viewing avi's / mpeg's over wireless network...

[bwg]

Anyone had any experiences with this? I am currently setting up a relatively simplistic HTPC (nothing too hi-end). I have the HTPC networked to my desktop via a Dlink G604T wireless modem / router (802.11g), and was hoping to be able to view videos direct from the desktop. However, I have discovered since purchasing the gear that wireless bandwidth is nothing like the 54Mbps they claim it to be! In fact, in doing subsequent research, it seems you can rarely achieves more than about 15Mbps!!! :mad: (guess I should have done some research berforehand :( )

Anyway, the current connection speed I'm getting seems to be about 8 Mbps (or 1 MB/s) based on file transfer speeds (my reception isn't particularly good, I guess it's dropping packets). I would have thought that would be sufficient to stream at least an average bitrate avi, but even there it seems to struggle.

Has anyone had any experience in doing this? In reading other forums, it seems people have had varied results. Some claim to be able to view DVD images over wireless networks with no hassles, others claim that they can't even get reliable streaming of mp3's. Just wondering if I should write this off as a bad cause. I don't particularly want to start running cabling for a wired network when we're only renting the house!

[davidf]

[QUOTE=bwg] It seems you can rarely achieves more than about 15Mbps!!! :mad: (guess I should have done some research berforehand :( )

Anyway, the current connection speed I'm getting seems to be about 8 Mbps (or 1 MB/s) based on file transfer speeds (my reception isn't particularly good, I guess it's dropping packets). I would have thought that would be sufficient to stream at least an average bitrate avi, but even there it seems to struggle.
QUOTE]

at 15mbs you are only just better than usb 1.1 so on high bitrate sections of video you will be in trouble(remember to add video and audo bitrates for totals) , especially if you add the 25-35% packeting and error overhead you are going to need. A big problem with wireless is everything in the house these days emits electro-magnetic energy including the equipment you are using to send and recieve the signal, so lots and lots of bad packets eventuate, which mean nothing when moving data but unfortunately is a big issue with A/V.

What I have noticed with my wireless connection is that if signal strength drops below 55% transfer rate is slugged and drops to about 7mbps definitely not enough to carry even modest avi's. Even the latest and greatest 108mbps wireless gear is probably no better especially if you have performance slugs for every metre the wireless equipment is separated.

The best way would probably be to have some sort of streaming setup so that you have a decent data buffer that way the packet errors would not effect your viewing pleasure :)

[bac]

Anyone had any experiences with this? I am currently setting up a relatively simplistic HTPC (nothing too hi-end). I have the HTPC networked to my desktop via a Dlink G604T wireless modem / router (802.11g), and was hoping to be able to view videos direct from the desktop. However, I have discovered since purchasing the gear that wireless bandwidth is nothing like the 54Mbps they claim it to be! In fact, in doing subsequent research, it seems you can rarely achieves more than about 15Mbps!!! :mad: (guess I should have done some research berforehand :( )

Anyway, the current connection speed I'm getting seems to be about 8 Mbps (or 1 MB/s) based on file transfer speeds (my reception isn't particularly good, I guess it's dropping packets). I would have thought that would be sufficient to stream at least an average bitrate avi, but even there it seems to struggle.

Has anyone had any experience in doing this? In reading other forums, it seems people have had varied results. Some claim to be able to view DVD images over wireless networks with no hassles, others claim that they can't even get reliable streaming of mp3's. Just wondering if I should write this off as a bad cause. I don't particularly want to start running cabling for a wired network when we're only renting the house!

Welcome to real world wireless LAN performance. :(

It does all sound good on the surface, but when you dig a little deeper, there are so many overheads, caveats and gotchas that you're left wondering how it works at all...

You mention you are averaging around 1MB/s throughput, which as you say should be plenty for the average MPEG4 encoded AVI. Where this theory can fall down is that the 1MB/s you are seeing is an average figure - the instantaneous bitrate may well peak/trough well above/below this average figure. Depending on how good your playback device is at buffering, the troughs are probably what's killing your AVI playback.

For my money, 802.11 wireless does not provide anywhere near enough reliable, sustained bandwidth to be able to effectively stream video content.

All I can suggest you try before giving the game away (if you haven't already) is:

- ensure you've only got one wireless device talking to your AP at any given time
- turn off any and all encryption on the wireless link (WPA, WEP, etc)
- fiddle with the wireless device driver settings on the PCs to see if you can tweak the performance a little
- if you are accessing the video via a mapped network drive connection, see if you can enable file caching over that link

Best of luck...

[andw]

Hi BWG,
I have a Netcomm NB5580W ADSL router / 802.11g wireless router, talking to a TPG notebook with a Draytek Vigor 560 wireless 11g cardbus adapter.
It is beaming through 2 walls, one single brick, one double brick at about 5 meters distance.
It usually sits at 54Mbits, sometimes dropping as low as 36Mbits.
If the microwave is running it struggles to keep 1Mbit.
Anyway, It does not have any problem (except when the microwave is running) playing standard mpeg4 files, and doesn't usually have problems playing mpeg2 files recorded from the digital TV tuner card.
Also, I have used it to stream DVD content (ISO files mounted from a network drive), but that is not guaranteed to work. (that is, it will usually play happily through a full DVD, but sometimes it will stutter (usually at a crucial point of course)).
I have noticed that if the orientation of the recieving antenna is moved a little it makes a big difference to the speed that it recieves at, and if it drops below about 36Mbit the stuttering starts on DVD's.
Maybe it is just the luck of the draw, but apart from 2 walls, I guess I am also not transmitting too far either...

[bwg]

thanks for the replys, guys. Quick question: how are you evaluating your connection speed and signal strength (ie 36MBit / 55%). My wireless connection tells me it's at 54MBit, although that is obviously not the true speed that data can be transferred at. As for signal strength, there are a series of bars (6 i think?) when I view the network connection, that ranges from descriptions of "poor" to "excellent" in the tool-tip.

[andw]

My Wirless LAN adapter has software that shows speed / signal strength, data recieved, data sent, CRC errors, throughput, TX and RX throughput etc.

[bac]

thanks for the replys, guys. Quick question: how are you evaluating your connection speed and signal strength (ie 36MBit / 55%). My wireless connection tells me it's at 54MBit, although that is obviously not the true speed that data can be transferred at. As for signal strength, there are a series of bars (6 i think?) when I view the network connection, that ranges from descriptions of "poor" to "excellent" in the tool-tip.

Timed file transfer is as good a measure of throughput as any.

In my experience, the signal strength bars and/or the description of the link quality (poor/good/etc) bear very little relation to the actual throughput of the link at any given time.