Network Connection Quandary

Community Archives WD TV Live Hub Network
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Sorry for the probable long length of this message…  :dizzy_face:

I recently purchased the Live Hub and have been getting familiar with it. First connection attempt was using a (unsupported) Netgear WNDA3100v2 wifi adapter. Discovered the difference between v1 and v2 adapters after purchase and was able to return the v2 with no restocking fee. Unable to find a “for-sure” v1 device so I moved on.

Found a refurbished Cisco/Linksys AE1000 which arrived, was seen by the Live Hub, but only intermittently saw my 2.4g/5g signals and was never able to establish a connection to the router. It did see some wifi networks of neighbors fairly consistently. Set the adapter aside for the moment.

Based on some postings from TonyPh12345 (you’re a godsend Tony!) and others I ordered, received, and connected a WD LiveWire. Connected fine but things seemed slow when accessing my WD networked drives to play a movie. Some movies seemed to stutter and jerk. So I copied some of the movies to the Hub from the networked drive using my Win7 laptop controlling the copying. File transfer speeds were 2-3 MB/sec which seemed slow to me?  Copying the same file(s) from network drive to laptop using 1gb wire yielded speeds of 40-45 MB/sec.

I then tried the refurb’d AE1000 again and no joy. Neither would it see my wifi when attached to my laptop although again it would see some neighboring signals. My 2 laptops *DO* see and connect to my wifi on both 2.4g and 5g sides as needed. Going to return the refurb’d AE1000 for refund.

Next I temporarily ran a long ethernet cable from router to Hub and was able to transfer files at 6-7 MB/sec which I assume will be the absolute best I can expect?

So my questions (finally!) are…

Where do I go from here? I’ve considered the following:

- a Netgear WNCE2001 ethernet-connected wifi adapter (2.4g only) attached to the ethernet port on the Hub and using the WPS push and play between the adapter and my Netgear N600/WNDR3700.

  • adding a second N600/WNDR3700 in the entertainment area set up in “Bridge” or “Wireless Repeating” mode. I’d need to switch from WPA2 to WEP if going that direction. However it might allow me to dedicate/isolate the 5g band to the Hub and the Samsung TV on the wall there. When not experimenting with trying to connect the Hub, I normally do not broadcast the SSID and I restrict wifi access based on limited set of MAC ID’s.

  • yet another USB wifi adapter - TBD.

  • any other suggestions for a workable, resaonably fast/robust wireless solution are most welcome and encouraged!

Second question is where should all/most of my media files reside for ease of use of the Hub? I have just started the ripping/copying process of my DVD collection (music CD’s already done). Doubt everything (~200 DVDs - none Blu-ray ATM) will fit onto the 1tb drive in the Hub once everything of interest is processed. If all media files are kept on the network drives, is speed of access (assuming wireless issues above are resolved!)  to compile library and play media sufficient to avoid stutter and such?

My third question pertains to folder heirarchy choices and will be posted in the General Forum.

To reiterate, my verified (empirically) large file xfer/access speeds are:

1gb ethernet to laptop: 40-45 MB/sec

2.4g wifi to laptop: 7-8 MB/sec

5g wifi to laptop: 14-15 MB/sec

1gb ethernet to Hub: 6-7 MB/sec

Livewire to Hub: 2-3 MB/sec

2.4g/5g wifi to Hub: unsuccessful so far

Thanks,

**bleep**

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dfrench wrote:

 

So my questions (finally!) are…

 

Where do I go from here? I’ve considered the following:

- a Netgear WNCE2001 ethernet-connected wifi adapter (2.4g only) attached to the ethernet port on the Hub and using the WPS push and play between the adapter and my Netgear N600/WNDR3700.

  • adding a second N600/WNDR3700 in the entertainment area set up in “Bridge” or “Wireless Repeating” mode. I’d need to switch from WPA2 to WEP if going that direction. However it might allow me to dedicate/isolate the 5g band to the Hub and the Samsung TV on the wall there. When not experimenting with trying to connect the Hub, I normally do not broadcast the SSID and I restrict wifi access based on limited set of MAC ID’s.
  • yet another USB wifi adapter - TBD.
  • any other suggestions for a workable, resaonably fast/robust wireless solution are most welcome and encouraged!

 

Second question is where should all/most of my media files reside for ease of use of the Hub? I have just started the ripping/copying process of my DVD collection (music CD’s already done). Doubt everything (~200 DVDs - none Blu-ray ATM) will fit onto the 1tb drive in the Hub once everything of interest is processed. If all media files are kept on the network drives, is speed of access (assuming wireless issues above are resolved!)  to compile library and play media sufficient to avoid stutter and such?

 

My third question pertains to folder heirarchy choices and will be posted in the General Forum.

 

Hmm.  You must have an interesting name since the forum **bleep**'d it!  :)

First, thanks for the compliment!

Just in general, I can get from 7 to 11 Megabytes per second to my hub.   11 is rare, but possible.   I’d say my average is 9.5 or so.

  1.  Well, I’m a huge fan of WIRED networking, but if that’s just out of the question, try using the LiveWire utility to see what kind of speeds the LiveWires are reporting.   If it’s really low, try plugging it into a different outlet.  Make SURE that NEITHER ONE is plugged into a surge-protected / filtered Plug Strip or any other type of “power conditioner.”   

  2.  Yes.  If you get a reasonably robust network going, DVD playback should not have any issues at all.  If it’s not VERY robust, you may have problems with high bitrate media such as Bluray rips.

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LOL!!!

My given name is not Richard, but the usual 4 letter nickname for Richard which starts with “D”. When I signed my post with my proper given name, it was changed to “**bleep**”… I don’t get no respect!

Sigh!

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Thanks for the quick reply, Tony. Par for the course with you, it seems?  :smileyvery-happy:

Neither end of the Livewire is plugged into anything other than the wall outlet. However my house is wired somewhat oddly in that there are GFI’s in several places and one opening up can cause unexpected circuits to open as well. So I initially resisted Livewire considerations for fear they would not work well. But when my first 2 wifi attempts went awry I decided to try it.

Do you know if the Livewire utility be run from my laptop (not connected to the Livewire) to monitor the Livewire connection between the Hub and the router? Or will I need to fiddle/rewire a few things to make things visible to the utility?

Thanks,

“Not Richard”

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In general, GFCI outlets don’t present any issues.  

But if you have certain kinds of ARC FAULT breakers, those CAN degrade performance.   These are becoming more and more common in new construction (Year 2000+…)

I don’t know if the LiveWire util will work if you’re not plugged into the path, but it should work… 

My Desktop isn’t plugged directly into the LW, and it works for me… 

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Tony - following up on your comments…

Loaded and ran the Livewire app from my laptop. Readings showed 55-78Mbps and actual xfer rates ~3MB/s.

So I grabbed the 50’ power cord from my yard/leaf blower and ran the Hub’s Livewire power cord into an outlet in the same room with my laptop and the companion Livewire. Readings jumped to ~185Mbps and actual xfer rate jumped to 6MB/s. Then tried several other outlets back in the same general entertainment area as the Hub/Livewire and rates fell back to the same as original.

So I think there is something goofy with the wiring between the outlets in my office and those in the entertainment center area that is going to make a Livewire solution unworkable unless you or someone else has other suggestions. (Other than leaving the long power cord running into my office from the living room! lol.)

So any comments about my other ideas of:

  • Netgear ethernet-connected wifi adapter

  • Second wifi router running in bridge/repeating mode (I saw Tony’s personal network diagram elsewhere that uses 2 Linksys routers together in bridge mode)

  • Trying yet another usb wifi adapter

Thanks again,

“Not Richard”

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My routers aren’t actually in “bridge” mode as in WiFi bridge mode.    They’re bridging WiFi CLIENTS to the Wired LAN (as opposed to ROUTING WiFi Clients to the WAN.)  Kinda a bad use of the term on my part.

55 - 78, I would think, should be good enough.  My kids’  gets 84 meg, and they don’t have any issues. 

Hmmmm.

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Hi Tony,

Did some experimenting today with playing a DVD (Australia ripped to VOB folders on my network drive). Using the same wiring combinations we talked about above, I found the following:

  1. Copied to hub internal drive and played from there - plays fine.

  2. Long ethernet cable hub to router - plays fine.

  3. Long remote Livewire power cord into an outlet in the same office with the router and companion Livewire - plays fine.

  4. Plus remote Livewire power into outlet in entertainment area - stuttering or very lengthy “slow-motion” picture and sound drop-out sections.

Livewire monitoring app reports varying 68-78Mbps during playback with power cord connected in scenario 4. Still not sure why the 68-78Mbps “raw” speed seen by the Livewire app translates to 2-3 MB/sec usable speed when playing and copying things.

Still looking for a good clean solution…? Any ideas?

Thanks,

“Not Richard”

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Hmmm. Well, short of spending about 100 dollars on materials and a few hours of work to fish a cat5e through the walls, no. sorry… :frowning:

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Hi Tony,

New information - perhaps it’s a buffering problem? I found the play-back issue primarily (only??) with rips of Australia and some old I Love Lucy shows, all of which are/were in VOB/Video_TS format/folders on a network drive. I did not recall seeing similar issues with ISO files, although admitedly I don’t have many of either completed yet.

So, I reripped the Australia DVD last night, twice. Again in VOB/Video_TS but also as ISO. Played both today using the Livewire as it’s intended and again found that the new VOB file exhibited the same stuttering/slow motion and sound drop-outs almost immediately. HOWEVER! The ISO file has played cleanly so far (about an hour).

I used DVDFab8 for all copies of both formats. Hub firmware is the latest 2.06.10.

Thanks,

“Not Richard”

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Hmmm.    I knew the older version of Live/Live+ firmware had buffering issues with VOB files, but I don’t ever remember seeing such on the Hub…

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For what it’s worth, here’s an update on my now “working as well as can be expected” network solution.

The Livewire just didn’t seem to cut it when it was connected as designed, probably due to the flaky wiring in this house. So, not wanting to over-work lenient return policies on USB wifi adapters which could not be readily identified by “support revision or non-revision” I decided on a new Cisco WES610N dual band wireless bridge which comes with 4 gigabit ethernet ports on the back side.

I plugged it into power, pressed the “Wi-Fi Protected Setup” buttons on my router and then on the bridge and within 2 minutes had a working connection. Plugged the WDTV Live Hub into one of the ethernet ports and was instantly up and running on 5g side of the router. Everything is working perfectly (so far) and I updated to the latest 2.07.17 FW via wifi without any issues (other than the apparently standard lengthy completion of the 2/2 step).

I couldn’t be happier as I’ve eliminated any/all of the “is this adapter and/or revision supported by the Hub” questions, plus now have 3 extra ethernet ports in the entertainment alcove, one of which is going to receive the ethernet cable from my Samsung LCD.

Thanks, Tony, for your suggestions and feedback along the way.

Now I can move on to playing with themes!

“Not Richard”

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Lol!:smileyvery-happy: