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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Consumer Hardware & Components > Apple TV over 802.11g ?

Apple TV over 802.11g ?
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badtz
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Mar 22, 2007, 04:30 AM
 
Can the Apple TV still stream 720p content over 802.11g?

Since it's 802.11n, what's the downfall when interacting with 802.11g devices?
     
brokenjago
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Mar 22, 2007, 04:38 AM
 
1) Probably not.

2) Too lazy to answer.
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sray
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Mar 22, 2007, 08:32 AM
 
Apparently yes. Walt Mossberg reports, in the Wall Street Journal, that he had no problem using the apple tv over a slower .g network in his house. He said he had no problem watching hidef trailers from Apple's website (must be streaming) using his slower network.
     
zerostar
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Mar 22, 2007, 09:50 AM
 
I wouldn't think its a problem, I still pull around 20Mbit on a bad day with 802.11g (almost 28 on a good). Since the movies are MPEG4 the files aren't that large.

Figure you can download at the least 2MB a second over wireless G, a few of my MPEG4 movies are around 2-3GB each so thats what 20-25 minutes to transfer the whole thing?

Is my math wrong here?
     
Sherman Homan
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Mar 22, 2007, 11:59 AM
 
Since it's 802.11n, what's the downfall when interacting with 802.11g devices?
As long as there is one "G" device that the "N" needs to talk to, the "N" device will slow, even between other "N" devices. They will run faster than the "G" devices. but it is crippled. Apple insists that "G" is adequate for the AppleTV.... so far!
     
Cadaver
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Mar 23, 2007, 12:29 PM
 
I have an AppleTV on a mixed G and N network. The AppleTV connects at about 65Mbit/sec, which is faster than 802.11g but slower than a pure 802.11n network.
But it seems to be more than fast enough to stream my iTunes video without any skipping/studdering.
     
mdc
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Mar 23, 2007, 12:55 PM
 
My AppleTV is running on a G only network and streaming was fine last night.

There is a sources menu option and you can tell your Apple TV where to get its content from. By default it is itself and that will cause it to sync with iTunes and copy down whatever you have set it to copy. I changed the setting to my PowerBook's iTunes and it showed a lot of stuff that wasn't synced over yet, and I could play videos with a buffering of under 5 seconds.

I'll upgrade to an N network eventually (when I get a new MacBook Pro) but for now the G is fine. A little slow with the initial 20something gig sync, but that's what overnight is for
     
brokenjago
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Mar 24, 2007, 01:01 AM
 
Were you syncing Hi Def (720p) movies with your AppleTV, mdc?
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mdc
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Mar 24, 2007, 09:15 AM
 
I'm downloading some 720p trailers from Apple now and I'll set my Apple TV to stream from my PowerBook and report back later.

Later:
I downloaded the 300 720p (100mb) and Aqua Teen Hunger Force 720p (100mb) trailers from the iTunes Music Store. They automatically synced to the Apple TV, but I set the Apple TV to use my PowerBook as a source instead of it's hard drive. I started playing the trailers and once I pressed play the progress bar came on the screen and it took 11 seconds of buffering until the trailer played. Once the initial buffering was complete the video played through perfectly.

My network is one Airport Extreme (the one before the newest N one) with my PowerBook, the Apple TV, and my wife's laptop on the wireless right now. My PowerBook was busy on the internet at the time of streaming, so conditions weren't perfect and yet over the G network it worked perfectly fine.

I think the bother with the G network is the time it takes to do the initial sync and that it could be faster to pull entire movies off computers. Not the end of the world, but it could be faster.
( Last edited by mdc; Mar 24, 2007 at 10:24 AM. )
     
Calimus
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Mar 28, 2007, 02:23 PM
 
Even a "b" network should be able to stream HD trailers should it not? "Typical" b speeds are around 5.5 mbps where as most people cable internet is slower than that. Of course in "real world" situations, other network traffic and signal strength would cause issues, but technically it seems possible.
     
imitchellg5
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Mar 28, 2007, 02:37 PM
 
Originally Posted by Calimus View Post
Even a "b" network should be able to stream HD trailers should it not? "Typical" b speeds are around 5.5 mbps where as most people cable internet is slower than that. Of course in "real world" situations, other network traffic and signal strength would cause issues, but technically it seems possible.
No. There is no way b could possibly stream HD. Who has 5.5 mbps cable? Mine is 108 mbps and it's not even the best.
     
Eug
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Mar 28, 2007, 02:39 PM
 
It really depends on the reception.

I was able to do WMV streaming over 11g on my Xbox from one floor down, but only when the conditions were perfect. In the evening, it usually was a stuttery mess. In contrast, early on a Sunday morning when I tried it, it worked great. (The evening is probably worse because that's when all the bazillion wireless networks around me from my neighbours are the most active I guess --> more interference.)

I betcha if I moved the machine closer to the access point, it'd work better, but I can't move the machine closer to the access point.

ie. 802.11g works, but YMMV.

With 802.11b, it consistently did NOT work properly though, no matter what I did. Granted, my clips were sometimes 6-7 Mbps, which is higher than what is used for Apple TV, but my bet if it can't work with 6 Mbps, it won't work with 5 Mbps either.

FWIW, I tested the transfer rate on my 11b setup a few years ago. With encryption on, it was usually 4 Mbps or less, and often significantly less depending on the distance.

No. There is no way b could possibly stream HD. Who has 5.5 mbps cable? Mine is 108 mbps and it's not even the best.
? I have 5-6 Mbps cable.
( Last edited by Eug; Mar 28, 2007 at 02:48 PM. )
     
imitchellg5
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Mar 28, 2007, 02:47 PM
 
Really? You guys are sloooww on the intarnets. Need better tubes.
     
Eug
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Mar 28, 2007, 02:54 PM
 
My cable provider's max consumer cable internet speed is 6 Mbps. The max for small business is 8 Mbps. They have higher speeds with dedicated lines, but the prices are exponentially higher.

ie. The effective maximum consumer speed offered by my local provider is what I have. The DSL competition is even slower, maxing out at 5 Mbps for consumers.

P.S. I live in the biggest city in Canada.
     
Calimus
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Mar 28, 2007, 03:06 PM
 
Originally Posted by imitchellg5 View Post
No. There is no way b could possibly stream HD. Who has 5.5 mbps cable? Mine is 108 mbps and it's not even the best.
I'm curious what kind of speeds you get downloading. At 108 Mbps you should be able to download a Gigabyte in roughly 76 seconds.
     
   
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