When viewing movies via Home Sharing from my iTunes library, my 1080p versions will sometimes buffer over wifi. I have the same movie in SD but can't figure out how to choose between the HD and SD versions on my 3rd gen Apple TV.
Apple TV
Looks like your only option would be to delete the HD version out of iTunes (you do have the option to keep the file), but that isn't really all that helpful. You could also go through MetaX and delete the catalog ID for the SD version and append the name SD to all the movies, but that would just clutter up your library with 2 of everything (though if you moved all the SD versions into Home Videos that would be less visual clutter, but you would lose the ability to sort by genres and such). It is a shame that Apple doesn't have a solution for folks who might have too much traffic on their home router to support streaming in HD and there are folks who have caps who would rather download something than watch it from the cloud (I know in your case these are not Apple purchased videos, so that's not even an option).
Have you tried restarting your router? That can improve wifi performance. As can using the 5GHz band, though you need a router and computer compatible. One other thing, if this router is more than 5 or 6 years old, upgrading it might work. I know I had issues with the wifi from my cable modem/router dropping at least once a day and having to reset the router, but when I turned that off and used an AirPort Express it has really improved wifi stability (and my PC is only 2.4GHz capable). If you have a combined unit, might be worth looking into adding a stand alone router and turning off the modem wifi.
I do wish that they had an option to stream SD, but apparently the combining of the videos into a single displayed item was meant to benefit folks trying to sync files to an external device. Guess they figure shouldn't be an option in your home streaming the HD version from a computer to an AppleTV
I had a similar issue with streaming from my garage (man cave) with slow download probably due to reinforced concrete walls. But I added a range extender - was the best 35$ I ever spent! I now get the same download speed in the garage as I do in the office with the router...
The folder contains 2 separate files, one HD one SD. But in the iTunes library it shows up as 1 line item. Attached is a quick example I grabbed off of Google
Will this work for content I ripped from my BluRay/DVD collection or only for purchases from iTunes? Also there a way to do this with previous gen Apple TVs?
If you own both the SD version and the HD version and both files should be in your iTunes library and you would chose the SD version rather than the HD version. They should be 2 separate files...
They show up as one file with the HD-SD logo. I use a program called MetaX to add all of the metadata to my rips so they look just like the movies I've purchased in iTunes.
OK, thanks for the help. I appreciate it.
I Have a couple of movies where I have both the SD file and the HD file - it shows in the ATV and iTunes twice with only one having the HD flag...
Just out of curiosity, where you see the HD-SD listed next to an item, what happens when you click on the little arrow just to the right of that?
Cheers,
GB
TimmyHaines wrote:
The one I have upstairs on wifi is the previous generation and that is the one I need to change the settings on.
Right! Have you done that?
No, lol. That's what I'm trying to figure out how to do. It's the previous generation AppleTV and I can't find in the menu where to do that.
I tried all 3 with no luck. I truly appreciate the help, maybe the old AppleTV just can't do what I'm trying to do. It'll just be more motivation to someday run some network lines upstairs!!
I'm not sure if this will work or not, but... on the 3rd gen. Apple TV go to Settings > iTunes Store and set the "video resolution" to standard definition.
I Thought the exact thing last night and tried it but it didn't work either. I'm really beginning to think that I am out of luck here.
I'm not sure whether I'm imagining or not, but I do seem to remember SD-HD being displayed differently on the Apple TV with earlier software.
How do I choose between HD and SD versions of the same movie via Home Sharing?
