[mythtv-users] Power Line Network Connections and Myth ?

[Brian Wood]

On Saturday, October 02, 2010 04:39:48 pm sean darcy wrote:

> 
> I'm planning on setting up an FE in a cabin about 150 yards from the
> house. I could run CAT 5E, but it's a long way, and the cable would be
> exposed to rain, snow, etc. Instead I'm thinking of Powerline over a
> dedicated electric cable. I run outdoor rated electric cable with an
> outlet at each end. No connection to the electric system at either
> end. Then use 2 Powerline adapters.
> 
> Would this work? 

Probably, but not as well as a CAT-5 cable. I'd guess the best you could expect would be 100Mbps performance (half what is 
claimed for most such adapters).

> Is it a good idea?

Not in my opinion. There is nothing better than CAT5 cable (well, almost nothing, and certainly not at a reasonable cost).

You can run the CAT5 in conduit. You can even get CAT5 cable designed for direct burial, but it's expensive and hard to 
find, and the flooding compound used in such cable is a mess to work with. 

The Powerline adapters available expect to see 117 volts on the outlets (in the USA at least, YMMV), that's how they are 
powered. If you want to use them on dry AC power cable you would have to work out some other arrangement to power the 
units.


Having said that, I just received a pair of Netgear AV+ 200 units, and preliminary tests indicate I am getting almost 100 
Mbps, but this is for an application that has no alternative due to my brother's WAF mandate. They work well for Netflix 
streaming, which doesn't require much, since the connection to the internet is only 1.5 Mbps.