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So I am in the process of pre planning my unRAID server and HTPC build. I am fairly new to all of this including networking. Currently, I have comcast internet which is located on the first floor. I have a wireless router connected to the modem which provides a wireless network throughout the house. I have my main workstation PC (which is also downstairs) connected into one of the ethernet jacks on the back of the wireless router.
Ideally, I know that the unRAID server and HTPC needs to be hardwired to the router. I have a couple of problems. 1. my house is not prewired with cat5/6 etc. 2. my HTPC will be on the second floor in a bedroom.
I am pretty sure I can plug the unRAID server into the back of the wireless router near my main desktop PC. My problem is how would I get the unRAID server (first floor) to connect to my HTPC (second floor)? Would a wireless bridge resolve my issues? Or something like power line adapters? Running an additional line from the first floor where my router is to the second floor is definitely not a possibility (WAF). Also, how do you guys have your unRAID servers communicating with your HTPC? Thanks in advance.
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T800
Posting Freak
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What sort of content are you wanting to stream? If it's blu-ray (40GB) movies then wireless has no chance. If it's 720p it should be fine.
Is there anyway you could have the server hidden somewhere on the second floor and wire it to the HTPC?
Powerline adapters can work quite well in the right situation.
When you say how do we have them communicating what do you mean?
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Your best plan of action is to start with the wireless:
Option 1:
Hook the unraid server to your router hardwired downstairs and let then connect HTPC through the wireless network upstairs. Depending on the signal quality upstairs, and the content you are streaming, you may or may not have issues with this option. More than likely though you will. I would still try out xbmc for a while, if it causes you issues then proceed to next option.
Option 2:
As GortWillSaveUs suggested I would try the powerline adapters next. They work most of the time. I have heard of some people having issues depending on how the house was wired. So it is one of those try and see if works things. Essentially it is two wall plugs. you plug them into an outlet, and then one will connect to the router, and the other will connect to the HTPC. Again try XBMC out, and if it does not work, then proceed to next option.
Option 3:
A third option is to by a second router and place it upstairs. It can be a pain but you can bridge the two routers to create a single network. This will probably highly depend on the brand and model of your existing router. Most people reccomend by two identical routers to make this easier to setup. If you go this route you would bridge the router that is upstairs with the one downstairs. Then hardwire the HTPC and unraid server to the upstairs router. If you can get this setup, it will work, but like I said it can be difficult (or at least it was a few years ago when I tried to do it at my old house).
Option 4:
You last option is to run Ethernet cable from the upstairs HTPC to where your router is located and leaving the unraid server by the router. If you are not comfortable doing it, you may want to get a price from someone just to see how much they would charge you for it. In my experience running new wires is not hard, it is just time consuming and can be frustrating depending on the layout you are working with. All you usually need is a fish tape in most cases (I think mine was like $30 at home depot).
As far as what I use, well I have ran Cat6 through out my house, with drops all over the place. I decided I had enough devices that it was worth the one time effort to do it and forget about it. I don't have to tinker with wireless settings, or worry about the network speed when I am troubleshooting something. Plus with gigabit running through the house I can copy files around my boxes pretty quick. So it was right for me. I skipped the WAF by not asking and just doing it (easier to ask for forgiveness), but now she uses XBMC all the time, probably more than me and loves it. She hardly used it before because it would be buffering and what not.
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2012-06-07, 17:01
(This post was last modified: 2012-06-07, 17:02 by Dougie Fresh.)
How new/old is your house? If you have a phone jack in your bedroom, unscrew the plate from the wall and see if they used Cat5e or similar to wire your phone. In my house, built in 2002, they used Cat5e to wire the phones using just two of the wires. It was a matter of replacing the phone jack with Cat5e jacks and then going down the basement and rewiring the other end.
I know it sounds weird but since they wired both ethernet and phones, it was less expensive for them to just buy Cat5e for everything instead of Cat5e and Cat3 for the phones.
You never know...
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A 300mbps wireless router and a 300mbps adapter is letting me stream full bluray rips pretty easily to the 2nd floor of my house.
Main HTPC:
Intel e4600 + AMD HD5450 + Antec NSK2480B case + 4gb ddr2 + Earthwatts 430 + 1.5tb Seagate 7200 + XBMC Rapier Qualar Mod Skin + Win7
Office HTPC/Ripper/Server:
AMD x4 635 + GT220 + Antec 300 case + 4gbddr3 + OCZ ModXStream 500 psu + 3x2tb WD green drives + Win7
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Thanks Jschoen. I just checked and while I believe I have Cat5 wiring in the walls, there are no jacks in the vicinity of my HTPC (just my luck!). It seems like either a wireless bridge or powerline adapters will have to do.
I will definitely try the powerline adapters. it is to my understanding that one adapter would be plugged into the wall near my wireless router on the first floor. I would then take an ethernet cable and run it from the back of my router to the bottom of the adapter (ethernet jack). I would then plug the additional adapter on the second from near my HTPC.
My only concern with this setup is that I would need to connect multiple devices to the adapter that is upstairs (i.e. Receiver, HTPC, PS3 etc.). How would I do this?
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2012-06-07, 19:57
(This post was last modified: 2012-06-07, 20:02 by waver123.)
Since your htpc is in a bedroom, I presume there's a cable coax output there? If it's I would suggest go with the moca route get two used actiontec MI424 from ebay and use them as dumb moca adapters to hookup your main server downstairs with your bedroom htpc.
It there's no coax I will go powerline and then wireless as last resort.
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If you are going to do wireless, do 5Ghz N.