Home theatre - Wlan question

[Hard2Port]

Hi All,

I am new here but am very impressed with the quality of posts and advice.

I have a Pioneer VSX32 AVR that has an ethernet port to allow for internet radio and some LAN connectivity. It requires connecting via an RJ45 cable (no wireless option) and it is not practical for me to run ethernet cabling to the room. I have been considering powerline options but I have a spare wireless router (D-Link 628) and was wondering if there was a way to connect it wirelessly to my main router -Netgear 3700.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers

 

[stevech]

Check out sagetv.com and their user forum
http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/

If you are streaming mpeg or H.264 from a home server:
Don't try HD TV on WiFi. No go.
I did that with standard Def streaming - was OK.

If you are streaming Netflix from the Internet, a good 11g or 11n link, strong signal might do. It WILL glitch and make people mad.

I went from WiFi to MoCA (see topic here). Flawless. I used that as there's no way to get cat5 to the TV.

 

[Mike_G_D]

Since you mentioned that you were interested in internet radio and the unit in question was an AVR I gather you are not looking for major video over the wireless connection you hope for, rather, you want a reliable connection primarily for internet radio and just general connectivity for the AVR (firmware updates, etc.). If this is true, wireless should still be fine for those purposes. I would look at your web configuration menu for the spare D-Link router - you want to look for the ability to switch it into a client bridge mode. This would allow it to act as a client adapter which is what you want; you would attach the spare router to your AVR via Ethernet cable and use the spare router in client bridge mode to connect to your main 3700 router.

If you cannot find a mode option in the spare router's web configuration then it may not support that mode with the standard manufacturer's installed firmware. You might still be able to use the router, however, if you are willing to try a different firmware option such as DD-WRT or Tomato. Google both of these and check through there lists of supported hardware models and see if your spare router is supported. If your spare router is just sitting collecting dust otherwise, this might be a good option. Study the how-to's on the DD-WRT and Tomato websites and see what you think; there is the risk that the firmware update/change could brick your router but if you are careful and follow the directions for proper rebooting and resetting I don't think you'll have a problem. Worth considering anyway, especially if your spare router is not being used for anything else.

Also, for what it's worth, I stream alot of video via wireless and have not had a problem; of course, in my case, my internet connection is modest at 5Mbps down and internet streaming isn't necessarily taxing unless true high definition streaming video is constantly needed. Plus, most of my streaming is done with Roku boxes streaming Netflix and occasionally Amazon VOD so that is also not significantly taxing though what supposed "HD" content I do stream with these devices seems to work fine. My default wireless band for this is 5GHz with fall back to 2.4GHz if necessary. I'm using a Linksys RV042 router and a Netgear WNDAP350 AP - been running stable with no reboots needed for several months now. My network is modest, admittedly, consisting of three PC's usually, occasionally more, plus two Roku boxes and five printers (four connected to an old WGR54GL configured in wireless client bridge mode using DD-WRT firmware and one with its own wireless connection) but this has been my most stable setup by far!

-Mike

 

[Hard2Port]

Thanks for the advice guys! I currently stream video etc wirelessly via my PS3 with minimal stutter, the new AVR requires ethernet for internet radio & firmware so that is what I am looking for - basic connectivity.

I will look at going with the DD-WRT route. Hopefully the DIR-628 supports that.

Thanks again

Cheers

EDIT: Bad news the DIR-628 does not support DD-WRT or Tomato :-( I guess I will have to seriously look at powerline or MoCA.

 

[thiggins]

Wireless should be fine for Internet radio. The bandwidth requirements are very low.

Just use a wireless bridge. Here are a few:
Linksys WET610N Wireless-N Ethernet Bridge with Dual-Band Reviewed
D-Link DAP-1522 Review: Dual-band Draft 11n for the Masses?

 

[Hard2Port]

cool, thanks Tim.

Off the top of your head is there a Netgear product that you would recommend?


Cheers

 

[thiggins]

NETGEAR isn't really big into bridges. Another WNDR3700 is one (expensive) option. If you're ok with 2.4 GHz, you could try this
http://netgear.com/home/products/hometheater/networking-for-home-theater-and-gaming/WNCE2001.aspx
(I haven't tested it).

 

[Bob K]

I use the D-Link DAP-1522 in bridge mode for this very purpose. It connects wirelessly with my Netgear WNDR3700 (on the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz band) in order to provide RJ45 connectivity to my Yamaha receiver. The reason I went with the DAP-1522 is that is has a built-in 4-port gigabit switch, whereas Netgear's comparably priced wireless bridges only have a a single port. Because of that, I can connect future home theater devices if I wish.

My DAP-1522 has worked flawlessly for firmware upgrades, accessing internet radio, and playing music via DLNA streamed from my Win7 PC.

 

[keenanj]

The engenius ecb3500 is a 600mW client bridge it is great solution for ethernet connected AV equipment. It can easily stream Netflex HD VUDU etc.

http://www.keenansystems.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=2&products_id=258

There are 802.11n bridges like the ecb9500

http://www.keenansystems.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=2&products_id=269

but for streaming HD Internet content a solid 11g connection (25Mbps thrughput) is all that is needed and still better then a flakey 11n connection.

 

[stevech]

I used a Buffalo 11g bridge for a long time to stream non-HD video.

 

[RogerSC]

I've been using the Netgear WNCE-2001 as an ethernet bridge for some time now. I use it between my Netgear WNDR3700 router and Verizon femtocell (network extender with 3G) to provide the required wired ethernet port for the network extender via wireless from the Netgear router. This works quite well.

The configuration of the WNCE-2001 was easy, just used the WDS on both the router and the bridge, and it "self-configured" itself on the 2.4GHz. wireless band with WPS2 security. That was a pleasant surprise, I thought I'd give it a shot, and it just worked. In just a couple of minutes the WNCE-2001 had configured itself and had a good connection going.

I'm going to be replacing my WNDR3700 router (about 2 years old now, and giving me some trouble) with a Linksys E4200, and am hoping that it will work with the Netgeat WNCE-2001 "universal" ethernet bridge and also with the Netgear WNDA3100 USB wireless adapter that I have. Since these things are all designed for standards, in theory they should just work (I hope *smile*).

-Roger

 

[thiggins]

The WNCE-2001 doesn't require WDS to work. So it should work fine with the E4200.

 

[RogerSC]

Sorry, I meant WPS...not sure how I came up with "WDS", close but no cigar. I'm too young for senior moments, of course *smile*.

Thanks.

 

[zash]

verizon network extender/ netgear wndr3700 compatibility

I've been using the Netgear WNCE-2001 as an ethernet bridge for some time now. I use it between my Netgear WNDR3700 router and Verizon femtocell (network extender with 3G) to provide the required wired ethernet port for the network extender via wireless from the Netgear router. This works quite well.
-Roger

how did you get the WNDR3700 router to recognize the Verizon Network Extender?
PLEASE tell me... I had my Verizon box connected to a linksys router and it worked good. The linksys after 5 years began to have a weaker and weaker WiFi signal, so I replaced it with this NetGear WNDR3700v2 Gigabit router. The new router is WAY MORE fancy than the old linksys but it does not even recognize the verizon extender is connected to it via the ethernet port.
I called Verizon techs and they said there was a "patch" they can push to the extender that will update some code language that will allow the netgear to communicate with it. But, IF they actually pushed the update like they said,(thats a big if), then it did not work. my netgear rouer still is not allowing the verizon box to work.
PLEASE tell me what settings you had to set in your router to get this thing to work. I cant live without the Verizon box working.... thanks.

 

[RogerSC]

I certainly understand why you need the Verizon box working, without mine there are dead spots in my house where I get only one bar on my iPhone. This isn't enough for a reliable phone call. And not enough 3G for having email or the internet work in a finite period of time *smile*.

Okay, I had the Verizon box directly connected to the WNDR3700 (version 1), and it worked fine, no special settings needed. Then I moved the Verizon box to get it more centrally located in my house, and used a Netgear WNCE2001 bridge for that. The bridge connected and configured itself on the WNDR3700 quite well using WPS. Since then, I've used the WNCE2001 with a D-Link DIR655 and Linksys E4200, and the bridge and the Verizon box have continued to work well for me. No special settings needed for any of these routers or the bridge.

So I'm not aware of any special settings needed, it should just work. In my opinion, something's wrong if that's not the case.

I'd be thinking about re-flashing the firmware that you have, or go to newer firmware. Then do a factory reset of your router, and carefully manually reconfigure it. Look at all the settings to be sure that there isn't something odd that you're not aware of.