Simple. Use a port of the back of your router...cable from there to an
adapter...plug into a power socket...now your network is put into the
power lines in your house...then plug another adapter near the location
where you need Ethernet connectivity...then use a cable from that
adapter to your device. Bingo.
The netgear AV kit i mentioned gives you a little box that has 4 ports
on the back...so, with that, you can connect upto four devices on that
one line...so you are in effect sharing that pipe...not a problem in a
living room as you typically only use one or two devices at a time. WD
kits are a bit different in terms of how they make the adapters and port
arrangements, but they work the same way. Since they devices are
Homeplug compatible (the homeplug spec), you can use them together. So
right now, I have a netgear AV kit (with the 4-port in downstairs at the
other end of the house). And I'm using one adapter from the WD kit
upstairs in another room. I just plug the adapter into a power socket
and plug an Ethernet cable into the device and am good to go.
All of your wireless stuff exists outside of this...this is just an
extension of your Ethernet over the powerlines inside your house. Dirt
simple.
The gotchas are 1) you probably wont' get the speed ratings listed on
the box. But as others has said, if your house wiring is ok you can
stream 1080p. 2) It is possible that other devices that hook into your
power system could spew crap onto your powerlines and thus ruin your
data rates. I have not noticed this in my house, but it might be
possible. 3) your house might have crappy powerlines...or things on
different circuits that so that there isn't a good signal path between
your sockets, so you might have to experiment with which sockets you
use. Also, the instructions all say never to plug the adapter into a
powerstrip or surge protector. I have ignore that and have always found
it to work. Oh, one more advantage of powerline is that it is travel
friendly...when I go to my mom's house I take my WD powerline kit
because her wireless wont reach from front to back of her house.
Powerline solves this instantly and they don't even know I plugged it in.
The netgear and WD kits I have now claim 200 Mbps, but I think those are
bi-directional rates, so expect 100 Mbps (max) one way. That's like 12
MB/s. So, in terms of bytes, expect that to be best case, ideal world
performance. If you can get 4 or 5 MB/s, then you should be good. The
main advantage over wireless is that once you determine that this system
works in your house, you get consistent performance...no drop outs, no
weather related slow downs, no competition from neighbors, etc.
I just ordered netgear's 500 Mbps kit. I want it has fast as possible
because that is shared bandwidth to that box...and I might later want to
add a new receiver with networking features and Google TV is supposed to
upgrade to Honeycomb this summer, so I want all the goodness I can get.
So, one I get this, I'll test it out hard...they have 30-day return with
a restock fee, so if I see no speed increase I will send it back. I
think paying the restock fee is worth it.
BTW, downstairs I have Tivo, two Blu-ray players, and google TV all
connected up with the AV kit. It's a good think my TV down there
doesn't do internet, or I'd have to get some other port. Of course, I
don't really need all that, as a lot of functionality is duplicated (how
many different ways can you watch netflix???).
Aside: BTW, how many different ways can list members stream netflix?
Anyone ever done a count like that?
Anyway, you can read up a bit and add to the collective knowledge. As I
said, I posted on this list the kinds of transfer rates I was getting
when I first when powerline. Before that, folks here were a bit
indifferent to powerline. the tech has improved (thank goodness).
Running real Cat5/6 is still your best option, but this is becoming a
close second and in terms of ease of use & WAF in an existing house,
might be best.
On 6/13/2011 2:32 AM, Brian Weeden wrote:
So how does the powerline stuff work? Do you need a special powerline
router that does both wireless and the wired? Can you have everything on
the same network?
---
Brian
On Sun, Jun 12, 2011 at 9:07 PM,<[email protected]> wrote:
I would definitely do powerline. It I've used the wd av, and handled bd
iso. No way will that happen over any wireless
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
-----Original Message-----
From: Brian Weeden<[email protected]>
Sender: [email protected]
Date: Sun, 12 Jun 2011 21:06:21
To:<[email protected]>
Reply-To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [H] Building a wireless network to support video streaming
Completely agree that wired is better. But as I said, in this case I
probably don't have a choice. With two toddlers running around (1 and 3
years old) I can't really afford to have cables lying around everywhere.
So
it's either powerline or Wifi.
Thanks for the tips on the Powerline - I'll look into it. You say you have
had good experience with it?
---
Brian
On Sun, Jun 12, 2011 at 8:12 PM, Anthony Q. Martin<[email protected]
wrote:
Here is the Amazon product:
http://www.amazon.com/review/R1RFORI4QGV7UE/ref=cm_cr_dp_cmt?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B004PA9PBQ&nodeID=172282&tag=&linkCode=#wasThisHelpful
Note the reviewer claim they stream HD (whatever that means).
On 6/12/2011 6:45 PM, Brian Weeden wrote:
Next month we're moving to a new house, one that we will be renting for
a
few years. I'm looking at how to stream content from our home media
server
around the house. It looks like running LAN cables will not be an
option
so
we will have to do it wirelessly
We will be streaming everything from 480p xvid to 1080p Blu Ray rips,
but
generally to no more than one device at a time (perhaps worst case two,
although not likely both 1080p). My initial thought is to setup two
separate Wifi networks - one on 5 Ghz dedicated to the HTPCs and media
server, and a separate 2.4 Ghz network for everything else.
Has anyone tried that before and run into problems? I think I can still
have all the devices on both networks on the same LAN as long as they
are
all on the same subnet, right?
---
Brian
