Off Topic, Media MVP WiFi connect

[rak306]

I know this is not directly related to SageTV, but it will be once SageTV supports the media MVP.

Any suggestions on where to ask my questions on the media MVP would be appreciated. The problem is given below:

I'm trying to connect the media MVP via wiFi network.
I have a linksys wireless 11.b router and a linksys wireless bridge.
I know this probably won't support the desired bit rate, but I'm trying to check it out before I upgrade the link (likely to the 108 Mbps D-link)

Normally I connect the router to my cable modem, PC A, and PC B in my computer room (PC A is old and set to be retired, PC B is new and has the pvr-250, and the server software for the MVP), then in another room, I connect a PC C via the wireless bridge. (I use a wireless bridge because it has an enet connection and is totally independant of OS.) This has been working extremely well for the last year.

If I connect the media MVP directly to the wireless router via normal enet cable, it boots up and works fine (loading its software from PC B). If I connect the MVP to the wireless bridge it does not connect. If I connect PC B via wireless bridge, and MVP directly to the router, it works fine.

I have no need to upgrade the wireless link except for video, and if that won't work with the MVP then I want to know why.

Any help would be appreciated.

Rick

PS With the PC B connected to the router via wireless bridge(only a few feet from the router), and the MVP directly connected to the router, I was able to get a 2Gb/hr recording to play on the MVP without studder. Now if the MVP would only connect via the bridge.

[rak306]

I'm getting nowhere fast. I've updated the linksys wireless bridge to the latest firmware and it did not work.

I bought a new D-link wireless router DI-624, and wireless bridge DWL-G810. I was planning on using these anyway to upgrade my wireless network to 802.11g. I made the following connection:

PC_B--ethernet_cable--router_624--~wireless~--bridge_g810--ethernet_cable--MVP

Now it actually works for a while, it boots from the PC and starts its application (this is more than the linksys did). However, after a few seconds of playing a video, the connection is lost.

Then if you try to look at the status of the bridge (via its built in web page) it responds extremely slow, compared to almost instantly normally.

I don't know what's going on, but I suspect there are going to be a lot of dissapointed folks (I know I am) when they find out that after waiting patiently for the port of V2 client to the MVP, that it won't work over WIFI.

Hopefully I'm wrong.

Rick


If I directly connect the MVP to the router (via enet cable), it works flawlessly.

[TunaBoo]

Wireless tends to not get a steady stream at full bitrate (in my experience). On my 54 MB/sec wifi setup I can stream 4 gig an hour quality or so, but nothing else if I want flawless speed. Just an FYI.


All I can think of off the top of my head, is make sure you use the correct cables. When connecting two devices (pc to pc) or (switch to access point) you need to make sure to use a crossover cable, a straight through cable will not work.


As to going too slow... does everything support 100mbit full duplex? If you have mixed devices, some switches/routers will not do the best.

[rak306]

TunaBoo wrote:
"Wireless tends to not get a steady stream at full bitrate..."

It's not that the link is too slow, its that it looses its brain. The MVP will be playing at 1GB/hr (2Mbps payload) and all of the sudden, the connection is lost, and the MVP starts searching for the PC server again (which it never finds).

I've left out a few steps for clarity, but it is not cables. I have the correct connections and the g810 is actually smart enough to sense the wrong cable and switch it.

I started with "stock" DI-624 with drivers dated 10/3/2003, and G810 dated 2/13/2004. With this combination I could actually force the connection to drop by trying to access the web page build into the G810. Within a few seconds after the <cr> the MVP would loose its connection. This improved when I loaded the latest drivers (2/26/2004 for the 624, 3/12/2004 for the g810), but the MVP still looses the connection, just on its own, I can't force it via web page access.

The web page remains accessable, just now at a tremendus slow rate vs normal (like 5 seconds vs instant).

I've looked at the stats and even when the G810 is connected to a PC, there is a large % of dropped pages, like 2 dropped for each 1 received. So I'm wondering if the 810/624 wireless connection is lowering the bit rate to try to reduced the number of dropped pages and eventually the MVP gives up. That would explain the slugish operation, but why are there so many lost pages. These units are only a few feet from each other.

Rick

[TunaBoo]

So I don't use d-link very much. Most of my stuff tends to be netgear/Linksys, so I haven't used D-Link stuff that much.


Humdie. So you do ANYTHING on the network and the WAP dies? Is WEP turned on? It tends to kill speed in certain cases. You can also mess around with stuff on the WAP, my WAP has a billion features in it to change signal stuff.

[rak306]

TunaBoo wrote"
"So I don't use d-link very much. Most of my stuff tends to be netgear/Linksys, so I haven't used D-Link stuff that much."

I started with linksys. It wouldn't talk to via the WIFI at all, but did directly via the router.

"So you do ANYTHING on the network and the WAP dies? Is WEP turned on?"

WEP is off. Its not a WAP its a wireless bridge, set in client mode, but its kindof hard to tell what is what these days, there are so many modes that these devices can be set to. The DLINK bridge and WAP look almost the same to me.

My own belief is the MVP does something bad and it doesn't bother the direct connection via the router but kills the wireless connection. There are settings on the router for "gaming mode" which is something to do with XBOX, but that had no effect.

Also, keep in mind I connected from PC via wireless to the router directly to the MVP at 2GB/HR endlessly with no studders or issues at all. So the wireless link handled the data rate.

Rick

[TunaBoo]

So why make it a bridge on the other end instead of just a WAP?

[rak306]

TunaBoo wrote
" So why make it a bridge on the other end instead of just a WAP?"

"Bridge" is just the name of the product its called a "DWL-G810 wireless bridge". It's being used in a "client" mode (Dlinks name), where you want to connect an ethernet device to the router via a wireless connection. One of the reasons I chose it was to easily remote the PC from the radio link(via ethernet cable). I think the DLINK 2100AP can be set to this mode, but I was sure the G810 could.

As I understand it the, AP is located in the 624, which connects to my ISP's cable modem. The 624 also has a wireless connection to the g810, which has an ethernet spigit to connect any ethernet device that abides by ethernet protocol. I have used a PC prior to now, and I'm trying out the MVP(with little luck).

Rick

[rak306]

Limited Success. It is definately not the MVP but it is the Dlink. I noticed on the g810 status page that even when used with a PC connected to the G810, it was dropping 2/3 of the packets. I suspected that 624/g810 wireless connection backed off on the tx rate to reduce packet loss to the point where the MVP dropped the connection and tried to reconnect to the server.

So I forced the 624 to use a fixed 11 Mbps TX rate and this reduced the packet loss to 50%. Still not sure why it is so high. Then I tried the MVP and it works without dropping the connection.

Rick

[rak306]

My troubles seem to have been a bad g810. After a call to tech support, they instructed me to return the both units. I replaced them and now everything is working. I had noticed the green activity light on the G810 blinking on and off at a %50 rate, and I was droping %50 packets. With the new unit that light is almost always on, and almost no dropped packets. I don't know if the unit was bad or just got into some wierd configuration.

Rick

[TunaBoo]

Originally posted by rak306
My troubles seem to have been a bad g810. After a call to tech support, they instructed me to return the both units. I replaced them and now everything is working. I had noticed the green activity light on the G810 blinking on and off at a %50 rate, and I was droping %50 packets. With the new unit that light is almost always on, and almost no dropped packets. I don't know if the unit was bad or just got into some wierd configuration.

Rick

Cool