Is Wireless MVP worth the hassle?

[PGPfan]

I don't know exactly what problems you are having, but the wired MVP is TERRIFIC. There are MANY of us on this forum that will swear by them, vastly superior to anything else when feeding a SD display.

Wireless, however is a different story altogether.

-PGPfan

[jimmyb]

Being in the biz of servicing computers I wanted to put my 2 cents in. In home networking, whenever possible, take the wired route of anything over wireless. Although wireless has the advantage of freedom and roaming (I am typing this on my laptop wirelesssly) it (wireless) is effected by too many outside interferences. Your portable home phone probably runs on 2.4ghz freq., the same as the wireless (switch your phones to the new 5.8 or old 900mhz). Your microwave oven can definetly effect reception. Your neighbors (we try and switch channels since most wireless routers default to channel 6) wireless sytems (or telephones) can effect your reception. And the list goes on.

I agree with an earlier post, paint the wires to match your house LOL.

[MrD]

Originally Posted by evilpenguin

IMHO wireless is for surfing the internet and nothing else. Unless wiring is a physical impossibility i'd never relay on it for anything that required sustained high data transfer rate.

nuf said.

[Jester]

So why does Hauppague sell the wireless and Sage sell software that supports it? I'm still an unsatisfied customer and wish I had never found and bought Sage tv.

[Yalbik]

Originally Posted by Jester

So why does Hauppague sell the wireless and Sage sell software that supports it? I'm still an unsatisfied customer and wish I had never found and bought Sage tv.

For the same reason D-Link, Linksys and many others can sell wireless products that don't work in all situations. They do work for a lot of people, just not everybody.

That being said, I think they should have a warning on the SageTV store indicating that the wireless MVP may not function in your area.

[John Colburn]

Elsewhere I have posted issues on using an 8760c HP@PIII 600MHz, upgraded to XP Pro. CD drive issues still remain, however ---

The server works fine (mostly) and will record and stream video to either the wireless MVP (V 2.05 software) or a Sage Client notebook.

It is probably buried in the manual somewhere, but any wmv files one may have will not stream without severe interruptions from the server to the wireless MVP. I have not tried either a direct wired application or a wired bridge to MVP connection.

On the other hand, the MVP seems to stream recorded video (or imported video) from the server and playback well to my TV. Naturally, once cannot stream a DVD via the MVP.

MVP and server are only 25 feet from one another. Server is on an office PC adjacent to Master bedroom TV with MVP on top of TV/DVD/VCR stack. Seems silly to run a wire to MVP when I have paid for the wireless feature.

Will likely use an AC Ethernet network, but my office outlets are limited so the wiring job to start from an AC socket, add Cat 5e, and keep from tripping over a direct connection is formidable. Would be nice if the MVP would work better.

If I would do that it would be nice if Sage would trade the wireless MVP for a wired one as the price difference refund would barely cover the wire and Eternet adapter costs.

John

[PGPfan]

Originally Posted by Jester

So why does Hauppauge sell the wireless and Sage sell software that supports it? I'm still an unsatisfied customer and wish I had never found and bought Sage tv.

You have to keep in mind that the Hauppauge wireless MVP was announced approximately a year before it ever actually showed up for sale. To me at least, that seems to indicate that even Hauppauge was having difficulty making them work well in all cases.

Face it, ANYTHING wireless is using some form of radio transmition/reception to work. There is NO WAY anybody can guarantee everyone will have perfect, reliable performance everywhere - all the time. The previous poster was correct when it was stated that wireless is really for 'net browsing, all else is questionable.

I've seen tons and tons of people whine about how long it has taken for Hauppauge to release the MVP wirelessly. The same people then whined for Sage to support it. Hauppauge released it and Sage supports it, those folks should be a little more tolerant at this point, imho.

What the 'wireless fans' should be asking for is the robust "powerline" adapters. These ARE wireless for all intent and purpose (relative to an MVP) yet can provide the real performance of a wired MVP. That or, find a way to run some Cat5e....

-PGPfan

[blade]

Originally Posted by Jester

So why does Hauppague sell the wireless and Sage sell software that supports it? I'm still an unsatisfied customer and wish I had never found and bought Sage tv.

The same reason companies sell via boards that won't work properly under heavy PCI loads and many other manufacturers sell questionable hardware. The computer industry has gone downhill in quality over the last 10 years or so in order to get costs down so the masses can affoard them and the industry can grow and advance. If we were still paying $2-3k for low end machines we'd have much higher quality components, but at slower speeds and less advanced technology because the industry wouldn't be advancing as fast.

I don't know what the deal is with the wireless MVP because some say it works fine with the Hauppauge software, but not Sage and others say it doesn't work well with either.

Personally I'm very satisfied with Sage and think it's been the best computer product I've ever bought. Setting up a PVR isn't a turnkey solution and isn't for everyone and IMO people should start out with a basic wired system to get the kinks out. Then move on to wireless and other gadgets.

[AngelofDeth]

Originally Posted by John Colburn

Elsewhere I have posted issues on using an 8760c HP@PIII 600MHz, upgraded to XP Pro. CD drive issues still remain, however ---

The server works fine (mostly) and will record and stream video to either the wireless MVP (V 2.05 software) or a Sage Client notebook.

It is probably buried in the manual somewhere, but any wmv files one may have will not stream without severe interruptions from the server to the wireless MVP. I have not tried either a direct wired application or a wired bridge to MVP connection.

John

This is because WMV files (Im not even sure they are supposed to work) have to be transcoded to MPEG-2 in realtime, and a P3 600 is not powerful enough to do this.