Network 1080p media streaming

Is it possible to setup my network so that I can stream 1080p full-HD content to my laptop from my server?

I have it setup so that my server connects to the router via ethernet cable and laptop via Wireless G.

I also have a "Media PC" that I and my family use for watching TV and what not on the main floor that is also connected to the router via WiFi.

The router is on the 2nd floor.

 

No, it is not possible to reliably stream 1080p over G. Even if you heavily compress the video (ruining the point of 1080p), enable afterburner, and allow only one computer to be streaming at once, it might still drop or stutter. A solid 802.11g connection offers about 15-25Mbps.

802.11n might provide enough bandwidth, but it's highly dependent on distance and environment. The best solution would be to run ethernet wiring for a pretty much bulletproof connection.

 

well it is kinda hard to go through the floors with the cable and I do have a DIR 615 ABGN router and N on my laptop.

Question is how would I go about configuring it for optimal performance?

 

Why is it connected in G mode if your have a N router & wifi card?

You can use QoS to prioritize the stream over others

 

Any of the D-Link DIR-6xx series with QoS = NO NO NO NO DADDY NO! - really bad things happen like constant dropped connections and incredibly slow performance.

As for the using G, it is because the only N devices in my house are my laptop and a Apple iMac...and when using N on my DIR-615, everything else that uses G (even if I do 802.11 G/N ONLY) will cease to work on the network and everythign running on G cannot see the wired computers or N computers. - This is a big problem since a lot of streaming happens in the house....

 

You might want to consider adding secondary wireless network, either in the same 2.4GHz band or 5GHz band, and have both wireless network technologies (G and N) running since the N is essential if you want to stream HD movies over wireless network. You can swap your current DIR615 with simultaneous dual band wireless router or just add a secondary wireless router/access point to accompany the current one.

My Dell Studio 17 laptop is able to play smoothly 1080p .mkv files located in WD My Book World Edition NAS over wireless N using the 5GHz band since my 2.4GHz band network is set for wireless G only.

 

Yes, it's entirely possible to play 1080P contents through wireless G. Blueray quality compressed h.264 video streams are only around 25mbps. In some situations, you will be able to get around 40~mbps actual bandwidth out of wireless G network. Since your server is connected through lan, it will reduce your steaming bandwidth. For normal 1080P content compressed around 10mbps will definetly be possible even with weak signals.

 

Dude, how are you able to get 25-40Mb/s throughput?

 

I'm getting 25-40mb/s throughtput not 25-40Mb/s. When I transfer files off NAS through wireless G, i get about 4Mb/s transfer speed. Somtimes more, sometimes less.

 

note:
MB - megabytes
Mb - megabits

 

you need "N", brah.

N-capable device in your laptop, N-capable router, N-capable device in "Media PC" (or ethernet connection).

G will just be too spotty and inconsistent. Been there done that.

 

mb=Mb

b=bits
B=byte

You mean 4MB/s instead of 4Mb/s, right? My wireless maxes out at 20Mb/s (2.5MB/s). Do you have afterburner enabled or something?

 

dave932932 and all,

I think the answer in post #2 is actually the best advice for the OP. Even if N is used, smooth playback of 1080p content is not guaranteed--the ideal solution is fast (or better) ethernet. if, however, it's not feasible to run cables, wireless n is probably worth a shot. 802.11g OTOH is almost certainly not fast enough for HD content, assuming a data rate that's close to a level typical of Blu-Ray. jackluo923's advice ITT is questionable at best.

 

right, it was a typo. I meant Mbit/s. My regular wireless G max out around 40Mbit/s or around 5Megabyte/s.

 

I've never seen such speeds for "G" network and I'm not the only one. Source.

 

My old G router only transferred files at a steady rate of 2.0MB/s (16mbps).

1080p fullHD videos have a bit rate of like 10-15mbps, so it is possible to stream it on G but with very little overhead. Id say possible with the help of QoS and Media Streaming features but unreliable.

Some 1080p videos with variable bit rate can peak up to 40mbps.

 

You're also talking about the uncompressed bitrate... would a decent solution be to just use a network share, and do the decompression on the display device? Then it just matters whether or not you can copy the movie file in less time than it'd take to play it. Most of my 1080p movies come in around 8-12GB. Think 802.11g can copy that in less than 2 hours?

 

A Blu-Ray can easily exceed 50Mbps during action scenes. I just watched "Up in the Air" (a movie with hardly any action scenes) and I frequently saw the video stream peaking at 40Mbps while the audio stream hovered around 3.6Mbps. (These numbers are taken from the "information" screen in PowerDVD 9.)

So G is certainly not good enough. N is worth a shot. But one has to take into account that wireless connections see occasional drops in bandwidth (due to interfering radio from other wireless networks, wireless phones, bluetooth, microwaves, other wireless devices on your local network, etc.) These drops in bandwidth often lead to stuttering or freezing video.

 

From Wikipedia:

Thus, the "higher than 50Mbps" I claimed in the previous post is probably relatively rare, given that the max is 54Mbps. But 40Mbps video plus 3-5Mpbs audio happens quite often. So 45Mbps net transfer rate is required for Blu-Ray.

 

Wireless G can carry enough info on a decent setup (not sure on Blueray).

It can, but barely.
You have no breathing room, if anything else runs (antivirus update, neighbor interference, microwave, etc...), you run the risk of interruption.

You don't need gigabit, but you do need N for a reliable setup. Forget Q.O.S., forget tricking things to not run. It's a waste of time and effort, there is always something that can cause an interruption.

 

Yes but thats raw bluray, you can compress it down.

 

My Two Cents:

I spent a LOT of time trying to get reliable playback to various wireless locations from a central recording computer recording HD using a variety of formats and hardwired to a couple of different routers that used 2.4 ghz N.

It was not until I got a good simultaneous dual band router (YMMV, but I used an Apple Airport Extreme) and used the 5ghz N side for viewing that I had anything like an enjoyable experience watching the recordings. The wireless connections I make that aren't for viewing stay off the 5 ghz channel.

I agree with the notion to 'not waste your time' on anything else.

 

At home I sometimes stream 720p .mkv files from my desktop to my Samsung BDP3600 blu ray player which uses a USB wifi dongle with b/g/n capacity. I use the 2Wire 2701HG-B modem, which is limited to 802.11g and often I have to pause the video to wait for it to buffer.

I'm upgrading to the Linksys WRT610N dual band router. Will I be able to use QoS to prioritize the stream to the BDP3600? Do I need to download some sort of third party application to do this or is it possible just using the settings page for the router?

 

Unless you are doing something significant, with a 610N you will likely not need to worry about QOS even.

 

Yes that router should have WMM mode (wifi multimedia) enabled by default in QoS. You should only worry about it if theres heavy traffic from other users.