Should i hard wire Apple tv?

[tommot82]

I have the following setup:

iMac --- time capsule )))((( airport Extreme --- TV

So wired at both ends but an extended wifi network in the middle. This travels the full length of my house plus up one floor and I get 720p streaming with maybe 5-6 seconds initial delay for buffering and the zero interruptions! Works perfectly!

I would say as long as you have a decent wifi signal and the channel you at using doesn't have too much contention then TV works great via wifi!

 

[Mr-Kerrse]

I have one wired and one wireless in my house. Though I was expecting the wired to be more reliable, I have not noticed ANY decreased reliability on the wireless ATV compared to the wired one so far. (They are approximately the same distance from the router, though the wireless one is on the other side of a wall.)

I am the same as above i run one wired & one wireless both run the exact same.

 

[DustinT]

I have one wired and one wireless in my house. Though I was expecting the wired to be more reliable, I have not noticed ANY decreased reliability on the wireless ATV compared to the wired one so far. (They are approximately the same distance from the router, though the wireless one is on the other side of a wall.)

Also note that on average 802.11n gives you speeds ~130 Mbps. While the ATV's ethernet port maxes out at 100 Mbps.

http://compnetworking.about.com/od/wireless/f/80211n-300-mbps.htm

Ya, that's not really true. Well, numerically you may see ~130 Mbps from your wifi but the ping times, jitter and interference will be much poorer on the wifi system vs. the wired. It's just the nature of wireless, it's going to have to deal with anything in the airwaves. The twisted pair ethernet cable we're all using is shielded from that sort of thing in a manner that's just not possible over wireless. Don't get me wrong, I use and love wireless, but I know it's limitations.

 

[stump54]

Can you get to the internet services on the Apple TV? If not check to make sure the wire is terminated properly (and the same) on both ends.

Yes, Netflix and YouTube work fine. Just can't see my computer...

 

[caughtintheweb]

I am having a lot of problems with streaming bluray from my lion imac to apple tv. The problem is not so much with apple tv but with lion. When i run speedtest it shows a download speed of 2 mbps where as my iphone shows 11-12 mbps. I wanted to connect my owc firewire hard drive directly to apple tv. Any idea how to do that ? My owc port has a mini usb port and a firewire port.

 

[dgalvan123]

Ya, that's not really true. Well, numerically you may see ~130 Mbps from your wifi but the ping times, jitter and interference will be much poorer on the wifi system vs. the wired. It's just the nature of wireless, it's going to have to deal with anything in the airwaves. The twisted pair ethernet cable we're all using is shielded from that sort of thing in a manner that's just not possible over wireless. Don't get me wrong, I use and love wireless, but I know it's limitations.

Those limitations completely depend on the particular situation: distance of receiver from router, how many walls in between, material in those walls, whether there is a microwave oven along the line of sight, etc. Also depends on the reliability of your router. There is enough variance for everyone's experience to be slightly different.

My point: If you don't have a lot of those sources of interference, 802.11n can be faster than 10/100 ethernet. Indeed, I was surprised to find that, more often than not, my iPhoto event thumbnails pop up slightly faster on my wireless ATV than on my wired ATV (and both ATV's use the same mac as a source). It's not a HUGE difference, but it surprised me as I had expected the opposite.

Just my experience, and just the capacity of the wireless medium. And ya, it IS really true.

 

[Macman45]

If you can't hardwire, then consider a router capable of broadcast on the 5GHZ band....I have my ATV hardwired, but ran some test's prior to the setup....The 5GHZ band gets you away from most local interference, and I think I'm right in saying that your AE supports it.

I used mine VIA A TC, but it was as smooth as silk, good to know should I need to move it away from the router in future.

 

[DaveTheRave]

Ya, that's not really true. Well, numerically you may see ~130 Mbps from your wifi but the ping times, jitter and interference will be much poorer on the wifi system vs. the wired. It's just the nature of wireless, it's going to have to deal with anything in the airwaves. The twisted pair ethernet cable we're all using is shielded from that sort of thing in a manner that's just not possible over wireless. Don't get me wrong, I use and love wireless, but I know it's limitations.

I'm considering buying an Apple TV2. It would sit no more than 2 feet from my Airport Extreme. Would you still recommend hardwire or just use the wifi? Thanks.

 

[DustinT]

I'm considering buying an Apple TV2. It would sit no more than 2 feet from my Airport Extreme. Would you still recommend hardwire or just use the wifi? Thanks.

I would absolutely do it. Even if you had good performance on wireless, your wireless spectrum is probably already crowded if you've got a laptop or two and an iPhone. Running a cable just reduces the possibilities of complications and improves performance. It's always a good idea.

And to save money, hit Monoprice.com and grab an Ethernet cable for 70-80% off retail price. Cat 5e is plenty for gigabit speeds. Considering your Apple TV 2 only supports 100 mbs, you'll probably never need to replace that cable. It should be less than $2-3 tops.