Next firmware upgrade for HD200?

[mike_ac]

Just curious... We used to get a firmware update (beta) every few days. There hasn't been one for over a month. Is it because of the 20090702 RC process?

If so, what is the timeline for the next round of updates? Any idea as to what we can look forward to?

[lfilomeno]

I am hoping for one soon! My HD200 still have the problem of not finding the server every now and then. Well, it not that it can't see the server, it sees the server but when is trying to autoconnect, I got a black screen . Sometimes, pulling the power cable of the back adn re-inserting it solve the problem but 8 out 10 times I have to stop the SageTV service and restarted in order to get the HD200 functional ( as an extender)

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by lfilomeno

Sometimes, pulling the power cable of the back adn re-inserting it solve the problem but 8 out 10 times I have to stop the SageTV service and restarted in order to get the HD200 functional ( as an extender)

Then that sort of sounds like an issue with your server, since you have to restart the server software. Some of us are having issues where our HD200s occasionally won't see the server, even though other extenders can. That might have been resolved in more recent firmware. I haven't noticed it in a while.

[Brent]

The firmware updates will likely pick up again when we see a new beta. Since we're in between public betas at the moment that's the reason for the lul - it's normal. They're probably also readying the server-on-a-usb drive concept for beta too.

No idea what will be in the next round of updates except for the wireless-N addition Jeff mentioned in the interview last month

[mike_ac]

Thanks for a very nice link on that interview... I hadn't seen it before, and it has some great info.

I'm still hoping they wrap up the RC process soon. I'd like to see things moving again on the betas!

[voidpt]

It has already started => HD200 Wireless Networking

I'll stick to my physical wires. But nice of SageTV to expand and give alternatives on an already great product.

[evilpenguin]

Excellent, I was looking forward to trying this. I doubt it'll work for me though, way to much 2.4 ghz interference in my area. Hopefully they add support for a USB stick that does 5 ghz eventually.

[mike_ac]

So, my timing was good... I need to ask these questions more often!

[Narflex]

Originally Posted by evilpenguin

Excellent, I was looking forward to trying this. I doubt it'll work for me though, way to much 2.4 ghz interference in my area. Hopefully they add support for a USB stick that does 5 ghz eventually.

In theory, the DWA-160 from D-Link *may* work. It supports 5GHz and uses the same chipset as the one we officially support according to what I've read online. We have not tested it yet; but if you have one it's definitely worth a shot.

[Brent]

Originally Posted by Narflex

In theory, the DWA-160 from D-Link *may* work. It supports 5GHz and uses the same chipset as the one we officially support according to what I've read online. We have not tested it yet; but if you have one it's definitely worth a shot.

I saw that D-Link and thought about picking it up - you know because everyone needs to adapters

But I thought the ralink chipset that this adapter uses has 5GHz or is that just the chipset and not this particular adapter?

[hvymetal]

Will there ever be wireless support for the HD100?

[reggie14]

I think ep is correct in that although the chipset in the ENUWI-N technically supports the 5GHz band, that particular product doesn't appear to have a 5Ghz antenna. Hopefully someone can try out the DWA-160. There aren't really a lot of reviews on these products, but this review indicates the DWA-160 gets pretty good performance in the 5Ghz band- more than twice as fast as in the 2.4Ghz band (which sounds a little suspicious).

And I'd like to echo hvymetal's question on the HD100. I don't really expect wireless to be supported on the HD100, but it would be nice to know more definitively one way or the other.

By the way, for anyone trying out 802.11n wireless, make sure your routers are configured to use WPA2-AES instead of WPA(1/2)-TKIP. AES encryption is actually faster than TKIP encryption now, as AES is almost always done in hardware, while TKIP is done in software on the host CPU. That wasn't always the case. In the early days of WPA-AES, the AES operations were often done in software, making it much slower than TKIP.

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by hvymetal

Will there ever be wireless support for the HD100?

The USB ports are currently not activated on the HD100 (not even sure they can be activitated). I certainly would not get my hopes up. There has been no mention of bringing wireless to the HD100 (HD200's ability to have wireless was mentioned on a Geek Tonic interview a month or so ago so it was known to be coming).

[Brent]

Originally Posted by hvymetal

Will there ever be wireless support for the HD100?

I seriously doubt it. I wonder if the USB ports on the HD100 can do anything even with a firmware change.

[Brent]

Originally Posted by reggie14

By the way, for anyone trying out 802.11n wireless, make sure your routers are configured to use WPA2-AES instead of WPA(1/2)-TKIP. AES encryption is actually faster than TKIP encryption now, as AES is almost always done in hardware, while TKIP is done in software on the host CPU. That wasn't always the case. In the early days of WPA-AES, the AES operations were often done in software, making it much slower than TKIP.

Great tip! I know next to nothing when it comes to that kind of stuff. I've been happily using my WRT54G with DD-WRT firmware for a long time, but have a wireless-N router I'm setting up for testing this new feature on the HD200s

[hvymetal]

Originally Posted by paulbeers

The USB ports are currently not activated on the HD100 (not even sure they can be activitated). I certainly would not get my hopes up. There has been no mention of bringing wireless to the HD100 (HD200's ability to have wireless was mentioned on a Geek Tonic interview a month or so ago so it was known to be coming).

Can't hurt to ask. Plus I just wonder. There had to be a reason why they put 2 usb port on the HD100. There is no reason you need two for just upgrading the firmware.

Any case right now I use 2 ddwrt-N capable router to make a wireless bridge (Netgear WNR834B). Total refurb cost for both routers was $48 dollars. It works great but it seams pointless if the extender could do it directly.

[matt91]

Originally Posted by Brent

Great tip! I know next to nothing when it comes to that kind of stuff. I've been happily using my WRT54G with DD-WRT firmware for a long time, but have a wireless-N router I'm setting up for testing this new feature on the HD200s

Are you going to put DD-WRT on it? I too use a WRT54G w/ DD-WRT and really like it. Would hate to have to get rid of it if I don't have to.

Which router are you getting?

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by matt91

Are you going to put DD-WRT on it? I too use a WRT54G w/ DD-WRT and really like it. Would hate to have to get rid of it if I don't have to.

DD-WRT does support some 802.11n routers. I'm using it on WRT150N.

In general, though, I'm concerned about the current state of the DD-WRT project and am less inclined to recommend it. The recent vulnerability in DD-WRT played a factor in that, but mostly I'm concerned about firmware releases. The developers fully acknowledge DD-WRT is buggy on Broadcom-based units (like the WRT54G), particularly in the most recent release version 2.4sp1. The alpha/beta/nightly versions are better, but they've been slow to do releases. I think the project may have ballooned to unmanageable levels, as they try to support more devices than they are reliably able to.

By the way, in case anyone missed it, the DD-WRT vulnerability is pretty nasty. Anyone running DD-WRT really needs to either add the firewall rule they posted on the DD-WRT website, or upgrade to one of the recent pre-release builds.

[hemicuda]

What about tomato?

Tomato f/w

It's fairly slick, but for my remote access purposes the WRT54G CPU is a little weak. Usually have to drop the VNC color depth to get decent refresh rates even on Cable-Cable links.

[Brent]

I've been thinking of trying tomato. But time hasn't permitted thus far. I hear good things about it.

My WRT54gs (I have 2) are getting a little long in the tooth, but they've served my home well considering.