Re: Wiring a home network? Sound like your going down my trail of tears. In search of a better and cheaper entertainment option I tried the streaming TV option and failed and the HDHomeRun and failed. I probably will sell the box since Comcast hit me with a surprise $10 monthly fee on their "free to use" cable card. It's probably already cost me $90 in fees and I haven't used it in months. My first world problems suck.
Re: Wiring a home network? I have been getting by with a Slingbox streaming from my parents place. I can use my HTPC to play it in a browser, desktop app, or my personal favorite is using the mobile app to send the stream to Chromecast. The only thing keeping Slingbox from GoAT is that it requires it's own DVR at the source, and per instance hardware. If I want to cover 3 TVs I would have to setup 3 DVRs and Slingboxes at my parents place... You might want to give it a shot yourself. If you have a DVR in the family room that goes unused, you can stream that content anywhere else for cheapness. Slingbox quality is top notch. Edit: Now that I think about it, it would be incredibly unlikely for more than 1 TV to be in use. Fuck it, I'll stick with my Slingbox.
Re: Wiring a home network? Hmm. Actually when I think about it the Slingbox might work. I didn't like the idea at first because it ties up the main TV but maybe that's not an issue. I was checking reviews and it seems that people are now raging because last month Slingbox started inserting adds in all the streams. The adds shrink the screen size and don't go away. That's pretty crappy when you buy a $200+ device.
Re: Wiring a home network? Goddamnit... can't catch a break with this shit. My Slingbox has been MIA since my parents basement flooded, so I can't confirm. Slingbox used to be a direct connection to the device over the internet, the company was irrelevant. A few years ago they switched to central server authentication, and your service was tied to their ability to stay in business. With that change I knew they were up to no good and shenanigans would be incoming... Ads seems to be limited to the 'free' browser and desktop apps. The paid mobile app (that pairs with Chromecast) has no ads. They also go away in full screen, not sure why anybody wouldn't be watching in full screen to begin with. But still shitty change to make.
Re: Wiring a home network? I lost my TV remote once so I bought another. Then I lost that remote and I bought third. But then I found the second remote and now I have two remotes. I'm not sure how that makes me feel. On one hand I have two remotes which is pretty cool but on the other hand I don't need two remotes.
Re: Wiring a home network? What about power over ethernet? That's what I bought, I went for 600Mb/s ones with power pass through (so you don't lose a port) and get actual speeds of 270 - 350mb (the shorter distance one to my computer is around 50mb/s faster). I bought two kits, and yes, they are expensive, but cheaper with less hassles than a high end router plus receivers (for desktop, and tv/consoles that only support n speeds). I run one to my desktop and one to my media room which connects to a switch serving my TV/PS4/3. Using a cheap n class router I could only stream video files under 1.5GB/hr and still had consistency issues. No problems what so ever with EoP, I've streamed files of quality up to 3GB/hr with no transcoding. Unfortunately I have 1 spare that I am not using since the brand I bought did not offer single unit upgrades, only pairs. N wireless is reserved for phones and my gf's laptop which remains stationary one room over from the router anyway so she has no speed issues.
Re: Wiring a home network? Doh! Wish you posted this last week... I think Bfun mentioned those before but I totally forgot. I will probably shoot for this after my cable run fiasco this weekend. That project is DOA, I already made a big hole in my router room, so I'm gonna run it one room over and start a drywall repair project. FML.
Re: Wiring a home network? I just assumed that everyone knew about power line adapters these days. They are quite cheap too but of course you need to make sure your home is up to spec. An old place with a bad earth or no earth would be no good. Think Fusion made a mistake there too, Power over Ethernet (PoE) is something very different, guess he just got it the wrong way round. You can easily use power line adapters and put switches either end but just bare in mind you are not gonna get a 1Gbps link between the switches, probably 300Mbps at best so you won't get as much performance if you run loads of stuff from the second switch as you only have that 300Mbps link back to the first one.
Re: Wiring a home network? Jeebus, just use 802.11ac WiFi. You should be able to get 1.7 to 2.5 Gbps transfer rates in real world scenarios. Doesn't matter if you've got a two story house etc. EDIT: 1.7 to 2.5 Gbps would be the link speed. Transfer rates would be in the hundreds of Mbps. That's still easily enough for HD streaming, which requires something like 40-50 Mbps.
Re: Wiring a home network? Ah. I had no idea what he was talking about with the PoE kit. Yeah those Ethernet over power lines are pretty iffy. Real world results aren’t usually as good as advertised. They have their purposes but if you are going to take the time to do it right, like you are, don’t use them. And alterego is right. Wireless really the best way to go unless you have specific reason not to. Reason such as security, budget, or environmental factors. Run Ethernet to your server and wireless everywhere else. Wireless can be as good as Ethernet if you put the money into it.
Re: Wiring a home network? I rigged a makeshift setup to test my stuff. Wireless worked waaaay better than I expected... a lot better than my apartment. Maybe dozens of overlapping signals in an apartment building causes problems? I was getting 50Mb (max) wired, and ~35Mb wireless 2 floors down. My apartment is also 50Mb max but drops to ~18Mb one room over, so I was estimating accordingly for a bigger place.
Re: Wiring a home network? To show an example of modern wifi (802.11ac) on a high end router (netgear nighthawk r8000) this is my connection on my phone (samsung galaxy note edge) upstairs furthest away from the router which is downstairs.
Re: Wiring a home network? Ah, I was just doing bandwidth speedtests to the internet. Will have to check my WiFi connection screen later... I have the Asus RT66AC, which was top of the line at one point.
Re: Wiring a home network? So, does the 500+Mb link state mean, you get your full internet speeds off of WiFi? I'm definitely loosing about 15Mb between floors on the Ookla tests, but I didn't check this link state speed.
Re: Wiring a home network? Well considering I'm on the uverse 12Mbps package, I have no way to test since even 802.11g would be fine for me in this case.
Re: Wiring a home network? You should have a way to check your wireless speed between the router and your PC. Right now I'm getting 216.7Mbps on Wireless N and I'm on a different floor than my router. Absolutely. Cordless phones and Bluetooth devices are also bad. BTW if you want to compare network equipment this site is really awesome. You get more info here that anywhere else. http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/tools/charts/router/view
Re: Wiring a home network? Sears has the slingbox M1 for $70 and the 500 for $150. I ordered the M1. Good enough? I have component on the TV and cable box. http://www.sears.com/sling-media-slingbox-174-m1/p-05737838000P?sid=IAx20050830x000545&aff=Y&PID=1225267&AID=11034749 http://www.sears.com/slingbox-500/p-05740593000P?sid=IAx20050830x000545&aff=Y&PID=1225267&AID=11034749