Streaming content to media player via Wifi

[Nikkel]

Hey guys!

Not entirely sure if I'm posting in the right section...?

So my eldest daughter dropped my 3yr old WD 1tb media player of wanting to move it to her mom's room and its totally buggered! *sigh* and now the younger one has been moaning for the past week now to watch her favourite cartoons on there and doesn't even greet me at night when I get home after work... its just "daddy when you gona fix the media player!!!?"

So I got a bit of spare cash which was intended for something else and would just like to know from you guys that may have these items I'm planning to get, if it is worthwile instead of just buying another media player with hdd in it.

I'm looking at getting a WD TV Live media player and a D-Link DWA-547 Rangebooster

I've looked at other options lik a USB wifi extender but not entirely sure its gona cut it for streaming HD content so looking at getting above mentioned PCI Wifi adapter (cant get the PCI-E x1 card cos the dual slot gpu in my pc covers that lane as well)

All the TV's in the house is full HD but none of them with Lan ports nor smart TV's so will have to use hdmi via the player and the one furthest away from the PC is about 15meters

This is my 1st time venturing into streaming content via wifi and would just like to know will the above goodies be good enough for what I have in mind?

Two side notes:
I stay on the Cape Flats in Mitchell's Plain and the houses we have are built from blocks and not bricks and there's about two walls from pc to each tv in the house

I do have an MTN Uncapped Lite package that runs its course at the end of June and definately getting 2mb adsl line at the time the contract ends...?

Thanks guys!

 

[kayvee]

Parenting is tough, huh

Streaming HD via wifi is always bad news IMO, no matter what they tell you. How about running a wired network cable to the remote player?

 

[Nikkel]

Parenting is tough, huh

Streaming HD via wifi is always bad news IMO, no matter what they tell you. How about running a wired network cable to the remote player?

Ya... *sigh*... parenting lol!

I'm not to keen on the wired idea as the player moves around between three rooms; Mom's, wife's and kids' rooms...

My eldest daughter is 9yrs old and sorta love to fidgit with the electronic goodies (guess the apple didn't fall to far from the tree lol!) that had me change decoders twice in one room for braking off the middle pins on rca's in the inputs lol! and dont want her plugging and unplugging lan cables with that brittle clip on it...

As for the HD media, mainly I'm the one watching it as my family is not too fazed about HD quality movies and good AVI's normally does the trick for them cos the Mom and wife loves watching series' so the hd streaming will mainly happen when I'm in the mood to to stay in bed and watch a movie

I also have to get this sorted soon cos the kids is hogging the pc every night watching their fav cartoons in order for them to fall asleep and this cuts very deep into my gaming time

 

[cerebus]

I see a prime opportunity to bond with your kids.

 

[Nikkel]

I see a prime opportunity to bond with your kids.

Lol! very good point but at their age not until 10pm every night on school and creche nights! I do adore them very much and tend to spoil them rotten every 2nd weekend when I'm off and funny enough don't do any gaming on my off weekends, so squeezing it in at week nights and look like a zombie at work for 3days of the week

 

[DukeofHouse]

I'd recommend a Chromecast or 2 if you also have an Android/iPhone at home. Easy to pick up and use, and if the kids want to watch in the other room, they can just yank out the thing and stick it in another tv - your media collection will remain unscathed.

Install Plex on your PC for all local content and it will automatically transcode the video so you don't have to worry about the source.

It also sets you up nicely for something like Netflix once you get your ADSL line.

 

[MartyMarts]

The SD streams will be fine via wifi but HD will definitely be iffy. Well, depending on quality/size of course.

+1 to Plex - works like a charm.

 

[PsyWulf]

Android Media Sticks,some Homeplug networking,central media storage and done

 

[agentrfr]

Use. A. Wired. Connection. Wireless and HD streaming only work under ideal circumstances. Cat5 cable shouldn't cost you more than R3 per meter - and if it does - you sir, are being shafted.

The best thing to do is have some sort of centralised media server.

What we do is the following: I have a raspberry Pi set up as a FTP host with an external USB hard drive dock using a 4TB drive. The Pi is set to download shows, cartoons and movies automatically in the early mornings (1AM to 6AM) as they come out using Sickbeard and Couchpotato (there's an awesome guide on the forums here somewhere).

From there every video capable device in the house (Around 20 total computers, laptops and tablets) can stream the content from the Pi directly. I'm currently using XBMC on a rooted AppleTV on the main TV screen and it works great. All the tablets work too, so can easily watch the newest TopGear when going to bed.

The entire setup cost me R450 for the Pi, R1500 for the 4TB HDD from esquire and R200 for the dock. I can say with absolute certainty that this is the way forward if you have more than one device that needs to access the media.

Note: Setting up the Pi was quite involved - if you've never linuxed before, it will take you about an hour to read through all the guides - there are plenty available so don't worry.

 

[Nikkel]

Use. A. Wired. Connection. Wireless and HD streaming only work under ideal circumstances. Cat5 cable shouldn't cost you more than R3 per meter - and if it does - you sir, are being shafted.

The best thing to do is have some sort of centralised media server.

What we do is the following: I have a raspberry Pi set up as a FTP host with an external USB hard drive dock using a 4TB drive. The Pi is set to download shows, cartoons and movies automatically in the early mornings (1AM to 6AM) as they come out using Sickbeard and Couchpotato (there's an awesome guide on the forums here somewhere).

From there every video capable device in the house (Around 20 total computers, laptops and tablets) can stream the content from the Pi directly. I'm currently using XBMC on a rooted AppleTV on the main TV screen and it works great. All the tablets work too, so can easily watch the newest TopGear when going to bed.

The entire setup cost me R450 for the Pi, R1500 for the 4TB HDD from esquire and R200 for the dock. I can say with absolute certainty that this is the way forward if you have more than one device that needs to access the media.

Note: Setting up the Pi was quite involved - if you've never linuxed before, it will take you about an hour to read through all the guides - there are plenty available so don't worry.

WOW that's a mouthfull!

Anyway too extreme for me, just wanted a simple solution without having to buy another player with built in hdd...

I guess I'll have to stick watching the hd content on pc and maybe just look at streaming the standard stuff via wifi then.

Thanks for all you guys input though!

 

[PsyWulf]

Look,while it's *sometimes* possible to stream 720 and even more rarely 1080 over Wifi,9/10 times it's kark and a mega bust
I'm using Homeplug ethernet over power devices to link rooms and floors to my cabled network rather than cabling everywhere

 

[Nikkel]

Look,while it's *sometimes* possible to stream 720 and even more rarely 1080 over Wifi,9/10 times it's kark and a mega bust
I'm using Homeplug ethernet over power devices to link rooms and floors to my cabled network rather than cabling everywhere

That is what I'm not looking forward to lol!

Its already hd pvr plus secondary decoder's extraview cables being split up and running all over the place in the roof (DIY jobbie lol! so not as neat in the roof...) and dont still want Cat5 going the same route all over the place (had to get through some tight places in the roof with my bierpens and dont wana go through all that trouble again lmao!)

I think I'll give what I have in my 1st post a go and see where it goes from there and also really need the wifi connectivity in the house cos family got used to being connected all the time with the Huawei wifi dongle I got with the MTN Uncapped Lite package.

 

[PsyWulf]

That is what I'm not looking forward to lol!

Its already hd pvr plus secondary decoder's extraview cables being split up and running all over the place in the roof (DIY jobbie lol! so not as neat in the roof...) and dont still want Cat5 going the same route all over the place (had to get through some tight places in the roof with my bierpens and dont wana go through all that trouble again lmao!)

I think I'll give what I have in my 1st post a go and see where it goes from there and also really need the wifi connectivity in the house cos family got used to being connected all the time with the Huawei wifi dongle I got with the MTN Uncapped Lite package.

For about 1k you an get a homeplug Wifi repeater and an ethernet bridge like these
http://www.scoopdistribution.co.za/product_info.php/200m-powerline-ethernet-bridge-p-1355
http://www.scoopdistribution.co.za/product_info.php/200m-wireless-powerline-ethernet-bridge-p-1459

1st one bridges your cabled network to the power infrastructure. Second one you configure as a Wifi access point to bridge to the power lines. If it's same room it *should* give useable Wifi speed. I've done it with 720p videos (cba testing 1080 with the far side TV in my place only being a 720p TV )

 

[Nikkel]

For about 1k you an get a homeplug Wifi repeater and an ethernet bridge like these
http://www.scoopdistribution.co.za/product_info.php/200m-powerline-ethernet-bridge-p-1355
http://www.scoopdistribution.co.za/product_info.php/200m-wireless-powerline-ethernet-bridge-p-1459

1st one bridges your cabled network to the power infrastructure. Second one you configure as a Wifi access point to bridge to the power lines. If it's same room it *should* give useable Wifi speed. I've done it with 720p videos (cba testing 1080 with the far side TV in my place only being a 720p TV )

This looks very interesting...

But to get back to my 1st post, would running the wifi card in pc be a waste then?

Sorry if I sound a bit daft on the subject but this is my 1st time venturing into networking if you will, tho I *understand* the subject to an extent, I'm just not too clued up on all the goodies that can be used to make life easier for what I want to achieve...?

 

[PsyWulf]

Wifi card in the PC...are you planning on turning your PC into a wireless access point or do you have an existing permanent wireless network?

 

[dualmeister]

From what I have seen, WIFI 802.11AC can handle 1080p no problem.

It will cost though. My ideal setup would be a WIFI 802.11AC router streaming to a Core i3 based Intel NUC (running XBMC Media Centre) with a mini-PCIe WIFI 802.11AC card installed

 

[grok]

Use. A. Wired. Connection. Wireless and HD streaming only work under ideal circumstances. Cat5 cable shouldn't cost you more than R3 per meter - and if it does - you sir, are being shafted.

The best thing to do is have some sort of centralised media server.

What we do is the following: I have a raspberry Pi set up as a FTP host with an external USB hard drive dock using a 4TB drive. The Pi is set to download shows, cartoons and movies automatically in the early mornings (1AM to 6AM) as they come out using Sickbeard and Couchpotato (there's an awesome guide on the forums here somewhere).

From there every video capable device in the house (Around 20 total computers, laptops and tablets) can stream the content from the Pi directly. I'm currently using XBMC on a rooted AppleTV on the main TV screen and it works great. All the tablets work too, so can easily watch the newest TopGear when going to bed.

The entire setup cost me R450 for the Pi, R1500 for the 4TB HDD from esquire and R200 for the dock. I can say with absolute certainty that this is the way forward if you have more than one device that needs to access the media.

Note: Setting up the Pi was quite involved - if you've never linuxed before, it will take you about an hour to read through all the guides - there are plenty available so don't worry.

No wireless? You saying you connect all 20 devices through a lan cable?

 

[Nikkel]

Wifi card in the PC...are you planning on turning your PC into a wireless access point or do you have an existing permanent wireless network?

I dont have an existing permanent wireless network.

I've got the pc and a Huawei E585 dongle which is connected to pc via usb and can connect 5 users to wifi (via dongle) for the internet side of things.

Yes I would like to make to pc the wireless access point with the D-Link wifi card (link in 1st post) and then stream contents from there...?

Does it make viable sense? as also I don't want the clutter with routers and stuff... so was thinking seeing as wifi card has 2.4GHz (802.11b/G/Draft N), 300Mbps speeds which I know theoretically is 150Mbps up and 150Mbps down, Will this be enough for me to get by streaming content to the player ok with the furthest distance of about 15m away?

 

[agentrfr]

No wireless? You saying you connect all 20 devices through a lan cable?

No silly

The tablets and laptops use wireless, but have to play the SD or microHD video versions. The PCs and XBMC are wired to the home network in the roof (cables in the roof, not the computers lol). They do the 1080p videos.

 

[Nikkel]

Wifi card in the PC...are you planning on turning your PC into a wireless access point or do you have an existing permanent wireless network?

What are the pro's and cons of making your pc the wireless access point?