Looking for 1080p Streaming Solution

[mgunner76]

I currently have a really old WRT54G router with two WD TV Streaming Media Player's each with a HDD connected via wifi. Currently I do not have enough bandwidth to stream larger files (1080p) from one box to the other. The Router is currently located between the two locations, no more than 15 feet apart, but the second location is on a different floor of the home.

I want to set it up so that I can effortlessly stream extremely high bit rate films between each location. Wireless N (WD TV live only does 2.4ghz) from what I gather still might not be flawless streaming. The first location could be wired directly to a new router, but the second will only stream. The second location also includes a PS3 and Slingbox For what it's worth.

I have considered a RT-AC66U but I wouldn't be able to take advantage of the increased speed so I'll be limited to a mix G/N. However, if I get the AC router and wire to the first location and use a bridge for the second location and wire directly from all my devices to the bridge, will I be able to take full advantage of the AC technology and have no issues streaming?

Other than physically running Cat 6 throughout my house, is there a better solution that would work?

[squigish]

I'd love to help, but I'm a little confused about what you said. Could you please clarify? To help me easily understand your response, please quote sections of my post in your reply, as I am doing below.

Originally Posted by mgunner76

I currently have a really old WRT54G router with two WD TV Streaming Media Player's each with a HDD connected via wifi. Currently I do not have enough bandwidth to stream larger files (1080p) from one box to the other. The Router is currently located between the two locations, no more than 15 feet apart, but the second location is on a different floor of the home.

It sounds like you have three locations, not two. Location A has the current WRT54G, and presumably a computer, Location B is 15 feet away from location A and has the WD TV and other wireless media devices, and location C is far away and on a different floor, with the other WD TV. Is that right?

Originally Posted by mgunner76

The first location could be wired directly to a new router, but the second will only stream.

Using the locations I described above, are you saying that location B could be wired to the router at location A, but C can only be reached wirelessly?

Originally Posted by mgunner76

However, if I get the AC router and wire to the first location and use a bridge for the second location and wire directly from all my devices to the bridge, will I be able to take full advantage of the AC technology and have no issues streaming?

I would advise you to stay away from wireless ac for at least the next 9-12 months. Even once the technology is fully developed, while it may give you a great connection between locations A and B 15 feet apart, 802.11ac is only a 5GHz standard, and the 5GHz band is more easily blocked by obstacles than 2.5GHz (because of physics), so it has less range. There are several articles on this site that discuss this.

Originally Posted by mgunner76

Other than physically running Cat 6 throughout my house, is there a better solution that would work?

Sure. There are lots of ways to do wired networking using the existing wiring in your house. The only one I have experience with is Powerline networking, but I believe you can use phone lines or coaxial cable (i.e. cable/satellite TV wires) as well. In most cases, a wired connection (of any kind) is more stable than a wireless connection. Which one you pick depends on what wires are in your walls at the various locations.

As far as potential solutions, I see two options so far:

One option would be to get a new router for location A, move your WRT54G to location C, and connect them with a wired network using the existing wiring. Then you can set up the WRT54G to broadcast on a nonoverlapping channel from the new router, (use any 2 of channels 1, 6 and 11) and you get the advantage of greater wifi coverage in the more distant parts of the house. If you still have trouble with the connection between locations A and B, the problem may be with the wifi antennas in your media devices. You could either get a cheap 4-port ethernet switch and connect them with an ethernet cable,
or get another router with multiple antennas and use that as a client bridge.

Another option is getting a directional antenna (newegg.com has several) for your new router in location A, and pointing it at location C. In this case, you will want a 3-stream, 900N router, with detachable antennas. The ASUS RT-N66U would work well for that. By getting a 3-stream router, you can still keep 2 antennas on their default omni-directional antennas to use for the rest of the house.

[stevech]

Originally Posted by mgunner76

Other than physically running Cat 6 throughout my house, is there a better solution that would work?

COnsider using MoCA or HomePlug. Either should handle 1080p if you install it with the right guidelines (see the forum thread on those). And you won't be struggling to get WiFi to be reliable enough with your neighbors and you competing for air-time in WiFi.

[znil78]

Have a linksys ea6500 and have no problems streaming 1080p videos to my boxee box (bedroom, about 15-20mbps bitrate). No problems streaming full BD iso's to my boxee box in my HT connected to a wumc710 as well. Files are centrally located on my nas where anyone in my house could be accessing at any time, so far zero problems.