Streaming High Def over a Wireless Network

re: Streaming High Def over a Wireless Network

Robert McLaws — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 22:19:59 GMT

What about those PowerLine bridges out there, like this one: http://www.pagecomputers.com/store/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=Networking&category%5Fname=18g18c126s1572&product%5Fid=1092537

Have you guys tested it with those yet? I'm looking at networking my Vista Media Center & Xbox 360 that way, and would like to know how good it is before shelling out the cash.

THanks!

re: Streaming High Def over a Wireless Network

SouthPaw — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 00:15:45 GMT

Each Wifi device on the Router / Access point take a time slice of the availability. So if you have a 360 and a laptop you will increase the latency of the 360's connection. It would be best for other WIFi devices that use the Router / Access point to be powered of when attempting to stream HD content.

re: Streaming High Def over a Wireless Network

Jun_Ma — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 00:30:19 GMT

We've done limited testing with the powerline bridges and have found networking issues that may prevent you from having a good experience when using them.

re: Streaming High Def over a Wireless Network

Mitch Wissler (Killa Priest-Gamertag) — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 01:08:49 GMT

What program do you suggest to convert mpeg4 to WMV?

re: Streaming High Def over a Wireless Network

Steve519 — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 05:04:51 GMT

why don't MS come out with a wireless-n adapter, wouldn't that work out the speed issues and also help provide more coverage?

re: Streaming High Def over a Wireless Network

Shawn Oster (MonocularJack) — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 09:38:48 GMT

How about trying to stream video from a portable HD? I was under the impression that you could stream WMV video from a USB 2.0 HD but that doesn't seem to be the case.

I loaded up my Western Digital 120GB Passport USB drive with some Samuri Champoo I had converted to WMV 9 and the 360 dashboard doesn't even show I have a "Portable Device" plugged in!

I can understand if there are limitations to the supported devices, such as nothing greater than 100GB, nothing formated as NTSF, only flash drives, etc. but it would be nice if that information was posted in the Fall Update release notes.

re: Streaming High Def over a Wireless Network

Backwar — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 15:03:52 GMT

I have tried streaming HD content to the 360, both with Media Center Vista, and with the new streaming feature of Windows Media connect.

I have no issue streaming 720p content to either of the 2 xbox 360s that are in my house. One has line of sight pretty much with the router and the other one has to get the signal through 2 floors.

There are 4 other 802.11g networks that are visible in my immediate area as well.

All content that I have streamed has come from either the WMV-HD content showcase or from teamxbox.com trailors

re: Streaming High Def over a Wireless Network

Timur Tabi — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 19:01:09 GMT

Yes, 802.11 is half-duplex, but that isn't the reason why it maxes out at 25Mbs. The reasons are protocol overhead, interference, and other similar issues. When streaming data one-way, there aren't a lot of packets that are sent back. Most of the traffic will be used to send the data, but 802.11 just isn't efficient.

And FYI, 802.11a has a lower range because it uses a higher frequency. That's just a physics thing.

Another thing: if you're on channel 1, and your neighbor is on channel 2, then you might actually get better throughput if you switch to channel 2 also, because then the two access points can use 802.11 negotiation to reduce the interference. However, this is somewhat of a moot point because 802.11b/g networks should really only use channels 1, 6, and 11. Using anything else is stupid.

re: Streaming High Def over a Wireless Network

Duncan Strong — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 09:41:11 GMT

Regarding Powerline - what were the issues? 802.11a is not an option for me, 802.11g is not working reliably, and Cat5/6 is pretty expensive....

I'd like to give Powerline (HomePlug 1.0 with Turbo - advertised as 85 Mbps) a go..

re: Streaming High Def over a Wireless Network

Melchezidek — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 16:49:18 GMT

I was THRILLED when video streaming was announced. Now my 360 serves as my hub for all my music, pics, and home movies, awesome. I was curious if it woudl stream HD content so I enabled my games videos folder on my hard drive, which contains TONS of 720p videos. All of them have worked flawlessly. I have a wirelss g router and matching wirelss bridge. They are d-link "extreme g" and are several years old. Got them back when Pandora Tomorrow came out. Needless to say, I am stoked about this new feature.

re: Streaming High Def over a Wireless Network

pizzapizza — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 20:04:22 GMT

While I love the ability to stream WMV from my NON-MCE computer, whoever was too lazy to add in DIRECTORY STRUCTURE should be take out back ... well you get the picture.

When I browse PHOTOS and MUSIC both honor and display the directory structure. Good thing too ... I have seven or eight YEARS worth of digital photos and as many years worth of unprotected MP3's...

So who thought that wasn't necessary for the WMV video?

Give me a freaking break. I have over 80 GB of video with around 25 to 30% of it being WMV. And I'm considering converting some of the rest.

Lotta good it'll do me. This stupid update dumps ALL the videos into one flat directory.

Dumb Dumb Dumb.

Would it have really been THAT hard to show the directory structure? Geez...

Well guess I get to wait another SIX MONTHS to see if it get fixed. Thanks for nothing.

re: Streaming High Def over a Wireless Network

don — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 22:13:40 GMT

I am using the 200 Mbps (DS2 chip based) powerline solution from Netgear (the one from the previous comment) and it is the best wireless option available, without any doubt. It is expensive but it worths the price.

http://www.netgear.com/Products/PowerlineNetworking/PowerlineEthernetAdapters/HDXB101.aspx

re: Streaming High Def over a Wireless Network

Steve519 — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 09:26:05 GMT

why no N networks? its a whole hell of a lot faster and it has a crap load more throughput?

re: Streaming High Def over a Wireless Network

Ali — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 05:33:11 GMT

Hey man, I just bought the powerline bridges and I'll let you know my findings shortly.

I'm trying to do exactly that, xbox360 to media center HD streaming.

re: Streaming High Def over a Wireless Network

David — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 08:33:29 GMT

"Your 802.11a router should be in less than 20-feet with a clear line of sight to the device that’s connected to it wirelessly. This is especially important for 802.11a which theoretically has less range and worse material penetration than 802.11b or 802.11g."

This has to be the dumbest thing I've ever read. If the device was less than 20 feet, with a clear line of sight, why would need the router?! We'd run a cable.

re: Streaming High Def over a Wireless Network

TheStig — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 15:27:04 GMT

I'm having chopiness and pauses in the video stream when streaming HD content (12Mbps) on a wired network (ethernet, 100Mbps)! I've looked and asked for help on the official forums, but unfortunately no one answered so this leads me here.

Can anyone help?

Thanks.

re: Streaming High Def over a Wireless Network

McDonuts — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 13:37:55 GMT

Make sure all your equipment (router, network card, hub/switch) is set to run at 100). I believe, if any piece runs at 10, then it will force everything else on that segment to run at 10. Also, make sure you do not have any device, except DSL/Cable modem or other Internet connection, plugged into the router's WAN port (disregard if you are just using a hub/switch), as most consumer grade routers only run at 10Mbps on the WAN port. If you have more than two devices running through a hub, consider replacing the hub with a switch, especially if those devices are frequently active on the network (downloading, online gaming, IMing, voice chatting, etc).

Best wishes.

re: Streaming High Def over a Wireless Network

Update — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 07:05:19 GMT

This i crap, this needs to updated somehow. Sometimes I have pauses in the song I am playing. Okay I dont have it set up with 20-feet clear line of sight. But this is just BS. Itunes streaming has worked good for many years now. Also streaming in a windows network has worked good. That this is so slow is just BS.

re: Streaming High Def over a Wireless Network

RC — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 14:03:48 GMT

Connect360 doesn't have any of the problems you mentioned above over wireless, and it's available for the Mac.

Why don't you ditch the Windows Media Centre idea and see if you can buy up and port the Connect360 code across to Windows?

Long Distance Wireless Router

Long Distance Wireless Router — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 22:34:22 GMT

The latest routers are just so much more powerful than the old ones.