How long does it take to sync an AppleTV?

Depends on which wireless network you have. I think using 802.11n you should see about 25Mb per second. Lets call it 24Mb ps which is 3MB per second.

A GB is therefore 1000/3 seconds lets call it 330 seconds and 60 GB would be 19800 seconds which is
330 minutes which is 5 1/2 hours.

A nice glass of white wine in my hand so that may all be rubbish

If you google for: actual speed 802.11n or 802.11g which ever flavour you have you will find average speeds. These vary by router model, distance, materials in the way etc.

Actually that may be rubbish - you may see up to 50Mb ps so that would about half the time.

Thanks Harry.

I may well hookup a 100Mbs switch I have in the cupboard tomorrow.

Jono

Just select synch and go to bed. Less hassle.

quote:

Originally posted by nap-ster:
Just select synch and go to bed. Less hassle.

Well CSI is on so that will get to about 200.

Ha Ha.

Jono

5 1/2 hours for 60GB? what is going on here? that simply cannot be correct.

Are you syncing via Blutooth?

Well that went well, NOT. Microsoft release another chunk of patches last night which stopped the syncing process, I think.

Time to get the switch out and go hardwired.

The initial impressions of how it sounds are good, but a back-to-back trial is planned for tonight.

Jono

Ethernet is usually the best bet for stability but I have to say in terms of the ATV I had not noticed much difference with wireless N network.

Syning should be pretty nippy, I reckon about 2 hours for that lot.


Also if your computer is always on remember you can stream from up to five computers so it mught not be necessery to sync everything.

It can also sync photoes from your my documents folder to use as a screen saver.

Do remember sync'ing wirelessly depends on the protocol and RF frequency you are using. For example:

802.11g: 54Mbps
Ethernet: 100Mbps

802.11n 2.4Ghz band: 130Mbps
802.11n 5.0Ghz band: 300Mbps

Gigabit Ethernet: 1000Mbps

I'm currently running my networks on Gigabit ethernet and 802.11n in the 2.4Ghz band. I'm about to start up a second SSID in the 5Ghz band, which should get my wireless up to the 300Mbps region.

Remember, if you run standard 802.11n in thr 2.4Ghz band that it will look to see if there are other wireless networks running and if so play nicely and not run the full 2 x 20Hz frequency bonding.

Roy.

Not taking into account any shuffling/sorting of the data either end.

You'll only have to do the big sync once (famous last words) After this the synch is just for any extra files you've added or removed.

Thanks everyone for your help. I should be able to post more impressions later.

Jono

If you have a lot of video content thats not ATV compatible you can hack it with XBMC.

quote:

Originally posted by pcstockton:
5 1/2 hours for 60GB? what is going on here? that simply cannot be correct.

Are you syncing via Blutooth?

PC hi --

I just looked up some rates and did the maths. I hAve never seen anywhere near published rates in real world use. I think the 2.5 hour quote I edited in after a further sip of wine may be better. What would you expect?

On my first sync on my ATV I first started with a wireless. It would "hang" often and seemed to be taking forever. If I recall, I had about 80GB. When I got impatient, I ran a cable and the whole thing instantly became quicker and more reliable. So based on my experienceI would recomend a hard wired for you first sync. From that point onwards when just sync a movie or 5 CD's it was always just fine wirelessly.

I did a test last night just copying a file over 802.11n and saw about 2.5GB a second. Wireless throughput depends on too many things for this to be meaningful for anyone but myself, though. It was also in the 5GHz airport network.

2.5gigs a second is very impressive. Better than most data centres I would bet.

Whoops! 2.5MB a second not gigs. Sorry!

quote:

Originally posted by jadip:
On my first sync on my ATV I first started with a wireless. It would "hang" often and seemed to be taking forever. If I recall, I had about 80GB. When I got impatient, I ran a cable and the whole thing instantly became quicker and more reliable. So based on my experienceI would recomend a hard wired for you first sync. From that point onwards when just sync a movie or 5 CD's it was always just fine wirelessly.

Snap! Even more weird iTunes looked like it had stalled, but when I switched off my PC all of the library was on the AppleTV.

So the testing can now begin.

Jono

Harry, that is a very slow rate!

From a droboshare (NAS) I get about 20megs a second, mac to mac considerably more around 35-40megs a second.

Apparently over head and all the rest of it means that 30megs a second could be considered very good for gigabit networks. You would not get this on 100meg networks.

quote:

Originally posted by garyi:
Harry, that is a very slow rate!

From a droboshare (NAS) I get about 20megs a second, mac to mac considerably more around 35-40megs a second.

Apparently over head and all the rest of it means that 30megs a second could be considered very good for gigabit networks. You would not get this on 100meg networks.

Gary -- how close is your wireless router/hub. Mine is two floors away at the top of the house. When you say 20 megs do you mean bits or bytes .. bytes I assume?

Now hard-wired via ethernet 100mbs switch all is good.

Music sounds not as good as 11year old CD3.5, but only just. I think a Beresford DAC may be on the cards next month.

TV and photos on the the telly are great, and home movies are excellent.

The best bit though has to be multiple speakers. What a hoot! I am tempted to get an Airport Express for upstairs to be included.

Jono

Harry a would expect a 1gig file to take less than a minute over ethernet and about 2mins over wireless. Sorry if my technical jargon is not up to spec!

Bare in mind things can change dramatically, for instance a folder full of small jpegs will take considerably longer even if it 'weighs' the same.

Jono.
A dac will increase the ability of the apple tv significantly.
If you are inclined you can import your DVDs for play back on the ATV, it also supports 5.1 surround sound.
I expect you have noticed you can hire films as well.

quote:

Originally posted by garyi:
Harry a would expect a 1gig file to take less than a minute over ethernet and about 2mins over wireless.

It is a lot longer for me, Gary! Maybe something to do with the distance of the machines from the Airport, don't know. I would suspect there is no such thing as a typical wireless speed as it is too dependent on interference, materials, distance etc. Will have a play around to see if changing anything ups the speed

If you go into your ATV menu there is a strength indicator in the wireless set up.
The latest f/w also has a speed test although this will be for the internet as well as your wireless connection I guess.

Your best location for the wireless router is the loft as its in this position that you will encounter the least solid walls.

Mine actually lives under the stairs. I seem to be lucky in that I get full bars to the bottom of the garden.

Never the less Harry if you are measuring in bytes per second then something is seriously wrong!

Just tested with the mac 1 foot away from the router and got about 2.5 times the throughput. Still not up to what others expect. TBH it doesn't bother me as I tend not to have large file transfer requirements.