Have been having ongoing pixelation issues. Ran a test this evening by recording the show while the pixelation was happening to watch it back. The recorded show played smooth as silk. Anyone know why I would be getting pixelation on a live broadcast but not on the recorded show? Thank you!!
Thats strange, unless you are playing it back at a lower bitrate? What device are you watching it on? Is it plugged in with ethernet?
Using an Apple TV (HD) for live viewing and recording. Using WiFi not Ethernet.
Because watching LiveTV the buffer is writing to the device you are watching on. When watching a recording it is streamed from the Server. So your client probably cannot keep up with both buffering local and playing.
Is “the client” the AppleTV? Would going to Ethernet resolve this? My WiFi is really fast (~200 mbs). Thoughts?
Yes the Apple TV is the client. Can you tell us what your quality settings are in the client, and if you have tuner sharing enabled?
Do I find that information in the app on the actual AppleTV? Would it be different on different AppleTV units? I have four AppleTVs that all have the Channels app on it.
Yes, within the settings area of the Apple TV app. And yes, the settings can be different on each one, they are not synched.
I think it is a periodic network issue. Live TV you are getting the stream as it is broadcasted. There is no extra file to grab in advance during times the signal is good. Recorded you are getting a stream that is already stored and so the ATV can get it in advance when there is no interference with your WiFi...
You should just do a quick test to see what happens when you plug the ATV in with Ethernet. If it works, you know the problem is your WiFi.
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Agreed, I will check the settings and report back and also conduct a test with the ethernet wire.
Thoughts on settings? Haven’t been able to test Ethernet yet.
settings are good. it will probably work when you test it with ethernet. Even if you only have a short ethernet cable, the ATV is small and easy to move somewhere just to do a test. If you don't own any ethernet cables to do a quick test, you could start troubleshooting your WiFi. Move the AP close to ATV, try a different channel, ensure you are connected on 5GHz, etc. I just suggested to try the ethernet first because then you will be able to identify the problem and save time in further troubleshooting.
To help you understand - with Tuner Sharing off (as you have), when you watch Live TV, the Apple TV establishes a direct connection with HDHomeRun, and the DVR server is not involved at all. With tuner sharing enabled, the DVR opens the connection to the HDHomeRun, then passes the data on to the client. This is what allows it to to “share”, as other clients or recordings using the same channel will be sent a copy of the same data. This conserves tuners, and I enable it on all my clients. It also requires the server to do some minimal buffering before the data is sent on to you. You could try enabling this option to see how it affects the behavior. It might help. It also might make it worse. As others have pointed out, this is most likely a network issue, so there is still value in connecting via Ethernet to confirm as well.
Another thing you can try is to skip backwards 1-2 minutes while watching the live stream. Sure, you'll be behind real time by 1-2 minutes, but the extra buffer can help with playback.