Streaming Video Problems!!!

[c.greene914]

The problem is rather erratic and unpredictable. For example, I watched 'Fearless' and 'Eragon' without a hitch, but while watching 'High Fidelity', every 1-2min the video would get hung up and the blue bar came up at the bottom for everything to reload and continue.

All movies are ripped with the same process, Handbrake x264 codec, ~1.5gb.
Movies are stored on external Seagate 750gb hard drive plugged into my Airport Extreme(802.11n).

At first, I thought the read/write speed of the external HD was a problem. However if that was the case I assume the 'hang up' would be present during any streamed movie, which is not the case. Perhaps it is the network, although I would assume that would be a constant problem.

My iTunes Music library is ~120gb, and my iTunes Movie library is ~150gb. Could the size of the library be the culprit?

My Macbook is only 802.11g, and from what I understand, on an 802.11n network, if any device exists that is slower than .11n, it slows the whole network down to that speed.

Streaming music is no problem. My concern is only with video. Has anyone had a similar problem, or can offer any insight as to a solution.

Thanks in advance.

 

[c.greene914]

No one has any ideas??

 

[neven]

My Macbook is only 802.11g, and from what I understand, on an 802.11n network, if any device exists that is slower than .11n, it slows the whole network down to that speed.

Having a g device on a n network doesn't slow the whole network down, but if you're streaming from the g-speed MacBook, you'll get g speeds. That said, I have an all-g network and I've only had a streamed movie rebuffer once, for about two seconds. However, I've heard stories of people being unable to stream anything smoothly on an all-n network.

Wireless networks are voodoo.... check your router, check your MacBook, move things around, reset everything, mess with your router settings... who knows what will work.

 

[c.greene914]

I have changed the multicast rate in the Airport Utility from 2mbps to 5.5mbps to 11mbps and switched Robustness on and off with no detectable change in performance. I have unplugged, and reset everything with no effect.

The only thing I can think of is that for some reason, some movies may compress 'better' than others making it smoother for them to stream. I can't think of anything else that would cause this problem, but still be intermittent. Anything else, I would assume, would effect any movie being streamed.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Fearless Leader]

any other networking tasks going on? any other apps running?
as said before wifi is voodoo, and the darkest mystic magic out there, its a wounder it even works.

can you watch high fidelity while its stuttering then switch over to a different movie have it play fine?

 

[topher5]

Having a g device on a n network doesn't slow the whole network down, but if you're streaming from the g-speed MacBook, you'll get g speeds. That said, I have an all-g network and I've only had a streamed movie rebuffer once, for about two seconds. However, I've heard stories of people being unable to stream anything smoothly on an all-n network.

Actually I believe having a G device on an N network will slow it down to G speeds. Granted it depents upon the access point but with most of the Linksys/Netgear/DLink APs this is true. Some of the high end ones can do the seperation of standards although they get up there in price.

In general the wireles network will slow down to the lowest speed device as a whole since it's a broadcast network as opposed to standard wired networks. I know for a fact this is true with B devices on a G network.

 

[c.greene914]

any other networking tasks going on? any other apps running?
as said before wifi is voodoo, and the darkest mystic magic out there, its a wounder it even works.

can you watch high fidelity while its stuttering then switch over to a different movie have it play fine?

No. I made sure there was no other apps open on the computer. No other network congestion.

Yes. If High Fidelity stutters, I can start one of the two previously mentioned movies and they play fine.

I can't find any discernible difference between the movies other than the file size. Codec, fps, bitrate (audio), file location, settings, network traffic, hardware, and software all remain consistent. Video bitrate varies slightly but I wouldn't think this would be of much concern.

I think I just need to wait for someone to hack the USB port so I can plug my HD straight into the ATV