[azula]

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.

[T800]

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?

[GortWillSaveUs]

I was in the same exact situation you are in.

Take a look at this post from my build thread where I talk about solving this problem: http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid...pid1111518

I tried wireless with some success,..but eventually tried the ZyXEL PLA401v3 HomePlug AV 200 Mbps Powerline Wall-plug Adapter (Starter Kit - 2 units) with HUGE success. All I can say is,...IT WORKS!

[jschoen]

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.

[T800]

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.

Yeah stuff like wiring just get on with it. The grief you get will be nothing compared to being dogged by buffering screens and nagging that your set up isn't working very well.

[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...

[Mallet21]

A 300mbps wireless router and a 300mbps adapter is letting me stream full bluray rips pretty easily to the 2nd floor of my house.

[jschoen]

A 300mbps wireless router and a 300mbps adapter is letting me stream full bluray rips pretty easily to the 2nd floor of my house.

Yeah wireless is hit and miss though. Every house is different and different things cause interference. Since that is probably the cheapest solution that is why I suggested trying it first and seeing how it goes. It also adds another layer of troubleshooting when something does go wrong. Wired is just more reliable in my experience.

[azula]

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?

I would like to rip movies with my HTPC into mkv. files and send them to my unRAID server. Then, I would like to watch those movies on my HTPC. I could definitely move the modem and router onto the second floor. Then I could just make the bottom floor wireless. Definitely an option!

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...

My house was constructed in 2006 so it is newer. I will look into this option too. Could you elaborate on what you meant by "rewiring the other end"?

---

A 300mbps wireless router and a 300mbps adapter is letting me stream full bluray rips pretty easily to the 2nd floor of my house.

Yeah wireless is hit and miss though. Every house is different and different things cause interference. Since that is probably the cheapest solution that is why I suggested trying it first and seeing how it goes. It also adds another layer of troubleshooting when something does go wrong. Wired is just more reliable in my experience.

I'm thinking I will have my internet service provider to install a jack on the second floor where the HTPC will be. I will then connect a wireless router to the modem. Then I will just keep my unRAID server on the second floor and plug both the HTPC and unRAID into the back of the router. The only thing I need a hardwired connection for downstairs is my Directv box. Not as important though.

[jschoen]

My house was constructed in 2006 so it is newer. I will look into this option too. Could you elaborate on what you meant by "rewiring the other end"?

Telephones in houses are typically ran using Cat3 or Ca5 cables. They are both have 4 twisted pairs (8 wires), and from my understanding the main physical difference is that Cat5 is a slightly larger wire. Cat3 is rated for 10mbit, and Cat5 is 100mbit. At some point in time they the price difference between Cat3 and Cat5 became negligable, and people started using Cat5 for telephone also. The only difference between a telephone and network outlet is the plug. Telephone is RJ-11 and network is RJ-45.

So if when your house was built they used Cat5 you can take the wall plate off and replace the RJ-11 with a RJ-45 outlet. You would need to do this on both ends. You may need to be creative, as I have seen telephone lines in houses ran in different configurations. Some run all lines back to a single spot or box in the house. Some run all lines to the outside service box on the house. Some a single line that snaking through all the telephone outlets in the house. So basically you need to find what type of wire they ran, and then determine where it runs to.

Edit:

The only thing I need a hardwired connection for downstairs is my Directv box. Not as important though.

And for the DirectTV going wireless might not be that big of a deal. Most of those boxes will let you plug a usb wireless adapter into the back to get on your wireless network. Not sure what DirectTV does over the internet, but wireless might be enough for it.

[azula]

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?

[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.

[jschoen]

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?

All you would need is a network switch. You would go from the adapter you have plugged in upstairs to the network switch, and then from the switch to each device. I have several 8-port Netgear Gigabit switches in my house, and they work great. But you do not gigabit. If you have 4 or less devices you could Netgear FS105 5-port switch for $20 right now or if you need more ports you can get the Netgear FS1108 8-port switch for $42 dollars.

If you want to go the Gigabit Switch rout there are to much more, the Netgear GS108 8-port is $58.

[poofyhairguy]

If you are going to do wireless, do 5Ghz N.

[Dougie Fresh]

If you do have the Cat5 I would take advantage of it. I rewired all the phone outlets in my house to RJ45 jacks and made the phone wireless. I was lucky that they all came into a box in the basement so I just untangled everything and ran the "other end" into a patch panel. I used these Cat5e toolless jacks for the room jacks:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/produc...1&format=2

I used them on the "other end" as well and then snapped the jacks into a blank panel. If you're willing to learn you could also use a Cat5e punchdown panel as well or wire a plug on the other end and go directly into the network switch or router in the basement. I have a big 16-port switch in the basement and in the rooms if needed just 5-port desktop switches or direct connection from the wall jack to the PC.

If I can do it you can do it. I learned it all myself. It's intimidating but easier than it seems once you get your hands dirty and screw up the first few .