New House - New setup questions

[ukmgranger]

So, I have purchased a new house (brand new), but I didn't find it in time to get any networking put into the walls. It was pretty much complete when we stumbled upon it.

I want to scale-up my SageTV system to use it fully throughout the house.

I am looking to purchase three HD-300's to place in the living room, kitchen & master bedroom. I also have two mvp's that I could use in another two rooms.

a headless PC will live in a cupboard somewhere with a few DVB-T usb cards for the signal.

The problem is networking. I really do not want to hack holes in walls as the development is just too nice to take apart (the wife would kill me).

Could I use wifi? I don't really know much about networking, but could the newer 'n' routers provide enough bandwidth for HD freeview content.

Another thought is powerline. The Belkin Powerline 1Gbps Adapters (http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.209-7937.aspx?utm_source=GoogleShopping&utm_medium=GSF_NormalFeed&utm_campaign=GSF_TescoDirect&utm_content=209-7937) sound like they would do the job, but I have read reviews that mentioned unacceptable levels of interference with TV & radio signals. Obviously this would not be good.

Any thoughts ideas are welcome!!

[wrems]

I would look into Moca products over powerline or wireless.

[brewston]

Hi

I've got 2 HD200s (as well as a HD300 next to my TV/PC/router) around the house - The HD200 in the kitchen is 802.11g wireless and streams SD fine (Not tried HD as the TV resolution won't support it) The wireless bridge does have line of sight to the wireless router in the lounge though

I also have a HD200 in the bedroom connected via a couple of Belkin 200Mb powerline adapters. Again, SD is fine, not tried HD

I'd say the menus on the HD200s is not as snappy as the HD300 and some of this may be due to network lag rather than being older extenders.

I can probably get you some iperf results if you like....

Tim

[ukmgranger]

I would look into Moca products over powerline or wireless.

That sounds interesting!

Never heard of it before. The house does seem to have a TV aerial port in each room that I would want to network to.

[Beefcake550]

I've got to say that there is nothing better than having a wire and not worrying about wireless with HD.
Here is my generic advice about adding the wires. Find a closet/laundry room/etc that lineup on the first and second floors. This will give you a path to get wires from the basement to the attic. Once you have this, you can drop network wires into all second floor rooms from the attic with nothing more than a small hole in the wall where the network receptical will go. You will also be able to drop network lines in any first story rooms from the basement.

If this isn't the setup, it's obviously much harder. So, I'll get back to your question. :)

I would think that if you got one of the newer dual band wireless N routers with multiple antennas, you should be able to accomplish what you want. Use the SageTV recommended N adapters for everything. You will DEFINITELY want a gigE wired connection from the server to the wireless router. So obviously, the router will need to have gigE wired ports instead of 100Mb ports. I'd also suggest a router with a large amount of onboard buffering (like 128MB+). Prepare to spend $150-$200(USD) on this router. This will help tremendously. At this point, you will be in the best situation to succeed. I only question would it work if all clients are active at the same time. I believe there is enough bandwidth, but only trying it out will tell.

Good Luck!

[ukmgranger]

Thanks for that info Beefcake550!

Unfortunately I don't think that cabling of any kind will be possible, so I really do have to come up with a more exotic solution!

I like the idea of Moca, but there doesn't seem to be many devices available in the UK for this. I also know NOTHING about this kind of setup.

Powerline is really appealing, but I think that the only way of knowing if this works is to test it out. Best Buy sell the 1GB powerline adaptors for about £100 a pair. So I think that when I move I will get a pair and see how they work.

Regarding the wireless 'n' router route, what would you suggest would be the best domestic router available at the moment?

[davephan]

Is there a wired RF cable outlet in each location already? There are converters on the market that allow you to run Eithernet with RF converters over coaxial cable. I don't know how well that works compared to wireless.

Dave

[MattHelm]

Check out:
www.Smallnetbuilder.com

They'll tell you the same as most people. Unless you are lucky, run the wires.

[jptheripper]

Its easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission.

Just buy 1000 foot spool of cat6, run it to every room and patch the walls.. When she gets mad, hand her the many $100s you saved and tell her to go shopping.

You get better performance, and a happy wife.

[mayamaniac]

Run the wires, that's the best solution for best performance. You can test out the wireless N solution, make sure the router is 5ghz version for maximum N speed.

[andyvr4]

You could also looking into getting a wireless N to wired adapter (or just make one using a router and dd-wrt). This would allow you to get the wireless N speeds to the HD300.

[jptheripper]

Plan:

1. Buy wireless N stuff
2. Setup
3. Accidentally configure as wireless b
4. "Test" system for WAF
5. Return wireless N stuff
6. bash walls :)


okay, okay, I get it "run the wires" ;)

I think that my plan is:
1: try out the Belkin Powerline 1Gbps Adapters - F5D4076uk (http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.209-7937.aspx?utm_source=GoogleShopping&utm_medium=GSF_NormalFeed&utm_campaign=GSF_TescoDirect&utm_content=209-7937) (as I have been assured (by BestBuy)) that I can return it if it isn't up to speed.

2: get an ASUS RT-N56U Dual Band Wireless-N Router (http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/asus-rt-n56u-dual-band-wireless-n-router-07189955-pdt.html?srcid=867&xtor=AL-50&istCompanyId=9a35962d-802d-4e67-9721-0a3328ca1f02&istItemId=qqlratr&istBid=t) and test this. A good WiFi signal will be useful regardless.

3: if none of this works, start bashing the walls about:(

[ukmgranger]

Hi
I can probably get you some iperf results if you like....
Tim

Thanks for the iPerf heads-up Tim.

I have just installed iPerf to show me my current bandwidth etc. What would i need (in MBits) to stream hd content from one computer to another?

[clayfree]

Did you check the phone jacks? Most new houses use cat5 wire for the phone system. It's easy to convert it over to ethernet. If you still need a home phone then use the cordless systems that require only the base station to be plugged in.

[brewston]

Thanks for the iPerf heads-up Tim.

I have just installed iPerf to show me my current bandwidth etc. What would i need (in MBits) to stream hd content from one computer to another?

See

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?p=478705&postcount=14

for the original discussion on iperf. I've never measured my wired HD300 link but my wireless/powerline HD200 were considerably less (Can't remember the exact numbers) but I never stream HD over them

[ukmgranger]

okay, okay, I get it "run the wires" ;)

I think that my plan is:
1: try out the Belkin Powerline 1Gbps Adapters - F5D4076uk (http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.209-7937.aspx?utm_source=GoogleShopping&utm_medium=GSF_NormalFeed&utm_campaign=GSF_TescoDirect&utm_content=209-7937) (as I have been assured (by BestBuy)) that I can return it if it isn't up to speed.

2: get an ASUS RT-N56U Dual Band Wireless-N Router (http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/asus-rt-n56u-dual-band-wireless-n-router-07189955-pdt.html?srcid=867&xtor=AL-50&istCompanyId=9a35962d-802d-4e67-9721-0a3328ca1f02&istItemId=qqlratr&istBid=t) and test this. A good WiFi signal will be useful regardless.

3: if none of this works, start bashing the walls about:(

[Beefcake550]

okay, okay, I get it "run the wires" ;)

I think that my plan is:
1: try out the Belkin Powerline 1Gbps Adapters - F5D4076uk (http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.209-7937.aspx?utm_source=GoogleShopping&utm_medium=GSF_NormalFeed&utm_campaign=GSF_TescoDirect&utm_content=209-7937) (as I have been assured (by BestBuy)) that I can return it if it isn't up to speed.

2: get an ASUS RT-N56U Dual Band Wireless-N Router (http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/asus-rt-n56u-dual-band-wireless-n-router-07189955-pdt.html?srcid=867&xtor=AL-50&istCompanyId=9a35962d-802d-4e67-9721-0a3328ca1f02&istItemId=qqlratr&istBid=t) and test this. A good WiFi signal will be useful regardless.

3: if none of this works, start bashing the walls about:(

I think this sounds like a great plan. Especially the "bashing the walls" part.

[MattHelm]

okay, okay, I get it "run the wires" ;)

I think that my plan is:
1: try out the Belkin Powerline 1Gbps Adapters - F5D4076uk (http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.209-7937.aspx?utm_source=GoogleShopping&utm_medium=GSF_NormalFeed&utm_campaign=GSF_TescoDirect&utm_content=209-7937) (as I have been assured (by BestBuy)) that I can return it if it isn't up to speed.

2: get an ASUS RT-N56U Dual Band Wireless-N Router (http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/asus-rt-n56u-dual-band-wireless-n-router-07189955-pdt.html?srcid=867&xtor=AL-50&istCompanyId=9a35962d-802d-4e67-9721-0a3328ca1f02&istItemId=qqlratr&istBid=t) and test this. A good WiFi signal will be useful regardless.

3: if none of this works, start bashing the walls about:(

You forgot 1 thing. Report back with the results!!!!

[Chriscic]

Did you check the phone jacks? Most new houses use cat5 wire for the phone system. It's easy to convert it over to ethernet. If you still need a home phone then use the cordless systems that require only the base station to be plugged in.

I really would check this. My friend recently self-wired his own 4 year-old house, only to realize (once he was done) that his phone system was already wired with Cat 5.

[Beefcake550]

I really would check this. My friend recently self-wired his own 4 year-old house, only to realize (once he was done) that his phone system was already wired with Cat 5.

Keep in mind this is only a valid possibility if the phone lines are "home run"-ed to a location where you could put a router. Most of the time, phone lines are run in a "daisy chain" method. This would allow only 1 wired port.

[computer33]

I really would check this. My friend recently self-wired his own 4 year-old house, only to realize (once he was done) that his phone system was already wired with Cat 5.

Yeah, I went out and bought the MOCA device only to realize this myself ten months later about my new house. I was not too upset about it because it gave me a "project" to change the telephone jacks to Cat5 plates. Now I have a $230 MOCA kit almost new in a box not being used. Wish I had known what was behind the wall to begin with!