What speed do you recommend for HD streaming and who should I go with?

tony kop77

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I am currently with Sky been with them for years paying £7.50 a month unlimited internet at speeds of around 10MB which is has been mostly fine.
I have recently purchased apple tv and signed up to netflix so would like to stream more films and in HD whenever possible.

Netflix and spotify the service has been instant no buffering and gaming has been mostly good too however my problem is when I hire a film on apple tv I have to wait 2 hours before I am able to watch the movie, have to wait around 5-10 minutes to watch a 3 minute trailer.
I thought might be just apple so streamed from the game trailers site some HD content and that was stop start stop start where I want it to be continuously streaming with no stopping.

I have checked on BT website they claim with Infinity 2 I will get 80mb download 20GB upload £35 =100MB +£10.75 line rental = unlimited calls
£26= 76MB £10.75 line rental
£18 = 38MB £10.75 line rental but limit I can download is 40GB which sounds a hell of a lot still

Sky
£7.50= around 10MB line rental around £13 unlimited calls including abroad

Virgin
£27.50 60MB
£34.75 100MB

I think anything over 60MB is an overkill as it will only be me using the internet and I have asked the question in here before and apparently I wouldn't notice much difference between 10MB and 60MB for gaming but as I said I am looking at streaming more movies now and fed up waiting for trailers to load although it seems to only be slow on apple tv maybe because they are in HD and laptop is less than 1080p streaming I'm not sure.
Just wanted to know what providers you guys are using, if you have had problems, if you get the speed the ISP say you should be getting and what download speed would you recommend for streaming HD material?

Just used BBC i-player speed test and my streaming speed is 4526 they recommend 3500 for HD material so don't know why streaming a whole movie is slow with apple tv.
 
Hi mate,

first of all: get rid of Apple TV...

Sorry, but normal HD streaming does not need anything more than 2.8Mpbs of broadband, even your BBC iplayer says 3.5Mbps.

By the way HD bbc iplayer works fine on my sky connection which is 5Mbps!

rio
 
If I went for a faster connection would I still get the same problem? I loaded a movie and 30 mins in I have to wait for it to buffer and get ahead.
I can run BBC iplayer fine it's when I stream HD that is the problem even gaming trailers which is not on apple tv keep rebuffing.
 
I tried to download a film from anytime+ in HD after about 10-15 mins it only downloaded 1%
 
If I went for a faster connection would I still get the same problem? I loaded a movie and 30 mins in I have to wait for it to buffer and get ahead.
I can run BBC iplayer fine it's when I stream HD that is the problem even gaming trailers which is not on apple tv keep rebuffing.

In your OP you said that it was only Apple TV that was giving you problems.

If it isn't, then I would look at your connection: are you using wifi or wired?

Also you mentioned that BBC Iplayer is streaming HD just fine? I would ask you to start from the beginning and describe all of your devices, how they are connected to the internet, and what services are performing/not performing.

rio
 
you best with bt infinity unlimited

due to hd use alot of download bandwidth about 4gb a movie or maybe more depending

also virgin will restrict your speed after 4gb i think for so many hours as they not unlimited anymore

so you best checking there website for traffic limits

sky is unlimited but with adsl upto 10mb connection but it will take abit longer to download

also bt infinity or virgin you best looking at but i after say bt be best for you
 
There seems to be something wrong with your connection here, as any of those sites should work fine with your Sky 10MB connection - have you tried resetting your router?

You can test the speed at speedtest.net

Are you using your Apple TV wirelessly or wired? I went from Sky to BT Infinity (80MB down, 20MB up) as I wanted to use a Slingbox when I travel and I have to say its excellent (Sky was also good, but capped at a 2MB up connection which was not good for my requirements).

Binning the Apple TV is not great advice IMO - they are an excellent and easy way to stream Netflix, trailers and Apple content movies - it should be pretty much instant on your connection as is! Rumour has it there may be an App store for the Apple TV soon which will bring things like BBC iPlayer to it too. If its taking you minutes for a trailer to stream and 15mins to get 1% on Anytime then you have a network problem that is not related to Apple TV!
 
I have connected my apple tv to my router via wi-fi signal strength is 4-5 bars it only goes up to five.

Ps3 connected via wi-fi

360 via the Xbox dongle as the console I have wasn't built with wi-fi built in

Sky HD I use devlo home plugs

I tried the speed test it said I get around 10mb download just under 1mb upload and ping around 45

Netflix on my apple tv is fine and instant at the moment the problem seems to be HD content via iTunes stores on apple tv especially if in HD And HD trailers on this site

Video Game Trailers for Wii, Vita, Xbox, PS3 & More | Upcoming Video Games too much buffering. I also tried downloading an old film from anytime+ just to see if it was just apple tv and that game site but went for American beauty and after around 10-15 mins it had only downloaded 1% which seems pretty poor to me.
 
Hmm .. that is odd.

Is your router located near your TV? i.e. could you test plugging in your apple TV via cable just to test? Also, is your Apple TV firmware up to date?

All of your devices (apart from the Sky box over homeplugs) seem to be operating over wifi which perhaps may be an issue.
 
Hmm .. that is odd.

Is your router located near your TV? i.e. could you test plugging in your apple TV via cable just to test? Also, is your Apple TV firmware up to date?

All of your devices (apart from the Sky box over homeplugs) seem to be operating over wifi which perhaps may be an issue.

Tv is upstairs and router downstairs so I can't connect via Ethernet, the anytime+ which is running via the home plugs seems to be the slowest unless it's something new which doesn't need downloading then it's instant streaming.
I have had issues in the past with sky where my connection was around 6MB and phone line was down they blamed it on the exchange took them a few days to fix my line.
I then had another problem few months later which they said was the plate where the connectors fit into, I should unscrew it try the test connection behind the plate then buy a new plate front from homebase. I just left the connection in the test socket behind the plate.

Hope it makes sense, I don't mind changing ISP if it solves the problem. I am the only one who uses the Internet at home so don't know if over 60MB is really needed.
 
My ATV streams rented movies from Apple instantly, with no lag whatsoever, as does Netflix.

Your problem is clearly related to wireless connectivity. This is no necessarily the fault of the AppleTV, but more likely related to the quality of your router, and the physical obstacles encountered by signal transmission between devices.

I use Devolo AV200+ homeplugs throughout the house, while my o2 download speed is typically 14Mb.
 
Hmm .. it all boils down to how much you want to pay for your internet I guess. You dont need Sky as an ISP anymore for anytime so you could switch to Virgin (which is fibre cable to your home) or BT Infinity (which is fibre to the cabinet). Both will likely be a faster connection than Sky & IMO BT Infinity is the best option.

You could always get the cheaper BT Infinity option - they have a postcode checker on their site which will tell you what sort of speed you should expect.

The BT Homehub 3 that you get supports Wireless B/G & N and is pretty good. You can even replace it with a better router if you want to spend the money as some alternatives have excellent wifi connections & I suspect its the wifi in your setup which is where your issues are.
 
I can get fibre optic with sky I think not sure on what speed I would get though.

BT claim I can get 76 Mbps. I think I pay ky around £15 for unlimited phone calls anytime including abroad. Phone lime doesn't bother me but my mum uses it a lot and has relatives in Italy so like to keep my phone line if possible.
I didn't know virgin restrict your speed after 4GB a month that sounds poor.
 
Try a wired connection first, there may be several overlapping WiFi networks.
 
Try a wired connection first, there may be several overlapping WiFi networks.

He would need a *very* long CAT5 cable ... as he stated in his earlier post his router is downstairs and all his devices (and the TV to view them) are upstairs .... :D
 
£18 = 38MB £10.75 line rental but limit I can download is 40GB which sounds a hell of a lot still

It isn't.

40GB on a 38Mbps connection is two and a quarter hours of using it at full tilt (e.g. downloading). Plus a single movie in blu-ray quality is 10GB+ and while the ones from online services at lower quality will be smaller they're still going to be a couple of gigabytes big.

It really is not a large amount.

Virgin limits are daily not monthly, the details are here and they're not as bad as they used to be (60Mbps is 10GB then a 50% speed reduction) but keep them in mind when considering.
 
If your connection is 10mb then that is not the problem and changing the connection to a faster one is not going to change your home network
 
If your connection is 10mb then that is not the problem and changing the connection to a faster one is not going to change your home network

If I get a new router, new installation with faster connection would have thought the problem would finally be resolved.
I disconnected my home plugs rebooted the router and tried the speed test again. I got 13mbps this time while the ping is 41ms and upload speed 0.79.

I can play games online ok I can stream SD films and trailers online ok it's only when I try HD that is the problem apart from Netflix where it seems to stream ok.
What I will do later is stream HD trailers to my mac via ethernet see if that works any better.

Tried it via ethernet download speed is 13.07 Ping is 40ms and upload 0.79. Not much difference between wi-fi and ethernet. Trailers on my mac seem to stream fine no buffering. I took the ethernet out played the same game trailer and it buffers.
I did a ping test it graded it a c saying I would be at a disadvantage when gaming,would explain why I lose at FIFA ;)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Rang sky today I told them my problem about slow streaming when viewing HD material and even SD trailers on Apple tv were slow. I told them I tried to download American Beauty from anytime+ to check wasn't just apple tv and laptop and after 20 mins I had downloaded 1%.
I was told to try SD content so I downloaded SD version of the film which again took too long they said it might be because I am using home plugs despite it being fine before and they said I should buy their dongle.

I think I will try Virgin as don't need a phone line with them and they can install the router etc upstairs next to my equipment so I can connect via ethernet rather than wi-fi. Another reason I don't want a phone line is because I am happy with the sky line as I pay £5 for unlimited calls abroad and £12.75 phone line which includes calls in UK nobody else can match that price.
 
I'm surprised sky didn't offer you there fibre service as you can get bt infinity
 
I'm surprised sky didn't offer you there fibre service as you can get bt infinity

BT had been offerning me Infinity for a couple of months, but as I was already with Sky, I wanted to hang on until they started doing their fibre.

When it launched, Sky insisted it wasn't available in my are (despite already having been offered it by BT) so I just cancelled and went with BT anyway, so it's not always the case that if you can get Infinity you'll automatically be able to get fibre from Sky.
 
I can get fibre optic with ski as they sent me an e-mail but it would still be via the phone line least with Virgin I would get a router upstairs next to my AV kit and I can connect my stuff via ethernet. I shouldn't have any problems streaming by doing this.
 
What's your speed test results? Sky is pretty good really its basically bt rebadged
 
My speed test is
8MB download
0.80 upload
55 ping

My download was slightly faster before but they said they will slow it down so the speed is more consistent. I have decided to go with Virgin 60MB. I got 3 months half price and a 12 month contract.
 
crazzy kopite said:
My speed test is
8MB download
0.80 upload
55 ping

My download was slightly faster before but they said they will slow it down so the speed is more consistent. I have decided to go with Virgin 60MB. I got 3 months half price and a 12 month contract.

That is by far enough for HD, it must be that your downloading or something cause I can watch i-player in HD easy and mine is pretty much same speed as yours.
 

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