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pwhale

Q: OS X Yosemite. My Apple TV 2nd Gen is VERY SLOW

Lately my Apple TV 2nd Gen (updated OK) is very slow watchinng TV shows. Said it would take 1 hr plus dto download a Good Wife episode at 1080p..

I switched to 720p — it's still taking 10 minutes before a show starts, then 3 or 4 times during show I can see the playback catch up to the white "Loading" line and it stops to buffer again for 3 or 4 minutes.

Absolutely crazy! Never did it before.

I have Airport Extreme upstairs in office (wood frame house) maybe 50 ft away. Was always OK with a bit of pausing, etc. Last eek added my Airport Express right behind the TV and set it up as an extension of my existing Wi-Fi.

When it was still slow I ran a Cat 5 cable from the Airport Express to the back of the Apple TV. Doesn't seem to help.

My Home Internet — in Toronto  — Rogers.com Extreme internet.. Pay for 35Gb/sec but it is usually between 50 and 70 Gb/sec download speed and 5Gb/sec upload.

HELP???

MacBook Pro (15-inch Early 2011), OS X Yosemite (10.10.1)

Posted on Jan 25, 2015 10:27 AM

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Q: OS X Yosemite. My Apple TV 2nd Gen is VERY SLOW

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  • by Satchmo,

    Satchmo Satchmo Jan 25, 2015 10:38 AM in response to pwhale
    Level 4 (1,258 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 25, 2015 10:38 AM in response to pwhale

    Someone will give you a better answer, but until he/she arrives, I'll tell you that you shouldn't need to connect your Express by cable to ATV. If Express is close enough to the base to extend the network, and it is near ATV, then ATV should be working fine without Express. In fact, Express might be interfering. Try a factory reset of ATV, unplug Express and set it aside, and see if you can get ATV to work properly with your Extreme alone. Are you using a utility, like W-Fi signal (free, Apple app store) to test the actual speed of your network? (Not your broadband speed, your wi-fi speed, signal, noise, signal-to-noise.)

  • by Satchmo,

    Satchmo Satchmo Jan 25, 2015 11:06 AM in response to Satchmo
    Level 4 (1,258 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 25, 2015 11:06 AM in response to Satchmo

    Courtesy of Bob Timmons, here is a wi-fi signal-to-noise guide, which might help you to determine why your ATV is performing badly on network if it still is after a factory reset.:

     

    40+          Excellent +

    35            Excellent

    30            Very Good

    25            Good

    20            Fair

    15            Low

    10            Very Low

    5              Not really usable

     

    With a last-gen Extreme I am getting pretty much bang-on 40.

     

    Of course you would want to test the signal strength where your ATV is, not next to your Extreme.

  • by MarkKorte,

    MarkKorte MarkKorte Jan 25, 2015 11:33 AM in response to pwhale
    Level 1 (45 points)
    Jan 25, 2015 11:33 AM in response to pwhale

    Adding the airport express may actually slow things down.  I assume your airport express connects to your airport extreme wirelessly.  If this is the case, the extreme has to send a signal, the express receives the signal, and then has to transmit it onward to the apple tv.  If you really want to do this the express should be located halfway between the extreme and the apple tv so it receives a stronger signal at higher rate that it rebroadcasts for the apple tv.  By putting the express by the apple tv, it is receiving the same weak low rate signal the apple tv was so it is not helping.  If you can wire your apple TV to your extreme things will be great.  Next best would be to wire the express to the extreme and get it as close as you can to the apple tv.