Router, switches and multimedia

T

tsonka

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 21, 2006
Messages
134
I currently have my entertainment center which has 3 devices in it that may connect to the Internet for various reasons, TV, PlayStation 3 and A/V receiver.

Due to the location of my router it was a pain to run a single internet cable to my entertainment center for internet access and I just plug this 1 cable into the back of which ever item is needing internet service.

I am thinking of putting a switch inside my entertainment cabinet so I can connect all of the devices and not have to mess with switching the cable around when needed.

My question is this. Connectivity is important to me due to streaming Netflix, online gaming, etc, will my idea degrade my service to these components? Keep in mind that there is only 1 TV here so multiple things would not be using the internet at the same time, as in there would not be streaming Netflix at the same time someone was playing a game online.
 
go ahead and put a switch there, sticking a cheapo gig switch like the Dlink DGS2205 would be fine and will allow your components to work correctly.
 
Just to explain things a bit... You'll have a single 1Gb uplink from the entertainment center's switch to the switch in the router (assuming the router has a GbE switch). If you were to try doing multiple things at once, such as copying huge files to the PS3 and streaming a movie to the TV, then both tasks would be sharing that 1Gb link. It won't limit each device to half of the 1Gb or anything, but both tasks would be forced to share that 1Gb.

But like you said, you're only going to be doing one thing at a time, so this won't cause problems. The only thing that might possibly be an issue is if one device is doing an automatic update while you're trying to use a different device.

If the router's builtin switch is only 100Mb, then the link from the router to the entertainment center will only be 100Mb as well. Even Blu-Ray is only about 50Mb, so it shouldn't be a major issue, but the slower uplink might make it more noticeable if a second device is auto-updating as described above.
 
I have a little 5 port Netgear gig switch in my entertainment center as well... no issues. Don't worry about the speed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top