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Level 1

10 points

My Apple TV will not play a MP4 video

I cannot play a group of videos on my Apple TV I ripped from my DVD's. I could play this format before, but now I cannot. I get an "The Selected Video Could Not Be Played The Format could not be recognized" error.

iMac, MacBook, Apple TV, Mac OS X (10.5.8), MacMini, iBook, Blueberry iMac, iPod, iPod Touch, iPod Mini, iPod Nano

Posted on Aug 18, 2009 6:57 AM

37 replies

Chenks

Level 5

7,435 points

Aug 21, 2009 11:43 AM in response to Mac Daddy1

is it a new AEBS (with dual band) or one of the older ones ?

if it's a dual band then open airport utility > airport > wireless > wireless options
in there is where you create a 5GHz N wifi network. create that, and then connect the appletv to that new wifi network.

tmartine

Level 3

995 points

Aug 21, 2009 11:47 AM in response to Chenks

yup, on your MacPro open the airPort Utility, you airport extreme should be listed there, choose manual setup go to, the wireless tab and change radio mode to 802.11n (n only), then click on wireless options and check use wide channels.

this utility will change the settings on your airport extreme... you appleTV will automatically connect to the extreme based on these settings...

just as a note do NOT select interference robustness... it will make your network crawl and you won't be able to stream anything..

Message was edited by: tmartine

Chenks

Level 5

7,435 points

Aug 21, 2009 11:48 AM in response to tmartine

tmartine wrote:
yup, on your MacPro open the airPort Utility, you airport extreme should be listed there, choose manual setup go to, the wireless tab and change radio mode to 802.11n (n only), then click on wireless options and check use wide channels.

this utility will change the settings on your airport extreme... you appleTV will automatically connect to the extreme based on these settings...

not with the description i gave though.
with the dual band model (which i have) you are essentially creating a second wifi network on 5GHz and it will have a different SSID also, so the appletv will need to be manually connected to it.

tmartine

Level 3

995 points

Aug 21, 2009 11:56 AM in response to Chenks

ok, so if you have a dual band follow Chenks instructions, if you have a single band follow mine...

Aug 21, 2009 12:04 PM in response to tmartine

Its a brand new APE with dual bands..

I will try that and see how that works

Thanks

Aug 21, 2009 1:07 PM in response to Chenks

Ok Ok under wireless I have set up radio mode from automatic to 802.11a/n - 802.11b/g and radio channel to manual. Under wireless options I have 5GHz ticked. Multicast Rate low and transmit power 100%. On ATV selected My network (5ghz). Now when synced I got a transfer rate of appox 6-7mb.

With this rate should I be having or going to have a problem streaming HD videos?

tmartine

Level 3

995 points

Aug 21, 2009 1:22 PM in response to Mac Daddy1

i think/hope you mean 6-7MB/s.. capital "B" (bytes) is 8x more than lower case "b" (bits)..

have you also ticked use wide channels? do this as well.. this effectively doubles your bandwidth.

6-7MB is lots but you should be getting about 10MB/s with wide channels enabled...

Aug 21, 2009 1:33 PM in response to tmartine

Sorry I do in fact mean MB/s. But I will tick use wide channels and see what I get when I get home.

To think I have a open case with apple care that they have to get in touch with the engineers of the ATV to see file size parameters etc. I just had to come here in the first place. You guys are the true GENIUS.

I will try to stream a HD movie tonight and report back...

Thanks again....
Now im not going to take back my ATV and Air Port Express

Aug 21, 2009 10:14 PM in response to pdmeloon

Tested use with wide band ticked and still having network problems.

When streaming a movie data sent is around 4MB. When my movie acts up the network data sent slows down and pretty much comes to a stop. Then it will go back up and play for a little bit then cut out again.

Touching back on set up my ATV is about 15 ft away from airport extreme with shamrock wall in between. There is no interference between the two.

Now the ONLY thing that I can think of is that my ISP (comcast) is crappy or my older modem is faulty?

Chenks

Level 5

7,435 points

Aug 22, 2009 1:57 AM in response to Mac Daddy1

Mac Daddy1 wrote:
Now the ONLY thing that I can think of is that my ISP (comcast) is crappy or my older modem is faulty?

your ISP or modem has nothing to do with this.
you are having problems with your internal local network, not your external ISP network.

Aug 22, 2009 7:46 AM in response to Chenks

Signal from the APE to the ATV? Any ideas? Setup or faulty unit/s?

Chenks

Level 5

7,435 points

Aug 22, 2009 8:19 AM in response to Mac Daddy1

the signal from the APE to the ATV is your local network. it has nothing to do with your ISP and/or modem.

i would still lean towards a noisy wifi network. do you have any cordless phones (or do your neighbours) or microwaves near to the 2 devices. those can almost kill wifi networks (however if you really are now using 5GHz then those devices shouldn't affect it). 5GHz N has a shorter range than 2.4GHz and thick walls can cause problems.

Aug 22, 2009 8:52 AM in response to Chenks

Don't think that a neighbors wireless network is present when searching for networks the ATV only lists mine in selection menu. Now I have my APE on top on computer desk and a wall; then living room. I have my ATV inside my entertainment center enclosed with glass. My DVR (comcast box) on shelf above ATV. Connectivity shows FULL bars when looking at the connection signal does this mean anything?

Chenks

Level 5

7,435 points

Aug 22, 2009 8:58 AM in response to Mac Daddy1

the signal strength bar means nothing really.
strength can be full but quality could be rubbish (this on-screen message does not tell you anything about quality).

pdmeloon Author

Level 1

10 points

Aug 23, 2009 3:53 AM in response to pdmeloon

Seems like a lot of people are having similar problems. Here's some more weird things with my problem. The DVD's that I own and put onto Apple TV (Star Trek episodes) will not even show up in the menu. I shut down iTunes, start her back up and Apple TV will sync and then they will be there in the Apple TV menu, but they still won't play. I get the unreadable format error or whatever. I can view anything else I have in Apple TV, though. The next day will roll around and I will try to watch Star Trek again and it will play perfectly fine. This is what happened between Friday and today (Sunday.) I will try to watch Star Trek again today and see if I can or if this problem continues to do the occasional playing.

My Apple TV will not play a MP4 video