[BigCoolJesus]

I have three wireless routers but two are configured as switches. My main router is located right next to my cable modem. I then have a wireless router out in my theater room (200ft away in terms of cable length) that is connected to the main router via Cat 5e and is configured to act as a switch. I also have a wireless router in the upstairs corner of my house (100ft away in terms of cable length) that is connected to the main router via Cat 5e and is configured to act as a switch as well. The main router and two wireless routers/switches are all 100Mbps. None of them are Gigabit (1000Mbps) capable.


The computer that would hold all of my movies would be connected to the wireless router/switch in the upstairs corner of the house and the Dune HD Player would be connected to the wireless router/switch in the theater room, so they would be separated by two switches, one actual router, and 300ft of Cat 5e cable. Will I need to upgrade the main router and the two subsequent routers acting as switches to ones that are 10/100/1000Mbps capable in order to ensure proper streaming to the Dune player? Or will 100Mbps be fine even when others in the house are using the Internet (whether it be through wireless or wired connection)?


Thanks!

 

[dksc318]

I have a Cat5e run between two gigabit switch upstairs and downstairs. Occasionally it would flake and go to 100Mb. When that happens the HTPC upstairs would skip when playing a movie while HTPC on the same floor at the server would not skip. Yes, I would suggest go to gigabit switches. I suggest using only one router with 11n Wifi.

 

[Murilo]

Out of curiosity why did your one upstairs would skip but not the one on the same floor as the server?

 

[captain_video]

Hardwired is definitely recommended for streaming Blu-Rays. Wireless is convenient but inadequate for streaming HD videos. If you go hardwired then gigabit is the way to go. Another option is to use Powerline adapters. I've not tried them personally but a lot of people highly recommend them if you can't set up a hardwired ethernet. It's definitely a step up from wireless.

 

[primetimeguy]


100Mbps is plenty for streaming full res Blu-Ray since it peaks near 50Mbps.  While I have home runs from my main switch to all my popcorn hours and main PC, I have been able to stream to full res Blu-Ray at the same time.  Of course that will depend on the movie and bitrate.  So I while there may be losses in your cables, connections and jumps between switches I think you should be fine watching a Blu-Ray and surfing the web.  If you start doing heavy web surfing such as streaming video while watching a Blu-Ray you may start to see issues but hard to say.

 

So I'd say run with what you got unless you have problems.

 

[stanger89]



Quote:
Originally Posted by primetimeguy  /t/1420757/do-i-need-1000mbps-for-streaming-full-blu-ray-over-home-network#post_22228953


100Mbps is plenty for streaming full res Blu-Ray since it peaks near 50Mbps.

There's more to consider than that. While true that 100Mbps is enough for Blu-ray, as shown by most media players (AFAIK) being 100Mbps ethernet devices and working fine, you have to consider the rest of the devices on the network and what they're doing.


If your whole network is all 100Mbps you can easily run into trouble if other stuff is going on, especially on the machine holding the rips. The other thing is if you daisy chain your switches everything gets combined onto the single connecting to the main switch.

Quote:
While I have home runs from my main switch to all my popcorn hours and main PC, I have been able to stream to full res Blu-Ray at the same time.

You must have a Gig-E switch and NIC in your server to do that.


FWIW, to the OP, Gig-E switches are cheap, I'd upgrade them just to be sure, and for the overall better performance, especially if there are other devices on the network.

 

[BigCoolJesus]

Actually I just ordered (3) Trendnet 10/100/1000Mbps switches from Newegg ($25 each).


Here is my layout plan:

- Wireless router connected to cable modem

- Gig-E switch connected to main wireless router

- Gig-E switch in theater room connected to main Gig-E switch

- Gig-E switch in upstairs bedroom connected to main Gig-E switch

- PC has 10/100/1000Mbps Ethernet adapter

- Media Player will have 10/100/1000Mbps Ethernet adapter

- All connections via Cat 5e cable


Will the above setup ensure fastest possible connection between my PC in the upstairs bedroom and the media player of choice I will be using in my theater room?


Thanks!

 

[BigCoolJesus]

Any thoughts on the above proposed setup?

 

[olyteddy]



Quote:
Originally Posted by BigCoolJesus  /t/1420757/do-i-need-1000mbps-for-streaming-full-blu-ray-over-home-network/0_40#post_22231474


Any thoughts on the above proposed setup?

Nope. Looks pretty basic to me.

 

[BigCoolJesus]

Thanks guys.


Now I just need to decide on the media player I want, learn how to get all of my drives to appear in one shared folder without RAID, SMB to that folder, and get a user friendly jukebox layout for the player I decide on. Good thing I have A LOT of Blu-ray's to rip so I have time to research all this!