[Voorburg]

I'm using a cable modem broadband connection with my 802.11g enabled Airport Extreme Base Station. I'm aware that Apple's latest Time Capsule Base Station offers the faster 802.11n transfer speed.

I'm interested in purchasing the Apple TV device but concerned that the unit will struggle with iTunes movie rentals because of my slower 802.11n transfer speed.

#1.) How quickly will big iTunes movie files transfer onto my Sony widescreen TV ?

#2.) After making the iTunes movie rental purchase, how long will I have to wait before the movie will start to run on my Sony TV ?

Thanks a lot !!!

[moose_n_squirrel]

If you are talking about the speed between Apple and you, the computer hardware you have doesn't matter. What's going to determine everything is going to be the speed of the cable modem connection you have subscribed to.

802.11b (original Airport, 1999) = 11 megabits/sec
802.11g = 54 mb/sec
802.11n = 540 mb/sec

Your cable modem connection = ? megabits per second
Fill in the ? and you have your answer
(sort of, since actual speed may be lower)

Let's say you have a 5-megabit/sec cable modem connection. Well, 802.11g is still 10x faster than that, so 802.11n buys you nothing, and there won't be any difference between "fast" or "slow" 802.11n because both are so much faster than your cable modem. The only time your AirPort transfer speed makes a difference is if you are using wireless networking to move files between Macs within your own local network, like using the AppleTV to retrieve a movie already downloaded to a Mac. But if you are talking about downloading a rental directly from the Internet to Apple TV, then the bottleneck is the cable modem speed, not anything else you own.

[Rcovell]

I was looking into the specs on the Apple TV and seem to recall that once you start downloading the movie, you just have to build a buffer before you can start watching. I think the usual estimate is 30 seconds. With your cable modem's speed, that should be workable, but, if you give it a few minutes, you'll come closer to assuring yourself stutter free watching by not overrunning your download. But, there's certainly no need to let the whole movie download, unless you plan in advance better than I do!

Bob.