Ive recently bought a apple tv 3rd generation. Everything seems to be working fine with airplay from my iphone to apple tv, but when I try and use airplay from my mac book pro, it is extremely slow, and if I try and stream a movie or something its that terrible it is unwatchable and usually freezes then stops. How can I resolve this problem? is this a problem with the apple tv?
The problem is not with you AppleTV or your Mac. Your problem is the network. I had the same problem and finally solved it.
airplay makes screen mirroring, there is a lot more data to be sent from you mac than from your iPhone or iPad
-> airplay can be okay from the small monitor, but jumpy/lag from your mac->Network handles the smaller data sufficiently enough.
"five bars on my wifi" does not mean you get great signal strength.
-->press "alt"-key on your keyboard and then click on the WiFi symbol on your mac to get more data.
You want to look at "RSSI" and "Noise".
- RSSI (=received signal strength indication) can go from 0 to -100 (on apple). Closer to 0 is better, closer to -100 is worse. My RSSI is -54dBm meaning that the signal strength is 54dBm less powerful when it reaches my mac than when it left the base station. For WiFi normal range is from -45 to -87. Below -85 is more or less unusable (for example -90 is just horrible).
- Noise is a combination of all unwanted interfering signal sources (your wifi is not the only one in the neighbourhood, radio frequencies interference etc). this is valued form 0 to -120dBm. Closer to -120 is better(little to no ninterference), closer to 0 is worse. My Noise is -94dBm.
Calculate your SNR margin by doing the following:
SNR margin = RSSI(dBm) - Noise(dBm)
for example my RSSI is -54dBm and my Noise is -94dBm and thus
my SNR margin = -54dBm - (-94dBm)= +40 --> the higher the better.
SNR over 40 excellent, 25 to 40 good, 15 to 25 airplay probably will lag, under 15 is just horrible.
What can you do to get better SNR margin which means of course no lag/jumpy video on airplay form you mac to AppleTV.
1. You can use a router that has 5Ghz instead of "the normal 2.4GHz"
-5GHz is faster with a good signal, but 2,4GHz will go through walls better. A couple of walls(even thin walls) will kill 5GHz quickly, distance also kills it more quicker than a 2,4GHz. Most people use 2.4 GHz and the channels on 2.4GHz are more crowded.
2. You can use ethernet cables to connect either your mac or your apple tv to you router. Beware there are different ethernet cables though, I tried an old ethernet cable which i got in 2000, but boy did my internet connection (internet speed test) get worse readings than through WiFi.
3. You can buy a powerline adapters (sends your network to your power line)
What did I do?
a) My router is upstairs (I get internet from 4g antenna mounted on my outer wall). ->Airplay really bad (new AppleTV 3rd gen, new 27' iMac).
b) I bought a router that handles 2.4gHz and 5Ghz (TP-Link Archer C7, cheap & got lots of awards), connected it with a new ethernetcable to my upstairs router. Connected appleTV and iMac to the new router on the 5Ghz bandwidth. -> Airplay got better but still bad.
c) put my MacBook Pro into use, pressed "alt" key and then pressed the WiFI symbol on the top right corner, looked at my RSSI and Noise and noticed that next to my apple TV my SNR margin was a lot better than next to my iMac, so the problem was the WiFi connection between my iMac to router rather than between my router and appleTV.
d) Used a longer ethernet cable so that my Archer was upstairs above the room my iMac is in-> SNR margin got better-> airplay got better ->still not watchable enough.
e) bought power line adapters (didn't know they existed, didn't believe they were good, my brother recommended them, the shop offered a 30 days trial & return policy) (Netgear powerline AV500 (XAVB5401)). Now I get internet through 4g to my original upstairs router. Upstairs router to Netgear powerline via ethernetcable. Downstairs the internet comes from my power outlet via the second Netgear powerline through ethernet cable to my Archer C7 router. iMac and appleTv are connected to Archer-router via 5Ghz WiFi. ->Airplay works wonderfully with VLC,iDVD,Quicktime,iTunes, from a movie DVD connected to my iMac.
One could of course just use router to powerline via ethernet cable and then powerline to mac and another poweline to appleTv that would have been the neater solution.
You can also look what channels your neighbors use (press "alt"-key + click on WiFI symbol). there are some charts in the net that show what channels interfere , what channel should you put your router on.
An easy test should be to put your router, computer and Apple TV next to each others and try airplay (hey your router doesn't have to be connected to the internet to be able to do this), if that solves the lag, then your network is definately the problem (SNR margin remember?).
Hope this helped, i cursed that I didn't find an explanation like this, people just say "bad apple", "why doesn't apple fix this", "I have 5 bars on my Wifi so the network can not be my problem" "solved it by lowering my resolution (=less data to be send so they had almost enough of SNR margin, enough for low resolution(less data), not enough for higher resolution or something like that)! !
Click "this helped me" if this really helped, you so more people find this lengthy text easier ! !
Thanks "huana" I didn't have the option to turn off WMM on my modem, but there was a option for WMM AUTOMATIC POWER SAVE DELIVERY to be disabled. Streaming now works perfectly.
Thanks again huana
+1. Switching bluetooth off seems to take care of the lag issues.
So I have to sacrifice my wireless mouse and keyboard to get airplay mirroring? No ideal!
Hey guys,
I just had the same problem and after I turned off the bluetooth on Apple TV, it's just fine. You may try this solution 🙂
Cheers!
I have the exact same problem. I have a macbook pro 13 (2011) and the screen freezes every 20 seconds while the sound continues.
I tried with my girlfriends Retina 13 inch pro from this year and the result was much better however not as smooth as with the Iphone. I'm thinking that the enhanced graphical performance of the intel 4000 graphics vs. 3000 in the 2011 pro makes some difference.
I am in no way qualified to answer way the iphone gives better performance when it comes to mirroring with airplay, but I think it must be because of the different way the two platforms use airplay.
The iphone uses quicktime and streams "just" the video of your choice and does make a mirror of the iphone in the same sense.
The macbook makes a direct mirror onto the tv of everything on the macbooks screen. This might require a lot more from the computer compared to the iphone. Because the macbook is of course on all parameters much more powerful than the iphone.
It would be nice if Apple were able to make the macbook use airplay in the same, what seems to be a more efficient way, as the Iphone.
It is kind of bugging me because I have used money buying an airport express and new cables since I got the impression that this was what was causing the poor performance. But now i know that it isn't inference since:
1) of the networks I can detect, my network is the only one running 5ghz(dual).
2) my network works perfectly and has a persistently high signal.
3) since the airplay works flawlessly with the Iphone and works a lot better with a newer computer with better graphics.
I really hope Apple will address this problem.
I had the same problem. I updated to 10.9.1 and turned off my bluetooth. It helped alot the lag is almost gone. it occurs maybe every 20 mins or so for like a half second. Updating to 10.9.1 and turning off my bluetooth helped me. Hope it helps you guys too!!
I got same problem - latest iMac 27" with best GPU + Apple TV 3 - all upgrades up to date.
I was playing with router settings - my can go only on 2.4G but using WiFi monitor I managed to set up router on chanel 5 what make little noise and best connection. Still got this video lags. I was trying to connect ATV by eternet cable but no change for me.
Think is I got Beamer app to play video on ATV and its going absolutely perfect - cant put subtitles or anything like that but streaming can be perfect. I just dont undersund the problem.
Hello kissoundz, I have an early 2011 Macbook Pro with a Radeon HD 6750 dedicated graphhics card and an Intel HD 3000 integrated graphics. The OS is Mavericks and it uses automatic graphics switching software which utilizes the integrated graphics for low intensity video requirements and switches to the dedicated graphics card for more intense video needs. I stream to a 3rd generation apple tv a great deal and really have had no problems. I mainly stream from abc.com or netflix but I recently started watching "Orphan Black" which is offered on Amazon Prime. It would stream ok but when the episode was over and I went to the mac to switch to something else, that's when the trouble started. Wherever I moved my cursor the screen began to erase like using a paint tool in photo shop to erase part of an exposure. I would have no control and could not access the drop down menu by clicking on the apple logo, so I had to reort to a total reboot. I turned the graphics swithcing off in system prefferences; enrgy saver. The video would stream fine and I had complete control of my mac but the internal fans were screaming at about 5,500 rpms. I googled the streaming requirements for Amazon Prime and found I needed to down load the Silver Light plug in and update my Adobe Flash player. I can now stream with automatic graphics switching on and fans operate around 2,500 to 3,200 rpms and I have complete control of the mac. My wife has a late 2011 Macbook Pro 13 with streaming issues as well. It would stream but canstantly stop and say loading. We installed the necessary plug ins and everything is fine now.This seems to be a different issue from what you are experiencing but maybe it can help.
I had a similar problem, when streaming video from my mac to apple tv video and sound was blacking out and it was impossible to watch. tried loads of different solutions. nothing helped. finally I tried putting hdmi cable in to a different slot on my smart tv. The problem solved. Hope this might be a solution for some of you too.
I had the same problem when streaming sound from Spotify on my MacBook Air mid 2013. I solved it by lowering the quality of the stream in Spotify. Go to preferences -->playback and make sure to uncheck high quality streaming. Sound quality is still good can't tell any difference.
When it comes to video I stream to apple-tv using a program called Beamer. Works great, even in Full HD. Get beamer here: http://beamer-app.com
FINALLY FIXED IT! The issue is the "TCP Max Buffer Size" within my router. The only way I could access this is with a custom firmware for it. I'm using a TP-Link WR1043ND. As soon as I changed that buffer setting airplay mirroring has been running smooth. The only time it hiccups is when it first connects for a couple of seconds and then it works without a problem. This is where I got the information for setting up my router for OpenWRT. (This will be different for other routers thats not mine.) http://aspiregemstone.blogspot.com/2011/07/hacking-tp-link-wr1043nd-part-4.html
This looks like a major issue with some after market routers so if you have a router that's not Apple then you all should start reporting that they need to raise the TCP buffer with their next firmware release.
I fully agree with Paul. I have the exact same issue.
Here is my analysis and test results:
Tested with following to find the root cause...
Test1:
1. Changed my router to Asus ac router (RT-87U) and getting excellent bandwidth. (50MBPS with ATT Uverse)
2. Connected Apple TV to 5GHZ channel from router.
3. Connected MacBook Pro (OSX Mavericks) to same channel on the router.
4. Switched Macbook Pro to Apple TV (Airplay display with Mirroring).
Result:
Observed lag during video streaming. Audio seems to be Ok though found few instances where there were breaks in audio signal.
Test2:
1. Connected iPhone 6 plus to again same channel on the router (5GHZ)
2. Switched streaming from iPhone to Apple TV
Result:
No logs observed and both Audio and Video streaming seems to be working OK.
Test3:
1. Switched to Macbook Pro (OSX Yosemite) and connected to Apple TV
2. Streaming video and audio test.
Result:
The video almost freezes for few mins and result is worst. Apple TV is unusable for video streaming with OSX Yosemite / Macbook pro.
notes:
1. Tested Netflix and Youtube directly from Apple TV and is working fine without any issues in HD mode.
2. Tested tv channels (ABC news) from Apple TV and no issues found using my network.
My Conclusion:
Apple TV / iPhone seems to be working fine.
Apple TV/Macbook pro doesn't work well with Video Streaming. (Periodic Lags in video signal)
The problem is not due to any issues with router or network but is clearly with streaming protocol between MacBook and Apple TV.
Clearly Apple needs to resolve this.
Hope this helps.
I don't know if this will help others. My mirroring was freezing. I live in the UK, My time zone was set to cuperto and region to US. I changes these to UK and it stopped my mirroring from lagging. ??
Thanks! This helped me instantly.
I have been searching for a solution for this for months now - I was close to buying a new router (I have Asus RT 66NU). I can reproduce it every time: awdl0 up -> stutter; awdl0 down =>smooth airplay mirroring. It is still router- dependent somehow. A friend of mine has a different router (AVM FritzBox), and it worked smoothly with my macbook pro retina from the start (without the above solution). Maybe the router filters out some packets that are responsible for the lagging.
Shame on Apple.
Best Regards,
Markus
one word Beamer! ... stubbled upon this little gem, tried it and bought and haven't looked back.
I was once a vlc-mirroring person and I too had lag and stuttering and excessive buffering. Kissed all that crap goodbye when I found Beamer.
I also use 1Keyboard in place of my apple remote. Setup a hotkey to activate/deactivate (remapped F3 for it). couldn't be happier
Apple TV - Settings -> Audio & Video -> Adjust for AirPlay Overscan -> OFF
This fixed it for me. Just make sure your Apple TV and macbook are on the same network. I had to hook them up via Ethernet. Wireless was still choppy.
When using airplay from mac to apple tv it lags/freezes, but works fine with iPhone
