Apple TV 4K HEVC Buffering

…ah, ok, so you’re using ethernet for all connections after all, with the exception of one ATV. That’s of course cool.
Also, you made the right choice by using NFS. From what I hear in the forums (here as well), most people tend to have difficulties with SMB (which I experienced too).

I use Ethernet for the NAS and Apple TV, but all the other devices (four phones, two tablets, three computers, two consoles) are WiFi. No problems at all.

…yes, and that’s exactly what WiFi was meant for - phones, notebooks, tablets etc.
For these things, I use WiFi too of course. But for nothing else. Consoles, TV sets, all computers of course, Apple TVs, satellite receivers etc. are all wired - everything that doesn’t “move” ,-)

That’s was true for the original WiFi. Nowadays it’s three to six times as fast as Ethernet 100 if you have a good setup.

I just wanted to chime in here to +1 hardwired ethernet.

I had the same issues as everyone, my 4k video files were buffering intermittently after upgrading my TV and AppleTV to 4K over my Synology NAS DS216play. I have very fast gear. My WiFi is 25ft from my AppleTV. I checked the channels on my WiFi for congestion. I tried different versions of SMB. I switched to NFS, which made the biggest improvement, but still didn’t fix the problem on high bit-rate files. NFS allowed me to play lower bit-rate files no problem, but big REMUX files still buffered randomly. Finally I ordered a Cat6 cable from MonoPrice.and I haven’t had one single issue on anything, even my largest, highest bit-rate files that wouldn’t make it 10mins without buffering with NFS over WiFi.

TL;DR - Hardwiring my AppleTV4k to my gigabit router via Cat6 was the only thing that fixed my buffering issues on high bit-rate files after literally trying every suggestion in this thread.

I’m able to watch 4K UHD BDMVs and ISOs over a wireless back-haul (Multiple “satellite” routers connecting to a main one via the 5GHz band that feed the more bandwidth-hungry devices via Ethernet). The ATV has a gigabit Ethernet port so it circumvents the limits of it’s WiFi antennae (weaker than a router’s). I can stream 4K UHD BDMVs to 2 ATVs simultaneously with one ATV sharing a “satellite” router with the NFS server and another ATV on a different satellite router. Setup: Buffering with 4k Movie on HDTV - #11 by rootMBX

So WiFi is possible, depending on your setup.

More importantly, NFS > SMB when using Infuse. I can’t tell if that’s a weakness of Infuse, tvOS, or the protocol itself.

There is less overhead with NFS (lack of advanced permissions support), but I’m not convinced that alone is making this much of a difference (SMB: buffering every minute or two, NFS: perfect, fairly quick seeking).

In all fairness, though, Infuse has had many versions since I’ve tried using SMB and a few change logs stating that improvements have been made in that area.

thanks all for the feedback/recomendations.

I just learned, you also need gigabit ethernet conexion, my router has only one port at 1Gb, the other 3 are 100Mb, so I had this beffering problem while watching a 83GB movie, which brougth the 100Mb ot its limits.

Other content under this data rate treshold play just fine. I will need to update my router.

regards.

One other thing you can try is using Wi-Fi, as often times this will allow for faster speeds than a wired 100Mb connection.

…I said it before and I say it again - forget WiFi if you plan on streaming 4K stuff to your Apple TV!

There MIGHT be the possibility that streaming via WiFi works with some 4K movies, but sooner or later you WILL experience stuttering/buffering as it’s not only about the peak speed, it’s also about stability and a sustained data rate. With 4K material, buffers run empty faster than you can blink.
My WiFi speed is also great and my router is also quite close to my Apple TV 4K - and I found myself going through all important settings on all devices involved again and again and again - because whenever I thought “ah, now it works” I didn’t have to wait for long until the buffering wheel of death appeared again, and yes, I had switched from SMB to NFS long before that. This improved things, yes, but the problem still surfaced again eventually. And for me, one buffering incident can spoil a complete movie night.

This came to a final and absolute stop when I decided to use Ethernet cables again. Since then, I played 4K material with crazy-high bitrates without any problems at all.

Guys, believe me - I used to believe in the speed and stability of my WiFi connection too, just like some of you in this thread still do. At this point, you guys might not have had any buffering, fine. But eventually, all of you will experience it when using WiFi with 4K stuff. Just wait until the next movie comes in, featuring a bitrate of maybe 4 or 5 Mbits more than the movie you watched before…

Best

hello, i have buffering on regular content, I mean I remember with my Apple TV 4, and my Apple TV 4k go back and forward was pretty quickly, almost instant, on wifi AC 5ghz. now with my Apple TV 4k even with ethernet gigabyte 1000, there is so much buffer. I have infuse 5 pro. and I try today the infuse 6, and the buffering disappear. its a config problem? or just the infuse 6 take more advantage of the hardware?

Better handling of SMB and a bigger buffer.

What did change all of a sudden, I have infuse pro yearly subscription. But all of a sudden 3 weeks ago my large files keep buffering every 10min, I have used infuse for 2 years this never happened before. I use smb and legacy, something has changed in the app

Hi there,

as stated quite frequently in this thread, switch to NFS (which is directly supported within Infuse) instead of SMB and use wired LAN connections (at least Cat.5e) instead of WiFi (if you haven’t done so already). Afterwards, you shouldn’t have any buffering problem at all any longer.

Best

Welcome to the forum and sorry to hear your having problems.

I don’t know the details but Firecore has been doing a ton of improvements to the SMB protocol with version 6 and it’s updates lately and you may find that the “Auto” or “2” setting instead of “Legacy” may provide better results.

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This might be correct, but I definitely wouldn’t bother fumbling around with those SMB settings. Theres nothing better (and faster!!) than NFS when it comes to streaming shares.

Thanks

Yes i know that would solve the problem, however why would the support for SMB and WiFi connection be worse over time!
My 5Ghz is only available for my Apple TV and works flawless with max speed constantly for 200mb/s. No other devices are allowed in 5G. My archer C8 is 5m away from Apple TV4K. It simply doesn’t make sense that Infuse gets worse instead of better. For 2 years no problem with plus 60GB files.

My disk is connected to my Archer C8. So NFS is not an option, Disk connected to usb3 on router and infuse finds it in Apple TV

…OK, if your router is actually only 5m away from your Apple TV, then do yourself a favour and try cabling it instead of using WiFi - just as a test, a 5m Ethernet CAT5.e or CAT 6 cable costs next to nothing these days. Try it and let us know what you experienced. If this shouldn’t improve things, then you have to change your USB disk to router setup in general.

If I do that I need to have the cable all the way along side the living room.

Out tv is a Sony A1 on the OP1 stand from vogels . That would kill the look ?

Any reason you don’t want to try the other SMB settings before changing protocols or running cables?

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