Apple TV and Wireless G

Question

Level 2

208 points

Apple TV and Wireless G

Spending an hour or so reading all the posts related to people who have their ATVs connected to a wireless G network, Ive concluded that the results for streaming are everywhere. Some people have no problems while others do. I am having problems with mine. Ive done a few tests and I want to see if you guys think my conclusion is valid.

When I first got my 2 ATVs, I experienced no lag. A few days later, heres what Im seeing:
1. Freezing of movie ( without sound )
2. Freezing of movies ( with sound still playing and then the video catches up)
3. Rewind anf forwarding is almost impossible. You hit rewind and it doesnt do anything ( at least you think ) so you hold it down and then next thing you know you are 20 minutes back )
4. No problems with viewing trailers, podcasts, or You Tube

Im running iTUnes 7.6 on a windows home server. I checked the CPU and it was using quite a bit...upgrade processor and the processing is never over 70%. FInally I decided to swtich the ATV to my other TV and connect it with a ethernet cable. I played the same movie and went to the parts that froze before and no more frezzing..Watched it for about 5 minutes and everything seemed good.

So my conclusion is to get a Wireless N. My thinking is if I got good results with a 100 network speed I should get better with the N network ( theoretically 300 network speed ). But my question is if it was my wirless G that couldnt handle the streams, why would I experinece the same thing while watching podcasts,trailers, or You Tube?

Toshiba M205 Tablet PC, Windows XP Pro

Posted on Mar 2, 2008 10:58 PM

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Answer 1

Mar 2, 2008 11:43 PM in response to Jesse Diaz

When you watch movies they have a much higher bit rate than podcasts or YouTube videos. For example, YouTube recompresses its movies to something like 320x240 pixels, which is one quarter the total number of pixels as 640x480 video. Apple's movie trailers use a two-hit approach to be quick to stream: first, they are extremely well compressed, created by experts to look good despite minimal bandwidth requirements; second, they are served from Akamai's super high speed, optimized streaming servers and Apple TV is set up to make the most of that. This accounts for why you would experience problems with movies and TV shows from your iTunes library, but have no problem with some of the other content on a slow network. I used a G network for a short time before upgrading to N and it's a night and day difference for Apple TV.

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Answer 2

Mar 3, 2008 2:54 AM in response to Jesse Diaz

Before simply upgrading to an 'n' network you need to ask yourself why your 'g' network was having issues. If it's because of interference you may well be able to fix this by simply changing channel. If it's because of distance an 'n' network may well be your answer.

However I note you mention 300 Mbps, which is the 5 GHz 'n' frequency. Using this frequency severely restricts the range of your wifi, with even studded walls blocking the signal. I suspect you would have to use the 2.4 Ghz 'n' settings in which case you would have your extended range and netwoek speeds up to 130 Mbps.

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Answer 3

Piel

Level 1

0 points

Mar 3, 2008 5:09 AM in response to Winston Churchill

I will concur with Winston. I went through a similar issue. I had a Linksys g router that died. I decided it was a great opportunity to go up to N. I bought a Netgear 3300 dual band router which was a dog. The range, signal strength and throughput were a joke. I returned that yesterday and bought an Apple Extreme N. It was $80 more than the netgear, but it just worked. Range is still poor at 5ghz (compounded by the fact that all the walls have METAL studs), but the streaming to my AppleTV (20ft away) just works great. The AppleTV still has hickups because of Take2, but that's a totally separate issue.

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Answer 4

Jesse Diaz Author

Level 2

208 points

Mar 3, 2008 6:31 AM in response to Winston Churchill

Winston: Well since my ATV is only about 15-20 feet away and the ATV shows the max signal strength, Im guessing its not an interference issues. Or am I wrong in assuming that?

N Network: If I have to use the 2.4 setting ( Im actually not too sure about these settings you are talking about ) and its 130 mbps, that should work either way. I hooked it up to my ethernet and all was good so N should work.

But Ive heard that if you allow N and G on a N router, it will slow it down even when you connect and N device to the N router. Is this true?

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Answer 5

Mar 3, 2008 6:49 AM in response to Jesse Diaz

If your equipment is only that far away from your router you have some sort of issue going on because it should work well for you. I have an tv that is much further away than that and streams video without a hitch, indeed often 30 minute shows are fully buffered in around 5 minutes.

Interference is not the same as signal strength, so yes you can have full signal strength and still have interference. You could try another channel or even turn 'robustness' on.

In regard to 'n' networks, if your equipment is only as far away as you say then 'n' at 5 Ghz should be entirely feasible for you, however you have mentioned that you might be mixing network devices 'n and g', you cannot do this with 'n' at 5 Ghz.

If you use 'n' at 2.4 Ghz you can mix networks and yes mixing networks does slow down the 'n' capabilities, but not by that much, 'n' devices on an 'n' only network should work up to 144 Mbps, whereas 'n' devices on a mixed network should work up to 130 Mbps.

You should be aware though your tv will never work at anywhere near these speeds, you'll be lucky if you can push 20 Mbps into your tv.

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Answer 6

Jesse Diaz Author

Level 2

208 points

Mar 3, 2008 8:23 AM in response to Winston Churchill

20 mbps? Wow ...that really crappy...I know that you dont realize 100% of the speed but only 20? You were referring to N wireless right?

If so, I can only imagine what my G was realizing.

I have a G wirless router now and probably going to get a N one today ( after I try to change the channels, etc ) They will both be linksys. Is it possible to connect the N router to my cable modem and allow only N connection and then connect the G router to the N router via ethernet, shut down the DHCP on the G router....and allow G connections only to that router...that way N connections will be at max....????

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Answer 7

Mar 3, 2008 9:07 AM in response to Jesse Diaz

Jesse Diaz wrote:
20 mbps? Wow ...that really crappy...I know that you dont realize 100% of the speed but only 20? You were referring to N wireless right?

The data you can push into the tv isn't really an end result of your network but rather a limitation of the tv and once you reach the limit it doesn't really matter what improvements you make to a network.

I'm sure others may well point out different experiences and different datrates but really 20 Mbps isn't all that bad, if you could maintain an average of 20 Mbps you'd upload 9 GB of data every hour.

I have a G wirless router now and probably going to get a N one today ( after I try to change the channels, etc ) They will both be linksys. Is it possible to connect the N router to my cable modem and allow only N connection and then connect the G router to the N router via ethernet, shut down the DHCP on the G router....and allow G connections only to that router...that way N connections will be at max....????

Yes that should be possible, it does of course depend on the connections available to you on the particular equipment you purchase.

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Answer 8

Jesse Diaz Author

Level 2

208 points

Mar 3, 2008 9:12 AM in response to Winston Churchill

Thanks Winston -

The inofrmation you supplied me has really helped me to understand all this and I appreciate your time

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Answer 9

Jesse Diaz Author

Level 2

208 points

Mar 3, 2008 9:13 AM in response to Jesse Diaz

THanks everyone....Im setting out to get the new linksys N Gigabyte router, and connecting my G to the gigabyte router.

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