Power Line Adapter or Wi-Fi ??
#16
Personally I would never trust HD video to WiFi, no matter how high the transfer speed gets, as don't want to risk dropouts which all WiFi will be more susceptible to.
Reply
#17
Another thing to think about - in both the wifi and powerline cases, as far as I'm aware, the bandwidth is shared between all devices attached to the network. I don't think either are point-to-point bandwidth, as would be the case in a proper switched Ethernet network. What this means is that if you're using eg. wi-fi heavily for streaming video, it's potentially going to make like unpleasant for anyone else attached to the network. For that reason, when I was going through the same decisions process, I went with powerline for Kodi network, and kept my wi-fi unpolluted for WAF reasons. Separate networks for separate purposes(*).

One other comment - as far as I'm aware in both cases the headline bandwidth is that of the underlying physical transport layer, and doesn't include overheads for error correction. I've seen it quoted that the correction overhead is about 100%, ie. you should halve the headline number before you even start dividing by other numbers to estimate the best-case TCP/IP bandwidth.

(*) in the end though, I got the drill out and installed CAT5E to the HTPCs where I care about video. My 200Mbps powerline adapters can't deliver >30Mbps "real" TCP/IP bandwidth over the wiring in my house, so I only use them to network to audio-only HTPCs. I understand that not everyone can drill holes in their property though.
Reply
#18
(2014-09-28, 13:37)twelvebore Wrote: Another thing to think about - in both the wifi and powerline cases, as far as I'm aware, the bandwidth is shared between all devices attached to the network. I don't think either are point-to-point bandwidth, as would be the case in a proper switched Ethernet network. What this means is that if you're using eg. wi-fi heavily for streaming video, it's potentially going to make like unpleasant for anyone else attached to the network. For that reason, when I was going through the same decisions process, I went with powerline for Kodi network, and kept my wi-fi unpolluted for WAF reasons. Separate networks for separate purposes(*).

Just to add that CAT5 is full duplex so able to send and receive simultaneously, while Powerline and WiFi (with a single radio) being based on a shared medium can only ever send or receive (half-duplex).

Like you, I use WiFi (5GHz 11n) for web browsing and light streaming on mobile devices, with the "heavy lifting" of HTPC streaming left to Powerline. No conflicts, no problems. I live in a fairly congested WiFi area (about 15 WiFi networks visible at any time) where reliable high-bit rate streaming over WiFi is nigh on impossible.
Texture Cache Maintenance Utility: Preload your texture cache for optimal UI performance. Remotely manage media libraries. Purge unused artwork to free up space. Find missing media. Configurable QA check to highlight metadata issues. Aid in diagnosis of library and cache related problems.
Reply
#19
The best 802.11ac wifi solutions are faster in max throughput than powerline at the moment.

However powerline is generally more stable and less succeptible to dropouts. Wifi is always switching channel, modes, channel width etc. to hop around interferece or to cater to legacy devices on your network. This can cause momentary dropouts as your network card switches to another mode and in my experience XBMC handles network dropouts very poorly.

Also, with powerline you're only dealing with ethernet drivers on your HTPC which tend to be more mature and stable especially in Linux.

MIMO homeplugs are hitting the shelves soon, or already on the shelves depending on where you live. They're advertised as 1200Mbps and 1800Mbps and use all three wires to create two line-pairs (instead of just the line-neutral pair used by previous homeplugs). Potentially we could see some good throughput improvements. The best 600Mbps units (technically AV2 SISO-500) can currently achieve maybe 100Mbps application layer throughput over short/medium distances so we might see 200Mbps plus, or even 300Mbps with the 1800Mbps units.
Reply
#20
(2014-09-28, 13:37)twelvebore Wrote: Another thing to think about - in both the wifi and powerline cases, as far as I'm aware, the bandwidth is shared between all devices attached to the network. I don't think either are point-to-point bandwidth, as would be the case in a proper switched Ethernet network. What this means is that if you're using eg. wi-fi heavily for streaming video, it's potentially going to make like unpleasant for anyone else attached to the network. For that reason, when I was going through the same decisions process, I went with powerline for Kodi network, and kept my wi-fi unpolluted for WAF reasons. Separate networks for separate purposes(*).

One other comment - as far as I'm aware in both cases the headline bandwidth is that of the underlying physical transport layer, and doesn't include overheads for error correction. I've seen it quoted that the correction overhead is about 100%, ie. you should halve the headline number before you even start dividing by other numbers to estimate the best-case TCP/IP bandwidth.

(*) in the end though, I got the drill out and installed CAT5E to the HTPCs where I care about video. My 200Mbps powerline adapters can't deliver >30Mbps "real" TCP/IP bandwidth over the wiring in my house, so I only use them to network to audio-only HTPCs. I understand that not everyone can drill holes in their property though.
The removal of every wall and ceiling lining in my house, and the ensuing ability to run proper network cabling, is about the only positive thing to come out of the 2011 earthquake. Now if the fucking insurance company and their builders would just bloody get on with it...
If I have helped you or increased your knowledge, click the 'thumbs up' button to give thanks :) (People with less than 20 posts won't see the "thumbs up" button.)
Reply

Logout Mark Read Team Forum Stats Members Help
Power Line Adapter or Wi-Fi ??0