Hi,
I am extremely new to media servers, in fact i will be purhcasing my 1st one very soon (istarhd mini). I have my PC in my bedroom and my whole A/V setup in my living room. Pulling a cat5 cable from my router to my TV is not an option. So I am trying to determine what is the best way to connect my A/V equipment to my network.

Right now I have a 802.11g MIMO router. The options I was looking at are:

1) Keep the current router, buy a USB wireless 802.11g MIMO dongle and plug it into the media server.
2) Upgrade the current router to 802.11n draft 2.0 and buy a 802.11n dongle.
3) Get a bridge device of some sort that would receive the wireless from my router and would have a RJ45 connection for the media server. Probably would go for 802.11n.
4) Use the 85mbit powerplugs over the electrical.

Here's what i have considered so far:

Option 1 - probbably the cheapest and easiest. But 802.11g is most likely not enough to stream MKV and other hi def files over wireless, or is it?
Option 2 - would probably work but requires more money, alsmot the same amount as option 3.
Option 3 - this is the preferred option since this was i could connect more a/v devices to the network like my hD dvd player. I am having a hard time finding devices like this. Only real one I found is dap-1555 from dlink, which is almost 160$ - expensive.
Option 4 - don't know anything about this, how fast would this really be?

Basically, on a limited budget, what is the best way to connect to a wireless network? Any comments/advice would be appreciated! Thanks!

Well, since no one is coming forward with real info for you, I'll just share my own experience with these things.

I have a SageTV server, and also an unRAID server from which I stream DVD's (from hard disk folders). I watch content on my desktop PC via gigabit Ethernet, and on laptops and also on TV with a SageMVP media extender. I only do SD content so I can't address HD.

All the pieces are connected via gigabit, and then connected to the gigabit port on my router, a DLink XtremeN. Although it's an N router, I actually have no N clients. It's running in G mode.

The SageMVP (a rebranded Hauppauge MVP) has a wired ethernet port. I originally connected this to a Buffalo G Wireless bridge. I found the performance spotty, even with just SD stuff. Sometimes it would be fine, and sometimes it would be so stuttery as to be unusable. I do have several other wireless clients in the house so there certainly might have been competition between them, but still there seemed no rhyme or reason as to why sometimes it worked great and other times not at all.

I then purchased a Linksys PLK200 Powerline AV Ethernet Adaptor kit, rated at 100Mbps. I think it cost around $150 for the pair. Once you have the starting pair you can add singles. I just have the two. I was skeptical, bit actually works fine and I have none of the performance issues that I had with wireless. One unit is plugged in in my office and connected to the switch, and the other I plug in wherever I want...I carry the Media Extender from TV to TV depending on where I want to watch. The only caveat is that the units are sensitive to interference, so you need to plug them directly into a wall socket (no powerstrips) with nothing else connected, which can be kind of hard in a room crowded with electronics.

So I guess for me the PowerLine adaptor works much better than the G wireless. Keep in mind that I'm only streaming SD content, and also that the PowerLine stuff is dedicated to that one connection. If I started plugging them in all over the house and attaching PC's and Laptops to them, it may suffer the same problems as wireless. But as a dedicated solution it works fine for me.

Thanks for the comments!
I guess wireless depends on the distance a lot as well as number of walls/materials between the router and the client. Also looks like 2.4GHz is crowded and things like cordless phones potentially interfere, so that's why it may sometimes be spotty and other times work just fine.

I'll try my luck with a couple of draft 2.0 802.11n devices (router/client), and see if it works for me, since I only have one wall between the rooms and the distance is like 20 feet.

Hey,

I used the Netgear HDXB101 range of powerline plugs, 200mb is claimed as the speed. Of course this is not the case, i did connect at a respectable 60-80MB though and SD streamed around my house with no problems, HD ok but with the occasional blip.

In the end i gave up and wired my house Gigabit style.

In all honesty, know one will know if powerline products are for them unless they try it in there own house as everyones powerlines and interference will be unique.

I had 4 of them in my house, and each could stream SD content at the same time without problems

My view of them is they are a fantastic products and were great for SD streams. I think in a year or 2 when they can handle even faster data - they will be even better.

If i were you i would certainly give them a go - and if gigabit is not an option for you, i would choose powerline over wireless any day.

Thanks, if the 802.11n doesn't work out, i'll try the powerline plugs. :)

Thanks, if the 802.11n doesn't work out, i'll try the powerline plugs. :)

Yeah, report back on how "N" works for you. As I said in my post I have an N router, but it's my understanding that any G connection to the router will drop everything down to G. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong on that point.) I just have too many G connections, and upgrading them all to N would be very expensive. But if it works well enough to stream HD around the house, maybe it'd be worth it.

BTW, in my ealier post I said the Linksys Powerline product was reated at 100Mpbs. I was incorrect. It is 200Mbps.

If your going down the N route make sure you purchase a dual band N router. This will allow you to run BOTH G & N at the same time. So g devices connect at G and N at N speeds. Also this removes the G traffic from the N band.

If your going down the N route make sure you purchase a dual band N router. This will allow you to run BOTH G & N at the same time. So g devices connect at G and N at N speeds. Also this removes the G traffic from the N band.


I wasn't aware of the dual-band routers. That sounds like something.

To the original poster, I don't know what your time frame is, but here's an upcoming DLink dual-band router that seems to be geared specifically for streaming multimedia content:

http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=548

Might be worth waiting on.

Yeah, report back on how "N" works for you. As I said in my post I have an N router, but it's my understanding that any G connection to the router will drop everything down to G. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong on that point.) I just have too many G connections, and upgrading them all to N would be very expensive. But if it works well enough to stream HD around the house, maybe it'd be worth it.

BTW, in my ealier post I said the Linksys Powerline product was reated at 100Mpbs. I was incorrect. It is 200Mbps.

I'll update this thread for sure once I receive everything in a week or two.

If your going down the N route make sure you purchase a dual band N router. This will allow you to run BOTH G & N at the same time. So g devices connect at G and N at N speeds. Also this removes the G traffic from the N band.

Thanks for the tip, but dual bands are too expensive right now, alsmot twice the price. I don't really have any G devices right now, so I might as well go straight for single band N.

I wasn't aware of the dual-band routers. That sounds like something.

To the original poster, I don't know what your time frame is, but here's an upcoming DLink dual-band router that seems to be geared specifically for streaming multimedia content:

http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=548

Might be worth waiting on.

Thanks for the link. I was looking at that one, but it's close to 300$ and it was recalled already ;)

I am actually considering Dlink dir-655 for now, or possibly dlink dgl-4500 (dual band capable but only one at a time, with a screen, but twice the price).

I am actually considering Dlink dir-655 for now, or possibly dlink dgl-4500 (dual band capable but only one at a time, with a screen, but twice the price).

For what it's worth, I have the Dir-655. It's a really nice router, though I'm only using G. Solid as a rock. I never have to reboot it at all. And the gigabit ports are nice if you have wired connection that are gigabit capable. If you're not going dual band, I'd say that's a great choice.

just an update: seems like wireless is not going to work out for HD streaming.

I am using myihome (http streaming), and i can play SD just fine. I can also play 720p mkvs but not 1080p mkvs. 1080p and some 720p freeze every few seconds. So i will be adding a hard drive to my media player and will set up SMB or FTP for file copying.