bandwidth needed?

[nippywiffle]

Can anyone tell me the max network speed I'd need to stream live TV and recorded TV from a GBPVR server, to a client PC, for 1. SD and 2. HD?

Thanks for your help.

[jim08127]

Best guess peak of 12 Mbps for SD, average more like 6.

The MVP cannot play or decode HD. The file would have ot be transcoded down to a lower resolution. (Pretty sure anyways)

[pastro]

Best guess peak of 12 Mbps for SD, average more like 6.

The MVP cannot play or decode HD. The file would have ot be transcoded down to a lower resolution. (Pretty sure anyways)

That's the raw bit rate. If you are talking wireless you usually get about 50-60% efficiency on low traffic networks. The new N units have some provisions to make this work more efficiently

[madcat]

My server is on a G wifi. I can view live TV and recordings from a client (client is connected by wire, so only one wireless "hop". luckily). It works not bad, only sometimes you see a glitch/stutter for a second.
The G never gets full 54. it's a bit flaky (although I did a lot to try and improve it).

[nippywiffle]

So, one of these pre-N routers going up to 200-300mb/s would probably be ok?

[haripj]

So, one of these pre-N routers going up to 200-300mb/s would probably be ok?

For SD even wireless G should be o.k.
I have a Belkin wireless G router connected to my GBPVR computer and the MediaMVP is connected to an Airport Express in bridging mode. I know I don't actually get 54 mbps - more like 28-30, but it works great (the router and airport express are on opposite ends of the house and one floor apart). I also have encryption on, so that probably takes some overhead.
I did have to put all routers and AP's in protected-G mode (to reduce interference from surrounding wifi traffic).

[jim08127]

cool diagnostic tip there, tipster.

[wtg]

Re: wireless channels, 6 is the default for linksys & motorola products - I'm not sure of the others. If you have other wireless networks in your area, changing your channel to one that's unused is the first key to performance, as tipster recommends.

But unlike the 11 or 14 channels that wireless devices display, there really aren't that many non-conflicting channels. Each channel has a range of frequencies that it uses - the channel's advertised frequency is the mid-point of the range it uses. You actually need ! 5 ! full channels between your channel and the others near you to avoid conflict completely. So, back in the 1-11 channel days, the only completely conflict free channels were 1, 6 and 11. Now with routers supporting up to 14 the sliding window of overlap can be a bit different, but the rule of thumb is still the same - you want 5 channels between you and your neighbor otherwise you're sharing some bandwidth.

If you can't get your own channel completely in the clear, try to get as large a gap between you and your neighbors as you can. So if 1, 6 and 11 are taken up, 14 would be the next best bet.