Folks,

I see that very few media players have an option for 802.11n. Even the newer ones that are coming out, such as DSM-330, are limited to 802.11g.

Is 802.11g good enough for HD streaming?

Thank you in advance for your help.

Regards,
Vrushali

Depends on a number of factors (what is the distance of the wireless segment, what types of walls are between the wireless devices,etc..), but in general, 802.11g can support some HD files.

It all depends on the bitrate of the file. In the real world, an 802.11g wireless connection maxes out a little above 30mbps. As long as your HD files are less than that, you can theoretically stream them.

However, I have almost always had issues streaming anything over about 15mbps in my implementation. That is b/c of the distance and number of walls in between my wireless devices.

There is a good article at smallnetbuilder.com which basically says you need to go Cat 5e. Even powerline and 802.11n isn't good enough.

Alan

My experience with HD and 802.11g is that they don't play nice. Too much stutter or hiccups. Stick with Cat 5.

We have only one room in our home withour cat5 and thats my daughters. The wireless works 99.9% of the time for HD. Boy do I hear it when it doesn't though.

I just watched a full length blue ray 1920X800 movie over powerline and it was clean. No pause, stutter...nothing. The pc was also downloading a bunch of stuff at the same time too and it was clean.

I'm all for powerline in the home.

Dlink makes an 802.11N media player (DSM-750) that over their DIR-655 wireless N router runs at 240 mbps (even with G devices on-line). Plays 720P very well. I am not finished tuning the setups but it should do pretty well in the HD arena. cj

I've got the dir-655 and I barely think that's enough

No.

A lot also depends on the wireless device's Quality of Service (QoS). Cisco has only recently (in the last couple of years) made large efforts in this area. Transfer of general data doesn't always require packets being received sequentially but video sure does. A general file copy doesn't require the packets be received sequentially, just so long as the packets arrive. While theoretically several iterations of the wireless specs could transfer the bit rates of HD the packets weren't always being received sequentially thus making poor HD and or SD viewing. Any interference with the wireless signal can effect packet receipt. Cat5e and other wired connections don't have as many QoS issues.

I have Netgear MIMO access point (bout 2 years old) 108g and when I record the NFL in HD it is useless. SD works fine. I've investigated several N router/access points that will handle up to 400 mbps. This package looked good.

It's Netgear WIRELESS-N UPGRADE KIT WNEB3100 and I'd need 2. One from the phone line and the plug for my media centre Pc and one from my PS3 and the left over plug for my iMac. All up about $500 AUSSIE.

Not sure how the powerline one would go in my house as I think they have to be on the same circuit to work and in the end wouldn't be any cheaper. Frankly I've found it's easier to just have a couple of external notebook drives and transfer between my WD TV and the PC where I record my TV.

I usd to have an old Netgera access point at my girlfriends. When I was using that the wireless speeds were slow with G.
When I put my old Dlink DGL4300 router at my girlfriends, it changed everything. Wireless G became fast. There are now no problems streaming HD content with the Pc's TiVos, or Xbox 360 at faster than realtime. It was a huge improvement from using the Netgear access point considering they are both using 802.11g.
So you might want to look at the hardware since the Netgear may have been the culprit for your problems.

I have Netgear MIMO access point (bout 2 years old) 108g and when I record the NFL in HD it is useless. SD works fine. I've investigated several N router/access points that will handle up to 400 mbps. This package looked good.

It's Netgear WIRELESS-N UPGRADE KIT WNEB3100 and I'd need 2. One from the phone line and the plug for my media centre Pc and one from my PS3 and the left over plug for my iMac. All up about $500 AUSSIE.

Not sure how the powerline one would go in my house as I think they have to be on the same circuit to work and in the end wouldn't be any cheaper. Frankly I've found it's easier to just have a couple of external notebook drives and transfer between my WD TV and the PC where I record my TV.