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

Brian Wood beww at beww.org
Sun Sep 26 17:31:37 UTC 2010


On Sunday, September 26, 2010 11:18:52 am Dave Brown wrote:
> On Sun, Sep 26, 2010 at 6:02 PM, Nicolas Riendeau <knight at teksavvy.com>wrote:
> > Hi!
> > 
> > On 9/26/2010 12:31 PM, Brian Wood wrote:
> >> Anyone have any experience with any of the various powerline networking
> >> units being sold?
> > 
> > I had the occasion to try it and, at least for SD, it works...
> > 
> >  I've tried units in the past that provide RJ-11 phone line connections,
> >  
> >> and had horrible results, but my home is an older
> > 
> > I believe this was/is called HomePNA... I'm not sure that still exists...
> > 
> >  structure with Rube Goldberg/Heath Robinson-inspired wiring. My
> >  brother's
> >  
> >> place is a newer home that should have
> >> relatively clean AC wiring.
> > 
> > These things are affected by interference from other devices AFAIK and
> > you most probably won't be able to plug them in a surge suppressor (it
> > affected the signal when I tried it).
> > 
> > I also believe that, just like X10 stuff, it's also affected by phase
> > (everything on the same phase should work but might not be able to talk
> > to things that are connected to the other phase...
> 
> In the uk im using 3 200mps homeplug AV powerline units.  One from the
> router.  One to the combined FE/BE in lounge and one to the FE in the
> bedroom.  SD & HD work fine no problems at all.  Throughput about 80 mbps
> 
> I think speed depends on distance between homeplugs, quality of your mains
> line, interference etc.


If I understand it correctly, the UK uses a 220 volt single-phase system with no "neutral" conductor.

So you would not have the problem of different outlets being on different "sides" of the neutral, such as we can have here 
in the US.

So what works for you might have only a 50% chance of working for me, depending on whether the outlets I am trying to use 
are on the same side (phase) or not. Nicolas mentioned the same potential problem, and I think he is right, but I think I 
can set things up so that everything's on the same phase for me.

I'm assuming this is what Nicolas meant by "phase", since very few homes have true 3-phase power wiring.

I guess it just boils down to buying some units, and making sure I can return them if they do not work for me in this 
application.

But if anyone can report success with particular units I can at least start by buying those, and if anyone has had bad 
results I can stay away from those.

It's still a crapshoot I think, as  so much in life is.

Since at least one person (Tom) has reported success, I think I have at least a chance of things working.




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