MVP (wireless) vs. Video Sender

[tomahawk51]

As I have seen with others, the MVP GB-PVR combo is the first real oppurtunity to start a PVR that I am willing to deal with. I always thought it excessive to buy a 2nd PC (maybe a mac mini...).

Anyway, has anyone had experience with the wireless video/stereo senders? I want to explore this as an alternative to buying a MVP. Mostly these hook up to VGA, sound, or video output and transmit to a reciever/breakout box at the TV. I have only seen composite, no s-vid. Keep in mind I am watching tv on a not-too-fancy SDTV.

I have a 2nd story loft very near the TV, with a half wall. I do not expect range or obstruction to be a signifigant issue. I also am only willing to consider the MVP as a wireless (802.11g) solution - (I'd stop and buy an MVP if it had g built in). Of course the sender is cheaper, but is it an unwise direction? The positive is that I am not limited by formats that MVP supprots, as it's the PC being accessed. I also have an x10 rf remote that works fine from that distance to control the box.

To clarify, wires from the PC upstairs in the loft to the TV downstairs aren't acceptable options.

[tomahawk51]

Thanks for that information. That certainly is usefull.

I should have been a bit more clear, in retrospect. I wanted to know if anyone has had experience with the wireless transmitter/sender route. Mostly I am interested in the quality of a video source (as it pertains to GBPVR recordings) over 2.4 or 5.8 ghz wireless.

I haven't seen these talked about much in the HTPC world...and wonder if they just don't cut it.

[numatrix]

A few weeks ago I purchased a linksys WRT54G wireless router for $43 and a media mvp for $80 and combined them to watch recorded shows from my PC on my tv.

I already had one WRT54G so I was able to use both of them in WDS mode which is darn convienant and turns the second router into a wireless bridge with 4 ports basically. Ironically, the whole router was way cheaper than a gamelink is.

More details on my exact setup are available on my website.

The good news is that video quality is perfect. It's nearly impossible for me to tell I'm not watching TV straight on the TV when I'm streaming mpeg2 from GBPVR to my mediamvp that was recorded at 'medium' gbpvr settings.

The bad news is that sometimes things don't work right. I haven't run down the exact problem, but I think using my wireless router isn't always getting a solid 54mb connection to the other router and when the bandwidth drops (I think that's the problem), I'm unable to stream audio. Quality doesn't get bad, it simply doesn't work. A nice black screen is all I get. Again, I'm not totally sure what's causing this scenario, but most of the time I have no problems at all and have watched streamed video for hours on end with no problem, so I'm sure I'll eventually get it figured out.

So the short answer is go for it! The MVP+PVR150-MCE+Linksys works pretty darn well and it comes at a price that is hard to beat.