MRV Powerline experiment

[gadgtfreek]

I have Netgear adapters now that are rated to 85mbps. On the NR SW, I get choppy video when trying HD over MRV. When I disconnected the 3rd adapter at the router, and put the two connected to my dvr's on plugs by themselves and just allowed them to talk witout HSI interference, they almost worked.

I ordered two Belkin gigabit adapters that will be here tomorrow, gonna see if that gets me over the hump and gets MRV working. May even get the CE tomorrow night since it may have updates to MRV streaming. Will post results.

 

[wildbill129]

Powerline adapters are hit and miss. Good to have some real world results. Interested to hear how it works.

On a side note, is there no way to wall fish Cat5 or just wait for Deca?

 

[gadgtfreek]

Well, the gigabit belkins are working fine, so Im in business. Just need to get one more 4 port one for all the AV gear. Since I need powerline for all my net connected devices, I wanted to try and find a solution without Deca, so it was one less set of wiring, since I already have a ton around my ent center. No way to wall fish.

 

[wildbill129]

Glad to hear they are working!! No issues with MRV at all? Does trickplay work ok?

 

[gadgtfreek]

Yeah, ive watched two hours so far, and the second hour was with my netgear powerline adapters hooked back up giving HSI to other boxes (was not aware you could hook up two brands at same time).

Trickplay is slow, and sometimes stutters for a sec coming out, but other than that it was just the same.

 

[uncrules]

I tried some gigabyte powerline adapters for my bedroom HR22 and it didn't work too well for streaming HD. SD worked fine. So I got a wireless N gaming adapter and that has worked well for MPEG4 HD. MPEG2 HD (which is only my OTA recordings) doesn't work too well though. My living room HR20 and den HR22 work fine as they are both hard wired with cat 5.

 

[gadgtfreek]

OTA was a concern, but my bedroom dvr is only mpe4 sat, and Ill prob only be using MRV in the liv room, from the bedroom. Should be ok, HOPEFULLY.

 

[charper1]

I use the D-link DHP-303/302 products with no issues; so another option as well.

 

[Jimbo]

I use the D-link DHP-303/302 products with no issues; so another option as well.

This looks like what I would like to use, connecting to an access point at the other end.

Did you have to buy this online or were you able to find it locally ?

 

[charper1]

I but almost everything I can online.

 

[cfb]

Its important to understand a few things about powerline.

- Consistency of throughput rather than highest throughput is the most important thing for streaming video without a big buffer. You only need about 20-40Mb/s to do single/dual mrv but quality and consistency must be excellent
- Directv doesnt maintain much buffer at all in MRV
- Some powerline technologies (85, 170, 200) that arent the fastest might provide better consistency. So an 85 might give better QOS than a 200. You have to try it to be sure in YOUR home
- There is a LOT of differences in performance between different manufacturers of a particular speed powerline product, since more than one chipset is in use and the implementations can vary
- There may be a lot of difference in performance between 'identical' models of powerline gear. I have several different products with 3-4 modules of each, and get different performance levels depending on which ones I pair together
- What works in one house wont work the same in another, even if they use the same type of wiring and are of the same vintage
- The gigabit powerline is a gimmick. Its the same as 200Mb/s homeplug AV only it has a gigabit interface to the device rather than 100Mb/s. Trust me, you're NEVER going to get a consistent 100Mb/s+ connection with any pair of homeplug devices. The 200Mb/s rating is using a protocol that directv's mrv doesnt use, with a packet size they dont use, and without protocol overhead.

I'd highly recommend you buy your powerline gear either from a retail store or an online store with a very liberal return policy, because one particular set of products that works great for one person has absolutely no bearing on how it'll work in your house. Some of these things are just way better at dealing with certain types of interference and wiring than others.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Agreed. My main purpose was just to give folks an FYI on another option to try.

 

[Jimbo]

Its important to understand a few things about powerline.

- Consistency of throughput rather than highest throughput is the most important thing for streaming video without a big buffer. You only need about 20-40Mb/s to do single/dual mrv but quality and consistency must be excellent
- Directv doesnt maintain much buffer at all in MRV
- Some powerline technologies (85, 170, 200) that arent the fastest might provide better consistency. So an 85 might give better QOS than a 200. You have to try it to be sure in YOUR home
- There is a LOT of differences in performance between different manufacturers of a particular speed powerline product, since more than one chipset is in use and the implementations can vary
- There may be a lot of difference in performance between 'identical' models of powerline gear. I have several different products with 3-4 modules of each, and get different performance levels depending on which ones I pair together
- What works in one house wont work the same in another, even if they use the same type of wiring and are of the same vintage
- The gigabit powerline is a gimmick. Its the same as 200Mb/s homeplug AV only it has a gigabit interface to the device rather than 100Mb/s. Trust me, you're NEVER going to get a consistent 100Mb/s+ connection with any pair of homeplug devices. The 200Mb/s rating is using a protocol that directv's mrv doesnt use, with a packet size they dont use, and without protocol overhead.

I'd highly recommend you buy your powerline gear either from a retail store or an online store with a very liberal return policy, because one particular set of products that works great for one person has absolutely no bearing on how it'll work in your house. Some of these things are just way better at dealing with certain types of interference and wiring than others.

Thanks for the input !

 

[gadgtfreek]

Yeah, for what the Belkins cost me, if they did not work, they were def going back to Amazon!

 

[cfb]

Its a great option that people should try if they cant run wires. In some cases wireless N will work well, in some cases powerline will work. For the folks who cant run wires, do wireless or powerline, DECA at least provides a backup option.

Looking at what directv offers, they sold a powerline 85 device but havent mentioned that in the same breath as MRV. They provided support for a couple of wireless N bridges but havent talked about those either in conjunction with mrv.

But they ramped up DECA and are combining that with their MRV test offerings. That tells me they're a little shy about going with powerline or wireless and prefer a wired option. Hey, who can blame them...especially if the proprietary hookup gives a customer one more hurdle to leap to change providers.

My feeling is that both powerline and wireless are great options for internet point of access to devices around the house. For realtime unbuffered video, which is admittedly one of the most demanding applications, they're going to work sometimes and not others.