Apple TV lag and picture problem with VLC

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Level 1

4 points

Apple TV lag and picture problem with VLC

I'm using AirPlay to mirror my iMac screen through Apple TV to my HDTV. The computer screen appears with no problems, in good resolution. When I play a movie file (.avi) using VLC in fullscreen mode, though, sometimes the movie appears fine on the computer but simultaneously blurry and indistinct on the HDTV. At other times, I have problems with the presentation on the HDTV stopping for buffering. I don't have this problem when using the computer without mirroring.

My system: a mid-2011, 21.5-inch iMac, Mavericks 10.9.1, VLC 2.1.2. Not sure which version of Apple TV I have. The computer is in one room, the TV, Apple TV and wireless router together in another room. No other devices are using the wireless network simultaneously.

I'm not noticing any problem with the audio.

I didn't notice the picture degradation problem until I upgraded VLC from an earlier version and changed the aspect ratio of a video I was trying to play. Reverting to the original aspect ratio of the film did not resolve the problem (which, as I noted, only appeared on the HDTV screen, not on the computer screen), and trying to open the film using the earlier version of VLC did not resolve it either. I haven't tried eliminating the VLC preferences file, but I haven't quite figured out where to find it...

Any suggestions would be welcome!

iMac (21.5-inch Mid 2011), OS X Mavericks (10.9.1)

Posted on Feb 9, 2014 9:39 PM

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Answer 1

Nov 29, 2014 7:09 AM in response to wengermac

Had the same problem but got resolved by connecting the Apple TV to the wireless router using LAN cable. The streaming from the Mac is still wireless though.

Hope it helps

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Answer 2

wengermac Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 29, 2014 8:49 AM in response to Ziggieman

Greetings. After struggling for a while, I talked to a local Mac specialist and he suggested the same thing. I bought the cable, but didn't get around to trying it out until about a week ago, inspired by new reasons to try using Apple TV. First tests are very encouraging! Thanks very much for your response. Sometimes these questions seem to float off into limbo, and it's good to know they're still active out there, still communicating, like Voyager out probing the Universe.

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