Home media network

rooi baard

rooi baard

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Hey dudes,

I'm trying to build a very simple media PC setup for home.
The idea is the following
1) Have a computer connected to my TV
2) Said computer can connect to internet via Wi-fi
3) Computer can access and stream via wi-fi media that is shared/made public on my wi-fi network

I've tried something similar in the past with streaming across my home wi-fi network and it appeared that it routed traffic between my 2 pc's through the internet (so it was painfully slow and thus impossible to watch stuff I had shared on the other PC). This is obviously something I'd like to avoid. I'm guessing I might need to instead purchase a wireless switch and connect my router to that, and have my PC's connect to the wireless switch?

Any architectures that will work with what I have in mind would be really appreciated.
 
I use my PS3 as the media player over WiFi. It works fine for series, but >720p movies stutter and lag.

My 2c: don't go WiFi. We're moving houses next year and I will modify the setup to make it wired.

You even get home theatre amps that have Ethernet connectivity and built-in DLNA :)
 
Technically, the wireless setups should work as a 1080p rip is around 15mbps, and the wireless speed exceeds that. The problem is signal quality though, which then degrades the speed. So if you have a reasonably clear path (no walls, big metal objects etc) in the path you should (maybe, possibly, probably not) be good.

In other words, wired connections ftw
 
Yo dudes,
shot for the responses...wired options will suck though. we're leasing, so not in a position to do very much to hide the wires so as to get them out of the way. Will check out that media PC guide thing - thanks!

Signal strength should be fairly good as it will be sitting in direct LoS of the router. other PC's not so close though...
 
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My DLNA tv has been more problems than success, and tv needs to be faultless(I don't want to fuss every time I just want to watch something)

Right now I'm just using a media player.

The ps3 streaming over wifi is also not good enough for HD content and it is fairly hard on your pc streaming the media(over a fixed gigabit network it does stream properly).

But I'm struggling to find a good solution where you have multiple HDMI input and output devices that can all connect to each other, never mind what these types of things cost.
 
dudesweet said:
Yo dudes,
shot for the responses...wired options will suck though. we're leasing, so not in a position to do very much to hide the wires so as to get them out of the way. Will check out that media PC guide thing - thanks!

Signal strength should be fairly good as it will be sitting in direct LoS of the router. other PC's not so close though...
Click to expand...

Move the other PC or get a better wireless card for it. One with a small gain antenna will probably help but is still not guaranteed to work!

If you're renting the best option is power-line plugs (A.K.A- Ethernet over power / Home plug)- still not a great solution though, expensive for what they are and can be a hassle too!
 
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Well... There is another option for a wired setup which isn't very hard to do. I use to stream wirelessly to my ps3 from pc to my room and got about 40% reception. Was slow as hell and annoying.

Decided to get Ethernet over power adapters where you plug in the adapter to a socket near your router, connect ethernet cable from router to adapter, and voila... Your house's power cables will run your network just like it would be with wifi, but you get the same speed as a wired setup.

Connected another adapter to my room socket to my wd tv live media player and I get full speed easy fast streaming
 
Agree with the comments that the wireless connection can stutter sometimes. This can also happen on standard definition movies if there is interference. I found that using an external bridge with a couple of antennae then plugged into the HTPC helped a lot (still not perfect though). The best solution was to use a drive in the HTPC as the backup for the media on the other PC's and to play off that.

I was thinking of ethernet over power, but would need this to run through the surge protector and UPS on the server. Has anyone who uses this type of ethernet tried running it through all that sort of stuff?
 
+1 on cable, definitely sorted out my issues at home. tried wireless and it sucked. then took a weekend and pulled points all over my house. was not to expensive and all my problems are gone, now I just need a 1000 base switch and life will be pretty good.
 
garyc said:
I was thinking of ethernet over power, but would need this to run through the surge protector and UPS on the server. Has anyone who uses this type of ethernet tried running it through all that sort of stuff?
Click to expand...
Doesn't work as well through power strips, so I assume a UPS and surge protector would be a no no. Best would be to have it plugged directly into the socket!
 
My suggestion would have been go for a Seagate Freeagent Theater HD - Media Player Center (R1,100)
http://www.takealot.com/electronics/seagate-freeagent-theater-hd-media-player-center,9305082
and LAN cable (tidying wires is actually really straight forward), also Seagate do a wi-fi compatible version if I'm not mistaken.

Best part is this functions exactly like a DVD/Bluray player except it accesses your Network drive instead of a disc and can play almost anything (no need to put up a whole pc) . What it can't play you just recode with something like Freecoder and your set.

Simple, cheap, awesome
 
Charrgrill said:
My suggestion would have been go for a Seagate Freeagent Theater HD - Media Player Center (R1,100)
http://www.takealot.com/electronics/seagate-freeagent-theater-hd-media-player-center,9305082
and LAN cable (tidying wires is actually really straight forward), also Seagate do a wi-fi compatible version if I'm not mistaken.

Best part is this functions exactly like a DVD/Bluray player except it accesses your Network drive instead of a disc and can play almost anything (no need to put up a whole pc) . What it can't play you just recode with something like Freecoder and your set.

Simple, cheap, awesome
Click to expand...

The OP's renting thus Cabling isn't really an option
 
Fiza said:
there's a media player with wifi capabilities. wouldn't that work?
Click to expand...

Yes if the signal strength was good enough at both the 'Server' and the Media Player.
Swapping the PC for a media player won't change anything there!

He needs to either improve the signal at both sides(server and Media Player/PC) or use Ethernet over power plugs at the Server and Media Player/PC.

Alternatively he could move the server so it's plugged directly into the AP/router( removing the second hop over Wi-Fi) if the signal is good in the TV room SD tv should stream fine.


Cabling would work with the least hassles but he can't hide the cabling as he's renting!
 
Looking at this i'm probably going to run with the HTPC solo option. So I'll use wi-fi to drop media from the PC's to the HTPC's hard drives...will mean doubling up on content (which might not be a bad thing considering how data loss is a real risk).
Thanks for all the input! Clearly this is a pretty hot topic amongst the technophiles =)
 
dudesweet said:
Looking at this i'm probably going to run with the HTPC solo option. So I'll use wi-fi to drop media from the PC's to the HTPC's hard drives...will mean doubling up on content (which might not be a bad thing considering how data loss is a real risk).
Thanks for all the input! Clearly this is a pretty hot topic amongst the technophiles =)
Click to expand...

If it were me I'd go for one of the HP micro servers with XBMC loaded. Mirror the drive with all of you videos on your server to it. Would work like a charm.

Sent from my HTC click using MyBroadband Android App
 
What about Ethernet over power line?

Edit: see SomeoneEls already suggested it...
 
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What OS is the computer connected to the TV using and are the shared media on multiple PC's or one one PC?
 
Yo Hazard,
Haven't bought the TV's PC yet. Read the guide you posted and think I'll do XBMC, but I know I'm going to also want to have web browsing capabilities (to get vids off youtube and other online vid hosts), so will probably drop Ubuntu onto it and have XBMC there as well, or W7. whichever is less resource hungry...
Had a search but didn't see any plugins that would add reliable web browsing into a barebones XBMC (ie one on a PC with no OS).
 
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