England
Hi,
I'm not sure of this is in the correct section or not, so mods please move if you feel the need.
Whilst this post appears long winded it is an outline of my current endeavours to get a good MP server/client setup. It may help others who are trying to attempt the same thing. Please note that whilst PC's are not my particular field of expertise, I do, sort of, know my way around them, but I do not claim to be an expert by any means.
As my TV PC seems to be working well now - (except for when GF gets her hands on the remote!
) I am now looking to start streaming to different rooms. I would ultimately like to get something like the Giada N20 and use it as a 'portable' unit with the HDMI output feeding into the TV in whichever room it is located. Before I can justify this cost, I need to get MP working well as a server/client setup.
I am certainly no 'expert' on networking, and in order to gain some experience with MP as a client I have started to use my HP laptop to get familiar with the set-up process. By way of background info, the laptop is really a HP business machine. It has an Intel core duo 1.83Ghz processor with an Intel 945 Express display adapter and 2Gb of RAM. The laptop screen resolution is 1280 x 800. I have played back recorded broadcasts from BBC HD (1440 x 1080 - dropping about 8% frames) and also ITV HD (1920 x 1080 - dropping about 18% of frames with CPU running at about 80% and 45% of RAM used with full HD) This was done directly from the HDD. Whilst there are dropped frames, bear in mind it is a laptop and is being used for me to gain experience; I was quite surprised really as the full HD wasn't that bad at all - it was certainly watchable. SD recorded broadcasts play fine from the HDD.
After satisfying myself about the capabilities of the laptop, I decided to stream from the server. Hmmmm.....Not good! I get pixelation on TV streaming on SD channels and HD channels are absolutely "no go". What I find odd is that recorded SD plays so much better than live SD channels. Recorded HD is also a 'no-go' area. This is clearly down to my network setup - I have a 'N'-type wireless router and the TV PC is using an 'N' type wireless adapter - although I cannot get the two to connect at anything higher than 54mbps - by God, I have tried! The 'test' laptop is only wifi 'G' rated and seems to connect at 54Mbps - the true rate would be much less I presume. In my neighbourhood there are other wireless networks - the pub next door now seems to offer its customers wi-fi, they use wi-fi for their chip&pin terminals, and my neighbours also have various wi-fi connections; these all show up in the "wireless connections available" screen, so I would expect interference to be quite high which would slow down the media stream. Although, I do get a great signal throughout my house and garden from my router.
It is clear that I am going to have to get rid of wireless networking to get my set-up running smoothly. The TVPC has a Gigabit Ethernet on-board, as has my laptop (and the GF's laptop too). So I could 'theoretically' lay network cables around the house in order to get higher speeds, but I would have to feed a minimum of 7 rooms over three floors and the GF would not be happy at the disruption. Also, these would have to go through the existing router which only does 10/100 Ethernet speeds, and the router only has 2 out of 4 Ethernet connections available. I really don't want to get another router - this is now my fifth in seven years and has performed the best out of them all - if it ain't broke...etc,etc
I now seem to be at a dead end - I can't get the speed to stream wirelessly using my existing equipment, and don't see hard-wired LAN cabling as a good alternative either as it doesn't really have the flexibility of moving from room to room/garden and the cost of upgrading my equipment to do so would be prohibitive.
Is there a flexible way of achieving sufficient network speeds for SD and HD that doesn't require me to pull the house apart and also won't break the bank??
Many thanks for your time.
M.
I'm not sure of this is in the correct section or not, so mods please move if you feel the need.
Whilst this post appears long winded it is an outline of my current endeavours to get a good MP server/client setup. It may help others who are trying to attempt the same thing. Please note that whilst PC's are not my particular field of expertise, I do, sort of, know my way around them, but I do not claim to be an expert by any means.
As my TV PC seems to be working well now - (except for when GF gets her hands on the remote!
) I am now looking to start streaming to different rooms. I would ultimately like to get something like the Giada N20 and use it as a 'portable' unit with the HDMI output feeding into the TV in whichever room it is located. Before I can justify this cost, I need to get MP working well as a server/client setup.I am certainly no 'expert' on networking, and in order to gain some experience with MP as a client I have started to use my HP laptop to get familiar with the set-up process. By way of background info, the laptop is really a HP business machine. It has an Intel core duo 1.83Ghz processor with an Intel 945 Express display adapter and 2Gb of RAM. The laptop screen resolution is 1280 x 800. I have played back recorded broadcasts from BBC HD (1440 x 1080 - dropping about 8% frames) and also ITV HD (1920 x 1080 - dropping about 18% of frames with CPU running at about 80% and 45% of RAM used with full HD) This was done directly from the HDD. Whilst there are dropped frames, bear in mind it is a laptop and is being used for me to gain experience; I was quite surprised really as the full HD wasn't that bad at all - it was certainly watchable. SD recorded broadcasts play fine from the HDD.
After satisfying myself about the capabilities of the laptop, I decided to stream from the server. Hmmmm.....Not good! I get pixelation on TV streaming on SD channels and HD channels are absolutely "no go". What I find odd is that recorded SD plays so much better than live SD channels.
Recorded HD is also a 'no-go' area. This is clearly down to my network setup - I have a 'N'-type wireless router and the TV PC is using an 'N' type wireless adapter - although I cannot get the two to connect at anything higher than 54mbps - by God, I have tried! The 'test' laptop is only wifi 'G' rated and seems to connect at 54Mbps - the true rate would be much less I presume. In my neighbourhood there are other wireless networks - the pub next door now seems to offer its customers wi-fi, they use wi-fi for their chip&pin terminals, and my neighbours also have various wi-fi connections; these all show up in the "wireless connections available" screen, so I would expect interference to be quite high which would slow down the media stream. Although, I do get a great signal throughout my house and garden from my router.It is clear that I am going to have to get rid of wireless networking to get my set-up running smoothly. The TVPC has a Gigabit Ethernet on-board, as has my laptop (and the GF's laptop too). So I could 'theoretically' lay network cables around the house in order to get higher speeds, but I would have to feed a minimum of 7 rooms over three floors and the GF would not be happy at the disruption. Also, these would have to go through the existing router which only does 10/100 Ethernet speeds, and the router only has 2 out of 4 Ethernet connections available. I really don't want to get another router - this is now my fifth in seven years and has performed the best out of them all - if it ain't broke...etc,etc
I now seem to be at a dead end - I can't get the speed to stream wirelessly using my existing equipment, and don't see hard-wired LAN cabling as a good alternative either as it doesn't really have the flexibility of moving from room to room/garden and the cost of upgrading my equipment to do so would be prohibitive.
Is there a flexible way of achieving sufficient network speeds for SD and HD that doesn't require me to pull the house apart and also won't break the bank??
Many thanks for your time.
M.
