State of HD streaming over WiFi?

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[H]ard|Gawd
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I've been looking into updating my router and curious about streaming over WiFi networks. Last I checked (a couple years ago) N still wasn't up to snuff for streaming BD rips. Kind of curious about how things have changed with the proliferation (albeit slow) of AC routers and adapters. Bare minimum requirements would be BD rips over WiFi through a wall and/or a floor. Would it be reasonable to expect this consistently with decent hardware in real-world conditions?
 
Even with the higher rates with the newer equipment I still only recommend a WIRED connection for streaming from BD rips.

I'm sure several people will say that it works, but myself I just can't comfortably recommend it.
 
I read about this a long time ago - about less than a year ago. I believe that you MIGHT be able to stream low bitrate BD movies over 900Mbps 3x3 MIMO Wi-Fi if you have a computer capable of using 900Mbps (dual-band 450Mbps). An Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 chip supports it.

You might get away with dual-band 300Mbps for high definition MKV or MP4, but don't count on raw Blu-ray.

Here's a comparison chart of supported wi-fi chips by Intel.

http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/wlan/sb/CS-030505.htm
 
Even with the higher rates with the newer equipment I still only recommend a WIRED connection for streaming from BD rips.

I'm sure several people will say that it works, but myself I just can't comfortably recommend it.
I haven't even tried it to this point for the same reason. Currently I do all my streaming on GbE, but with AC I figured that theres a chance that you could reliably push the 40Mbps you need for BD streaming
 
While I have an AC router, I haven't seen too many AC devices. And most router manufacturers state the high AC speeds are with their access points and such, not really with average off the shelf AC products.

In saying that, I have streamed some BD rips that were compressed and put into an MKV without much loss, (I couldn't really discern a loss), where the compressed file was like 8GB in size rather than 35ish like the raw version.

Also streaming to the chromecast has shown good results, but you can see some of the compression artifacts.

When I stream these through my HT receiver which has a video processor, it cleans up a lot of the artifacts.
 
I use two Asus AC routers bridged to stream full BD rips (no compression). They are about 50' apart (3 bedrooms). Haven't had an issue yet but as others have said YMMV.
 
While I have an AC router, I haven't seen too many AC devices. And most router manufacturers state the high AC speeds are with their access points and such, not really with average off the shelf AC products.

In saying that, I have streamed some BD rips that were compressed and put into an MKV without much loss, (I couldn't really discern a loss), where the compressed file was like 8GB in size rather than 35ish like the raw version.

Also streaming to the chromecast has shown good results, but you can see some of the compression artifacts.

When I stream these through my HT receiver which has a video processor, it cleans up a lot of the artifacts.
I've already got a media server full of nice, untouched rips and I'm not going to go through and compress them all, so thats pretty much out of the picture

I use two Asus AC routers bridged to stream full BD rips (no compression). They are about 50' apart (3 bedrooms). Haven't had an issue yet but as others have said YMMV.

So you haven't tried any of the AC adapters on the market? I could swing a single AC router, but needing two to get the whole system up and running would probably force me to sit on this idea a little longer. Still, good to hear its been done
 
No, the location where I needed the bridge has an xbox, htpc, and bd player. Needed more ports than a single adapter.
 
Ordered an Asus AC66U on BF, the price was too good to pass up. If I can get it to work well I'll be able to stream BD's to a spare HTPC on another TV without having to do a complicated cable run, if not then I'll have a good router to replace my aging current router. we'll see how it goes
 
I've tried AC on the Asus router. The answer is..it works "most of the time". In short, any random interference pulse will nuke most streams unfortunately unless you set a very deep buffer on the receiver. So, consumer devices don't do so well. Furthermore, buffering can get goofy when splitters are needed (e.g. MKV's).

In short..if it works, it works until it doesn't. I've never had an issue with wired...EVER!
 
Ordered an Asus AC66U on BF, the price was too good to pass up. If I can get it to work well I'll be able to stream BD's to a spare HTPC on another TV without having to do a complicated cable run, if not then I'll have a good router to replace my aging current router. we'll see how it goes

Keep in mind, most of the high speeds on any of these new AC routers, depends on the remote device being of the same manufacturer. I mean you can get AC speeds with other device manufacturers, but to get the AC1750 or AC1900, they say you need like another Asus device, like router or access point. I have not seen an Asus AC1750 or 1900 access point for sale yet, and I don't want to purchase another AC68...
 
Update on this one

Got my AC66U router working in AP mode, teamed up with an Asus AC53 USB adapter. Router/AP is 2 walls away from the receiver and I've been routinely getting 500+ mbit (according to the asus software) on the connection. I have been able to stream all the untouched BD rips I've tested so far (about a dozen or so) without any issue. Most of those I didn't watch for more than a few minutes, but the 2 or 3 full-length movies I watched were totally smooth the whole way through. Granted, there are no other devices on the 5ghz band in my house or coming from my neighbors, so signal is pretty clean.

Needless to say I'm pleased with this setup so far.
 
Depends on conditions.

I have the Asus RT-N66U Dark Knight router and get consistent 160+ Mb/s real throughput (20+ MB/s). This is over 5.0GHz with 40MHz channel width.

Works fine for anything I have thrown at it.

However this is not possible over 2.4GHz due to congestion in my area in that range.

So it depends on your area and distance from device to the router.
 
Depends on conditions.

Exactly.

I have the newest Airport Extreme (so long DD-WRT) and I ended up running gigabit wire through the house. Done deal. Never have to worry wireless issues. We have a bunch of devices but my main focus was streaming 10-30mbps m4vs to 3 Rokus, an Apple TV, and a desktop. I wasn't happy with buffering in the upstairs rooms. Some stuttering on an upstairs desktop as well due to poor signal. Wired everything for less then $100 via monoprice.

Did the same at the apartment we used to live in. Everyone and their brother had wireless and the speeds were awful even with full strength signal.

Before I went crazy with whole house streaming (kids) I was using AirPlay to stream from Plex to the iPhone and then back to Apple TV. Everything was in the same room and it worked fine even though it used 2x the wireless bandwidth. That was on 54mbps too! My streams max out at 30mbps and that's only certain movies with complex scenes.
 
I was able to stream uncompressed BD rips with lossless audio without issue on my Surface Pro 2, but other portables did it terribly. I think it was a combination of poor-quality Wi-Fi components and non-Windows software.
 
Powerline has come a long way, hasn't it?

I think I'm gonna have to go with a powerline after getting the AC-66U during BF. Although it did increased my range considerably, I still don't like the speed enough. I'm getting about 30Mbps less on down compared to wired.

Waiting on my powerline to come from Amazon to test it though, might have to order another set if it works so I can use it on my PS4 as well.
 
This looks like the thread to post this in....hello all!

I have been trying, unsuccessfully, to setup a wireless network that can stream 10-20 Mbps compressed BDrips at my niece's house. She just purchased a new Samsung 51" Plasma Smart TV so we want her to have full access to the home media server. Unfortunately, her room is on the opposite side of the house, and upstairs from the location of the router. Probably a good 60 feet via straight line, and the signal has to travel over the kitchen and thru the attic. Basically, it is a nightmare.

So here is what I have tried. Feel free to point and laugh because I am a noob at this. I drilled a hole in the wall between my office and my living room just so I could run a wire and never have to deal with this problem, but in her case it is not going to be an option.

1) Powerline adapter kit - Didn't work....would establish signal but as soon as we started playing a video, it dropped out.

2) Replaced the ancient DSL modem gateway with an upgraded model that actually does N speeds. Model number is actiontec GT784WN. This at least allowed her to see the wireless signal. Only does 2.4Ghz, not dual band

3) Added a Netgear range extender upstairs directly outside of her room with the same SSID. This gives her a better signal on the tv (and wireless signal upstairs for everything else, which they didn't have before), and now movies will think about running for about 30 seconds before they buffer or quit.

4) Added an additional range extender in her room that allowed her to wire her tv directly in....this did not help anything and might have made things worse....it went back to the store almost immediately.

5) Connected ethernet cable directly from extender outside of her room to TV the tv.....this seems to give the best results so far, as it seems to handle netflix and some 720p video, but it still has problems with higher bitrate 1080p.

I downloaded a wifi analyzer app for android and she definitely has a lot of congestion on the 2.4Ghz band on all channels. So I am thinking I might have to move to a 5Ghz solution.

Recommendations? I am probably going to have to replace the dsl modem gateway and get a separate dsl modem and router that can broadcast dual band. Ideally I would like to create a private network for her on the 5ghz band that only she can use, and then the 2.4Ghz band can be used for all of the other wireless devices in the house that aren't streaming video. I will obviously also need to replace the extender with one that can handle dual band extension, as the one I have right now only does 2.4ghz.

Thank you in advance for your suggestions. $300 budget as of right now.
 
Nevermind, I misunderstood your problem but I can't delete this.
 
This looks like the thread to post this in....hello all!

I have been trying, unsuccessfully, to setup a wireless network that can stream 10-20 Mbps compressed BDrips at my niece's house. She just purchased a new Samsung 51" Plasma Smart TV so we want her to have full access to the home media server. Unfortunately, her room is on the opposite side of the house, and upstairs from the location of the router. Probably a good 60 feet via straight line, and the signal has to travel over the kitchen and thru the attic. Basically, it is a nightmare.

So here is what I have tried. Feel free to point and laugh because I am a noob at this. I drilled a hole in the wall between my office and my living room just so I could run a wire and never have to deal with this problem, but in her case it is not going to be an option.

1) Powerline adapter kit - Didn't work....would establish signal but as soon as we started playing a video, it dropped out.

2) Replaced the ancient DSL modem gateway with an upgraded model that actually does N speeds. Model number is actiontec GT784WN. This at least allowed her to see the wireless signal. Only does 2.4Ghz, not dual band

3) Added a Netgear range extender upstairs directly outside of her room with the same SSID. This gives her a better signal on the tv (and wireless signal upstairs for everything else, which they didn't have before), and now movies will think about running for about 30 seconds before they buffer or quit.

4) Added an additional range extender in her room that allowed her to wire her tv directly in....this did not help anything and might have made things worse....it went back to the store almost immediately.

5) Connected ethernet cable directly from extender outside of her room to TV the tv.....this seems to give the best results so far, as it seems to handle netflix and some 720p video, but it still has problems with higher bitrate 1080p.

I downloaded a wifi analyzer app for android and she definitely has a lot of congestion on the 2.4Ghz band on all channels. So I am thinking I might have to move to a 5Ghz solution.

Recommendations? I am probably going to have to replace the dsl modem gateway and get a separate dsl modem and router that can broadcast dual band. Ideally I would like to create a private network for her on the 5ghz band that only she can use, and then the 2.4Ghz band can be used for all of the other wireless devices in the house that aren't streaming video. I will obviously also need to replace the extender with one that can handle dual band extension, as the one I have right now only does 2.4ghz.

Thank you in advance for your suggestions. $300 budget as of right now.

The easiest and cheapest way is just run a wired ethernet. Many ways of doing this.

If you don't want to do that and you've detected that the 5.0GHz spectrum is clear then you can go get a good 5.0GHz N router. I am a fan of the Asus routers (I have two of the RT-N66U and reach my entire house and into the garage).

What I did was run a wired ethernet to the centralmost point of my house and mounted one of my Asus RT-N66U's on the wall and put it in AP mode. This way I get entire coverage on the house instead of trying to get a router in the basement to reach computers on the top floor (two story house).

Those repeaters are worthless. They extend range but for every wireless repeat you halve your bandwidth. I tried this and immediately took them back. Having wired connections to wireless nodes is the way to go for best coverage. My example of my house above is a single node and I get full coverage. Multiple nodes is more complicated and I wouldn't recommend it for a home.
 
Recommendations? I am probably going to have to replace the dsl modem gateway and get a separate dsl modem and router that can broadcast dual band. Ideally I would like to create a private network for her on the 5ghz band that only she can use, and then the 2.4Ghz band can be used for all of the other wireless devices in the house that aren't streaming video. I will obviously also need to replace the extender with one that can handle dual band extension, as the one I have right now only does 2.4ghz.

5Ghz isn't good at going through walls. You mentioned this was your nieces house. Any reason you couldn't use a wireless bridge and move the server so that it's on the same wired LAN as the TV? Server would have to go in the same room as the TV.

Option 2, build a wireless bridge using higher power directional antennas. I used to bridge 2.4Ghz between walls at a 60 degree angle. I used two directional antenna kits off ebay ($25ea) connected to two Linksys WRT54G using SMA to TNC adapters. I then ran DDWRT on the linksys routers to create the bridge. This gave me a good signal and the full 54mbits. You could theoretically do the same with some of the modern routers that allow for it.
 
Thank you all for the suggestions, I'm gonna keep the replies in one response:

Moving the server is not an option because it is also serving the downstairs TV for video, and both are wired into the router directly. So moving the server would simply create the same problem downstairs.

I would love to simply run a wired ethernet cable up to her room directly into an AP which can then act as her wired connection upstairs AND act as an access point for other wireless devices upstairs like her tablet and laptop. The logistics of this seem a bit overwhelming given the layout of the house. But I imagine the guys who install satellite cable can do it so I should be able to.

I'm starting to think that wireless just may not be an option given all of the walls and interference, plus the distance. If 5.0Ghz isn't good at going through walls, well there are a lot of walls it has to travel through haha.

There is also the possibility that the dsl modem/router is just crap....it was a cheap $70 purchase at best buy.
 
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I would love to simply run a wired ethernet cable up to her room directly into an AP which can then act as her wired connection upstairs AND act as an access point for other wireless devices upstairs like her tablet and laptop. The logistics of this seem a bit overwhelming given the layout of the house. But I imagine the guys who install satellite cable can do it so I should be able to.

They do sell outdoor rated cable. Not the cheapest. The satellite guys basically punch holes into the house wherever and use a small grommet. My neighbor's house drives me nuts... they ran satellite into 2 rooms on the 2nd floor and the install tech left the cables long so the home owners simply pushed the excess cable out the wall and now both cables hang 10ft down the side of the house. Ugly as shit and it's been like that for a year now. :confused:

There is also the possibility that the dsl modem/router is just crap....it was a cheap $70 purchase at best buy.

Worth a shot, could always return it. My personal experience = Airport Extreme > Airport Express > Netgear WNR3500L (DDWRT) > Linksys WRT54G (DDRWRT).

The desktop upstairs sucked on wireless no matter what (good signal, 11mbps) due to the location of the tower and the antenna was connected to the PCI card and not external. I just wired it rather then buying a new antenna or wifi card. The MacBook had buffering issues that went away with the Airport Extreme.
 
Interesting that power over ethernet did not work out for you.I m assuming you did the obvious, no surge protector , different outlet on a different circuit. I've been using mine for about 3 years now, which is a Netgear. I will be going wired soon since the new house is already pre-wired for network.


EDIT:

I forgot to mention if your house is pre-wired for coax you might want to try a moca network adapter. Same concept as power over ethernet, except is uses a coaxial outlet opposed to an electrical outlet. Motorola's new DOCSIS 3 modem is MOCA compatible as well. It might be worth checking out
 
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I didn't have much luck with a N setup, but the powerline 500mbps worked fine for my 1080p stuff. Granted, I am not playing 40+ gig files, but rather somewhere around 8-16gb.
 
Interesting that power over ethernet did not work out for you.

More than likely he simply got bad adapters. I had the same dropped signal symptom with the first pair. After replacing them I've had no issues since. The quality control of some of these units are questionable. Trendnet is what I use now.
 
1) Powerline adapter kit - Didn't work....would establish signal but as soon as we started playing a video, it dropped out.

Was the room a bedroom? Is the house from 2005 and newer?

Code about that time called for arc-fault interrupters in the breaker box for bedrooms. arc-faults a bit different than gound faults. They trip when sensing what they think is fire causing sparking. Anyway there are a couple different common designs. One of the designs ends up killing the powerline signal. If there's just one arc-fault in the way you can replace it for $40-$50 with one made from Square D which is suppose to be ok for it.
 
I can stream "HD" over WiFi but certainly not at Blu-Ray bitrates. I mostly watch Blu-Ray ISOs and the only way to make that "perfect" in my house is Ethernet or MoCA. WiFi and Powerline do not cut it.
 
We ended up wiring a Cat 6 cable across the house. Turned out to be much easier than we expected, and because the layout of the house allows it, we are now planning on installing a switch and wiring in the other bedrooms as well. Probably have a router upstairs serving as an AP and a switch for her TV and other stuff.

I'd like suggestions on routers and a switch....it doesn't need to be anything fancy. 2.4Ghz band with Gigabit LAN are the minimum requirements. The only devices using the wireless will now be cell phones, a laptop, and a tablet for basic surfing/you-tube/pandora.

This is what I'm looking at for a switch:
http://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-ProSa...qid=1387131260&sr=8-1&keywords=netgear+switch

And routers:
http://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Wi-Fi...8&qid=1387131284&sr=8-1&keywords=netgear+3500

Suggestions are appreciated.
 
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I used to run the WNR3500L with DDWRT. Gigabit speeds were good and the wifi pulled 150mbs just fine in the same room. The range wasn't as good as the airport express and defiantly not as good as my 2013 airport extreme.

I had the WNR3500L connected to a $30 5 port dlink green gigabit router for almost a year without issue. That netgear switch looks good. Supports jumbo frames and should pull the full gigabit speed (125MBs). I'm actually moving to a 24 port Netgear... Going to pick up the JGS524 very soon. $40 rebate until 12/31.
 
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