Recommend Using Wireless 802.11ac for Media Streaming

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dgood
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Recommend Using Wireless 802.11ac for Media Streaming

Post by dgood »

I finally updated my wireless cards to utilize my Asus AC66U (AC1750) Router by getting the ASUS AC68 wireless card. The results without any real tweaking were a huge improvement over my 300mbps cheap wireless n card.

Streaming movies in mpg4 and mkv file types over the network to the media center PC now works flawlessly and the time for the movie catalog to update is much faster when reading remote locations. I haven't tried full HD streaming because most of the rips are from DVDs but I may in the future and I don't see why now that 1300mbps of 5ghz band is pretty much exclusively used for the streaming and the 450mbps 2.4ghz band can be used for other things. If you are having problems with the wireless not being fast enough I recommend you take that step up to wireless AC and dual band setups. One less annoyance with my media center pc addressed. Now if only we could get rid of DRM in windows...
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Major_A
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Re: Recommend Using Wireless 802.11ac for Media Streaming

Post by Major_A »

Now if only we could get rid of DRM in windows...
Care to elaborate? Maybe we can come up with an answer. What are you using as your frontend media center?
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Re: Recommend Using Wireless 802.11ac for Media Streaming

Post by dgood »

I've mentioned it in previous threads that using windows media center there are a lot of DRM errors that crop up. "display driver doesn't support playback of protected content, but then proceeds to work after minimizing" Play ready is buggy and if you change like any device in your media center you have to completely reset DRM and delete all protected files created by it if you want to hope to fix some of these errors. Whenever I turn on cable on my media center the error listed above happens and I hit the windows button twice and all is good. There were some more but I fixed them. Doesn't like having multiple audio or video devices etc. Headaches that shouldn't need to exist.
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Re: Recommend Using Wireless 802.11ac for Media Streaming

Post by Major_A »

I assume you are using WMC to record OTA broadcasts. If not then have you tried XBMC as the frontend?
http://xbmc.org/download/
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dgood
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Re: Recommend Using Wireless 802.11ac for Media Streaming

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I am using WMC as my cable box/DVR. I have a cable card and infinitv 4 card. My understanding is that XMBC does not support tv tuner/DVR. I might be wrong. I have WMC doing everything I want except for a small nuisance. My Movie Library works great, music library works great, Netflix works great, DVR is awesome. Just when I first switch to live tv I get that error and if I minimize and remaximize it goes away and works. It is a DRM bug that often can only be fixed by reinstalling windows as resettting DRM doesn't always fix it (sometimes it does), disabling all other audio and video devices sometimes fixes it too.

I've read that XMBC doesn't support Ceton or didn't.
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Re: Recommend Using Wireless 802.11ac for Media Streaming

Post by dpower7 »

I fortuitously stumbled across this site whilst looking for reviews of new Intel NUC (a really professional/helpful review!) and then again on this post of yours re 802.11ac. Can't believe my luck, as so far only had come across AVSForum and not had much joy getting any replies to my requests for helpful advice/recommendations on components/configuration to get a robust home theater setup. Please see the post (below) I recently put up on AVSForum. If I'm reading this thread of yours correctly, I believe it answers the question in my post re if 802.11AC would do the job for connecting the front and back-end servers I was planning. I am of course very interested in knowing more about your setup as have no desire to re-invent the wheel or for that matter prove the point that I can still hack it by building my own box - therefore my question re where there any aftermarket outfits offering to kit out NUCs. Thanks in advance. [I have loads more questions re XBMC as not clear to me, especially with its origins, how well it plays in terms of truly taking advantage of current hardware when I am reading stuff about the next Iris Pro NUC - but will do some more research/homework here to determine where I should post such questions].

My post on AVSForum:
Hoping I can be pointed to examples of other users' system setups that I can learn from and take ideas. Quick summary of what I'm trying to accomplish:

-- Due to the room layout and aesthetic considerations, will be mounting Panasonic VT60 with B&W Panorama 2 on a wall bracket that can pulled out/rotated 90 degrees when viewing
-- Thinking of using one of the new Intel NUCs as a 'front-end' media server which will be attached to rear of TV
-- 'Back-end' of media server will basically be box with large amount of extensible disk storage. This will ideally live in a guest bedroom closet ~60 feet away. Depending upon the recommendations/suggestions I receive, it may or may not also have a Blu-ray drive.

My concerns fundamentally are around ensuring that while I have the folks in doing the wall mount install that I also have any custom cable runs installed at the same time. My experience to date with my Brighthouse Networks 60Mb/s service is that I have low confidence that I can rely on its wireless connections. As their modem/router other side of the room/house (again ~50-60 feet away), trying to determine what would be a robust config for net connectivity and also streaming a/v from media 'back-end' server. Is best approach to run cable to hard connect a 2-4 port slave router to the main one? (the NUC and TV then are individually connected to the slave). Similarly should I hard connect the back-end server or would a dedicated 802.11AC wireless connection to the front-end work reliably?

Finally, any recommendations as to what to install/run on the NUC would be most appreciated. I've not paid attention to the HT space for over a decade - suffice to say a lot's happened! :-) Here I am trying to understand pros/cons of installing XBMC vs OpenElec. here a key requirement is UI ease of use for day-to-day operations - simple to browse/search media library, create playlists. OK if to customize/configure is more complicated. As a side-note: I'm surprised that so far haven't found any US-based companies offering ready-to-go, out-of-the-box NUCs where they offer menu of options to choose from (OS, RAM, Wireless, SSD, ...) - like when ordering a Dell box.

[No 'political' preference but as all my experience has been with PCs, would appreciate any/all suggestions to be PC-based].

Thanks in advance
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dgood
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Re: Recommend Using Wireless 802.11ac for Media Streaming

Post by dgood »

Considering We sort of hijacked this thread already if you are really interested, create a new thread and outline what you want out of your home theater and what you have as requirements and people can give you recommendations. Also try introducing yourself to the community in country club. Cheers.
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Re: Recommend Using Wireless 802.11ac for Media Streaming

Post by dpower7 »

Point taken about my 'breach of protocol'. Will go away and take a stab at specing out requirements of the setup I would like and start a new thread. Will also check out country club section re introducing myself. Thanks
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