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Intermittent AirPlay playback, AUDIO only!

Hi,


I've had an Apple TV for over 6 months now, it is the 3rd Gen. I use to have a really slow internet connection (5 Mbps) and surprisingly enough I never had any problems with AirPlay. It took some time to load but once I was pass that, everything worked just fine. Recently, I moved into an apartment building, as opposed to a house I lived in before. After moving, I started noticing that AirPlay stuttered a lot! It would cut off for a few seconds and come back. Surprisingly, this problem only occured when I streamed music. I use Rdio to stream music, so naturally I thought that might be the problem, or maybe my internet is just slow but then I used my default Music app and the problem persisted.


Eventually, I just switched to a new internet provider. I get 25Mbps speeds which is 5 times better than the one I had previously. Unlike my old ISP, the new one didn't offer me a built-in router in the modem so I started using my old AirPort Express (2nd Gen) that I've had for almost 2 years now. I thought maybe using an Apple router would definitely fix my problems but I was wrong again! I'm still having the same problem and once again only while streaming audio, video streaming works just fine with no interruptions. After doing some research, I read a post which hinted at this problem occurring in apartment buildings. I used Apple's troubleshooting guide to change the name of the network so it isn't the "default" that everyone else uses, I also put on an on-screen passcode every time I have to use AirPlay, hoping my connection isn't interfering with anyone else with an Apple TV in the building, to NO luck! I also read somewhere that home appliances can interfere with my internet connection and that I should change my radio channel on my AirPort Express to see if that helps. I haven't tinkered around too much with that, mostly because I don't know much of what I'm doing in this matter and I would appreciate anybody's help!


To sum up, this only occurs when I stream music to my Apple TV. Video streaming from iTunes, Plex, and all iOS apps works seamlessly.

iPhone 5, iOS 7.0.4

Posted on Dec 11, 2013 11:49 AM

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2 replies

Dec 12, 2013 2:02 PM in response to rajas129

In the majority of cases, how well AirPlay works is a reflection of how well your local network works. I don't recall having had any issues with AirPlay.


Intermittent problems are often a result of interference. Interference can be caused by other networks in the neighbourhood or from household electrical items.


You can download and install iStumbler (NetStumbler for windows users) to help you see which channels are used by neighbouring networks so that you can avoid them, but iStumbler will not see household items.


Refer to your router manual for instructions on changing your wifi channel or adjusting your multicast rate.


There are other types of problems that can affect networks, but this is by far the most common, hence worth mentioning first. Networks that have inherent issues can be seen to work differently with different versions of the same software. You might also try moving the Apple TV away from other electrical equipment.


The following article(s) may help you.


Troubleshooting Wi-Fi networks and connections

Recommended Wi-Fi settings

Sources of Interference

Wifi Diagnostic Software (for Mac users)

Intermittent AirPlay playback, AUDIO only!

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