[OticCapsule]

i have xbmc installed on my apple tv. i am trying to stream .avi video files from my mac G5 via my wireless network, but my video playback keeps having to pause to buffer. i know these are uncompressed, large files. would upgrading my wireless network make an appreciable difference?

i currently have a Apple TV (802.11n), old Airport Express (802.11g), and Mac G5 with the Airport card (802.11g).

Can i simply update the wireless card in my Mac G5 to 802.11n, or do I also need to update my airport express router as well? Furthermore, even if I did all this, would my avi files still be "streamable" without pauses?

Thank you!

[pantherman007]

"avi files" isn't really enough info to diagnose the problem. An AVI container can store video in a number of codecs at various bitrates.

I can stream standard definition, XVID (MPEG4) encoded video files to my AppleTV XBMC setup over wireless G without a problem. (High-def is a stretch on the ATV even with a wired connection).

Grab the details of your video files and I bet someone can help out. There's a free tool on the web called Gspot (no kidding) that I use to analyze video files to confirm the codec, bitrate, etc. You could also try increasing the buffer cache size for local network video to see if that helps.

[jeparkinson]

Go into your cache setting and make them bigger. I use my Apple TV that has only g on it (new ones have n)with current ver 2.2 and talk back to my nas (Airport Extreme with harddrive plugged in). I stream H.264 files that are about 2g-3g files with no problem. Again just adjust your video cache with-in XBMC setup and it will work.

[kirbypuckett]

Go into your cache setting and make them bigger. I use my Apple TV that has only g on it (new ones have n)with current ver 2.2 and talk back to my nas (Airport Extreme with harddrive plugged in). I stream H.264 files that are about 2g-3g files with no problem. Again just adjust your video cache with-in XBMC setup and it will work.

Are there cons to increasing the cache? What do you have yours set to?

Do you recommend a certain size?

Thanks

[OticCapsule]

As for what container:

Unfortunately, I can't run G-spot on my Mac. Do you know of another program? I got this information about my AVI file from quick time, but it probably isn't what you're looking for:

Apple OpenDML JPEG, 640 x 480, Millions
8-bit Unsigned Integer, Mono, 11.024 kHz

As for changing the cache. I went to Settings:System:Cache and increased all the various caches to their max, but the playback is still stopping just as frequently to Buffer.

[jeparkinson]

The only cache settings I changed is.

Video/Audio/DVD Cache - HardDisk to 512

Audio Cache - DVDRom unchanged

-Local Network to 512
-Internet to 512

Changing all your cache on the Video Cache should help if you need to adjust that. I have no problem with the install settings 2048kb - 2048kb - 4096kb

I also only use H.264 for all my video files. I think works very good for all my needs. Even if they are not encoded correctly they will not play back on Apple TV. Turn off the Quality Software Upscaling in your setting if it is turned on. Also what atv patch are you using. I'm currently using ATVFlash and only things loaded on ATV is Nito - XBMC/Boxee - Couchsurfer - Perian. I do not have Sapphire loaded or ATVFiles. I know when I had everything possible working on the atv it slowed it down to a crawl. So maybe look into that also.

[OticCapsule]

i must be doing something wrong. i tried to adjust all my cache settings to every possible combination. i also got rid of everything off my network except my Apple TV and the remote computer i'm trying to play my media from. my avi files are still pausing to buffer. even ones that a 50MB.

does anyone think that my 802.11g network may be too slow?

[rwparris2]

What kind of signal are you getting from your router?

I've done wireless g in the past with no problems to XBOX, shouldn't be any difference to ATV.

[OticCapsule]

The signal strength is almost full, but I think that I may have found the route of the problem. I checked the speed on my Network by checking the speed at which my remote computer syncs with my ATV and the rate is in the neighborhood of 500Mb/s, not anywhere near what I should be getting with 802.11g.

I'll try moving my remote computer closer to my ATV and testing the rate again.

[Carniphage]

I checked the speed on my Network by checking the speed at which my remote computer syncs with my ATV and the rate is in the neighborhood of 500Mb/s, not anywhere near what I should be getting with 802.11g.

500Mb/s is ...er... faster than gigabyte ethernet.

With 802.11G you should be seeing about 1-2M(bytes) / second.

I am using Apple's 802.11n gear. I can get a 6-7M(bytes) / s

C.

[OticCapsule]

oops...i meant 500kb!

but, in any case, i thought the 802.11g would be at least 25M/sec. theoretically it's supposed to be 54M, but i figured it should perform at least at 1/2 that rate.

thank you for your post, it certainly puts these network speeds in perspective.

[Carniphage]

oops...i meant 500kb!

but, in any case, i thought the 802.11g would be at least 25M/sec. theoretically it's supposed to be 54M, but i figured it should perform at least at 1/2 that rate.

thank you for your post, it certainly puts these network speeds in perspective.

You have to be careful with b and B.
500kb means kilobits. kB means kiloBytes. (8 times more).

I am guessing that you are seeing half a megabyte per second from your network. This *is* slow. If your fileserver is connected by ethernet to the wireless hub, it will probably speed things up.

If you want flawless video streaming, including HD, then go for a fully wired network or 802.11n.

C.

[Krieg]

You are streaming from a wireless machine to another wireless machine over a G network, this is not very effective.

You have several choices:

- Wire your notebook when you want to stream
- Upgrade all the network to N (this will mean a new network card for your notebook and a new router)
- Buy a NAS and wire it and stream from there

I have this setup and I can stream with no problem:

- Wired PC serving the files (soon to be changed for a NAS)
- AppleTV streaming wirelessly over G
- Linksys router running DD-WRT firmware
- Buffer for LAN increased to 8MB in the XBMC configuration (This will minimize the problems of buffering while watching)

And after saying that, wireless networks are not an exact science, it might happen that you spend some good earn money and you still have problems. Do not blame me.

[OticCapsule]

thank you for your help. wiring would be difficult given the distances in my home. i probably will upgrade to a 802.11n.

in regards to the cache. do you know 1) what the specific items on the cache settings refer to? and, 2) which ones i should adjust in order to optimize streaming video from my computer to my ATV?

Video/Audio/DVD Cache Hard Disk

Video Cache-DVD ROM
-local
-internet

Audio Cache-DVD ROM
-local
-internet

DVD Cache-DVD ROM
-local

Unknown Type - internet