Apple TV, Eye TV streaming issues

[spatlese44]

I have a Mac Mini with an Eye TV hooked up for recording TV shows. The Mini has been doing a good job at this, but when I try to stream to my Apple TV, I get stuttering after a few minutes of playback. I'm recording HD shows and using the Eye TV software to convert to Apple TV "friendly" files. At least they should be friendly; the button says "Apple TV"! This is not a new issue as I've seen it posted elsewhere before, but I've never seen a solution. Any ideas?

Also, if you have a similar setup, does yours work? Maybe I just have a bad unit, but wouldn't know as people don't post threads like: "Mac Mini streaming to Apple TV just fine". I have too much content to sync with Apple TV, which I heard would work. Apple TV and Mini are connected by a wired network.

 

[Shoesy]

Downgrade

I'd hate to sound like some kind of 'The Spaz' but have you tried downgrading to take 2? V3 software seems to crash and stutter and glitch out on me whenever I try and do anything out of the sandbox.

Sorry Spaz.

 

[spatlese44]

I'd hate to sound like some kind of 'The Spaz' but have you tried downgrading to take 2? V3 software seems to crash and stutter and glitch out on me whenever I try and do anything out of the sandbox.

Sorry Spaz.

It did it under take 2 as well. Frustrating as I bought the Mini, Eye TV, Apple TV and 1TB drive to do this and it hasn't worked since day 1. I don't watch TV on my Mini, so without this working, the Eye TV is useless to me.

 

[KevinC867]

I have a Mac Mini with an Eye TV hooked up for recording TV shows. The Mini has been doing a good job at this, but when I try to stream to my Apple TV, I get stuttering after a few minutes of playback. I'm recording HD shows and using the Eye TV software to convert to Apple TV "friendly" files. At least they should be friendly; the button says "Apple TV"! This is not a new issue as I've seen it posted elsewhere before, but I've never seen a solution. Any ideas?

Also, if you have a similar setup, does yours work? Maybe I just have a bad unit, but wouldn't know as people don't post threads like: "Mac Mini streaming to Apple TV just fine". I have too much content to sync with Apple TV, which I heard would work. Apple TV and Mini are connected by a wired network.

The stuttering probably indicates that the processing power of the Apple TV can't keep up with the requirements of the source. You might see if you can customize the EyeTV's "Apple TV" setting to decrease the bandwidth of the stream.

I hate to say it, but a less painful alternative might be to pick up a cheaper, more capable, streaming device like the WDTV Live ($120 from Amazon). I just got one of these to fill in for the deficiencies of my Apple TV. The interface isn't as pretty as the Apple TV, but it works great. It streams HD content very nicely, and plays almost any video format without conversion.

 

[daferrisda]

I have a similar setup but upgraded my Apple TV to a 250GB drive so I'm not streaming, rather syncing and then playing off the Apple TV drive. I guess your streaming because your Apple TV hard drive is not large enough? Do you have the same problem if the HD program is on your Apple TV?

If you do then it could be an Apple TV issue, as the Apple TV Export option within EyeTV works great for me, Elgato Turbo is useless so have given up on it.

If you don't then how are you connecting the Apple TV to your mac, it should be Ethernet not WiFi, as HD programs never seem to stream well over WiFi.

 

[spatlese44]

I hate to say it, but a less painful alternative might be to pick up a cheaper, more capable, streaming device like the WDTV Live ($120 from Amazon).

Interesting. I have an old HDTV that only has 1 component input and no HDMI, so switching between yet another device would be a drag, but nice specs.

 

[spatlese44]

I have a similar setup but upgraded my Apple TV to a 250GB drive so I'm not streaming, rather syncing and then playing off the Apple TV drive. I guess your streaming because your Apple TV hard drive is not large enough? Do you have the same problem if the HD program is on your Apple TV?

Yes, I am streaming over ethernet and not syncing because I can't fit everything. I find the Apple TV sync confusing, and clumbsy. What's the point? Maybe it's a backup? Even at 250GB you are going to run out of space fast. I'm aware of others saying if you sync it will work. I'm also amazed people aren't more upset you can't stream and Eye TV isn't fixing it. Before posting this, I thought I must be crazy and it was just my setup. Still waiting for someone to say theirs streams fine...

 

[spatlese44]

I'm getting close to an answer on this. Last night I tried a custom bitrate rather than the "Apple TV" preset on EyeTV and it played fine. Why I'm having these problems and others aren't; I don't know. Maybe they are. Could be my network. I have a 50 foot segment connecting my Mini to the router, which shouldn't be a problem, but maybe. In any case, I still haven't heard of anyone using the "Apple TV" preset and having no problems.

I'll keep testing various presets and find the highest quality I can safely use, but honestly at 2/3's of the standard Apple TV preset, I had acceptable quality and a smaller file size. Mabye, with a little prodding, Elgato and be convinced to add a way to change the preset Apple TV bitrate. It would be nice to just click the button.

 

[mac&cheesey]

me too

spatlese44,

I have virtually the same issue. Stuttering on recorded TV shows (standard def). Interestingly, no stuttering when streaming downloaded (torrents) content (standard or high def). I tried almost everything to trouble-shoot the issue... reinstall of eyeTV3 software, change network to N only, sync content to AppleTV, replace AppleTV, you get the idea. The only two things I didn't try were to hard wire the AppleTV to my iMac (not practical) and to replace the eyeTV 250 plus unit.

I have been in touch with Elgato with much help but no success.

FYI, I only use the AppleTV preset. I'd be very interested in finding out the changes you made to get it to work.

Also, I doubt it's related but worth mentioning just in case... the quality of my eyeTV recordings are always acceptable but never very good. The cable is coming right from the wall to the eyeTV unit. Maybe it would improve if I put a cable box in there.?? Anyway, the quality of eyeTV recordings, even during the non-stuttering portions, is never as good as live TV.

m&c

 

[Cave Man]

In my system the default Apple TV conversion in the Eye TV software streams just fine to our Apple TV, even if it's 30 fps. I have an AEBSn and using wifi.