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ATV2 Wireless Performance

stuartmeyers

stuartmeyers

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 1, 2010
128
0
Sydney
Merry Christmas to all who celebrate it. For me, I finally got the ATV2 yesterday and have set it up and started toying with it. But I seem to have a lot of buffering issues which are no doubt wireless related.

At home, I have an ADSL2+ modem, D-link router set to g only (not n capable), an ipad, 2 x pc's, 2 phones, an airport express connected to the hifi and my new ATV2, all connected wirelessly. I have ripped and encoded dvds using various options but generally use 720p.

The movie will play for approx 5 mins and buffer but it varies on each movie.

I also tried connecting the ATV2 via ethernet to airport express to reduce wireless traffic as AE and ATV2 will never be used at the same time.

But my gut fell is that I have to buy a new dual band wireless modem/router and see the d-link as a good option. I am thinking of this anyhow because my ipad has buffering issues too when playing youtube.

Is there anything I can do before outlaying $200+ ?

Cheers
 
You are likely seeing issues due to the lower speeds of G and potentially other outside interference. I had similar issues and tried different routers until i finally threw in the towel and bought an airport extreme - wel worth the money!!
 
Airport Extreme - maybe. ATV1 - not sure of older technology and the fact I am putting all my movies on 1 notebook for ATV2 or synch to Ipad.

Spoke to ISP and they suggest combined modem/router as you lose 25% of internet throughput going from modem to router. I did a test direct connect via cable to modem and speed went from 6Mb to 10.
 
What about changing your internet plan? For five measly dollars I got an extra I think four mbps which made all the difference. Also run a speed test and make sure you're getting close to the proper speeds your paying for. There's a number of things that can slow you down such as the lines needing to be repaired, interference from neighbors on the same channel, etc. Recently I was getting .35 mbps when it should've been 6 because there was too much interference from neighbors (I live in a multi dwelling unit.)
 
Try scanning for all wireless networks around and see what channels they are running on. Around my apartment there at 15+ and they are running on channel 1 and 6 so I have mine set to 11 just so there is no confusion. Getting a airport extreme will really help you out.
 
G is the issue. You can get a netgear N router at Best Buy usually around $100. My parents just picked up one for their Apple TV.

G is not really fast enough for streaming. You can get away with some stuff but big stuff not so much. I ran into the exact problem you did until grabbing an N router.

My parents had it to so thats why they grabbed an N router. Problem solved.
 
occams razor said:
Try scanning for all wireless networks around and see what channels they are running on. Around my apartment there at 15+ and they are running on channel 1 and 6 so I have mine set to 11 just so there is no confusion. Getting a airport extreme will really help you out.
Click to expand...

Interesting option. I am in an apartment so i know there are many wireless networks nearby. I will give it a go. What tool do you use? Is it on PC?

It seems nearly everyone says use 'N' with AE.
 
Last edited:
chrono1081 said:
G is not really fast enough for streaming. You can get away with some stuff but big stuff not so much. I ran into the exact problem you did until grabbing an N router.
Click to expand...

This is not close to a universal truth. The only way this is true is if you have ripped/encoded blurays as some ridiculous bit rate. In many situations G will work better than N. It is entirely a function of what spectrum is being used by other devices in your immediate area. My experience has been that the linksys WRT54GS series, which can be had for incredibly cheap, is easily the most reliable ATV streaming network router. I've seen this across 5 different locations with 7 different ATVs -- both ATV1 and ATV2.

The best thing you can do is to identify the channel with the least contention in your area. If that doesn't work, then you can move on to trying different frequencies which is what a 5 Ghz N router might do for you. The other thing I've had great success with is you use 2 cheap G routers in different channels. This gets you 2 physically separate radios. Use one for ATV and the other for regular network traffic.
 
VTMac said:
This is not close to a universal truth. The only way this is true is if you have ripped/encoded blurays as some ridiculous bit rate. In many situations G will work better than N. It is entirely a function of what spectrum is being used by other devices in your immediate area. My experience has been that the linksys WRT54GS series, which can be had for incredibly cheap, is easily the most reliable ATV streaming network router. I've seen this across 5 different locations with 7 different ATVs -- both ATV1 and ATV2.

The best thing you can do is to identify the channel with the least contention in your area. If that doesn't work, then you can move on to trying different frequencies which is what a 5 Ghz N router might do for you. The other thing I've had great success with is you use 2 cheap G routers in different channels. This gets you 2 physically separate radios. Use one for ATV and the other for regular network traffic.
Click to expand...

As someone who has set up over 3000 wireless networks I have to disagree with you. Streaming from G is too slow. If you have movies that are small then yes you will notice no difference but HD movies that are around 4 - 5 GB its a whole different story especially when you have multiple wireless devices.
 
chrono1081 said:
As someone who has set up over 3000 wireless networks I have to disagree with you. Streaming from G is too slow. If you have movies that are small then yes you will notice no difference but HD movies that are around 4 - 5 GB its a whole different story especially when you have multiple wireless devices.
Click to expand...

What the poster above you is saying is that G by itself has plenty of throughput to stream a movie unless there are other factors like interference or a poor connection that would hinder it. There just aren't as many people on N yet, so its cleaner and usually works better for things such as streaming.

I can tell you that unless your ISP is throttling down your connection when you are streaming (I am assuming we are talking about netflix) then at 6Mbps is plenty of bandwidth. I live out in the country on a wireless link and at best I get about 5 mbps, and on weekends when traffic is higher we get less. Weve watched several movies now and havent had a buffering problem. We have the ATV2 wireless connected to a newish airport extreme on the N network. Our house is wirelessly connected on 802.11b to a water tower which is then connected on 5.4Ghz on a ten mile wireless link to the nearest town that can get bandwidth. If anyone is going to have buffering problems it should be me. Then again, out in the country I obviously have no other wireless traffic around me.

Let me know if you have any wireless questions. I run a wireless ISP and have about 450 customers all on wireless links, so I know a little about frequencies and wireless in general.
 
Changing the channel is good

Wow. My Notebook has gone from 6 - 8 Mbps and the ipad from 4 - 6 Mpbs just by changing the router channel from 6 to 13 (random choice).

I am playing one of my larger movies on the ATV2 from the notebook and the buffer line is getting ahead of the play line. Never seen that before.

Even youtube on the ipad runs better.

So far, I am very happy but will test more with different movies.

Thanks to all who pitched in.
 
Default channels on most wireless routers are 1, 6 or 11. Usually if you stay away from those you are fine. Some devices don't like the off channels, but most will connect on whatever channel you choose.

Not sure where you came up with the channel 13, but the highest is 11.
 
pricej636 said:
Not sure where you came up with the channel 13, but the highest is 11.
Click to expand...

Channel 13 seems to be an option in my d-link dir300 and everything seems to work with it fine.
 

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pricej636 said:
What the poster above you is saying is that G by itself has plenty of throughput to stream a movie unless there are other factors like interference or a poor connection that would hinder it. There just aren't as many people on N yet, so its cleaner and usually works better for things such as streaming.

I can tell you that unless your ISP is throttling down your connection when you are streaming (I am assuming we are talking about netflix) then at 6Mbps is plenty of bandwidth. I live out in the country on a wireless link and at best I get about 5 mbps, and on weekends when traffic is higher we get less. Weve watched several movies now and havent had a buffering problem. We have the ATV2 wireless connected to a newish airport extreme on the N network. Our house is wirelessly connected on 802.11b to a water tower which is then connected on 5.4Ghz on a ten mile wireless link to the nearest town that can get bandwidth. If anyone is going to have buffering problems it should be me. Then again, out in the country I obviously have no other wireless traffic around me.

Let me know if you have any wireless questions. I run a wireless ISP and have about 450 customers all on wireless links, so I know a little about frequencies and wireless in general.
Click to expand...

I thought he was talking about streaming from a server??? If hes using netflix then yes, G is plenty but for an internal network if he is moving HD video from place to place G is really pushing it.
 
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