Watching videos-signal strength-routers

I am finally able to see my movie video files (from the computer or external hard drive attached to it) and can sometimes even play them, either through Videos or Files on the home screen.  When they don’t play, the screen just stays black.  It seems to be less common when watching videos through Files. 

The signal strength is generally one or two bars.  I have a Linksys Wireless-G router, 2.4 GHz at 54Mbps, model WRT54G V8.  My WD TV Live user manual mentions:

"Note: The recommended setting on Wireless N routers is 802.11n-only with a channel width of 20/40

MHz. If you are using a wireless-N access point (AP) and it has been set to operate in 802.11n mode

with a security setting of anything other than WPA2-PSK+AES or None, then media player will operate

at lower 802.11g rates. Disabling wireless security is not recommended."

Should I invest in a different type of router?  Why would watching through Files be more reliable than watching through Videos?

Thank you.

I’d recommend a new router

G is maybe able to stream a dvd at most

and at only 2 of 4 or 5 bars on a G band

you might have issues even with dvd’s

@savage

I had my media player using the same Linksys router for a couple of years after getting it  – it was not a problem because I have a wired home network and did not use wireless for the WD player.  But, sometimes I would try it on wireless to get an idea how it worked.  It worked fairly well, but not perfectly for DVDs only.  Anything more complex than a DVD (e.g. an mkv made from a blu-ray) did not work well at all.

When iPads arrived in our house and we started streaming to and from them, it was apparent that it was time to move to a faster and more modern dual-band N router of high quality.  I ended up getting an Asus RT-N66U.  Works great, and since I now had a gigabit router, I changed all my wired network switches to gigabit as well.  I even have some WD Range Extenders around the house to boost the range of the wireless signal.

All this said to emphasize that folks streaming via wireless need to have a decent dual-band wireless router today, and time to retire the trusty ol’ WRT54G.

Regarding the info you quoted from the WD user manual:  What it is saying is that if you are using a N router, you need to set it up correctly if you want to move data at N speed and not still at G speed.  The settings they give for bandwidth (20-40 MHz wide) , security settings of WPA2-PSK+AES are what is required to travel at the high N speed.  Your router manual and help screens will explain all this, hopefully.  My Asus does.  If you still have G-speed wireless devices you use, then you need to tweak other settings to let them work at G speed with the N speed devices are’t throttled down.  Again, the Asus has these sort of settings.  So do the WD routers.

Keep in mind it is best that you stick with the default settings of the router (other than personal settings like name of SSID and passwords) until you really know what changing a setting does.  Too many people mess up their router’s operation by dinking with stuff at first they shouldn’t.

Good luck.

Does the video file format make any difference?  Is there a difference between File vs Video access?

savage wrote:

Does the video file format make any difference?  Is there a difference between File vs Video access?

video format has been shown on prior devices to make some difference, but not enough to worry about

as for file vs video access, I have no clue what you mean

to access movies you go to videos

then the choices are

media library

local drives

network shares - windows or linux

media servers

KAD79 wrote:


savage wrote:

Does the video file format make any difference?  Is there a difference between File vs Video access?


video format has been shown on prior devices to make some difference, but not enough to worry about

 

as for file vs video access, I have no clue what you mean

to access movies you go to videos

then the choices are

media library

local drives

network shares - windows or linux

media servers

I think poster means does it make any difference if you use the video tab on the gui or the file tab.

I am referring to the Home screen, which lists various options, including Videos and Files.  It is possible to access and play the video files through either option.  Both contain the same choices that you list:

media library

local drives

network shares - windows or linux

media servers

Thank you.

WD lists 5 My Net wireless routers on their web page.  Does anyone have any experience with them or other model recommendations?

thank you

Well, the deals may be over now, but a month or so ago WD was blowing out the N750 and N900 models at places like Newegg.  I got a N750 for under $30.  At that price, bought it to have a “spare” and tote when car-traveling if needed.  I set it up and tried it out, easy setup and it worked,  and then it went back into the box to store it.  The N900 was a good price, too, just $30 more.  WD store had them on sale, too, but not anymore.

So, check Amazon, and I’d suggest the N900, as the price diff is less than $30 now. The faster the better.  Be sure you click on “other sellers” so you see all who are selling it and for how much.  If you have Prime shipping, all the better for you.

That said, I have an Asus router for my home network.  They are the most highly rated and best-selling routers it seems today.  I have what was the top of line a couple of years ago, the RT-N66U, and they still sell well and can be found for $149 or less.  They have two models above this one now, but quite pricey and with features I don’t yet need.  (like super hi speed 5G, but there really isn’t any hardware for that speed yet!)  And what else I like about them:  they have EXTERNAL antenna, a requirement for a serous router in my opinion.

I’ve got an asus as well

RT-AC66U

there’s a newer RT-AC68U

external antenna is a plus, like mike said

for me the clincher was asus merlin firmware

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/forumdisplay.php?f=42

the fact that there’s such a tallented developer working on improvements, goes a long way in my book

I’ve got quite a few things I do with my router that would not be possible with a stable firmware like this

and some of them for obvious reasons would never be officially supported by the manufacture