[mythtv-users] Wifi

[Peter Bennett]

On 01/25/2018 08:20 AM, Daryl McDonald wrote:
> Greetings Mtyhizens, my recent move is requiring using WiFi within a 
> 12 foot proximity. I use two internal cards and one HDHR. Would a WiFi 
> extender kit (ac to cat5) be any better than a 300 mbps dual band USB 
> dongle? Hard wiring would create a trip hazard or require fishing thru 
> walls and ceiling. How much data is moving when the HDHR is recording 
> two HD episodes at the same time?
I looked into wireless USB devices about a year ago and I found that 
there were no 5 GHz devices that had Linux support, apart from the ones 
built into laptops. This may have changed.

You may be able to use wifi for the frontend to backend communications 
but I would not use it for connecting the tuner to the backend.

One HD recording would use up to 20 mbps. It could be less. However if 
you are using a digital tuner without cable card you would be receiving 
all channels on that frequency, and MythTV would filter out the ones it 
needs. That would be a much higher bit rate, probably 3 times as much.

When I tested my 100 mbps wireless network it was actually able to 
transmit 16 mbps. The actual vs advertized speed seem to be very 
different. Also the speed will vary depending on whether other people in 
your neighborhood are using wifi.

Powerline network gives me speeds of around 50 mbps but it has the 
problem that from time to time it disconnects itself and takes about a 
minute to recover. This is irritating for a frontend but probably fatal 
for a backend.

If you have coaxial cable in the wall for cable tv you can easily get 
100 mbps with an appropriate adapter. This is what I am doing. I use 
"DIRECTV Broadband DECA Ethernet to Coax Adapter", at $20 for two (from 
Amazon). This is an excellent value and they give consistently 100 mbps 
with no interruptions.

Peter