[s-t-p]

As a result of reading this forum and from moyekj's suggestions, I went with 2 WAP54G access points in bridge mode to have my 2 Replays talk to each other. I have one WAP54G connected to one Replay via a switch, the other WAP54G connected to the wired part of my network through a wireless broadband router that my other Replay is connected to. Network connections for updates works great. I can stream video between the two Replays pretty well, but I get a LOT of the blue screen "Video Signal Temporarily Lost" messages while viewing in high quality. I get fewer of those messages for medium quality images but I still get some. The videos have none of those messages when viewed on the Replay it is recorded on, so I'm sure it is the bridge causing the problem. One unit is upstairs and the other is downstairs but they physically aren't that far from each other. Any suggestions on what I can do to get the streaming working better besides stringing wire?


Regards.


Stan

 

[moyekj]

I have 3 of WAP54Gs now and get occasional "blue screen" messages for high quality streaming, but few and far between. (BTW this happens occasionally even with cat5). Here's some things that should improve things:

1) make sure you are running latest firmware on both WAPs. This is absolutely critical.

2) Don't use G-only mode, use mixed mode on both WAPs.

3) Make sure the antennas on both WAPs are vertical and parallel to each other.

4) For the downstairs WAP make sure that it is not inside a cabinet or other enclosure and not too close to TV. The higher you can put it the better.

5) If things still don't improve switch to a different channel on both WAPs. Channel 6 is the default for many wireless network equipment so you may be getting interference. Try channel 1 and/or channel 11.

6) If you have encrpytion turned on - turn it off.


NOTE: The biggest negative with these WAP54Gs is there is so diagnostic messages or signal strength indicators so it's hard to know if you have strong connection. If you have 2 computers in the house connect one upstairs to the router and one downstairs to the switch. Then ftp a largish file between them and see what kind of transfer rate you are getting. This is the best way I've found to figure out how good a connection you are getting between WAPs. You should shoot for 1200KBytes/sec or so in order to get reliable HQ streaming. If you don't have an ftp server on 1 side then use DVArchive to transfer from an RTV on side of the bridge to a computer on the other side of the bridge hooked up to the router (wired mode). Make sure DVArchive is set to full throttle downloads. DVA gives you the transfer speed so you can get an idea of how good it is.

 

[cweb]

I also have three WAP54g's bridged. With the WAP54g's I actually found that the version 1.06 firmware worked better for streaming than the version 1.08. Less drop outs.


Although I can't vouch for it, I believe the G-mode is more effective. In mixed mode, if a 11b unit gets detected by the WAP54G it will drop down to the slower 11b speeds even if the 11b doesn't connect to it.

 

[Baraka]

Have 2 WAP54g in bridge mode. Two 5XXXs. Both with latest firmware and both in G only mode. No problems whatsoever.

By the way there is no need for the switch between your RTV and WAP54G.

Unless you have something else connected to it.

 

[Guerito]

> 6) If you have encrpytion turned on - turn it off.


This would be the first thing I would try.

1) If you have encrpytion turned on - turn it off.

 

[moyekj]

Quote:

Originally posted by cweb Although I can't vouch for it, I believe the G-mode is more effective. In mixed mode, if a 11b unit gets detected by the WAP54G it will drop down to the slower 11b speeds even if the 11b doesn't connect to it.

Switching to mixed mode seemed more effective to me than G-only - the bridge setup guarantees that no 11b clients can connect anyway so that's not a concern. I found in G-only mode seems to restrict to higher speeds only such that if there was a dropout (video temporarily unavailable) it lasts longer than mixed mode, but there really is not much difference either way. I think finding the right channel is probably the key.

 

[s-t-p]

I set my bridged WAPs to channel 1 and my wireless router to channel 11, thinking I would just separate them as far apart as I could. I switched to mixed mode (couldn't hurt, I don't have anything that's not wireless-G anyway). I had already upgraded to latest firmware. Now, things seem to work better. I get less of the blue screens than I did before, so I'm happy.


Thanks all!


Stan

 

[Loren Kruse.]

Quote:

Originally posted by s-t-p I set my bridged WAPs to channel 1 and my wireless router to channel 11, thinking I would just separate them as far apart as I could.

Just so that you all know - Channels 1, 6 and 11 are the only non overlapping channels.

 

[cweb]

For those of you that use version 1.08 of the WAP54g firmware. In the advance settings do you enable "frame bursting"?

 

[moyekj]

Not me. I'm too lazy to go figure out what that means... any clues?

 

[lreplay]

I have been reluctant to purchase WAP54G devices to stream, because I had heard that Panasonic 2.4GHz cordless phones create a lot of interference (at least with Wireless B). My understanding is that because they have DSS (Digital Spread Spectrum), they create more of a problem than other 2.4GHz cordless phones.


Does anyone that has gotten Wireless G streaming to work have Panasonic 2.4GHz phones? Will the channel setting (1, 6, 11) described help to avoid interference?

 

[jimmcq]

A little off topic, but hopefully you guys can answer this for me:


Can a pair of WRT54G's be set to "Bridge Mode" and function like what is being described in this thread?

 

[moyekj]

No, WRT54Gs cannot be bridged to one another. Also, WRT54G (at least back when I and others tried it a few months ago) will not handle video streaming properly for some reason. Functions fine for net connects and DVArchive show downloading but not streaming - it can't seem to sustain a stable bit stream required for seamless streaming even at low and medium quality. Same goes for WET54G (also confirmed by others a few months back).

Latest firmware upgrades *MAY* have fixed these problems, though I have seen no confirmation of this.