MVP and Wireless Recommendations

[hasso]

I've seen various threads about connecting an MVP by wireless, but haven't seen one specifically dealing with my present situation.

I've gone from a house completed wired to a rented house with no wired connections (Except ADSL to the Internet). Very sad as I have to keep my drill under wraps. Present setup is:
- GBPVR server in the living room.
- MVP in the bedroom.
- my PC and Linux server (wired network) with Internet access in the study.

I need to connect these three wirelessly to:
- permit the GBPVR server to connect to the Internet for 'normal' GBPVR related activity (updating tv listings, album covers, etc.).
- permit the use of the MVP (i.e. to access the GBPVR server).

What would your recommendations be for the three pieces of wireless kit I would need to get this working? I assume I can use a PCI wireless card for the GBPVR server, but am not sure at all what I need for the network (hardware and network config settings) in my study (would a normal wireless router do the trick?) nor the MVP (an access point or bridge or router?)

I assume 54g hardware would do the trick, but was wondering if the new MIMO enabled hardware would be better.

Any help appreciated.

[jksmurf]

Hi Hasso,

There are some tips and links to some good guidelines here (See bottom of page) http://gbpvr.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Manual/MVP
I use HyperWRT with a WDS setup.
k.

[hasso]

thanks jksmurf. I did look at that link and it was useful. I guess my main question is:
Can (how can) the GBPVR server talk (through wireless) to both the Internet and the MVP at the same time, given that all three are on separate networks?

[wtg]

You should be able to get by with a 54g or better wireless router (connecting your machine with net access to it with a wired connection), a wireless card for your gbpvr server and a wireless bridge (or wireless router configured as a bridge) for your MVP. I'm not sure what you mean by the machines being on separate networks, but the gbpvr server will be able to talk to the MVP and net simultaneously.

With a good signal 54g is fine for an MVP (that's what I use), but that's only if you get a good signal. I've setup quite a few wireless networks in homes of varying size and it's a mixed bag at best. Lots of things can interfere with your 2.4 GHz wireless signal, and the MVP is going to be much less forgiving to a bad signal than a typical internet connection. If your net connection sometimes gets disconnected briefly due to interference it's often no big deal... just click the link again and the wireless card in the meantime has renegotiated the connection. With the MVP if you lose your signal briefly your movie just stopped... that'll get old real quick. Sometimes signals are great when you wouldn't think they would be, and other times they can be crappy going through just one wall. MIMO should be much better so if you can afford it, go with it. It definitely comes at a premium though.

The wireless bridge probably requires the most thought. For some reason vendors often charge more for their bridges than they do their routers, but several routers can be configured as bridges with third party software, and I think but am not certain that some offer they option standardly. However, I'm not personally aware of any MIMO router that can be configured as a bridge using standard or third party firmware. That doesn't mean there isn't any... just make sure you do your homework if you go this route.

If you consider converting a 54g router to a bridge, I know you can replace the firmware on the Linksys 54g and 54gs routers to turn them into a bridge because I've done it... other's I've not tried. If you purchase a bridge all I can say is avoid the Linksys gaming adapters: I've used two and both have been very disappointing, and while they ought to in concept work like a traditional bridge, they don't because they bind to the MAC address of the machine using them so you can't put a switch in front of them to bridge more than one machine. Their wireless signals were extremely sensitive too... pure crap.

I've used the Motorola WE800G bridge with a lot of success. It's simple to configure and supports two different configurations, so you can travel with it or more easily test different wireless configurations. It's pretty inexpensive (as bridges go), though it may now be discontinued, replaced by the WE850G.

Finally, if you go 54g be prepared to throw away any 2.4 GHz cordless phone you've got. If you have one you might find yourself lucky enough to have it not interfere, but I've seen them completely disconnect a wireless network whenever someone used one, so keep that in mind. Only use 900 MHz and 5.8 GHz cordless phones, and know that a close neighbor using a 2.4 GHz phone may screw you up anyway. I tell people to wallpaper the exterior walls with aluminum foil.

[hasso]

Thanks for all the helpful advice, wtg. By separate networks I meant that the three devices are all separate and needed to be connected through wireless. Given your solution I assume that the GBPVR (wireless card) and the MVP (bridge) would communicate via the Router? Hence requiring two wireless 'hops'?

[BigT]

Most wireless routrers also have at least four wired ports so you could put your router with your ADSL modem and hard wire your PC and Linux server to the router. The MVP and the GBPVR could then connect wireless with everything on one network.

[hasso]

Most wireless routrers also have at least four wired ports so you could put your router with your ADSL modem and hard wire your PC and Linux server to the router. The MVP and the GBPVR could then connect wireless with everything on one network.

Yup... that's what I had in mind. I think that then means I have:

GBPVR-wireless card <----> wireless router <----> wireless bridge - MVP

(where the wireless router is hardwire networked to the PC/ADSL modem)

This, then, would necessitate two wireless hops for me to watch video on the MVP. Just wondering if this would work in practice, given the potential flakiness of video over wireless. Not having any wireless equipment at present, and being in (expensive) NZ, I'd like to see if this is practical before shelling out for a wireless bridge, router and card.

[StanO]

I am currently using two Belkin F5d7230-4 one configured as a router and the other as a Access point. It works ok, but they both also have integrated "turbo" mode, so I think I'm getting good throughput.

When files are in High quality I often get a jittery picture or problems seem to increase. Otherwise performance is acceptable.

So to answer your question, I think you might not have good performance, at least for live TV if you want to make two jumps. It would all come down to the signal strength issue. If you got MIMO, you would probably be in good shape.

[wtg]

This, then, would necessitate two wireless hops for me to watch video on the MVP. Just wondering if this would work in practice, given the potential flakiness of video over wireless. Not having any wireless equipment at present, and being in (expensive) NZ, I'd like to see if this is practical before shelling out for a wireless bridge, router and card.

Yeah, this may cause you some trouble. A 54g wireless network does have enough theoretical and even practical bandwidth to handle the load you'll have, but it'd have to be a perfect connection, interference-free and that may not be possible in your particular home environment. I'd definitely go with either MIMO or some of the proprietary "boosted" equipment instead of just stock 54g.

Another option that might work is using the machine connected to the router for your storage space. The gbpvr machine could be configured to use the network drive of your machine in the study. The video would still have to go over the network but at the time of recording it would only be one-way traffic, and at the time of viewing it would only be one-way wireless traffic too. It wouldn't help you with live tv or watching an in-progress recording, but would at least make the network less sensitive to trouble in your most common viewing environment.

[danguyf]

I'm looking to add an MVP to my setup in our second floor master bedroom, and need to do so wirelessly.

My current set up is as follows:
* Cable modem attached to Dell TrueMobile 2300 Wireless Broadband Router in the guest bedroom on the second floor
* HTPC in the basement attached to Dell TrueMobile 2300 Wireless Broadband Router set as an Access Point

I could add another TrueMobile router as an AP in the bedroom and connect the MVP to it, but I'm assuming that the signal strength will not be sufficient bouncing from the basement to the guest bedroom to the master bedroom, or from the basement to the master bedroom.

Ideally what I need it a powerline ethernet adapter wherein I can run it from the HTPC's router to an outlet, then have an ethernet adapter in an outlet in the bedroom connected to the MVP. I haven't found anything like that, though -- does anyone know where I can find such a thing?

Or perhaps I could get two ZOOM 4400 AP/Repeaters, one for the MVP and one for the HTPC to replace the TrueMobile. It says it gets up to 125 Mbps so hopefully it would be sufficient. I could stick a third on the 1st floor just to use as a repeater if need be, even.

Thoughts? Advice? Danke.