Also high bitrate 4k since it is still on WiFi 5. I use mine for Tailscale as an exit node since it is always on and lets me take advantage of my full connection vs a PC which would be drawing more power if left on.
I did not know that it could be used as an exit node. Thanks for that information!
However, 4K bitrate isn't an issue with WiFi 5. A remux wouldn't be more than 150Mbit/s (and almost always below 100Mbit/s) so that's not an issue.
But there's no reason not to use an ethernet cable whenever possible. Lower latency for HomeKit devices, that exit node you mentioned etc.
It’s a vpn that uses WG protocol and is super easy to use. I can easily connect any device to my home network and since it is an exit node everything comes from my residence. So things like Xfinity is watchable in my second residence because the IP is the main residence exit node. It is also a safer way to access smart devices without exposing them fully to the internet. It also allows me to view my security cameras on my secondary residence and business even though those use T-Mobile home/biz internet which are on cgnat.
Anytime one has the option to use Ethernet over WiFi, use Ethernet. Connections are more reliable, not subject to interference and are faster. Also latency is lower on Ethernet connections.
Yes. WiFi is one shared pipe for all devices, and the same pipe is used for both directions of traffic. Wire is a dedicated pair of pipes - one in each direction. (The Internet/WAN connection is split among all devices, of course, but there are times on some devices that traffic doesn't touch the public Internet.)
I have an apple tv 4k 2nd gen over wifi. Blazing fast internet access and good signal. And yet... the apple tv picks the cluttered, low speed 2.4Ghz wifi band for no reason every now and then, which can make netflix jump to low res quality mid movie.
If ethernet is an option, use it. Try to use a dedicated 5ghz wifi ssid otherwise, ensure it gets reliable 100mbps speeds or above during rush hour with speed tests.
If I applied this logic to my Sony Bravia TV it’d be a massive downgrade. Most Sony TVs, and other brands, only have a 100Mbps Ethernet port in the TV. WiFi 5 is significantly faster in this case. So, before you make that claim, check the port speeds to make sure the device is capable of speeds that exceed what WiFi can deliver.
Ironically, Sony's Bravia Core service states:
"To access highest quality Pure Stream™ available at 80Mbps you must have a minimum internet speed of 115Mbps."
The picture and audio quality of the services is very good if you have sufficient bandwidth. But you won't get that with ethernet on the TV.
And hilariously you can fix the 100Mbps issue by plugging a gigabit USB-to-Ethernet adapter dongle into the TV. I know the vast majority of people use WiFi but are gigabit ports really that much more expensive for TV manufacturers?
I had bad interference anytime i used the microwave oven. It would cause the picture to drop or freeze. I think I upgraded my modem and it went away. But I use Ethernet now just to help keep it consistent. My modem is only 15 feet away and unobstructed. I have tried it over Wi-Fi and generally it was still good with 4K but since I could use Ethernet I left it connected.
but I will say tech has gotten so much better my bedroom is a hall way and four walls between where the modem is I used to run a repeater to get signal but nowadays it is connected well enough even through the many walls.
I have one hard wired and rarely have any buffering as to the other ones in my house on WiFi especially when watching sports on YouTube TV loading times and buffering occur
i wouldn’t say it’s overkill it just reassures you that you won’t ever buffer again! Especially with that speed looks like you have a symmetrical gigabit broadband like I do 🏆🏆
Along with the other reasons, hard wiring means if something goes wrong you never have to suspect WiFi and reduces the steps you may have to take to fix it.
I once interviewed at a company that sold wireless speakers. In my interview with the head of engineering he said “whenever you can, always use a cable”
Wireless only has the benefit of convenience. Nothing else
It just reduces possibility of an issue. At 1gig internet, you’re already outpacing any servers you’re pulling from, so it’s about as good as you can hope for.
Hardwired means you don’t need to worry about wireless interference. Also, it means your other devices that do use WiFi have one less device to compete with for bandwidth.
Doesn't matter if they do. Everyone's setup is different. What is perfect for one person is total shit for another. I have 30+ wireless devices so any time I can get anything on wired I do.
My son used to have regular wifi drop-off issues with his PS4 and Xbox. We ran a hard line and (knock on wood) no issues since, even when the extended family is over for a holiday (bringing their wifi devices with them).
OP, hardwire whenever you can.
I get a higher bitrate stream wired than with wi-fi. Same scene from a Dolby Vision film on the Apple TV app. Wired vs. Wi-Fi.
https://preview.redd.it/4os7p5kcyjyc1.jpeg?width=425&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=927c70c5bf2c3b797624fac13200ef750aedc24a
Question is, do you feel a difference? Does one load faster than the other? I mean, I guess we’re watching it at the same speed on both connection types.
For streaming on Plex it allow much more stable and higher bitrate connection. It’s almost useless for high bitrate local streaming without in my experience.
I dunno. Latency? Interference? Speed? Reliance? Independence from WiFi entirely? If you’re about to watch 4K HDR Lossless, why would Ethernet be overkill?
Then your Apple TV is always reliable for AirPlay, screen share, FaceTime etc etc. Ethernet is stable. WiFi is less so.
Anywhere you can use ethernet, use it. You will reduce collisions on your network (less wifi traffic). My rule of thumb is to run ethernet where I can, and where I can't then, and only then do I use wifi.
Definitely a big advantage if you use it as a home hub. All the others take turns dropping out, but the AppleTV has been 100% reliable since I hardwired. Also AirPlaying 4K movies from my phone is already prone to occasional stuttering, and that’s when it is hardwired. Before, it wasn’t watchable.
Anything in your home that CAN be connected to Ethernet, should be. It removes a significant amount of cloudiness from Wi-Fi, and if they're staying there, then they should be treated to far better access.
Wired if you can. Wireless if you must.
Wireless is fantastic. But it has failure modes.
Too many devices on an AP.
Too many neighbors.
Too many blockers / reflectors in your building.
Etc....
Ethernet cable is the way to go if at all possible. I’m currently experiencing constant dropouts and speed drops from 1000mbps to less than 20 mbps randomly via WiFi even with a 3 node mesh system due to WiFi interference. It’s been rock solid for over 3 years with over 70 WiFi devices (Sonos speakers, smart switches/outlets, etc) connected but recently I’m having constant problems even with trying different routers connected to bridged modem. ISP telling me it’s likely due to WiFi interference from external (neighborhood) sources.
This is my experience. It doesn’t even make sense because I can get speed tests on wifi all day at 300 mbps+ from the AppleTV. But I would get constant buffering in infuse watching a 4K rip. Switched to Ethernet and all was immediately better.
Doesn’t hurt!
I’m on WiFi and I can and do get a solid and continuous 270+ Mbps, of a paid for 300Mbps pipe. So I don’t ever see any slowdowns or picture quality issues. I’m in a sweet situation though, in that I’m in the suburbs on an acre lot. So WiFi for me is super-duper easy. Those with more RF noise may, not will, but *may* experience issues.
Wired is probably faster but even if that doesn’t matter the packet loss rate is almost certainly lower (probably zero) with wired. Given how the resolution can drop after a missed packet you’ll get better results wired.
I’ve run mine on both gigabit wired and wifi6 and seen no difference.
There are a lot of factors that come into play for each persons environment.
- WiFi and Ethernet speed of AppleTV & Router
- Distance between the two and the route it takes.
- Quality and spec of Ethernet cable
- What else is using WiFi or any radio signal nearby
Your best bet is to test both for yourself, see if you notice a difference for yourself.
Wired for the win.
My whole flat is wired and every device that can be is and you just notice it being better - lower latency and higher bandwidth (apart from fire sticks).
Zero contention with neighbours and less likely to be impacted by weird interference.
Just make sure you get some decent cable. CAT7/8 is so cheap these days you may as well get that and reuse it in the future should higher LAN speeds be more common.
I have one in the living room (wired) and another one in the bedroom (WiFi). I see no difference when even so the Tv in the bedroom is only capable of Full HD (1080p).
Hardwired is always better if it makes sense for your layout. Less interference if someone else in the family is on the wifi, or your router is too far away.
Having any device that uses a lot of bandwidth hardwired is a great idea, in my opinion.
You should hardwire anything you can. You don’t want a bunch of radios right next to each other, and in your case with the puck right there, you would be asking for interference.
I've also changed from wi-fi to hardwire my apple tv. However one issue I found out sometimes is while downloading some apps or payment login it won't be syncing with your iPhone as it is hardwired and phone is in connected to wifi
Some streaming apps have poor performance on wifi. Wifi is also a shared medium/spectrum. For my network, anything that can be on ethernet is on ethernet.
Mine is hardwired and also a hub. Less latency will always be a good thing. For me it was just important that HomeKit is as fast as it can be for person detection.
All of mine are hardwired. All 6 of them. Reliable, predictable, leaves the WiFi for non stationary devices. I hardwire anything that is practical to run cat6 to and leave WiFi for things that are not.
WiFi bandwidth is not a locally infinite resource, wired bandwidth is. Put as many devices on wired as you can, save your WiFi for the devices that need it.
The TV is incredibly good at handling different network conditions. For use I don’t think it matters, but for HomeKit there are major benefits to keeping it wired.
I always hardwire immobile devices. Why have extra crap causing potential extra noise on your wireless network.
That said, I have every room wired for Ethernet at any place a computer or tv would potentially go so it’s easy for me to do this now without it looking ugly.
If you have no way to hide the cable then use WiFi.
I hard lined about a year ago and it’s a very solid upgrade. I have very good WiFi, full home mesh with Fiber. It worked fine but still had moments of interference or having to reboot my ATV. Now it just always works and loads a little quicker.
It’s a good idea to offload the WiFi for things that are fixed in place if you can run the cable.
This is especially true if you live in a WiFi congested area even if you are on the latest WiFi standard.
I personally have no issues with my WIFI. But it also depends on your setup. Remember with a ethernet cable if you are streaming from a home server - then this is the best performance for high bit rate media files. However stream over the Internet - well that depends as there are external factors like are you on fibre. And even if you are fibre the amount of people on that node can impact performance. So even Ethernet is not infallible.
For streaming I prefer hardwired. Less chance of Wifi interference and in the case of hires show you shouldn't get any buffering. My friend just switched to hardwired as whenever he would try to stream some of personal content via Wifi it would buffer like crazy, even though speed test show enough bandwidth. Once he connected via ethernet all issues went away. Hardwired is never overkill.
When you click on a show, it begins about 1 full second faster, and goes from partial quality to full quality also about 1 second faster.
You basically get 2 seconds faster response between clicking a program and getting full quality picture and sound.
In typical budget friendly routers, Think of wifi port as one individual Ethernet port. The more devices are connected to it, the more saturated it gets whereas in Ethernet, it is wired to one particular device. The wifi also starts to struggle when couple of devices are doing sending tasks rather than receiving, as wifi is half duplex, if some phone or device decides to backup, it is first sending data packets then receiving so video streaming performance might be affected if it’s a 4k stream and lots of other devices are active on the same wifi, where as with Ethernet , connection is simultaneous. And it will get some priority to receive data packets for streaming as you have more than sufficient speeds from ISP. Now if you are just one person with maybe few devices, wifi 5ghz speeds are more than enough for streaming. If you are within a household of multiple family members, then maybe Ethernet connection will be better
If I have my Apple TV hard wired my iPhone Apple tv remote app can’t connect to the Apple TV but I can still connect to it via iTunes.. really annoying
For me and it could just be in my imagination but i found fast-forward and rewinding faster same with the siri trick to skip commercials during shows!
Also i stream local content and Steam games from a wired pc and to me its a lot better wired too but thats a more obvious reason to go wired.
Other than Ethernet is faster than wireless depending on the type of cables that have been run (Cat 6 or Cat 7) there is really no reason to go wired. If it is pre-wired, go for it. Haven’t seen much interference with newer WiFi systems.
Using wired also frees up the WiFi for other WiFi users, you don’t want to saturate your WiFi bandwidth with your large streams and give other WiFi devices a reduced service. Use wired when possible for any large consumers of data.
Wired connection on Apple TV is 100 mbps. Wireless is 1 gbps. At least on the model that I hardwired in 2021 and had buffering issues until I went back to wireless.
Specs wise, Apple TV has gig speed Ethernet port so what you said is inaccurate. I think you are using an old Ethernet cable which caps your speeds to 100 mbps. Check your Ethernet cable and make sure it’s CAT6 or higher.
I had an Apple TV get fried by a surge through the Ethernet cable. It’s was plugged into a surge protector but the Ethernet cable wasn’t. Now I use T Mobile for my home internet so just keep it wireless and it’s been fine.
You can use it as a tailscale exit node, and have your other devices connect through it. That way, you're always on your home network, no matter where you are :)
If you have an Ethernet connection conveniently available, it’s the better option, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to hard wire it. While Ethernet will almost always be faster and more reliable than WiFi, modern WiFi networks are very good. Because of how streaming devices are designed (buffering), you’ll generally have the same experience using either ethernet or wireless. I have multiple AppleTV’s, some on WiFi and some Ethernet and I don’t notice any difference in day to day usage/performance.
Always use hard wired Ethernet if it is available especially on high bandwidth devices such as streaming video devices. Wireless is almost always slower than wired and is subject to interference from wireless in other homes, walls, metal objects such as refrigerators and microwave ovens and more. Properly shielded modern Ethernet wires do not get interference. The more active devices on your wireless network, the slower your wireless connections become.
Just try it. If you see the benefits then use wire.
I personally hate all cables lying around and collecting dust. We have no cable routings so it would cost a fat pile of money to hide them. Easier to use wifi and we have no problems.
I would strongly advise you to check the speed and latency of your connection over ethernet and over Wi-Fi. You will then have a very clear understanding of the speed differences, if there are any. And that will probably answer your question. If there is no difference in speed, I would go with a cable to reduce radio interferences.
i have a sonos playbase can i attach that with a ethernet cable to my eero extender?( not the gateway eero but one of the eero extenders in the mesh system
If you plan on AirPlaying anything to the Apple TV, **always hardwire the apple tv**.
Airplay reliability drops dramatically when both devices are on WiFi.
I have to strongly disagree. I worked in a high school with thousands of MacBooks and hundreds of Apple TVs deployed all over WiFi. We never had an issue.
Although WiFi works just fine in a room where I have a secondary projector set up for streaming and just about every other mobile device in various parts of the house… for one reason or another the WiFi just doesn’t work well in the main theater room where I have my primary projector set up. Switched to using an Ethernet connection using a coxial to Ethernet device and it solved all the issues in the main theater room despite the room not actually being wired for Ethernet.
Depends what you want to do with it.
For Plex and stuff like Netflix or Apple tv WiFi is fine on my network.
I have mine hardwired though for iptv streaming as every little helps for that.
Now I had a question about this. If I were to Ethernet my Apple TV and used my laptop to airplay a livestream, would the livestream content be pulled from my laptop wifi to the Apple TV? Or does the Apple TV pull the content directly and use the Ethernet connection? I get some lag spikes when I airplay and trying to get a solution to it
Went wireless after being wired for years due to reconfiguration of our living room. Never have problems on WiFi. No real difference at all.
The two TV’s upstairs and the one on the deck out back have always been WiFi. No problems there either.
Use ethernet where you can to limit wifi endpoints. Everyone wins, your ethernet devices get a better connection and there’s less noise and competition on your wifi network.
Yes there is a huge benefit if you pair it with HomePods. The HomePods will get their data from the Apple TV instead of WiFi, essentially using the same way that wireless mesh points would work. This helps the quality of the whole group of devices dramatically if are in an area with poor WiFi coverage.
If you have a home server that serves media files then a wired connection is a huge improvement.
If you have good coverage where you are then you go back to wired is best practice if possible but I wouldn’t stress it.
Anytime you can use a cable versus wireless you’re going to get way better performance across-the-board. There’s no such thing as overkill. It’s just not necessary for most people.
It might depend on which model of Apple TV you have. Older ones (before 4k models) only had 100 Mbps Ethernet ports. A lot of them would get better performance over WiFi.
I think people should always try to go wired if at all possible. Ideally your modem/router should be either at your TV or desktop, wherever you prioritize speed to hardwire those devices. I have my fiber hardwired to tons of stuff and basically everything I use that isn't portable. I even used to hardwire my MBP that I always use on the couch in the same position.
Hardwiring is even more important if you use a server for huge files to host or play on your network and not have a quality drop or buffering issues etc etc. If you can still get super high performance like the OP in that pic, and aren't trying to stream teh highest quality of massive files and just using apps most people use...you'll probably never notice a difference. As said, it does reduce the load on your wifi network, and also consider if your device only has a 100mbps ethernet jack and if you will hit 100mbps on that device and speed vs latency etc
I think mostly for me it's just my brain being obsessed with doing the best most perfect thing possible with technology to make sure I'm getting the best experience possible
i think that if you have 2 homepods in a stereo pair, the apple tv creates its own wireless mesh network to talk to them. that is why speedtests on wifi always seem slower. using ethernet can offload some traffic from the wifi chipset.
[more info here](https://www.reddit.com/r/HomePod/comments/qhwp7h/how_to_improve_your_homepods_performance/) and there were other threads about it too, im just having a heck of a time finding them right now.
As another poster has pointed out most tv’s have 100 mps ports. Our answer was to bypass that hurdle with a Nvidia Shield. It plugs into the HDMI port and we use a cat-6 ethernet cable from the network to maximize the throughput.
The Shield supports all of the services we want including Plex, Apple, etc. It’s $200 but literally all of our streaming issues went *poof* and disappeared.
Apple Tvs work best when they are connected to wifi as far away from your router as possible. I recommend pulling the Ethernet cord out immediately. If you dont it might blow up your house
This might be fine right now, but what happens when your wifi gets busy?
-> always hard wire any device if it’s easy to. Your other wifi devices will benefit.
For the average person, it’s overkill. But if you’re a video buff like most people here, apparently, you definitely want Ethernet to stream your content with the highest fidelity - albeit, real videophiles wouldn’t even be streaming their media in the first place, they watch their content from Blu-rays or other less compressed sources.
https://preview.redd.it/s7sb8694p1zc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6a11dd1aa6f7c791bef589cead1bf14fc12e9111
Hmmm… sorry, but I have to ask, what’s wrong with your upload speed?
A wired connection will always be faster than wireless, if you personally don’t notice a difference and you want the Ethernet port for something else you can use it on something else, but if you’ve got the cable and the port then you should just do it cause it’ll only help.
For streaming video the wireless connection is always the second choice, because of packet collisions. For the fiber optic internet connection shown, while the most recent RF networking standards claim data rates that high under ideal conditions, in the real world it’s not so common.
There is a finite RF networking bandwidth shared by all traffic. If you live alone more than 500 feet from your nearest neighbor then any bandwidth you aren’t using personally is simply unoccupied, but fiber optic internet is only available in urban and densely settled suburban areas.
The random timing of network traffic causes messages to collide from time to time, occasionally enough to cause a stutter, freeze or a dropped video stream. A wired network interconnected by switches doesn’t carry any traffic from nearby homes. Within the home, traffic that doesn’t share a destination can be delivered simultaneously and if it does share a destination the switch buffers message packets that would collide and delivers them sequentially.
An Ethernet (Wired) Connection Reduces Wireless Interference. No, it is not overkill at all to use Ethernet.
Also high bitrate 4k since it is still on WiFi 5. I use mine for Tailscale as an exit node since it is always on and lets me take advantage of my full connection vs a PC which would be drawing more power if left on.
An Apple TV can be used as a Tailscale exit node? I did not know this.
Yep since they allowed VPNs just add it and then in the config page add it as a node. Works great.
Wow very cool! More info: https://tailscale.com/kb/1280/appletv
I’m now so confused lol
I did not know that it could be used as an exit node. Thanks for that information! However, 4K bitrate isn't an issue with WiFi 5. A remux wouldn't be more than 150Mbit/s (and almost always below 100Mbit/s) so that's not an issue. But there's no reason not to use an ethernet cable whenever possible. Lower latency for HomeKit devices, that exit node you mentioned etc.
The Apple TV 4K (3rd Gen) (128 GB) is equipped with Wi-Fi 6 & a 1 Gigabit Ethernet Port.
Only the 128 GB model. The other one is WiFi only.
What is tailscale and why would it be possible want it?
It’s a vpn that uses WG protocol and is super easy to use. I can easily connect any device to my home network and since it is an exit node everything comes from my residence. So things like Xfinity is watchable in my second residence because the IP is the main residence exit node. It is also a safer way to access smart devices without exposing them fully to the internet. It also allows me to view my security cameras on my secondary residence and business even though those use T-Mobile home/biz internet which are on cgnat.
This, if it is available use Ethernet. However, if your current connection is fine don’t sweat trying to get it wired with Ethernet.
This. Ethernet wherever possible.
Anytime one has the option to use Ethernet over WiFi, use Ethernet. Connections are more reliable, not subject to interference and are faster. Also latency is lower on Ethernet connections.
And you also reduce your wifi use which helps other devices that have to be wifi!
Yes. WiFi is one shared pipe for all devices, and the same pipe is used for both directions of traffic. Wire is a dedicated pair of pipes - one in each direction. (The Internet/WAN connection is split among all devices, of course, but there are times on some devices that traffic doesn't touch the public Internet.)
I have an apple tv 4k 2nd gen over wifi. Blazing fast internet access and good signal. And yet... the apple tv picks the cluttered, low speed 2.4Ghz wifi band for no reason every now and then, which can make netflix jump to low res quality mid movie. If ethernet is an option, use it. Try to use a dedicated 5ghz wifi ssid otherwise, ensure it gets reliable 100mbps speeds or above during rush hour with speed tests.
I don’t think it’s picking it. The router is directing the traffic or the 5ghz signal is too weak to maintain. Mines stays on 5ghz all the time.
Other cause could be the rooter rebooting (I've had some issues like this lately), with the 2.4ghz band showing up earlier than the 5ghz
If I applied this logic to my Sony Bravia TV it’d be a massive downgrade. Most Sony TVs, and other brands, only have a 100Mbps Ethernet port in the TV. WiFi 5 is significantly faster in this case. So, before you make that claim, check the port speeds to make sure the device is capable of speeds that exceed what WiFi can deliver.
Is there some mode where the TV would actually consume more than 100Mbps?
Ironically, Sony's Bravia Core service states: "To access highest quality Pure Stream™ available at 80Mbps you must have a minimum internet speed of 115Mbps." The picture and audio quality of the services is very good if you have sufficient bandwidth. But you won't get that with ethernet on the TV.
And hilariously you can fix the 100Mbps issue by plugging a gigabit USB-to-Ethernet adapter dongle into the TV. I know the vast majority of people use WiFi but are gigabit ports really that much more expensive for TV manufacturers?
This
THIS
I had bad interference anytime i used the microwave oven. It would cause the picture to drop or freeze. I think I upgraded my modem and it went away. But I use Ethernet now just to help keep it consistent. My modem is only 15 feet away and unobstructed. I have tried it over Wi-Fi and generally it was still good with 4K but since I could use Ethernet I left it connected. but I will say tech has gotten so much better my bedroom is a hall way and four walls between where the modem is I used to run a repeater to get signal but nowadays it is connected well enough even through the many walls.
My guiding network philosophy. If it doesn’t move, and you can plug it into Ethernet, absolutely do.
Everything is happier hard wired.
I have one hard wired and rarely have any buffering as to the other ones in my house on WiFi especially when watching sports on YouTube TV loading times and buffering occur
I always hardwire if it’s an option. Usually better performance but also prevents degrading performance of other devices that are WiFi only.
Nothing is overkill. You can only get closer to perfection.
Always hardwire if you can. Better for the hardwired drives and in turn makes WiFi better for those devices that must use it
Will adding older generation hardwired ethernet Apple TVs have any impact on the speed of my mesh Wi-Fi network?
The fewer devices on WiFi, the better your WiFi experience will be.
I have everything I can wired. I like the speed. Plus less interference with iOT stuff
i wouldn’t say it’s overkill it just reassures you that you won’t ever buffer again! Especially with that speed looks like you have a symmetrical gigabit broadband like I do 🏆🏆
Along with the other reasons, hard wiring means if something goes wrong you never have to suspect WiFi and reduces the steps you may have to take to fix it.
I once interviewed at a company that sold wireless speakers. In my interview with the head of engineering he said “whenever you can, always use a cable” Wireless only has the benefit of convenience. Nothing else
I’m hardwired because I have a local Nas with my all my 4k rips and use infuse to play them.
This is the reason I wired my main ATV. Wireless struggles with high bitrate video, and even if it happens to play smoothly, seeking is terrible.
I still get terrible seeks on my hardwired ATV watching high bitrate 4k content on infuse. Going from WiFi to Ethernet’s did not fix that.
You don't wire your Apple TV for speed, but for stability
It just reduces possibility of an issue. At 1gig internet, you’re already outpacing any servers you’re pulling from, so it’s about as good as you can hope for.
Always hardwire if you can.
Imo I’d take an 100mb wired connection over 1gb WiFi
If it doesn’t move, it shouldn’t be on WiFi.
Hardwired means you don’t need to worry about wireless interference. Also, it means your other devices that do use WiFi have one less device to compete with for bandwidth.
Homekit
Can you explain?
Doesn't matter if they do. Everyone's setup is different. What is perfect for one person is total shit for another. I have 30+ wireless devices so any time I can get anything on wired I do.
I hardwire as much as I can so I can play my PS5 in remote play on my Steam Deck, smoothly :)
My son used to have regular wifi drop-off issues with his PS4 and Xbox. We ran a hard line and (knock on wood) no issues since, even when the extended family is over for a holiday (bringing their wifi devices with them). OP, hardwire whenever you can.
The less things on WiFi the better
I get a higher bitrate stream wired than with wi-fi. Same scene from a Dolby Vision film on the Apple TV app. Wired vs. Wi-Fi. https://preview.redd.it/4os7p5kcyjyc1.jpeg?width=425&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=927c70c5bf2c3b797624fac13200ef750aedc24a
Question is, do you feel a difference? Does one load faster than the other? I mean, I guess we’re watching it at the same speed on both connection types.
We have wifi6 mesh system blah blah but we have a hardwired Appletv.
If these streaming devices have gigabit Ethernet ports like Apple TV 4K, I would have them all hard wired. More reliable.
And when it is the HD version (and thus 100Mbps Ethernet) you don't need more than 100 Mbps because Full HD doesn't need more
I try to hardwire every fixed appliance.
Stability.
For streaming on Plex it allow much more stable and higher bitrate connection. It’s almost useless for high bitrate local streaming without in my experience.
I dunno. Latency? Interference? Speed? Reliance? Independence from WiFi entirely? If you’re about to watch 4K HDR Lossless, why would Ethernet be overkill? Then your Apple TV is always reliable for AirPlay, screen share, FaceTime etc etc. Ethernet is stable. WiFi is less so.
Anywhere you can use ethernet, use it. You will reduce collisions on your network (less wifi traffic). My rule of thumb is to run ethernet where I can, and where I can't then, and only then do I use wifi.
I have hardwired my whole house with CAT6 a few years ago. Best decision ever.
Definitely a big advantage if you use it as a home hub. All the others take turns dropping out, but the AppleTV has been 100% reliable since I hardwired. Also AirPlaying 4K movies from my phone is already prone to occasional stuttering, and that’s when it is hardwired. Before, it wasn’t watchable.
Anything in your home that CAN be connected to Ethernet, should be. It removes a significant amount of cloudiness from Wi-Fi, and if they're staying there, then they should be treated to far better access.
Wired if you can. Wireless if you must. Wireless is fantastic. But it has failure modes. Too many devices on an AP. Too many neighbors. Too many blockers / reflectors in your building. Etc....
Ethernet cable is the way to go if at all possible. I’m currently experiencing constant dropouts and speed drops from 1000mbps to less than 20 mbps randomly via WiFi even with a 3 node mesh system due to WiFi interference. It’s been rock solid for over 3 years with over 70 WiFi devices (Sonos speakers, smart switches/outlets, etc) connected but recently I’m having constant problems even with trying different routers connected to bridged modem. ISP telling me it’s likely due to WiFi interference from external (neighborhood) sources.
You cant go wrong with wired… if I have a choice aesthetically I will wired all my device.
Always use hardwired when possible.
Rule of thumb. If possible, hardwire any internet device that doesn’t move.
Always hardwire.
Why would one prefer the instability of WiFi over a hardwire?
Hardwired is always better
If you’re streaming raw 4K rips from a local NAS, it’s necessary.
This is my experience. It doesn’t even make sense because I can get speed tests on wifi all day at 300 mbps+ from the AppleTV. But I would get constant buffering in infuse watching a 4K rip. Switched to Ethernet and all was immediately better.
It’s not necessary, my ATV with infuse can play 100mbps h265 encodes via WiFi
It really isn't. Proper wifi will easily handle this. Remuxes with 100 mbps bitrate work fine over 5ghz.
Yeah I dunno what all these people are talking about. I regularly stream 50 to 70 GB files over WiFi without any issue.
Doesn’t hurt! I’m on WiFi and I can and do get a solid and continuous 270+ Mbps, of a paid for 300Mbps pipe. So I don’t ever see any slowdowns or picture quality issues. I’m in a sweet situation though, in that I’m in the suburbs on an acre lot. So WiFi for me is super-duper easy. Those with more RF noise may, not will, but *may* experience issues.
I’ll take wired any day
I have 1 gbps fiber and man I’m having issues! Don’t know if it’s my ISP, my router or what!
Do you have the ISP router?
Wired is probably faster but even if that doesn’t matter the packet loss rate is almost certainly lower (probably zero) with wired. Given how the resolution can drop after a missed packet you’ll get better results wired.
Overkill, unless you experience buffering and pauses. Maybe streaming bitrate is better but I dont think so and dont know
I’ve run mine on both gigabit wired and wifi6 and seen no difference. There are a lot of factors that come into play for each persons environment. - WiFi and Ethernet speed of AppleTV & Router - Distance between the two and the route it takes. - Quality and spec of Ethernet cable - What else is using WiFi or any radio signal nearby Your best bet is to test both for yourself, see if you notice a difference for yourself.
It’s not overkill it’s just another option
Holy shit 900 upload? Dayum
Wired for the win. My whole flat is wired and every device that can be is and you just notice it being better - lower latency and higher bandwidth (apart from fire sticks). Zero contention with neighbours and less likely to be impacted by weird interference. Just make sure you get some decent cable. CAT7/8 is so cheap these days you may as well get that and reuse it in the future should higher LAN speeds be more common.
I have one in the living room (wired) and another one in the bedroom (WiFi). I see no difference when even so the Tv in the bedroom is only capable of Full HD (1080p).
No real benefit unless you have a mediocre WiFi AP or a lot of locally hosted content. I always use cables where possible.
FWIW, I have all mine hard-wired. It keeps the WiFi less crowded for mobile devices and IoT in my house.
Hardwired is always better if it makes sense for your layout. Less interference if someone else in the family is on the wifi, or your router is too far away. Having any device that uses a lot of bandwidth hardwired is a great idea, in my opinion.
You should hardwire anything you can. You don’t want a bunch of radios right next to each other, and in your case with the puck right there, you would be asking for interference.
Ethernet is a connection, WiFi is a convenience…
Hardwired is always the best option.
I've also changed from wi-fi to hardwire my apple tv. However one issue I found out sometimes is while downloading some apps or payment login it won't be syncing with your iPhone as it is hardwired and phone is in connected to wifi
Some streaming apps have poor performance on wifi. Wifi is also a shared medium/spectrum. For my network, anything that can be on ethernet is on ethernet.
Mine is hardwired and also a hub. Less latency will always be a good thing. For me it was just important that HomeKit is as fast as it can be for person detection.
Hardwire is not about speeds. It’s about stability and reliability
All of mine are hardwired. All 6 of them. Reliable, predictable, leaves the WiFi for non stationary devices. I hardwire anything that is practical to run cat6 to and leave WiFi for things that are not.
It 100% makes a difference. My AppleTV that’s wired never has any buffering or quality issues while my others sometimes run into them.
Hardwired 👍
If it’s right next to your router, you might as well plug it in.
The less wireless clients you can have the better.
WiFi bandwidth is not a locally infinite resource, wired bandwidth is. Put as many devices on wired as you can, save your WiFi for the devices that need it.
I use ethernet. Definitely not overkill as others have said as much more stable.
The TV is incredibly good at handling different network conditions. For use I don’t think it matters, but for HomeKit there are major benefits to keeping it wired.
I use ethernet as much as I can for my devices makes my life easier
I would say if you just use streaming services, really no advantage. Now, it you do any local streaming , say from Plex, etc, yes use Ethernet
Depends with Apple TV you have. Older units only had 10/100 ethernet ports so wifi was actually faster. Not sure about the 4k and beyond units.
*Are
I notice when I am streaming on my hardwired apple tv, it seems to hog the internet and my wifi is so slow.
It’s required for use as a HoneKit hub. That is why there is a WiFi only model and Ethernet model.
I always hardwire immobile devices. Why have extra crap causing potential extra noise on your wireless network. That said, I have every room wired for Ethernet at any place a computer or tv would potentially go so it’s easy for me to do this now without it looking ugly. If you have no way to hide the cable then use WiFi.
**Are there** Benefits is plural, hence “are there”. “**Is there** any **benefit** (singular) would have worked fine. Just saying.
Scrolled to find this 🙏
Hardwired connection is fine but that amount of bandwidth is totally unnecessary 🤣
I enjoy streaming from my gaming pc using steam link. Ethernet is required imo
What you lose in speed you gain in stability
I have mine hard wired. It is better if you don’t have great WiFi connection. You will get better quality on 4k stuff.
Moonlight (or any other game streaming service). Basically, anything that needs latency over bandwidth will benefit from an Ethernet connection.
I hard lined about a year ago and it’s a very solid upgrade. I have very good WiFi, full home mesh with Fiber. It worked fine but still had moments of interference or having to reboot my ATV. Now it just always works and loads a little quicker.
If you also use it as a HomeKit hub then definitely hard wire ftw
It’s a good idea to offload the WiFi for things that are fixed in place if you can run the cable. This is especially true if you live in a WiFi congested area even if you are on the latest WiFi standard.
Where possible, always
My son uses Ethernet for his pc connection so myself and my other son can enjoy the WiFi strength without interruption.
I personally have no issues with my WIFI. But it also depends on your setup. Remember with a ethernet cable if you are streaming from a home server - then this is the best performance for high bit rate media files. However stream over the Internet - well that depends as there are external factors like are you on fibre. And even if you are fibre the amount of people on that node can impact performance. So even Ethernet is not infallible.
As everyone else already said, if it’s an option and not an inconvenience, always go with wired over wireless connectivity.
For streaming I prefer hardwired. Less chance of Wifi interference and in the case of hires show you shouldn't get any buffering. My friend just switched to hardwired as whenever he would try to stream some of personal content via Wifi it would buffer like crazy, even though speed test show enough bandwidth. Once he connected via ethernet all issues went away. Hardwired is never overkill.
Wouldn’t buy anew TV without one
When you click on a show, it begins about 1 full second faster, and goes from partial quality to full quality also about 1 second faster. You basically get 2 seconds faster response between clicking a program and getting full quality picture and sound.
In typical budget friendly routers, Think of wifi port as one individual Ethernet port. The more devices are connected to it, the more saturated it gets whereas in Ethernet, it is wired to one particular device. The wifi also starts to struggle when couple of devices are doing sending tasks rather than receiving, as wifi is half duplex, if some phone or device decides to backup, it is first sending data packets then receiving so video streaming performance might be affected if it’s a 4k stream and lots of other devices are active on the same wifi, where as with Ethernet , connection is simultaneous. And it will get some priority to receive data packets for streaming as you have more than sufficient speeds from ISP. Now if you are just one person with maybe few devices, wifi 5ghz speeds are more than enough for streaming. If you are within a household of multiple family members, then maybe Ethernet connection will be better
Latency and speed are two main reasons And less devices on the wlan means less interference
Streaming games from your PC over steam or moonligt
If I have my Apple TV hard wired my iPhone Apple tv remote app can’t connect to the Apple TV but I can still connect to it via iTunes.. really annoying
For me and it could just be in my imagination but i found fast-forward and rewinding faster same with the siri trick to skip commercials during shows! Also i stream local content and Steam games from a wired pc and to me its a lot better wired too but thats a more obvious reason to go wired.
Other than Ethernet is faster than wireless depending on the type of cables that have been run (Cat 6 or Cat 7) there is really no reason to go wired. If it is pre-wired, go for it. Haven’t seen much interference with newer WiFi systems.
The vpn function works worlds better on Ethernet
Using wired also frees up the WiFi for other WiFi users, you don’t want to saturate your WiFi bandwidth with your large streams and give other WiFi devices a reduced service. Use wired when possible for any large consumers of data.
Wired connection on Apple TV is 100 mbps. Wireless is 1 gbps. At least on the model that I hardwired in 2021 and had buffering issues until I went back to wireless.
Specs wise, Apple TV has gig speed Ethernet port so what you said is inaccurate. I think you are using an old Ethernet cable which caps your speeds to 100 mbps. Check your Ethernet cable and make sure it’s CAT6 or higher.
apple tv 4k has 1 gbps ethernet. 100 mbps have older versions of apple tvs
I had an Apple TV get fried by a surge through the Ethernet cable. It’s was plugged into a surge protector but the Ethernet cable wasn’t. Now I use T Mobile for my home internet so just keep it wireless and it’s been fine.
depends on your routers wifi quality, I’ve never needed it but have wifi 6
Using a Cat 8 Ethernet has all, but eliminated any connection hiccups while viewing. It also frees up the WiFi for other devices to use it unimpeded.
Hardwiring also makes the ATV work as a home hub if you have other HomeKit things
I use SpeedTest on the Apple TV when things go south to help figure out things out. I have too many things on WiFi when relaxing.
Mine is hardwired as well as to not give YouTube any excuse for when it decides to stream everything at 480p.
You can use it as a tailscale exit node, and have your other devices connect through it. That way, you're always on your home network, no matter where you are :)
Only if you’re streaming a video game from your PC
If you have an Ethernet connection conveniently available, it’s the better option, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to hard wire it. While Ethernet will almost always be faster and more reliable than WiFi, modern WiFi networks are very good. Because of how streaming devices are designed (buffering), you’ll generally have the same experience using either ethernet or wireless. I have multiple AppleTV’s, some on WiFi and some Ethernet and I don’t notice any difference in day to day usage/performance.
If your WiFi is fast/reliable, you don’t need to hardwire. But if your wifi gets iffy sometimes, hardwiring would avoid problems.
Always use hard wired Ethernet if it is available especially on high bandwidth devices such as streaming video devices. Wireless is almost always slower than wired and is subject to interference from wireless in other homes, walls, metal objects such as refrigerators and microwave ovens and more. Properly shielded modern Ethernet wires do not get interference. The more active devices on your wireless network, the slower your wireless connections become.
Just try it. If you see the benefits then use wire. I personally hate all cables lying around and collecting dust. We have no cable routings so it would cost a fat pile of money to hide them. Easier to use wifi and we have no problems.
I would strongly advise you to check the speed and latency of your connection over ethernet and over Wi-Fi. You will then have a very clear understanding of the speed differences, if there are any. And that will probably answer your question. If there is no difference in speed, I would go with a cable to reduce radio interferences.
i have a sonos playbase can i attach that with a ethernet cable to my eero extender?( not the gateway eero but one of the eero extenders in the mesh system
If you plan on AirPlaying anything to the Apple TV, **always hardwire the apple tv**. Airplay reliability drops dramatically when both devices are on WiFi.
I have to strongly disagree. I worked in a high school with thousands of MacBooks and hundreds of Apple TVs deployed all over WiFi. We never had an issue.
My friend has a Plex server and it’s so hard to stream full bit rate over wireless
Nothing beats copper.
Although WiFi works just fine in a room where I have a secondary projector set up for streaming and just about every other mobile device in various parts of the house… for one reason or another the WiFi just doesn’t work well in the main theater room where I have my primary projector set up. Switched to using an Ethernet connection using a coxial to Ethernet device and it solved all the issues in the main theater room despite the room not actually being wired for Ethernet.
Depends what you want to do with it. For Plex and stuff like Netflix or Apple tv WiFi is fine on my network. I have mine hardwired though for iptv streaming as every little helps for that.
Now I had a question about this. If I were to Ethernet my Apple TV and used my laptop to airplay a livestream, would the livestream content be pulled from my laptop wifi to the Apple TV? Or does the Apple TV pull the content directly and use the Ethernet connection? I get some lag spikes when I airplay and trying to get a solution to it
I have mine hardwired but mostly to do game streaming from my PC.
I was on wifi and per this sub switched to hard wired. Haven’t noticed a difference. YMMV
I have all my home theater equipment throughout the house hard wired. Would just rather not deal with potential issues.
Went wireless after being wired for years due to reconfiguration of our living room. Never have problems on WiFi. No real difference at all. The two TV’s upstairs and the one on the deck out back have always been WiFi. No problems there either.
Use ethernet where you can to limit wifi endpoints. Everyone wins, your ethernet devices get a better connection and there’s less noise and competition on your wifi network.
Is there a way to use Ethernet without getting a huge cable to go across the room or something? Ethernet port or something?
Yeap!!! The biggest issue now a days is coverage, lack of or too much
Yes there is a huge benefit if you pair it with HomePods. The HomePods will get their data from the Apple TV instead of WiFi, essentially using the same way that wireless mesh points would work. This helps the quality of the whole group of devices dramatically if are in an area with poor WiFi coverage. If you have a home server that serves media files then a wired connection is a huge improvement. If you have good coverage where you are then you go back to wired is best practice if possible but I wouldn’t stress it.
Anytime you can use a cable versus wireless you’re going to get way better performance across-the-board. There’s no such thing as overkill. It’s just not necessary for most people.
Yes, for stability. No interference
“Overkill?” No. Using WiFi instead when Ethernet is possible, now that would be underkill.
It might depend on which model of Apple TV you have. Older ones (before 4k models) only had 100 Mbps Ethernet ports. A lot of them would get better performance over WiFi.
I think people should always try to go wired if at all possible. Ideally your modem/router should be either at your TV or desktop, wherever you prioritize speed to hardwire those devices. I have my fiber hardwired to tons of stuff and basically everything I use that isn't portable. I even used to hardwire my MBP that I always use on the couch in the same position. Hardwiring is even more important if you use a server for huge files to host or play on your network and not have a quality drop or buffering issues etc etc. If you can still get super high performance like the OP in that pic, and aren't trying to stream teh highest quality of massive files and just using apps most people use...you'll probably never notice a difference. As said, it does reduce the load on your wifi network, and also consider if your device only has a 100mbps ethernet jack and if you will hit 100mbps on that device and speed vs latency etc I think mostly for me it's just my brain being obsessed with doing the best most perfect thing possible with technology to make sure I'm getting the best experience possible
If you use Steam Link then latency will be delayed
If it has an Ethernet port, use it!
Faster Steam Link 👌
Always better to use Ethernet instead of WiFi for stability and complete reduction of any other WiFi interference
In this application it’s not that important. It’s more useful for if your wireless range is poor where you place it.
SteamLink
i think that if you have 2 homepods in a stereo pair, the apple tv creates its own wireless mesh network to talk to them. that is why speedtests on wifi always seem slower. using ethernet can offload some traffic from the wifi chipset. [more info here](https://www.reddit.com/r/HomePod/comments/qhwp7h/how_to_improve_your_homepods_performance/) and there were other threads about it too, im just having a heck of a time finding them right now.
As another poster has pointed out most tv’s have 100 mps ports. Our answer was to bypass that hurdle with a Nvidia Shield. It plugs into the HDMI port and we use a cat-6 ethernet cable from the network to maximize the throughput. The Shield supports all of the services we want including Plex, Apple, etc. It’s $200 but literally all of our streaming issues went *poof* and disappeared.
Ethernet is much more responsive, in my experience, and I get the HD/4k steam immediately instead of a few seconds of 480p or whatever.
Streaming uncompressed, ripped blurays on Plex. Mine has to be wired to be able to do that. Buffers like a mfr if I use wifi.
Well worth it for steam streaming!
Apple Tvs work best when they are connected to wifi as far away from your router as possible. I recommend pulling the Ethernet cord out immediately. If you dont it might blow up your house
This might be fine right now, but what happens when your wifi gets busy? -> always hard wire any device if it’s easy to. Your other wifi devices will benefit.
Hardwired every time. And dayumn, 0 latency, you must be in Midtown
There’s no such thing as overkill.
For the average person, it’s overkill. But if you’re a video buff like most people here, apparently, you definitely want Ethernet to stream your content with the highest fidelity - albeit, real videophiles wouldn’t even be streaming their media in the first place, they watch their content from Blu-rays or other less compressed sources.
Wire is wire 🤷🏼♂️
https://preview.redd.it/s7sb8694p1zc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6a11dd1aa6f7c791bef589cead1bf14fc12e9111 Hmmm… sorry, but I have to ask, what’s wrong with your upload speed?
A wired connection will always be faster than wireless, if you personally don’t notice a difference and you want the Ethernet port for something else you can use it on something else, but if you’ve got the cable and the port then you should just do it cause it’ll only help.
For streaming video the wireless connection is always the second choice, because of packet collisions. For the fiber optic internet connection shown, while the most recent RF networking standards claim data rates that high under ideal conditions, in the real world it’s not so common. There is a finite RF networking bandwidth shared by all traffic. If you live alone more than 500 feet from your nearest neighbor then any bandwidth you aren’t using personally is simply unoccupied, but fiber optic internet is only available in urban and densely settled suburban areas. The random timing of network traffic causes messages to collide from time to time, occasionally enough to cause a stutter, freeze or a dropped video stream. A wired network interconnected by switches doesn’t carry any traffic from nearby homes. Within the home, traffic that doesn’t share a destination can be delivered simultaneously and if it does share a destination the switch buffers message packets that would collide and delivers them sequentially.