that Airport Disk performance is pretty abysmal in all cases. When it first came out, I was trying to use it to as a repository for my MythTV box. The machine was attached via ethernet, but playback would stutter terribly. I had to tell the software on the linux machine to be ridiculously aggressive with its caching. My Airport is a first gen with only fast ethernet. They may have improved performance on the newer gigabit model.

As Sandman was saying, you're likely seeing a lot of collisions with that setup. I'd have a look at the "Network Utility" in your /Applications/Utilities folder. In the bottom right of its "Info" tab there might be some helpful clues.

Also, how many bars of signal does your airport get, and how many networks overlap your own? Are any of the overlapping networks N capable?

In my house I also have an n capable mac, a g capable mac, an Apple TV, and an airport disk, so I could try more or less duplicating your setup if you'd like. The hard drive I was using for the Airport died recently though, I just sent it out for warranty yesterday. I imagine it will be a while before I get it back.

Thanks for the replies everyone... Im going to try one more thing when I get home tonight. Im going to hook the Airdisk up to the MacMin which is connected to the network via ethernet cable connected to the Airport (N).

Im starting to believe the Airdisk idea, while great in theory, do not at this time work for high def (I think its because its USB not firewire... just a guess.)

 

[eddyg]

Also try a powercycle of the ATV, it may help if it is "cleaned up" now and then.

Cheers, Ed.