Does anyone else use Airport Extremes for streaming HD?
I'm curious about others experiences, mostly around performance.

I previously had an Extreme bridging to an Express to connect the two parts of my home network. I have MythTV backends on both sides, so I stream HD content from one side to the frontend in my living room. It works okay, but the performance was good enough for reliable MythTV HD playback.

I picked up the new dual band Airport Extreme, thinking it would be a boost in performance over the Airport Express. But, my initial experience wasn't great. I didn't notice any significant improvement over the express.

I have it configured for dual band. I connect on the 2.4GHz with my laptop, and on the 5GHz with the other Airport Extreme in bridge mode. It is set to N-Only mode, with wide channels. I also tried the different multicast rates, with no noticeable effect. There don't seem to be too many other settings to tweak..

Anyone else have experience bridging the airports? Any tips?

Does anyone else use Airport Extremes for streaming HD? I'm curious about others experiences, mostly around performance.

It's not directly related to your situation, but...

I have an Airport Extreme with "n" and gigabit and all of our Macs but one are networked to each over gigabit. Only a Macbook uses "n" wireless, so we don't have a chance to stream HD wirelessly too much. But, occasionally I move some 720p and 1080i EyeTV content over to an archive on a USB Airport Disk drive connected to the Extreme, like a season of a show that I know I'm not going to watch anytime soon.

I can stream these wirelessly to the MB over "n" with no problem, playing back with either EyeTV or VLC. I remember being pleasantly surprised, because there used to be the reports of people having problems doing this via Airport Disk, and as a result folks were going the Time Capsule route instead.

Thanks for the response.. It sounds like yours "just works". That's encouraging. I'll keep trying to see if I can tune mine any more to get acceptable performance.

Does anyone else use Airport Extremes for streaming HD?
I'm curious about others experiences, mostly around performance.

I previously had an Extreme bridging to an Express to connect the two parts of my home network. I have MythTV backends on both sides, so I stream HD content from one side to the frontend in my living room. It works okay, but the performance was good enough for reliable MythTV HD playback.

I picked up the new dual band Airport Extreme, thinking it would be a boost in performance over the Airport Express. But, my initial experience wasn't great. I didn't notice any significant improvement over the express.

I have it configured for dual band. I connect on the 2.4GHz with my laptop, and on the 5GHz with the other Airport Extreme in bridge mode. It is set to N-Only mode, with wide channels. I also tried the different multicast rates, with no noticeable effect. There don't seem to be too many other settings to tweak..

Anyone else have experience bridging the airports? Any tips?
Have you installed the latest firmware since it came out after the new
extremes were on the shelf.

Thanks for the tip. No, I didn't realize there was a firmware update.

I just used the Airport Utility to update the firmware on both ends. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to have helped it all.

My airports are only 45-50 ft apart, I really didn't think ~20Mbps would be a problem for two 5GHz 802.11n units. I don't have any cordless telephones that could be interfering, and I use the 2.4GHz band for my laptop (one of the reasons I got the dual band was to keep the 5GHz clean for HD).

I have wide channels enabled, and automatic channel selection. I guess I'll try manually tweaking those next.

I have wide channels enabled, and automatic channel selection. I guess I'll try manually tweaking those next.

I don't know about the latest Apple stuff since I have an Airport Express as a base station. FWIW I had a big improvement in performance and stability when I manually selected the channel I wanted to use. See if you can get a program (such as iStumbler) to show you which channels have the least activity on them. In my neighborhood there are about six people on channel 6 and another bunch on channel 11. But channel 1 was totally open, so I grabbed it. I'm still the only one using it!

Of course, you probably don't have a lot of interference at 5 GHz, unless you live in the most high tech neighborhood in your state. :-)

I've been down the same path that you're traveling.

I have two Apple-only wireless N networks at my house currently. One is Time Capsule-based and the other centers around an Airport Extreme Base Station. The Time Capsule operates at N in the 5Ghz only range, while the AEBS is in the mixed N/G 2.4GHz range. The AEBS is bridged via ethernet to the Time Capsule. We use the TC for all our surfing and file sharing and the AEBS is reserved for media streaming.

I initially set up the Time Capsule to stream all my 720p and 1080i media out in the 5GHz range to my three Apple TVs, but I quickly came to the conclusion that streaming over Wireless N at 5GHz pretty much requires a clear line-of-sight from the router to the receiving devices. Although my main AppleTV was only about 30 feet down the hall through two doorways and a wall, it might as well have been 20 miles away. I had constant dropouts, stutters, and almost endless buffering wait times.

The very second I switched from streaming from the 5ghz-only TC to the 2.4ghz N AEBS, all my problems went away. In fact, I was able to relocate the AEBS to the basement and I *still* had a rock-solid connection to all three of my ATV through floors, walls, and doors. I can now even stream three separate 720p feeds simultaneously to my various ATVs with no breakups or buffering issues. 5Ghz just isn't nearly as flexible with interference or obstacles as 2.4Ghz.

So to make a long story short, while streaming at 5GHz sounds appealing and blazing fast, chances are that you'll be happier in the long run sticking with 2.4Ghz if you ever want to actually watch something remotely. :)

If your question is truly about wireless streaming of HD content then the answer is yes and no. One key factor is (for 1080p) high bitrates. I use two Airport Extremes bridged together. One is connected to a raid 5 NAS with Twonky that has decent read rates and the other connected to a PS3 via cat6 cable.

DVDs play great as do other lesser bitrate media files. M2TS files vary. Some play without a hitch and some H.264 files wont make it with wireless. I then use my temp long cat6 line between the two Airport Extremes.

While many here provide nice info about 2.4 and 5ghrz, it really comes down to those very high bitrate parts of the film. They don't have to last long for you to still get jitter in the playback

Also, Airport Extremes work better than Airport Express in this situation. I have tested both using identical set ups and film clips.

Just more peanuts from the gallery.

Cheers

- Phrehdd

I don't know about the latest Apple stuff since I have an Airport Express as a base station. FWIW I had a big improvement in performance and stability when I manually selected the channel I wanted to use. See if you can get a program (such as iStumbler) to show you which channels have the least activity on them. In my neighborhood there are about six people on channel 6 and another bunch on channel 11. But channel 1 was totally open, so I grabbed it. I'm still the only one using it!


Thanks, I have started experimenting with various channels a bit.

Of course, you probably don't have a lot of interference at 5 GHz, unless you live in the most high tech neighborhood in your state. :-)

As a matter of fact.. I live in Silicon Valley, in Mountain View, the home of Google. There are quite a few 2.4GHz access points, which is one of the reasons I went with 5GHz. I don't see any other 5GHz in the area yet, but I'm wondering if cordless phones may interfere.

So to make a long story short, while streaming at 5GHz sounds appealing and blazing fast, chances are that you'll be happier in the long run sticking with 2.4Ghz if you ever want to actually watch something remotely. :)

Good point.. I'll try using 2.4GHz tonight to compare the performance. I guess I should try ftp'ing some files at the various settings to get a more precise view of the performance. I've just been using a 1080i basketball game as a stress test thus far.

If your question is truly about wireless streaming of HD content then the answer is yes and no. One key factor is (for 1080p) high bitrates. I use two Airport Extremes bridged together. One is connected to a raid 5 NAS with Twonky that has decent read rates and the other connected to a PS3 via cat6 cable.- Phrehdd

The content I'm streaming is 100% ATSC HD broadcast TV. It is content captured with an HDHomerun tuner, going into a MythTV backend on a Linux box (actually a Virtual Machine in a VMware ESXi hypervisor) streamed across the 'N' network to my Mac Mini running Myth Frontend.

So, the maximum bandwidth needed would be 20Mbps. But, I'm not getting that. If MythTV did some read-ahead buffering, it would probably be fine.. but it doesn't.

Well, i guess I should weigh in on this one.

I have a gigabit N Airport Extreme working as my main router. It's connected via LAN to my 8-core mac pro, which I use as a server for a whole-house system. It's operating on the 5 Ghz band, and hardwired to another Airport Extreme N that is running a parallel G network for my legacy products.

The main Extreme is in my office, and streams wirelessly to a non-gigabit Extreme N that is about 20 feet away in a hallway. The non-gigabit Extreme is set up as a bridge (with the box for 'allow wireless clients' NOT enabled), and provides content to a mac mini HTPC, ps3, series 3 Tivo, and 360. I set it up w/ direct line of sight intentionally.

My other wireless streaming clients include:

-- an Apple TV that I have downstairs (so streaming is done through a floor and a wall)
-- a macbook Pro that I obviously take everywhere.



When I first started accumulating base stations, I tried a number of different permutations and options, using menumeters in order to measure throughput.

My results were as follows:

For streaming to my Apple TV and Macbook pro, I am able to send around 8-10 MB (that's megaBYTES) of a file per second, and this is enough for streaming files as hefty as Blu-ray rips (obviously, I'm talking about my mbp in terms of getting adequate playback). When using mixed mode, it maxes out at about 4-5 megabytes of a file per second.

The saga of streaming from my gigabit N Extreme to my Bridged non-gigabit N has been more of a rocky one, and HAS CHANGED WITH FIRMWARE REVISIONS AND THE SMALLEST OF LOCATION CHANGES.

-- At first, I tried using the 5GHz band exclusively, and didn't have direct line of sight. In this scenario, my throughput was limited o 2-3 MB of files streamed per second, and, just as importantly, seemed to have trouble even maintaining that speed (it would drop to just a few kb/sec every 10 seconds or so. I was able to stream handbraked DVD backups, but had some trouble streaming Video_TS DVD backups unless I tweaked my cache settings on Plex/ XBMC.

-- So I tried the mixed mode, and actually got improvement. The main improvement seemed to be that there were fewer of those throughput drops.

-- BTW, when checking the 'allow wireless clients' box on my bridged Extreme, the throughput cut down fairly significantly. Now, this was most likely b/c my macbook pro was using its wireless signal.


Then I moved my main router to direct line of sight. The dropouts decreased significantly, and the 3-4 MB/sec I got on the 5 GHz band at that point was good enough for any DVD backup modality, and some 720p and 1080i files. The mixed band had an approximately equivalent performance to the 5GHz band at that point.

I then did some more tweaking, and was eventually able to get throughput that was adequate for most HD files, but still w/ the occasional stutter (every few minutes).

Now, fast forward to the latest firmware revision -- I am now able to get the same throughput for Extreme-to-Extreme that I have always been able to get for AppleTV and macbook pro. I can now send BR backups (granted, most of them are about 12 GB files rather than the 22-25 GB original m2ts files, but I have been able to stream the 23 GB originals w/o trouble to my mbp -- my mini doesn't have the horsepower to handle a bit-for-bit backup. I'd imagine that the latest Mini could probably handle it) from my main gigabit Extreme to the Extreme that services my HT, with only VERY rare dropouts.

I'd highly recommend

1) trying to get line of sight as unobstructed as humanly possible
2) using menumeters or some similar program in order to tweak your settings and maximize throughput
3) not using the airport express N as the recipient or sender if you plan on streaming HD. I tried using one, and it just isn't robust enough to transmit or receive well.
4) GET THE LATEST FIRMWARE REVISION. I am not aware of any specific 'fix' hat this had for Extreme-to-Extreme streaming, but it has caused an improvement in throughput by more than 100%.

Good luck. Be patient.

HD streaming??? I can't even get a regular DVD to play on my 17" MBP (bought last summer). I have a Time Capsule (1 TB, not the latest hardware, but I updated the firmware yesterday). I just put it in N-only mode to try streaming a video_TS from a Windows machine that's hard-wired to a Cat6 network with GB routers and got stuttering. What software tools can I use to look for interference to try to ferret out this problem?

Thanks.

Put the VIDEO_TS on the TC and try to play it back with the MBP. If there are no problems, then you know it's something to do with the Windows PC or the way you have your router(s) set up.

Well, i guess I should weigh in on this one.

Thanks. I'm glad you took the time to post.

It's so annoying that Apple

1) makes it hard for people "in the know" to do anything. E.g. instead of having a checkbox for bridging, making you un-check 'allow wireless clients'.

2) doesn't do much better in terms of firmware. It's 2009! Why are there still long pauses? And why don't the release notes ever tell the truth about the bug fixes?

It's only in forums like this that we get the truth about how to get the most out of our expensive Apple products.

I tried messing around with this quite a bit tonight, and have still been unable to get smooth video playback. I moved the airports so that I have line of sight between them, and still don't get good playback.

2.4GHz didn't help, it seems a bit worse than 5GHz. Various channels in the 5GHz band also didn't help..

I guess next I'll try my old Linksys N Bridge and see how that compares (it was faster than the Apple devices in the past, but was unreliable).

An update on this.. I found that one of my backend machines was contributing to the playback problems. So, I re-installed Linux on that box & started over. The new mythbackend works fine.

But, my streaming is still not okay. I now find that I can stream in one direction, but not the other. I can stream from my old Airport Extreme in my living room, to the new dual band Airport Extreme in my office, and that works fine for HD programs. But, going the other direction, from my office backend to my living room doesn't stream smoothly.

An update on this.. I found that one of my backend machines was contributing to the playback problems. So, I re-installed Linux on that box & started over. The new mythbackend works fine.

But, my streaming is still not okay. I now find that I can stream in one direction, but not the other. I can stream from my old Airport Extreme in my living room, to the new dual band Airport Extreme in my office, and that works fine for HD programs. But, going the other direction, from my office backend to my living room doesn't stream smoothly.

Well, my experience is the same as yours. With NOD 2.0 about to be born, I realized we were going to have lots of guests -- guests tht I'd rather have on their own network (nanny, in-laws, etc). Sooo, I decided to get a DB Extreme (my 4th N extreme -- I need help :o). When I installed it as my main router and tried streaming from it, HD streaming suddenly went in the crapper. Perhaps it's the interference from having 3 networks running (the dual bands, plus the guest network) from the same spot, or perhaps it was automatically selecting the 2.4 GHz band for my wireless clients b/c it thought that the 2.4 band would give better throughput, but the throughput from my DB Extreme was horrific.

I went back to using my other Extremes as the backbone of my system, and everything worked great again.

I see there is an Airport firmware update available, I think just released yesterday.

I'll give that a try this weekend and post if there is any improvement.

I see there is an Airport firmware update available, I think just released yesterday.

I'll give that a try this weekend and post if there is any improvement.

I think it was just an Airport Utility update, rather than a firmware update.

The optimum way to ensure reliable "n" video streaming on a multi-user network:

- Only the newest (third revision I believe) "n" Airport Extremes can simultaneously operate "n" and "g" networks (not the first-generation Extreme "n" model)...
- Connect "n" Airports via an Ethernet (Cat 5e or better yet, Cat 6 or Fiber Optic) backbone...
- Ideally, limit wireless streaming to this: between a computer where you just can't get an ethernet cable and your server computer...
- When possible, use gigabit switches to isolate various network segments and link various rooms together -- again via Cat 5e, 6 or Fiber Optic cable.
- Don't mix "n" and "g" devices on an "n" network or it will slow down to the "g" device speed...

Is it bridge mode that reduces wireless bandwidth by 50%? Or was that some other configuration?

I have more or less given up on using wireless. It is just too unreliable. I have ethernet for the downstairs and use ethernet over power for upstairs. I find that the high speed ethernet over power plugs are plenty fast enough for streaming 720p. I haven't tried with anything larger but I'd guess they would be fine.

I have an unRAID server wired to my Airport Extreme. The AE is set to 5GHz N only as my DSL router handles the wireless G in the house (iPhone, Wii). I have a Mac Mini running Plex in my bedroom about 20 ft away. There are two walls in between, and both the Mini and AE are in cabinets. I am able to stream pretty much any media I have with no problems (DVD vob, 720 & 1080p MKV, and m2ts from Blura-y rips). I only have about 15 Blu-ray movies, but they stream just fine. My Mini is the only unit using the wireless N network (everything else wired or on my G network), so that may have something to do with the success.

I am getting serious about buying another Mini and using my Minis and my iMac wired to a 3rd TV to handle all my OTA and video content so I can dump satellite. I just bought an HD Homerun, and I don't want to rely on wireless networking if the system is all I have for viewing television and media content. I already ran the Cat 6 cable to have everything wired. Adding a second Mini and also relying on connectivity between the HD Homerun and two Minis prompted me to make sure everything is wired.

But to readdress the original purpose of the thread, I have had success playing even fairly high bitrate HD video files over wireless N. Only one machine was using the wireless N network, and there were no devices in use nearby that could possibly cause interference.

The airport update earlier this week was only for the management app, not the device firmware. So, no change for me.

But, I did some throughput testing to validate and quantify what I was seeing. I used a network load-generator app called "nuttcp" to do a single TCP stream throughput test in each direction.

AE = Airport Extreme (older = Gig-E 802.11N, newer = Dual Band N)

MacBook Pro 17" on 2.4GHz N:
MBP -> AE Dual -> Linux Server: 34.0398 Mbps
Linux Server -> AE Dual -> MBP: 25.8394 Mbps (quite a drop, but plenty for HD Streaming)

MacBook Pro 17" on 5GHz N:
MBP -> AE Dual -> Linux Server: 78.1558 Mbps (Wow.)
Linux Server -> AE Dual -> MBP: 76.7439 Mbps

AE Bridged Connection from Mac Mini frontend to Linux backend:
Mac Mini -> AE -> AE Dual -> Linux Server: 37.2698 Mbps
Linux Server -> AE Dual -> AE -> Mac Mini: 12.9120 Mbps ( Why?!? )


The performance stats mirror the streaming performance I have seen. Everything is fine, except the primary path I need, Linux backend to frontend Mini in living room.

It seems like it's using the 2.4GHz N for the bridging of the two networks. Next I'll try tweaking some settings, and seeing if I can force it to use 5GHz.

I verified the settings on my Airport Extreme, and it was configured to connect to the 5.0GHz N network, but after adjusting various settings I still get the same performance.

On my old Mini, I had tried the 'G' networking, with poor results. I now tried that again with the new 'N' capable Mini, and that works quite well.

Mac Mini -> AE Dual -> Linux Server: 81.4459 Mbps

So, that solves my MythTV HD Streaming issue. But, doesn't answer the question about why the poor bridging performance.

May seem like an obvious question but have you hardwired the AEDual and AE to bridge them or are you doing this wirelessly?

I have an AE of the same generation bridged to a G-only Airport Express using a cable and both my networks run with great throughput. If you are wirelessly bridging there could be the issue.

Yes, I'm using them as a wireless bridge, to connect two areas of my home into a single network. If I had the option to connect them via Cat5 cable, I definitely would.

The ~80Mbps via N bridging is plenty for HD streaming, and works very well. My question is more around why the performance varies so widely in N bridging.

I just updated the firmware to the newest release (7.4.2, released 6/23/09).

With this firmware, I am getting much more symmetric performance.. ~ 55 to 65Mbps in both directions. It's a speed increase in both directions, with the problematic ~12Mbps connection increasing 4x+. So, it's now great for HD streaming.

Streaming from my MBP to the Dual Band AE seems to still be fast, ~80+ Mbps, hitting peaks as high as 120Mbps.

Apple recently had a quiet upgrade (http://wifinetnews.com/archives/2009/10/apple_slipstreams_3x3_into_wi-fi_base_stations.html) to its Airport Extreme Base Station. Because of WAF issues I've been unable to run Cat-6 around the house (I think it would look great on top of the baseboards, but that idea didn't go over well).

So I bought the new AEBS.

I also saw a reference somewhere to a great free disk test program, AJA System Test. (http://www.aja.com/products/software/) This program works Mac<-->Mac to read and write disk files. It produces a little graph at the end of a test showing what the performance was (which also makes it easy to see if there were pauses). It seems to be capable of driving the network hard, I saw 36 MB/s using a wired connection between computers using shared disks in OS X. I found this program very useful when benchmarking wireless. The reported results compared exactly with what was reported in the "Disk Activity" and "Network" panes of OS X's Activity Monitor, so I know the numbers are accurate.

I did extensive tests and won't bother typing everything in. But here are some highlights. You can select file sizes up to 1 GB or more, so these numbers are sustained performance. I've averaged the reported disk read and disk write speeds (but they weren't very different):

62 MB/s iMac <---> internal disk

32 MB/s iMac <---> FW400 external disk

36 MB/s iMac <--wired--> Macbook

3.2 MB/s iMac <--wired to lan port of AEBS--2.4GHz 80211.g--> nearby Macbook

2.9 MB/s iMac <--wired to lan port of AEBS--2.4GHz 80211.g--> 40' and several interior walls to Macbook 1 floor above

16.3 MB/s iMac <--wired to lan port of AEBS--5GHz 80211.n--> nearby Macbook

5.0 MB/s iMac <--wired to lan port of AEBS--5GHz 80211.n--> 40' and several interior walls to Macbook 1 floor above

Some additional comments (sorry I forget how to make bullets):

I only had 1 AEBS, using 2 would probably produce better results.

802.11n at 5 GHz is clearly better than 802.11g at 2.4 GHz, at short distances and at moderate distances. But 802.11n degrades much faster than 802.11g.

The LAN port of the AEBS has much better performance than the WAN port. I used bridging, not routing or NAT.

The Macbook 802.11n has an internal gigabit ethernet connection; the connection didn't slow it down.

Tests in 5 GHz range were somewhat sensitive to selected frequency. I saw as much as +/- 15% variation per channel. You can set channels at both 2.4 GHz and 5 GH using the Airport Utility that comes with the AEBS. You must use the program on CD, anything downloaded from Apple isn't recent enough. There's even a trick where you must option-click on some dropdown menu to get more choices.

I also tested 5 GHz to an older distant iMac that had 802.11n, but it was one of the 1st iMacs that did. The overall performance was a little worse than the Macbook, and also varied by frequency by a bit more than the Macbook.

You should test all channels for best performance. I saw variations of perhaps 10% for the Macbook, and perhaps 20% for the distant older iMac.

Which channels did you get the best performance on? I am forced to manually switch channels from time to time when some neighbor's device steps on my network.

That said, streaming EyeTV recording to my MBP (AEBS, 5GHz only N) has been flawless under the current version of Snow Leopard. FWIW, I have the original gigabit ethernet AEBS, not the newer dual mode version.

Not sure if this is actually OT, but this afternoon I watched (via PLEX on a new 2.66GHz mini) Cloverfield BD rip (MakeMKV) which was resident on my Mac Pro (about 30-ft from my mini, on the same floor with two walls between):

Mac Pro -wire- 802.11n/5GHz AEBS -air- new 1TB Time Capsule -wire- mini

There were no dropouts, glitches, problems at all. Very nice! I am a happy Mac owner.

edit: just played MKV of UP via Airport... beautiful & no problems!

Which channels did you get the best performance on?

I didn't test 802.11n at 2.4 GHz. Didn't see the point.

For 5 GHz AEBS to my Macbook, my ordering was (worst) 44, 48, 153, 149, 157, 36, 40, 161 (best). Worst speed about 4.9 MB/s, best speed about 6.1 GB/s.

For 5 GHz AEBS to an older iMac, my ordering was (worst) 157, 161, 153, 149, 40, 36, 48, 44 (best). Worst speed was about 4.0 MB/s, best speed was about 6.4 MB/s.

YMMV. If I repeated these tests today, I'd expect that my mileage might vary. :) The most consistent finding was the relatively poor iMac performance in the higher 5 GHz bands.

P.S.: both distant computers (the Macbook and the iMac) were in the same room. The iMac is on a desk against an interior wall, the Macbook was on an ottoman in the middle of the room (about 6 ft away from the iMac).

Not sure if this is actually OT, but this afternoon I watched (via PLEX on a new 2.66GHz mini) Cloverfield BD rip (MakeMKV) which was resident on my Mac Pro (about 30-ft from my mini, on the same floor with two walls between):

Mac Pro -wire- 802.11n/5GHz AEBS -air- new 1TB Time Capsule -wire- mini

There were no dropouts, glitches, problems at all. Very nice! I am a happy Mac owner.

edit: just played MKV of UP via Airport... beautiful & no problems!

Update 2: tried to watch Up again last night with my wife (I almost always pre-play a rip so there are no "problems" when watching the rip at the official watching hour ;)) and had pauses every 30-seconds or so to buffer the transfer! I connected a 30-ft ethernet cable from my Mac Pro to my Time Capsule and still had the buffering issue :(:mad: So, after a bit of interpersonal communication, I stuck the BD into my Oppo and we watched the movie with no further interruptions. I'll be "trouble shooting" today...
BTW: Up is fun...


Added 1435PST: Every attempt to watch either my MKV rip of Cloverfield (ripped on 110909) or UP (ripped on 111109) gets me pauses & hiccups. No other BD rip I've got gives me a problem. Only difference between today and when I watched those rips with no problems is that I upgraded to 10.6.2 on my mini yesterday afternoon. I tried shutting down any Airport Expresses/Extremes that were not needed for streaming BD rips Mac Pro -> mini, no joy. I am now re-ripping UP, copying the "faulty" rip to a portable HD to see if I have the problem using FW400 at the mini, re-ripping Gladiator & Snow White (to see if they hiccup, the current rips don't). More to come.

Cheap fix for "guests" -

If you are using 2 Airport Extremes in bridge mode, add a simple third router that connects to the cable/dsl modem. Let that one serve wireless to your guests (N or G) and keep your AE's "private" for your use. This is far cheaper and in some ways superior than buying two new AE's to get 5 and 2.4 simultaneously.

In my case I used an old Dlink 655 which also serves as firewall and certain port forwarding of other items. My AE Bridge remains for my use only. (OK, it allows me to be self serving yet make sure others have internet <G> ).

- Phrehdd

Cheap fix for "guests" -

If you are using 2 Airport Extremes in bridge mode, add a simple third router that connects to the cable/dsl modem. Let that one serve wireless to your guests (N or G) and keep your AE's "private" for your use. This is far cheaper and in some ways superior than buying two new AE's to get 5 and 2.4 simultaneously.

In my case I used an old Dlink 655 which also serves as firewall and certain port forwarding of other items. My AE Bridge remains for my use only. (OK, it allows me to be self serving yet make sure others have internet <G> ).

- Phrehdd

Recent Airport Extremes are "Dual Band" capable. In my setup, I have my old single band AE in my living room, and my new dual band in the office with the internet connection. I dedicate the 5GHz band to bridging, and use the 2.4GHz for laptop/iPhone access.

Recent Airport Extremes are "Dual Band" capable. In my setup, I have my old single band AE in my living room, and my new dual band in the office with the internet connection. I dedicate the 5GHz band to bridging, and use the 2.4GHz for laptop/iPhone access.

That's an ideal set up if it works well for you. For those who already have two AE's, a cheap 3rd one is better than spending another 179(?) for the newer model (though again I agree it is ideal). Remember, guests might be better served on a dedicated G system than N draft which they may or may not have.

Btw for those thinking of Airport Express - well, perhaps it is my luck but tried two of them and neither come close to the Airport Extreme for bandwidth/signal strength.

- Phrehdd

That's an ideal set up if it works well for you. For those who already have two AE's, a cheap 3rd one is better than spending another 179(?) for the newer model (though again I agree it is ideal). Remember, guests might be better served on a dedicated G system than N draft which they may or may not have.
- Phrehdd

Yes, I agree.. there are cheaper ways to go if you already have two AE's.

A nice feature of the dual band is that you can control which standards are supported. I use the 5GHz band for the network bridge, because it's faster and N-only. On the 2.4GHz band, I have it set to accept either N or G. Normally I use it with my MPB at 2.4GHz N and it's pretty fast. When I have guests, they attach at G, and it's slower for me, but still fine.

Easiest diagnosis for wireless streaming issues: when everything is hunky-dory and you are able to stream HD with no stuttering or problems: ping your Airport Extreme from the machine you are streaming to wirelessly. Save and use that ping as a baseline. (IIRC, the average ping will take under 1 millisecond).

When one day you start getting stuttering, ping the AE. Compare and contrast to your baseline. I guarantee you will see a glaring difference. If you don't, then start looking for problems unrelated to your network. If you do see a problem with the ping, likely something/someone is stepping on your channel -- switch your AE to a different channel in the 5GHz range.

I thought I would chime in quickly with my 2-cents. I've been using an Airport Extreme/Express setup with much success. I store my HD movies on an Airdisk downstairs. Bitrates for my files are fairly low compared to BR rips though. At any rate, I've been streaming them to my Xbox via my Macbook using connect 360. The 360 is on the network via an Airport Express. Running 5.0 GHz across the board.