How to improve video streaming from external HDD?

The USB connection used by your external HDD is probably the weakest link in the bandwidth chain. You would see a significant improvement if you used a dedicated NAS device connected by Ethernet to your router in this case. Ideally you will want a NAS that includes an iTunes server service for streaming.

The next area for potential improvement would be your Wi-Fi network. Using the latest 802.11ac technology would also be a benefit here.

You have a major issue with wireless..

The stream must copy packets AE to iPad (or whatever it is).. by nature iOS devices are single stream and cannot use full AC wireless even when they proclaim themselves to be AC.. if slower well it can be N speed.

The stream must then be copied back to AE.. and then from AE to the ATV.. that is three separate hops.. the AE cannot do any of that simultaneously.. they are sequential.. each slows the stream.. by half.. so you will get about 1/6 of the full speed of a single stream of whatever the fastest speed the ipad can manage. (For AC version it is 433Mbps as I recall but ??).

Use ethernet for link ATV to the AE will help heaps..

Use a WD live TV that can play your files directly to the TV.. would be even better.. you are trying to use the ipad in a way it is really poorly designed for.. you need a media player in the network. And connected by ethernet if at all possible.

Ok.. lets start into more technical stuff then.

What resolution are the vob files and what streaming speed do they need to give you a smooth stream.. can you measure those things??

What is the wireless link speed to the AE and how busy is it.. remember wireless is shared media.. it can do one task at a time.. Tx or Rx not both at once.. and it can deal with computer at a time.. however it can use two bands.. but apple has it setup to auto swap bands.. depending on the age of your ipad (ios whatever).. you are best if that is the only device on that band..

I strongly recommend therefore you setup different names on different bands.. eg AE24ghz and AE5ghz

Even setting fixed channels to stop channels jumping around.. although it is more important to 2.4ghz than 5ghz.

Then test on each band.. ensuring that the one and only device using wireless on that band is your iOS video streamer.

If you still have issues.. I would then recommend attempting the same thing with the files stored on a computer. The computer plugged into the AE by ethernet (wireless off of course) to ensure it is not hdd over USB speed issue.

Keep doing tests that help you discover the source of the issue.

Transcode your files to lower resolution and see if that fixes it.. with little change in your on screen experience.. !!

Tesserax, I know the USB is the older standard (why didn't Apple fit USB3?)...

Yes, I couldn't agree more here.

but even USB 2 steams at 480 Mbps and VOB files only need a max of 9.5 Mbps.

That 480 Mbps is the maximum data signaling rate, not the actual throughput rate, which is more like 280 Mbps. Also streaming takes at least two types of communications over that media: 1) Control, & 2) Stream. The former is bi-directional, the latter is uni-directional ... but can appear as both isochronous (typical for streaming audio or video files) or sporadic (typical for data file transfers.) In addition, you will also need to take into consideration your HDD's data access rates. Remember, I said that this would be the most likely "weakest link," not the only one. You have to also take into consideration the entire path that the stream must go through. La Pastenague does a great job explaining this in his response to you.

Can you recommend a good NAS device for iOS devices?

I would recommend just about any from Synology. I would have you consider their DS415+ model as an example.

I think the 415+ is a bit OTT for me, what about the 214?

Should work as well. I was just offering the DS415+ as an example and that I happen to have this device as well.

Looking at their website it says I can play directly to ATV. do you do that?

Yes ... and I'm not have the streaming issues that you are ... but, to be fair, most of my connections are Ethernet, including the ATV. I only use wireless for my laptops, iOS devices, and printer. All my desktops, game consoles, and media streamers are via wire.

Can ATV handle VOB?

Not directly. Please check out the following Apple Specifications for the 3rd gen ATV.

Sorry, I don't have an answer for your last question. You may want to post your question in one of the iOS section of the Discussions.

How do I measure the link speed to the AE?

iOS is not exactly forthcoming on what a normal computer would show as part of it standard setup.. If you have some file browser software on the iOS just measure time to copy a file from the HDD to the device.. that is actually excellent way.. copy a big file.. you can delete it immediately after copying but it will give you real world speed.

I know there are various wireless and network apps for iOS but I have not dug down into them to find what is available.. I would never bother doing streaming where wireless was involved as the controller.. it is unfortunate due to ill health I have not been able to run ethernet to one area of the house and I have a wireless extend to stream netflix (4Mbps required) .. it fails on a regular basis.. wireless is unsuitable for such things.. it is something I did in the days of G wireless and bashed aways at for several years.. (As per Tesserax I run wireless for laptop or iphone etc.. but never for controlling streams.. and well I have still to replace the one weak link which is coming).

However to give you a link speed at least from the Airport side.. (note the link is different on each end).. Airport utility does show that info.. it is undocumented at least that I can find.. so it was lucky accident to find it.. This stuff was available and far superior in v5 utility.. which I used to encourage people to install.. but at least this works for v6.

Hover your mouse over the name or MAC address of the wireless link in the summary page.. you will get a set of stats about the link.

This will give you the actual link speed.. 450Mbps in my case. And the RSSI which is signal level. This is when you hover the mouse right over the name of the wireless client.

Now link speed is of course not transfer speed.. but if you want to move 9.5Mbps you will need a link at least 4 times that.. and that also means exclusive use by the iOS device. the more devices that share the wireless the higher the link speeds must be to sustain the data flow..

VOB should be transcoded to something more compressed I think.. it is amazing the quality that netflix get from 4Mbps.

In addition to LaPastenague's comments, I would suggest two such programs:

• For the Mac or PC: AJA System Test
• For iOS devices: WiFiPerf

the iPads are showing 26Mbps each (4& Air), iPhone 6 Pluses showing 72Mbps each.

The 26Mbps will not be stable.. what is the signal level??

The extreme can really be very poor with some clients.

I recommend a factory reset.. and the following.

Factory reset universal

Power off the AE.. ie pull the power cord or power off at the wall.. wait 10sec.. hold in the reset button.. be gentle.. power on again still holding in reset.. and keep holding it in for another 10sec. You may need some help as it is hard to both hold in reset and apply power. It will show success by rapidly blinking the front led. Release the reset.. and wait a couple of min for the AE to reset and come back with factory settings. If the front LED doesn’t blink rapidly you missed it and simply try again. The reset is fairly fragile in these.. press it so you feel it just click and no more.. I have seen people bend the lever or even break it. I use a toothpick as tool.

Then redo the setup from the computer with Yosemite.

1. Use very short names.. NOT APPLE RECOMMENDED names. No spaces and pure alphanumerics.

eg AEgen5 and for wireless use AE24ghz and AE5ghz for the two bands.. with fixed channels for 2.4ghz. Try 11, 8, 6. 5Ghz is pretty much ok on auto.

2. Use all passwords that also comply but can be a bit longer. ie 8-20 characters mixed case and numbers.. no non-alphanumerics.

3. Ensure the AE always takes the same IP address.. this is not a problem for you have it set as main router but is problematic when in bridge.

4. Check your share name on the computer is not changing.. make sure it also complies with the above.. short no spaces and pure alphanumeric..

5. Make sure IPv6 is set to link-local only in the computer. For example wireless open the network preferences, wireless and advanced / TCP/IP.. and fix the IPv6. to link-local only. Auto is not good enough.

If you still get poor wireless on the ipad.. I would advise you to ring apple if you have any support cover left. This is ridiculous that they cannot make a wireless router that works.

I am so used to using the Mac it is easier for me.. I find the newer style of setup in the ipad clumsy.. never know where to find what I want.. so for manual kind of setup where you are not following apple setup recommendations, I prefer the Mac.. but it is personal.. in the end both work identically and via the same application buried inside the Airport.

I also have another make of router with a USB port that I will also test.

Comparisons with different equipment help loads to see what is wrong.

However.. almost nothing in the PC world will handle Mac formatted disks so this is going to be a major trial methinks.

for an NAS device, is that not connected to the router, so surely it will suffer the same problems?

NAS is plugged in by ethernet.. and not USB 2. It has built in itunes server.. the AE in this setup has no functionality other than network. As a dumb device whic it is.. it can stay dumb.. whereas in the case of the AE with USB drive it is handling router plus filing duties. That requires a lot more cpu cycles and a lot more ram.. No routers do this well.. the NAS has a CPU and memory that both far exceed a router. It is designed for storing and reading and writing files in a network..

However it will not fix your wireless problems.. that is weakness on the setup you need to fix.. but getting ipads out of the media handling helps no end.. since they have no other method but wireless for access... meaning if it controlled the stream.. all input and output goes through a slow and dubious network connection.. whereas the NAS is ethernet.. and you can stream at far faster speeds.. and even where you come to a weak link.. wireless.. it is one hop and not forced to pass packets in both directions.