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Powerline Adapters

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  • 14-03-2011 10:55am
    #1
    cianr
    Registered Users Posts: 339 ✭✭


    Hi All,

    I want to get a pair of powerline adapters for a home network (xbox, pc etc.) - anyone have any brand recommendations?

    Many thanks!
    Tagged:


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    #2
    Biggins
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 34,567 ✭✭✭✭Biggins


    If you can get Belkin adapters (if Belkin do the type your looking for), they are without doubt the best.
    I have Belkin adapters on all the pc's/laptops I have (and I have quite a few).
    I won't trust my systems, TV's, etc with anything less.


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    #3
    cianr
    Registered Users Posts: 339 ✭✭cianr


    That's great Biggins, thanks for the recommendation. I had planned on getting Belkins but on Amazon there were some less-than-wonderful user reviews. I'll check them out, cheers!


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    #4
    cianr
    Registered Users Posts: 339 ✭✭cianr


    Any idea of a bricks and mortar shop selling these in South Dublin? Amazon won't deliver those across the water.


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    #5
    fox65
    Registered Users Posts: 144 ✭✭fox65


    I have 3 powerline ones at home (i may be wrong but the company who first pbrought the idea to market). Never any problems and always good speeds. Harvey norman have them. Make sure you get the packs of two. cheaper. They are dead simple to set up also


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    #6
    cianr
    Registered Users Posts: 339 ✭✭cianr


    Thanks Fox65,

    I looked in HN Carrickmines last month but they didn't have any. The guy said they had them before and they sold well but for whatever reason he didnt expect them to be ordered in again. I'll keep an eye out, thanks for the info!


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    #7
    Fazer6
    Registered Users Posts: 161 ✭✭Fazer6


    Hi Cianr.

    You could try Peats or Maplins.
    Aldi and Lidl have them from time to time.

    Regards.

    Fazer6.


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    #8
    cianr
    Registered Users Posts: 339 ✭✭cianr


    One last quick question for the experts - I'm planning to use these between an NTL router and a PC (for internet connection) and also hooked up to the route will be a media player for the tv - is 200mbps a good enough speed to stream media?

    Many thanks!


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    #9
    Gadgetman496
    Registered Users Posts: 8,397 ✭✭✭Gadgetman496


    cianr wrote: »
    is 200mbps a good enough speed to stream media?

    Many thanks!

    Yes it is ;)

    -

    "Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid."



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    #10
    Voodu Child
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,706 ✭✭✭Voodu Child


    cianr wrote: »
    - is 200mbps a good enough speed to stream media?
    It depends on a few things:

    -What media do you want to stream? Music is very easy to stream. Movies get harder to stream as the bitrate increases - your basic 700MB Xvid for example is also very easy to stream, whereas a full BD is difficult to stream over anything except LAN cables. You really need to be specific about what you want to stream, and also how many simultaneous streams you need.

    -The specific homeplugs. Don't get hung up on branding - take the exact model you are looking at and find professional independent reviews of it, look for throughput tests. Don't just go and buy a product with 200Mbps on the box because someone told you that brand was great. For all you know you could be buying a 1st gen chipset, which will be significantly less efficient than current gen models.

    -Local factors. Wiring, distance, interference etc. Some people get great speeds and others get crap speeds with the same model, because of local factors. So make sure to buy from somewhere that has a return policy.


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    #11
    PogMoThoin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,874 ✭✭✭✭PogMoThoin


    cianr wrote: »
    is 200mbps a good enough speed to stream media?

    Many thanks!

    36Mbit (4.5MB/s) is the speed of bluray, you don't need more than this to stream any full 1080p HD file available. In fact You'll not find a file with a higher bitrate than 27Mbit. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc

    The problem is that these devices are advertised with their theoretical limit, as in whats possible in a lab under the perfect conditions. Much like wireless, what their actually capable of is much lower (around half) in real life situations


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    #12
    Gadgetman496
    Registered Users Posts: 8,397 ✭✭✭Gadgetman496


    I've been using a set of 200mbps to stream video (including HD) to a TV upstairs via an Xbox 360 and have never had any negative issues.

    "Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid."



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    #13
    Voodu Child
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,706 ✭✭✭Voodu Child


    PogMoThoin wrote: »
    36Mbit (4.5MB/s) is the speed of bluray, you don't need more than this to stream any full 1080p HD file available. In fact You'll not find a file with a higher bitrate than 27Mbit. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc

    The problem is that these devices are advertised with their theoretical limit, as in whats possible in a lab under the perfect conditions. Much like wireless, what their actually capable of is much lower (around half) in real life situations

    Bluray can have max average video bitrates of 40Mbps and plenty of titles have this or close to this bitrate. Its worth noting that this is average video bitrate over the entire duration of the movie, it can peak higher for short durations.

    That's the video bitrate, a lossless audio stream is usually about 3-4Mbps abr, again with momentary peaks higher. And you usually have a few additional audio streams in there as well - the problem with some streaming protocols is that they send all audio the streams, not just the one you are listening to.

    You've also got container overhead, which is minor for something like MKV but absolutely massive for something like AVCHD, so its important to consider how your videos are packaged. Finally there is streaming protocol overhead, for example SMB is quite inefficient compared to NFS.

    FWIW, 200Mbps homeplugs are 100Mbps full-duplex. And transmission efficiency is very low, maybe 20-40% depending on chipset generation and local factors.


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    #14
    Dermot Illogical
    Registered Users Posts: 3,131 ✭✭✭Dermot Illogical


    I use 4 200mbps plugs. Streaming video to 2 xboxes and a ps3, often simultaneously, for the last year or so without any problems.
    Running TVersity on the PC that feeds everything else.


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    #15
    PogMoThoin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,874 ✭✭✭✭PogMoThoin


    RT66 wrote: »
    I use 4 200mbps plugs. Streaming video to 2 xboxes and a ps3, often simultaneously, for the last year or so without any problems.
    Running TVersity on the PC that feeds everything else.

    Avi's would be fine, they're tiny and low bitrate, but Xboxes or PS3's don't play anything in .mkv container which lots of the HD content downloaded from the internet these days comes in. TVersity encodes it on the fly and therefore wouldn't use as much bandwidth as streaming the .mkv.


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