Wireless-B and streaming video

[dcpsoguy]

I have a cable connection but the only way I can access it is wirelessly.. it comes in as a decent speed for downloaded stuff.. now my question is.. i have a wireless-b usb adapter.. is that the reason why sometimes my video skips and say i'm watching something on winamp, it drops a lot? Would a wireless-g USB adapter help out this at all?

Moved from Off Topic
moderator allisolm

 

[Anonemous]

Originally posted by: dcpsoguy
I have a cable connection but the only way I can access it is wirelessly.. it comes in as a decent speed for downloaded stuff.. now my question is.. i have a wireless-b usb adapter.. is that the reason why sometimes my video skips and say i'm watching something on winamp, it drops a lot? Would a wireless-g USB adapter help out this at all?

Are you streaming HDTV material? Or just regular divx/mp3s?

A 10Mbps connection that a 802.11b adapter provides should be sufficient for the latter.

For HDTV, I would go for 802.11g/n adapter.

 

[spidey07]

Hi. One of my specialties is wireless networking.

Here's one think I can tell you to help. Wireless sucks. You cannot control the environment you are in. Using 802.11G can help a good deal but there are no guarantees.

Switch to 802.11a if you want better performance.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Anonemous

Originally posted by: dcpsoguy
I have a cable connection but the only way I can access it is wirelessly.. it comes in as a decent speed for downloaded stuff.. now my question is.. i have a wireless-b usb adapter.. is that the reason why sometimes my video skips and say i'm watching something on winamp, it drops a lot? Would a wireless-g USB adapter help out this at all?

Are you streaming HDTV material? Or just regular divx/mp3s?

A 10Mbps connection that a 802.11b adapter provides should be sufficient for the latter.

For HDTV, I would go for 802.11g/n adapter.

Umm, 802.11b does NOT provide 10 Mbs.

 

[Chaotic42]

I tried doing that with wireless-n. It was horrible.

 

[dcpsoguy]

It's just regular DIVX. I'm trying to stream movies from my computer to my 360. I wish I could use some kind of crossover cable but I also have my wireless gaming thing plugged into the ethernet port.

 

[ebaycj]

Originally posted by: spidey07
Hi. One of my specialties is wireless networking.

Here's one think I can tell you to help. Wireless sucks. You cannot control the environment you are in. Using 802.11G can help a good deal but there are no guarantees.

Switch to 802.11a if you want better performance.

I've heard that using large antennas in concert with bidirectional signal amplifiers works well too.

But I agree 802.11A > *
(or more specifically 5.8GHz > *. I think I remember hearing somewhere that the 802.11N official spec was supposed to allow for a 5.8GHz variant?)

 

[jfall]

I use G to stream media to my xbox and it works great

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: dcpsoguy
I have a cable connection but the only way I can access it is wirelessly.. it comes in as a decent speed for downloaded stuff.. now my question is.. i have a wireless-b usb adapter.. is that the reason why sometimes my video skips and say i'm watching something on winamp, it drops a lot? Would a wireless-g USB adapter help out this at all?

could be. b's theoretical is 11mbs but generally real world is half that or less.
g should be enough for most net connections.

if you need to boost signal in one direction
http://www.freeantennas.com/pr...s/template2/index.html
cheap cheesy paper and foil!

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: ebaycj

Originally posted by: spidey07
Hi. One of my specialties is wireless networking.

Here's one think I can tell you to help. Wireless sucks. You cannot control the environment you are in. Using 802.11G can help a good deal but there are no guarantees.

Switch to 802.11a if you want better performance.

I've heard that using large antennas in concert with bidirectional signal amplifiers works well too.

But I agree 802.11A > *
(or more specifically 5.8GHz > *. I think I remember hearing somewhere that the 802.11N official spec was supposed to allow for a 5.8GHz variant?)

it isn't better.

n can use either if they want.
better performance depends, 5ghz doesn't handle walls as well. if you have tons of 2.4ghz interference then yea A is good. otherwise compatibility/cheapness = g. N beats A now anyways.

 

[dcpsoguy]

Originally posted by: jfall
I use G to stream media to my xbox and it works great

what kind of connection do you have? speed?

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: dcpsoguy

Originally posted by: jfall
I use G to stream media to my xbox and it works great

what kind of connection do you have? speed?

G is faster than most internet connections. is your broadband past 30mb/s?
if the divx is on the harddrive it has nothing to do with the internet.

 

[Scarpozzi]

It's a big YMMV for all wireless. If someone uses a microwave or has a 2.4Ghz phone, you may get interference that makes you drop packets if you're on wireless G.

As for 802.11b, the technology really changed from when it was first introduced to when G came out. If you get an older wireless b router and adapter, you may not have the same performance you'd get with a newer one.

If you're streaming video, I recommend at least 802.11G and making sure you have a pretty clear path. If you are using streaming codecs, you shouldn't have to worry about packet loss as much because they're made to recover from hiccups in the connection. Streaming video is just made for that kind of thing.

You probably won't be able to max out a G connection unless you're doing heavy non-streaming codecs like DivX. I do recommend upgrading to G from B, if nothing else to get more security support like WPA.

 

[dcpsoguy]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo

Originally posted by: dcpsoguy

Originally posted by: jfall
I use G to stream media to my xbox and it works great

what kind of connection do you have? speed?

G is faster than most internet connections. is your broadband past 30mb/s?
if the divx is on the harddrive it has nothing to do with the internet.

it's wireless-b. yes i get downloads better than 30mb/s

 

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Anonemous

Originally posted by: dcpsoguy
I have a cable connection but the only way I can access it is wirelessly.. it comes in as a decent speed for downloaded stuff.. now my question is.. i have a wireless-b usb adapter.. is that the reason why sometimes my video skips and say i'm watching something on winamp, it drops a lot? Would a wireless-g USB adapter help out this at all?

Are you streaming HDTV material? Or just regular divx/mp3s?

A 10Mbps connection that a 802.11b adapter provides should be sufficient for the latter.

For HDTV, I would go for 802.11g/n adapter.

Umm, 802.11b does NOT provide 10 Mbs.

Yeah, and b is also a lossy connection. It's one of the things they improved with the g specification.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo

Originally posted by: ebaycj

Originally posted by: spidey07
Hi. One of my specialties is wireless networking.

Here's one think I can tell you to help. Wireless sucks. You cannot control the environment you are in. Using 802.11G can help a good deal but there are no guarantees.

Switch to 802.11a if you want better performance.

I've heard that using large antennas in concert with bidirectional signal amplifiers works well too.

But I agree 802.11A > *
(or more specifically 5.8GHz > *. I think I remember hearing somewhere that the 802.11N official spec was supposed to allow for a 5.8GHz variant?)

it isn't better.

n can use either if they want.
better performance depends, 5ghz doesn't handle walls as well. if you have tons of 2.4ghz interference then yea A is good. otherwise compatibility/cheapness = g. N beats A now anyways.

From a technology and modulation perspective 802.11a is higher performance than 802.11g (ie, better). Perfect G (not mixed mode) = 20-22 Mbs throughput. Perfect A = 24-26. By perfect I mean all data frames are sent and received at a 54 Mbs data rate.

Couple this with the fact that the 2.4 Ghz spectrum used by b/g is crowded and noisy as hell and A becomes even more attractive. the pre-draft-non-standard N stuff is even higher performance but the standard isn't baked yet and your equipment could be rendered useless for true 802.11N radios/clients.

 

[rainypickles]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Anonemous

Originally posted by: dcpsoguy
I have a cable connection but the only way I can access it is wirelessly.. it comes in as a decent speed for downloaded stuff.. now my question is.. i have a wireless-b usb adapter.. is that the reason why sometimes my video skips and say i'm watching something on winamp, it drops a lot? Would a wireless-g USB adapter help out this at all?

Are you streaming HDTV material? Or just regular divx/mp3s?

A 10Mbps connection that a 802.11b adapter provides should be sufficient for the latter.

For HDTV, I would go for 802.11g/n adapter.

Umm, 802.11b does NOT provide 10 Mbs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/802.11b says the max for b is 11 Mbit/s. or did you mean actual speed?

 

[JackMDS]

dcpsoguy just out of curiosity.

Why are you expecting an 802.11b to stream Video?

Is it because one car battery can provide electricity to the whole neighborhood?