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
