[mythtv-users] Building a Basic MythTV box

Steve Adeff adeffs at gmail.com
Fri Dec 9 10:35:33 EST 2005


On Friday 09 December 2005 02:43, Kichigai Mentat wrote:
> On Dec 8, 2005, at 23.38, Michael Weinbergs - Network Administrator
> wrote:

> > Don't even bother with 802.11b - it really doesn't work (I've tried
> > it).. Upgrade to 802.11G and you will be fine.. The problem is that
> > 11Mb is not reall 11Mb - it is MUCH less... Not enough bandwidth.

wireless protocol is shared as well. so 11Mb is bits AND shared amongst all 
the connections (unless you have one of those fancy WAPs that can do multiple 
connections. same with G's 54Mb, its shared. 


> Well, here's the thing: I'm working on a tight budget, and I'm not
> sure I can afford to upgrade to 802.11g right now. However, using my
> iBook G4 as a reference, I can say I've never seen a noticeable
> change between wired and wireless speeds. Trying to transfer the same
> file from one machine to another, sending from the iBook, I got
> pretty much the same transfer times, whether the machine was wireless
> or on the wired network. Remember: my hub is only capable of 10 Mbits.

transfer speeds are more dependant on harddrive speeds. 802.11b is faster than 
your average harddrive (raid withstanding).


> Also, I've managed to stream files at about 800 Kbits/sec from my
> iBook to my Xbox over the wireless network without any significant
> problems. Of course, something tells me I won't be looking at any 800
> Kb/s streams.
>
> I was looking into PowerLine as an alternative to wireless
> networking, but at $80 per PowerLine dongle, this is way out of my
> budget (I'll spend more on networking than I will on PC hardware!).
> Wired doesn't seem to be a practical option (I live in a house made
> in 1901, and the network hub and the TV room are on different floors,
> and different ends of the house, in both dimensions, not to mention
> that the back end will, preferably, be at the other end of the house,
> but on the same floor as the hub). The rest of the family just might
> revolt against me if I run cables that far!
>
> If you can come up with any other ideas, I'll keep an open mind.

get a good 802.11G WAP or buy a 100bT switch. I got my 8port netgear unmanaged 
switch for $20 after rebate. works great.
802.11G should also be fast enough to stream the video files.

-- 
Steve


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