Help Designing apartment network

[ekbsrk]

Hello Everyone.

I think i have a unique situation and I havent had any luck finding anyone with a similar set up, so I figured Id just explain where Im at.

I will be moving into a new apartment in August. I have two locations in the apartment where internet is needed.
In the bedroom there is a computer with attached printer and External hard drives.
In the lliving room is all A/V things, including xbox, ps3 and TV.

I do a lot of streaming of videos and music through the game consoles. The source of the videos and music is on the external hard drive in the bedroom.

Im looking to ethernet connect the av equipment in the living room. I can install the modem/router in that location and connect everything there. The problem is that the computer in the other room will be wireless (G) with the attached external drives. This will not lend itself to HD streaming at all if Im correct.

Is there a decent wireless g router out there (with gigabit or not) that has a usb port for the external hard drive? Or is there another solution?

I have attached a simple diagram if needed. Thanks!

 

[hiperboreus]

Just an opinion

Hello there. It looks that you need something in the line of a D-Link 655 which is a gigabit router (and wireless G) with USB capabillity.
The thing is i never trusted wireless when it comes down to streaming A/V material. Call me old fashioned but the wires are unbeatable at that (Cat6e). How much flexibility does your design has? Do the external drives have anything in the line of ethernet capability? Any budget limits?
Well, congrats are in order for your new flat.
See you soon.

 

[thiggins]

You definitely want to stream via a wired connection and it doesn't have to be Gigabit, 10/100 will do fine.

There are a few options for wireless routers that can share a USB drive, but I can't guarantee that they'll work with Xbox / PS3, which need DLNA servers. You can use either N or G routers because N routers will also support G clients.

Here are a few options. I have not tested any of them for streaming to Xbox / PS3. They are all N routers:
D-Link DIR-655
Linksys WRT160NL
Cisco Linksys E3000
NETGEAR WNDR3700

An alternative is to just get any G router and use a media player that supports USB drives:
Western Digital WD TV Live Plus Reviewed
Seagate FreeAgent Theater+ HD Media Player Reviewed