[Rhythmic]

I'm looking to dive into the world of streaming audio/video, and other online services, and I have no idea which device would be best for me.


It would be used for the following:


*Streaming HD content via Netflix and other online sources.

*Connecting my HDTV and BluRay player to the internet for updating firmware, using widgets, etc.

*The highest possible A/V quality is very important (1080p a huge plus)

*The ability to copy/store BluRays would be a definite bonus.

*My wireless router is upstairs and all my AV gear is downstairs, I'd really rather not have to fish wires.


The few options I've considered so far are: WDLive, Roku, AppleTV, just a linksys wireless bridge, just a wireless dongle for my HDTV (Samsung B650 plasma).


Of course I'd rather keep costs low as possible, but I'm willing to spend if the setup will give me lost of functionality. Thanks for all the help!

 

[Rhythmic]

Did some more reading...wireless 1080p doesn't look promising. I COULD run a wire if that would be my only option for HD, but I'm still interested in my streaming options.

 

[K-Spaz]

Why do you say wireless HD is not promising? I think you got some bad info.


Wireless G is WAY faster than BR needs to play, and as far as streaming goes, well, its got a lot of headroom. Retracting one line I typed, mine won't play 3 1080p streams at the same time, but still fast enough for the highest bitrate BR I have here with room to spare.

 

[sean_w_smith]

your mis informed. Wireless G is 54 Mpbs best case theoretical and seldomly gets anywhere near that in real life. BD Rips can easily exceed 54mbps momentialrity and can have sustained rates of 40+ Mbps.


Everything is dependent on reception and many other factors but most people are considered lucky if they can stream a DVD nevermind a BD over G between 2 rooms....


regardless there tends to be dropouts which causes hiccups in the movie playback that most dont find acceptable (me included).


If you want a robust solution for streaming HD consider the 3rd generation (200Mpbs Advertised) powerline adapters. A much better and more reliable choice than Wifi.


Sean

 

[K-Spaz]

Here's a pic of my network traffic when playing Becoming Jane. I think this is 5 minutes but might be slightly less. Regardless, there's no peaks of mention. The graph is a Log scale, but even so, its obviously pretty flat.


This is WAY higher than I've seen before. Most of my BR's only need about 2-3MB/second. Streaming would certainly be less. Probably much less.


And, he is talking about streaming, which is certainly not going to even approach the levels of blu.

 

[sean_w_smith]

you just proved my point.... Thats well over 40megabits/second. There is no way you can support multiple streams like that or even more likely 1 stream for 2 hours without glitching. if you can be happy. you are in the extreme minority.


BTW: cool program, which one is it?


Sean

 

[K-Spaz]

Commview. Go to TamoSoft - www.tamos.com . While they have a free trial, I own this and it's one of the better investments I've made in software. The most powerful network monitor I've found for any reasonable price.


While I agree, that particular movie does sorta help your point, I use a pretty nice Dlink router. My reception throughout the house is flawless (2 story, most distant machine probably 40' in a line and above). But again, he's talking about streaming content and he's gonna be significantly more limited by the available content and his internet speed than he will by the home network. There ain't many places where a persons internet bandwidth will exceed wireless G. Even when bursting on cable.

 

[Rhythmic]

I have Verizon DSL, and have very good signal strength at the house and from my router. I guess I should check to see the actual speed I'm getting, but I as I remember it's as fast as possible from Verizon. (BTW, how do I check that...?) I'm also not 100% sure about whether my router is G or N, might be G, but I wouldn't have any problem upgrading that if necessary.


Can you guys recommend any particular devices that might suit my needs? For now, all I know that I would want is to stream Netflix or other HD service, use widgets from TV, and maybe things like Youtube, Pandora, etc. If there are devices that would also allow me to do other cool things, that would be even better.

 

[sean_w_smith]



Quote:
Originally Posted by K-Spaz /forum/post/18104023


Commview. Go to TamoSoft - www.tamos.com . While they have a free trial, I own this and it's one of the better investments I've made in software. The most powerful network monitor I've found for any reasonable price.


While I agree, that particular movie does sorta help your point, I use a pretty nice Dlink router. My reception throughout the house is flawless (2 story, most distant machine probably 40' in a line and above). But again, he's talking about streaming content and he's gonna be significantly more limited by the available content and his internet speed than he will by the home network. There ain't many places where a persons internet bandwidth will exceed wireless G. Even when bursting on cable.

He said 1080P and Bluray rips and thats what I replied to. I dont know of anyone here that is streaming BD rips over Wifi in any case or condition. The possibility exists but of the potentially thousands of users here I have yet to see a single report of this working. most folks dont have that kind of luck. I have 6 access points in my house and I still can't do that even over N.


and BTW: where I live we can get 100M down

Sean

 

[mlknez]

You must define HD. you can get 1080p with a low or high bitrate. If you don't care about quality, you can stream "HD" content from netflix at a fairly low bitrate. If you do want quality, you will want to stream BD-ISO or BD structure files. The difference is that netflix is about 5Mbps and BD is about 40Mbps. Both can be 1080p. The quality is night and day though.

 

[K-Spaz]

The fastest Verizon DSL I know of is 7Mbps down. Enough to handle Netflix for sure.


Sean, I've seen lots of people in the htpc forum discuss streaming BD via G. I'm surprised you have not.


100Mbps, wow. Suffice to say, that does not cover the majority of subscribers nationwide. Many places do not have broadband availability to this day. Right here being one of them (just 3 miles from my home.)


Just curious. What brand of equipment do you have in your home that won't stream a BD? Must be Linksys. Sounds like you need some infrastructure in your house!

 

[Rhythmic]



Quote:
Originally Posted by mlknez /forum/post/18104373


You must define HD. you can get 1080p with a low or high bitrate. If you don't care about quality, you can stream "HD" content from netflix at a fairly low bitrate. If you do want quality, you will want to stream BD-ISO or BD structure files. The difference is that netflix is about 5Mbps and BD is about 40Mbps. Both can be 1080p. The quality is night and day though.

I certainly care about quality, but I also want to be realistic about this. I would take reliability over max quality if it comes down to it.


I was reading about the Asus O!play last night. Seems like a pretty decent device, with the only real downside is the user interface being pretty boring.


Obviously, I don't know too much about this arena, so bare with me as I pick up on the basics. Suggested reading you can point me to? Recommendations on equipment? Thanks!

 

[ptrunley]

Right now if you want to be able to view Netflix you have 4 options:


1) The Roku Netflix box

2) An XBOX or PS3

3) A Netflix compatible BluRay player or TV

4) A PC running PlayOn and some other streaming box (BluRay player or other streamer)


AFAIK there are no streaming boxes that can do Netflix other than the Roku and it is very limited in its streaming capability.


XBOX Netflix requires a Live Gold membership with recurring fees. The PS3 solution requires a special disc to be in the machine in order to view Netflix.


My impression is that the local streaming capabilities of the BluRay players is not nearly so well developed as the dedicated streaming boxes.


The PC solution will not stream Netflix HD content, SD only.


The not yet available PopBox streamer will have Netflix support. It will have advertisements in the UI, so it isn't perfect either.


I'm holding out for the PopBox and will take a look at it when it becomes available.

 

[K-Spaz]

I turned on my wireless adapter in my htpc just to see why Sean was saying br won't stream on a wireless network. No doubt about it, he's right, I tried the same movie above and that one will not play (well, you can't watch it). Early on when I set this system up, I had streamed several just to see how it worked and they must have been some lower bitrate ones, probably single layer cause they worked fine here. Everything I have is wired in this house, and the wireless is only for convenience and visitors so I don't regularly stream movies. Mine streams 2.3M/s so somewhere around 17mbps or so I've done. Something like Becoming Jane ain't happen'n tho. That movie runs a pretty high bitrate for both audio and video. I should note though, in the past I did not stream lossless sound, only 5.1 so that had a good bit to do with it to. That's probably why BJ above shows such a high bitrate is the additional due to losslesss sound.


So, thanks to Sean, I stand corrected.