How big a movie will stream on apple tv3

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Level 1

16 points

How big a movie will stream on apple tv3

WE were attempting to watch a 2.5 hr movie stramed out of a Mac Pro (older version cannot go to mevericks) hard wired to a Apple Extream wireless router to the Apple Tv3 all up to date as hardware allows. Movie would not stream. It plays fine on the computer itself but streaming stalls. So a couple questions come to mind, can iTunes/Apple Tv3 stram larger movies 2hrs and over without problem? Even though a movie may be compressed, does streaming take the compressed files size or the uncompressed file size which a 1.8gig movie would blossm to a much larger file size as uncompressed. So if there were a file size limit (4Gig) even a 1.8gig movie could surpass depending on compression.

We have only had streaming issues with these longer movies not usually under 2hrs.

Curious.

Thanks folks.

macbook pro, Mac OS X (10.5.4)

Posted on Dec 21, 2013 7:36 PM

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Answer 1

Dec 21, 2013 7:43 PM in response to wrcooke

A local network would have more than enough bandwidth to stream a movie, this is likely a WiFi issue. Trying to stream content especially HD over WiFi rarely works well. Connect ATV via Eithernet and you will save your self a lot of headachs.

It does not matter what the size of the file is since it is streaming not downloading. It is just sending parts of the movie conintusly, not downloading the entire thing as a file.

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Answer 2

wrcooke Author

Level 1

16 points

Dec 22, 2013 1:38 PM in response to Brian Cook4

I'll try that but I do find it odd that it is ok with other video's that are 2gig and under. I do hope it is not like this - have to hard wire the ATV, that would suggest Apple is not quite there yet using WIFI.

Thanks

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Answer 3

Alley_Cat

Level 7

20,548 points

Dec 22, 2013 2:26 PM in response to wrcooke

Is this movie purchased from iTune Store?

If you are having trouble streaming it the network is likely the cause.

Some iTunes HD rentals are 8-9GB or more.

For 1080p HD AppleTV needs 8 Mbps bandwidth for iTunes store content - slower and itwill buffer first.

If the movie is not from iTunes store then it may well be the encoding.

Also check to see if you have any security or firewall software installed eg NetBarrier which may see repeated communications from AppleTV as an attack.

AC

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Answer 4

Alley_Cat

Level 7

20,548 points

Dec 22, 2013 2:29 PM in response to wrcooke

When you say streaming stall do you mean it starts then has issues?

Is the Mac going to sleep ?

The length of the movie should not matter, and provided the compression is within AppleTv playback specs it should play ok (though it may have to buffer) to start - I would look at network interference fro other devices, microwaves, cordless phones.

If from iTunes Store, you are viewing the movie under AppleTV's Computers tab not from the Purchased section of Movies which will use the internet/'cloud' not the local copy.

AC

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Answer 5

wrcooke Author

Level 1

16 points

Dec 22, 2013 4:59 PM in response to Alley_Cat

Well we start the movie and get the stream/progress bar and it does not seem to move, I can fast forward for a second and it plays for a bit then does the same thing. Now, did a bit more checking and the movie is 8gig so that may be the issue. I have the ATV plugged into the router directly BUT!!!! where the computer I stream from is on an extension of the main router. Complicates things just a wee bit. Now, I have tried one other movie that was in the 8gig size and it did play after a couple seconds of streaming. This is not an Apple store rental or purchase. Curiously my wife rented a movie and it was going to take 5hrs to download. Me thinks our network has a problem. I have to find Apple playback specs and see if Hand Break is withing spec's.

The computer sharing all this stuff does not have a monitor so I use remote desktop to get in, can't be sure if sleep is turned off but I will check.

Thanks everyone.

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