Advice on Apple TV Pausing During Streaming (Apple Remote App too)

Question

With all the talk and excitement of the new Apple TV, I'm not sure if this problem applies. I'm not sure if the new Apple TV streams movies like the old one did.
Regardless, I have had some difficulty with my 40GB Apple TV that I finally figured out after months. I'll describe my network, describe the problem and solution, and why that solution works.
1. My network.
I have:
an iMac connected wirelessly to an Airport Extreme
a Western Digital hard drive connected via ethernet to my Extreme. My movie library is here
an newer airport express (N) connected to my stereo on the main floor
an older airport express (G) connected in the basement with my XBOX connected to it via ethernet
an Apple TV in the basement.
2. The problem
When I'm streaming movies, it often works just fine. However, sometimes, during a movie, the playback pauses as if Apple TV needs to re-cache the movie or something. It will pause for about 10 seconds or so then keep playing. When it starts to play again, the movie jumps forward the 10 seconds to the current playing point. This then works for anywhere from another 30 seconds to several minutes. When this pausing occurs, if you click the Apple remote to bring up the status bar, you can see the timeline of the movie continue to move along. Then, other times, the whole thing will somehow cure itself and start working again.
Unrelated but later found to be related problem with Apple remote on iPod touch
Sometimes, trying to connect to my iTunes library, it couldn't connect and I'd get the message that my firewall is getting in the way. You'll see as it turns out, this isn't the problem.
How I found the solution
When this pausing occured, I would unplug the Airport Express in the basement. This is the one the XBOX is connected to. After a couple of seconds, I'd plug it back in. On the TV screen, it would revert back to the movie list and show that there were no movies to play. Then, after a couple of seconds, my movie list would reappear. I'd restart my movie and it would work just fine.
Here's what was happening
Somehow, I configured my Airport Express router in the basement to be an extention of the network The problem is that the Express in the basement was G speed and not N speed (I think that was the problem). Sometimes, Apple TV would connect to the Express router in the basement rather than my Airport Extreme router upstairs. When this happened, the pausing during streaming would occur. This also makes sense now that the movie list would briefly disappear when I'd unplug my Airport Express in the basement. The connection would be lost but then a few seconds later, Apple TV would find Airport Extreme and reconnect. Then it would work perfectly.
I also noticed two separate networks coming up when I did a network scan. I would fire up my WIndows laptop and do a network search. I would get two separate instances of 'Mynet'. One would be N speed and the other would be G speed. This now also makes sense since one of them was my Express and the other was my Extreme.
The solution
I did two things. I swapped the two Express routers so I had the N speed router in the basement connected to the XBOX. I also configured the network so it was 'all the same network'. Now, when I do a network scan on my Windows laptop, I no longer get the two separate instances of 'Mynet' coming up.
Since then, I have never had a problem streaming movies nor have I had a problem with my Apple Remote app on my iPod Touch.

Answer 1

I'm having similar problem.
My set up:
iTunes running on my MacBook C2D, 2GB RAM
Movie contents are in an external USB2.0 HDD (7200rpm) attached to Airport Extreme (802.11n)
Typical movie content is mp4 file with 1.8mbps bitrate.
When my MB is completely idling state, ATV gets data w/o pausing.
When MB is doing some task (web browsing, etc), no problem.
When iTunes starts downloading some video podcasts (to MB, not syncing to ATV).... the movie streamed to ATV gets paused and gets into the same state as gjbonnington described.
Any idea how to solve??
MB C2D (Black, 2GB RAM) Mac OS X (10.4.9)
Powerbook G4 15 (1.33GHz, Combo Drive) Mac OS X (10.4.2)
Powerbook G4 15 (1.33GHz, Combo Drive)   Mac OS X (10.4.2)