My Bourbon drinking connoisseur is spot on as usual, I can't imagine downloading any VOD (let alone any HD ones) via the fastest wireless connections. If that's your only option, fine, but consider making the upgrade as a possible project with one of your buddies in the future. A download speed of 1.5mbs for a 1080p 2 hour movie is exactly 12 hours.
I've been doing it since the VOD debut. I use s Linksys WRT54G as a 4-port wireles bridge (usually costs less than a gaming adapter) with the HR20 and HDDVD player connected. Primary router is Linksys WRT150N, using WPA (not WEP). Bridge is on 1st floor, access point on 2nd floor, distance is roughly 60 feet across the 2nd floor, plus 20 feet elevation. It's a good distance with plenty of walls and interference.
The bridge generally gets 36Mbps - 48Mbps, the lowest I've seen is 18Mbps.
I've got the fastest (RoadRunner Turbo, 10Mbps max) offered in my area. I've got a VoIP modem between the cable modem and WRT150N. I ran speed tests using a WIRED desktop system, and several speed test sites (including my cable broadband provider). The results showed download speeds ranging from 4.3Mbps to 7.9Mbps.
In my case the limiting factor is my cable broadband, not the wireless. Even if I had a gigabit wired connection and my broadband was reaching its 10Mbps downstream cap, the limiting fator would still be the feed into my house.
The wired connection is going to be more
conssitent, but not necessarily faster for VOD. In-home video distribution is a different matter altogether. No question, wired is much better when both ends of the pipe are in-house. But D* doesn't offer a media server yet....