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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Consumer Hardware & Components > Streaming Movies to 2 ATVs from USB 2.0 HD on iMac G5: Will Stutter?

Streaming Movies to 2 ATVs from USB 2.0 HD on iMac G5: Will Stutter?
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BoulderDash
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Jan 29, 2010, 12:38 PM
 
Hi there,
I'm thinking about moving my First Generation PowerPC iMac G5's iTunes library to an external hard drive (due to space issues). I think that the Western Digital My Book Elite 2TB with USB 2.0 is a pretty good choice.

What I have a question about is whether or not the USB 2.0 connection between the external hard drive and the iMac G5 will be "fast" enough that I don't get any stuttering while watching movies from the iMac G5's iTunes library on one (or both) of my Apple TVs. My proposed setup is as follows:



Nothing would be wireless, so I think that I've got that going for me. Please let me know, as I'm anxious to get this project completed. Thanks!
BD
     
Simon
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Jan 29, 2010, 01:13 PM
 
You should get around 25 MB/s from a USB2 HDD if the drive isn't total crap. That's way more than what most video content needs today. The problem is that your iMac only has 100 Mbps Ethernet. That means you'll be limited by the network even if it's wired. That said, most content I watch doesn't exceed 100 Mbps data rates. My guess is pretty much anything ATV can decode is below 100 Mbps too. But I'm not familiar with ATV so I can't say for sure.
     
BoulderDash  (op)
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Jan 29, 2010, 02:09 PM
 
Thank you,
I can tell you that I've had zero "stuttering" or any other problems streaming directly from the First Generation PowerPC iMac G5, for the last few years. I'm confident there.

So the only new element in the equation, which is what I'm not certain about, is the movies being stored an an external drive connected via USB 2.0 (opposed to being stored on the First Generation PowerPC iMac G5's internal drive).

It's the ability of the USB 2.0 transfer keeping up with the Apple TV stream request that I wonder about. Because, I've been running great with the already-in-place ethernet setup.

Thanks,
BD
     
Simon
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Jan 29, 2010, 02:11 PM
 
The USB2 drive should easily be able to saturate your 100 Mbps Ethernet. IOW if it previously worked off the iMac's internal drive, the external drive should work just as well.
     
mduell
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Jan 29, 2010, 02:30 PM
 
Even with the crappy USB implementation on PPC Macs, USB has more than enough bandwidth for your situation.

Given TV's extremely limited resolution/framerate capabilities, I doubt any appropriately encoded video will be over 10Mbps.
     
BoulderDash  (op)
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Jan 29, 2010, 05:18 PM
 
Great, thanks guys... I'm formatting it right now.

Once I get things settled, I'll watch a movie and report back.

See ya,
BD
     
turtle777
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Jan 29, 2010, 05:23 PM
 
Originally Posted by BoulderDash View Post
Great, thanks guys... I'm formatting it right now.

Once I get things settled, I'll watch a movie and report back.

See ya,
BD
Shouldn't you watch 2 movies concurrently, to know that it will really work ?

-t
     
BoulderDash  (op)
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Jan 29, 2010, 05:50 PM
 
Heh,
The lamp went out on the Mitsubishi LCD TV in one of the rooms (to which Apple TV 2 is connected)... so I'm waiting for the replacement to get here.

I'll test Apple TV 1 this evening and then test both Apple TVs at the same time when the replacement lamp gets here.

BD
     
BoulderDash  (op)
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Feb 1, 2010, 04:50 PM
 
I can state that with the above setup, I have zero stuttering while watching movies on Apple TV 1. The USB 2.0 connection between the external hard drive and the iMac G5 is "fast" enough to stream movies.

Now, when I get my second television fixed, I'll try streaming to both simultaneously. Thanks,
BD
     
Simon
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Feb 2, 2010, 03:37 AM
 
Originally Posted by BoulderDash View Post
The USB 2.0 connection between the external hard drive and the iMac G5 is "fast" enough to stream movies.
Again just as a reminder, what's limiting this setup isn't USB2 (~250 Mbps) or the HDD (>500 Mbps), but the Fast Ethernet connection (~100 Mbps) between the Mac and the ATVs. That should be the bottleneck.

However, most content you decode on an ATV should remain well below 100 Mbps so overall the setup should work fine. And apparently that's also what you are now seeing.
( Last edited by Simon; Feb 2, 2010 at 03:44 AM. )
     
   
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