Streaming Movies over Wifi via Time Capsule Stutter

[Josh M]

Hey guys,

I searched through the forums but couldn't find the specific issue I was having. If there's a resolved thread please link me to it!

I have connected an external hard drive to my Time Capsule (the newest 'tall' model) via USB and have placed all my movie files on this hard drive to watch over wifi. Set up works great and I can see all my movie on this drive. My issue is when I watch these video files, very often they'll stutter and lag for a few moments before they catch up.
I've tried adjusting the buffer length in VLC up and down but the issue still occurs. Is anyone able to assist in removing this issue?

I'm streaming to my 2013 MacBook Air if it helps!

Thanks.

 

[Chundles]

It'll be a bandwidth issue. Best to keep your media locally or on a physically attached drive.

 

[Josh M]

The issue here is that my movies won't fit on the MBA hard drive, and I'd like to be able to share the files with my family. Do you know of anything that may be able to assist the current setup?

 

[blueroom]

Are your videos H.264 or something else?

 

[Josh M]

Some are H.264, but even these see the same problem. It seems like this happens regardless of file size, file type or bit rate of the video being streamed.

 

[ColdCase]

Whenever I've had this issue it was either the video bit rate was too high for wifi to support well or somebody was microwaving which interferes with the wifi network or the hard drive was having issues.

How busy is your network? Any sources of interference? Have you run speed tests or have you noticed slow or choppy file transfers. How does the videos play in QuickTime? How well does a video play when the USB drive is connected directly to the Air or when the video is stored on the Air HD?

 

[ZeRoLiMiT]

What I did was got a Airpot Extreme and added a external drive that shares my media all over my home. i now have my

2TB
1TB
750gig

together thru a USB hub

my backups are done wifi and my movies are streamed thru plex (chrome cast) and Apple TV

 

[Josh M]

Whenever I've had this issue it was either the video bit rate was too high for wifi to support well or somebody was microwaving which interferes with the wifi network or the hard drive was having issues.

How busy is your network? Any sources of interference? Have you run speed tests or have you noticed slow or choppy file transfers. How does the videos play in QuickTime? How well does a video play when the USB drive is connected directly to the Air or when the video is stored on the Air HD?

The network isn't too busy, just a few of us in the house. File transfers are really impressive with how fast they go. I haven't tried them all in QuickTime yet - will report back on this (however this won't solve the issue for all file formats?). When USB is directly in the Air there are no problems with playback, nor when on local HD.

 

[ColdCase]

Sounding more and more like a TC/HD problem. Have you restarted the TC? What about swapping USB cables? Is it a self or bus powered hard drive?

 

[Altemose]

The network isn't too busy, just a few of us in the house. File transfers are really impressive with how fast they go. I haven't tried them all in QuickTime yet - will report back on this (however this won't solve the issue for all file formats?). When USB is directly in the Air there are no problems with playback, nor when on local HD.

Try holding OPT and clicking on the Wi-Fi icon in the menubar on your MBA. You will see something like Transmit Rate:450. Report back with that number.

Are you secluded from your neighbors? If not then interference is likely to slow the network. Even if you are secluded, your cordless phones, microwave ovens, high-tech thermostats, etc. all take up spectrum on the 2.4 GHz range. How does it do when connect to the 5 GHz? If no difference try separating the network names.

Out of curiosity, how far are you from the router when you are watching movies? Signal degrades quickly when passing through walls. Try watching in the same room and see if there is a difference.

 

[Josh M]

The transmit rate is between 468 and 527.

Funnily enough, streaming through Beamer transmits to Apple TV without a stutter from the TC (which I have tried restarting and swapping USB cables for).

The hard drive is not self powered but given that I can stream with Beamer, I see no reason why I can't watch on my laptop.

For now, either streaming through Beamer, or dropping onto the local hard drive and watching will have to suffice.

If anyone finds a true solution, please let me know!

 

[Altemose]

The transmit rate is between 468 and 527.

Funnily enough, streaming through Beamer transmits to Apple TV without a stutter from the TC (which I have tried restarting and swapping USB cables for).

The hard drive is not self powered but given that I can stream with Beamer, I see no reason why I can't watch on my laptop.

For now, either streaming through Beamer, or dropping onto the local hard drive and watching will have to suffice.

If anyone finds a true solution, please let me know!

Download Blackmagic Disk Speed Test and test the drive! It is free on the Mac App Store.

 

[Rizzm]

Try holding OPT and clicking on the Wi-Fi icon in the menubar on your MBA. You will see something like Transmit Rate:450. Report back with that number.

Are you secluded from your neighbors? If not then interference is likely to slow the network. Even if you are secluded, your cordless phones, microwave ovens, high-tech thermostats, etc. all take up spectrum on the 2.4 GHz range. How does it do when connect to the 5 GHz? If no difference try separating the network names.

Out of curiosity, how far are you from the router when you are watching movies? Signal degrades quickly when passing through walls. Try watching in the same room and see if there is a difference.

Thank you so much for teaching me about the Option-click combinations. This helps so much for also quickly switching audio output devices, which is what helps me so much.

 

[Altemose]

Thank you so much for teaching me about the Option-click combinations. This helps so much for also quickly switching audio output devices, which is what helps me so much.

If you hold CMD you can rearrange the menu bar.