WiFi issues

[elite]

My wireless is rock solid - although I did have similar problems when I was setting it up...

I had a cheap belkin router and the wireless kept dropping - even though I had decent signal strength. After many hours tweaking the config with no success I returned the belkin and got a netgear which has had no problems ever since.

Thinking it had probably just been the single unit, I picked up another for my girlfriend's parents which suffered exactly the same problems...

[nitrogen_widget]

Pretty much the same here.
Purchased a D-link wi-fi router & PCI card & I use the D-link software.
No problems with connection that I can recall & it is just fine for playing back video off another GBPVR PC's directory.
The only real thing I can say is a video file will start playing back quicker over wired lan.

Wireless for GB-PVR can work...

I bought a cheap Trendnet wireless router + wireless usb adapter for $9.99 on boxing day a year ago. The wireless router is used only as an access point since a my router is a linux box.

I also bought a $50 D-Link pci wireless adapter for my GB-PVR box. The D-Link disk installed a wireless management application that seems to take over from the wireless stuff XP does by default. There is now an extra "D" (for D-Link) icon in the taskbar.

Point is I never noticed a single GB-PVR network disconnect in over a year of use. The EPG updates nightly and I use VNC from the laptop to manage the keyboardless/mouseless GB-PVR box. I copy mpg files of several gigabytes back and forth quite frequently. It all feels rock solid just like my wired network does between my other boxes.

I had always been sceptical of wireless since I live in a highrise building with 6-10 other wireless networks visible at any given time not to mention wireless phones but the $9.99 sale convinced me to try.

Is the Trendnet hardware or the D-Link hardware/software responsible for the stable connection? Anyways I have never felt the need to run a wire to my GB-PVR box.

[madcat]

well, first of all thanks for all the answers.

I guess, it's YMMV kind of thing. Distance from the router? (mine is on a different floor of the house. wooden interior, but still different floors). Position of router (both the router and the GBPVR are against one external brick wall). Other interferences (microwaves, etc) and other neighbors with WiFi as well. And the fact my GBPVR machine is a laptop, with a (possibly) crappy WiFi card, and also resides inside a wooden cabinet with the rest of the HT equipment).

I had issues with the NetGear, and I replaced/added a Linksys WRT54GL (which suppose to be one of the best ones), and also later I upgraded to a 3rd party firmware (DD-WRT if it means antyhing to you), which suppose to give the best performance.

I can tell you also that the wifi client (that profile manager, that piece of software that came with D-Link etc.) has a lot to do with it. For example, in the same house, I have other WiFi cleints. they don't drop connection all the same, the work-laptop is more solid with the latest manager I got from the IT guys (pity but I don't think it's possible for me to move it to the other PC...).


So, trying to solve this from cheap to expensive... I first wanted to get recomendations for Wifi software (assuming it's free). then, my current goal is to buy a fairly cheap WiFi USB dongle (e.g. link) and a USB extension cable, and thus move the Wifi card away from that cabinet.
If this will fail, I will add higher gain antennas to the Linksys.
If this will fail, I will move to another house...

[fpdave]

hows your wifi setup going, and what is your solution?

I have been using gbpvr with recording and playback on my main PC, but the new (rented) house topology (Sky TV connection not in office where main poC will live) means i have to go wireless, with an older PC acting as the GBPVR server, which I will then replay from the main PC.

I hope the old PC is powerful enough - only 700MHz P3, but with a Hauppauge 1300 card it wont need much CPU for recording.

However, I've tried copying a large mpg file from the server PC to my main pc over the wireless and its just not very fast, only copying at about 250-350KB/sec when a 54Mbps connection should give close to 6MB/sec I think. In fact, a network test (using Sandra) indicates I should get 3.5 KB/sec!

I have tried this with several PCs and seem to get these low speeds in what ever direction and between whatever PCs.

Oh, I've also tried replaying using WMP11 over a network share and its hopeless - too much stutter to be watchable.

could be the Sky router I guess - its a Netgear of some sort.

1) am I likely to get an OK system at all
2) if so, how should I diagnose the wifi connection issues (or at leats can you point me at a site where I might get some help) assuming something is wrong.
3) sorry for hijacking the post.

[linene]

fpdave,

Wireless is not duplex like wired...the best I am getting is about 22 mbps (bits) or about 2.7 mBps (Bytes) and from what I have experienced and read, that is pretty good. Just as a reference, i think you need about 16 mbps (bits) to get HD content to work. Your transfer rate seems slow...is your wireless connection charaterized as excellant by wireless tray icon? If it is not you will not get great transfer rates. I do not think you will be able to get 3.5 mBps sustained as sandra suggests, but if you do, you may have one of the fastest wireless g connections I have seen.

[gEd]

try using VLC instead of WMP if you want to watch videos from a remote server.

download a copy of network stumbler and run it on a pc with a wi-fi connection. see what other wi-fi devices you can see nearby and choose a channel for your router that is as far away from the other channels listed as possible.

[linene]

see what other wi-fi devices you can see nearby and choose a channel for your router that is as far away from the other channels listed as possible.

That is a good point ged...I am fortunate that there is no 2.4 Ghz congestion where I am (including not having 2.4 gig phones or close neighbors), which I atribute much of my wireless streaming success to.

[fpdave]

ha, I'm sorry for my stupidity! I just read on the netgear site that wireless antennas produce a horizontal signal radiating out from the antenna. I found that the antenna on my server PC was oriented horizontally. Changed it to vertically, signal strength shot up to 90+% (from 60-70%) and now I can get 3MB/sec!!! and I can play in WMP OK. SO, I'm going to setup GBPVR on the server PC now.

Cheers for your advice, it at least gave me an idea of what I should be able to get.

[SuMo]

Maybe mentioned before but have you considered Power plugs ?

[elbryyan]

I had the hardest time with my wireless setup. It would connect and I could browse to a web page and all that but the next minute would not get any network traffic working even though it still said it was connected. I needed to get a better wireless card as the one I was using did not support the encrytion level that I wanted to use, ie. I want to use WPA and the wireless card only supported WEP which is not that secure. Once I got a card that supported WPA it has been smooth sailing for my wireless setup. At some point I will budget out the time and money to run some cable but for now I (and more importatnly) the wife are happy.