DLNA question

[badomen]

Hey guys

I have a question that i hope the resolution is DLNA.

I want to have a piece of media stream to 4 or 5 TV's simultaneously...via wireless.

It has to be wireless is the only catch and the TV do support DLNA. I know it will work for 1 PC -> TV wireless but can it do multiple streaming? If not what should i look into?

Thank you for any suggestions, if wired was an option then it would be easy, just MUST be wireless

 

[eibgrad]

Depends on the media player/server. Most any modern media player/server is going to allow multiple streams. There's no real reason not to since it's not particularly difficult to implement. Only exception might be a licensing restrictions, but it's not a technical problem.

The bigger problem will be the unlikely ability to maintain more than 1 or 2 streams over wireless without excessive buffering. Wireless is a shared, half-duplex resource. Unlike wire where each stream would have its own dedicated connection, wireless users take turns accessing the one and only radio frequency. Whenever one DLNA client is accessing its wireless stream, all the others must WAIT! And so as you add more and more wireless streams (including other users on PCs, smartphones, the VOIP adapter, etc.), your per-stream throughput drops dramatically. Frankly, managing to avoid buffering w/ even a single wireless stream can be challenging, esp. if using wireless G, or accessing HD content. HD content can consume 25Mbps or more.

In some cases, the use of wireless N equipment and MIMO can help. Normally the two channels are bonded to increase overall throughout. But in the case of multiple streams from different users, one channel could be dedicated to each stream, thus increasing concurrency but at the expense of total throughput for each stream. IOW, it helps to some degree, but even MIMO isn’t going to make 4-5 streams plausible. Not unless you start adding more wireless APs on additional channels/freqs.

 

[badomen]

Thanks for the reply. Couldn't have asked for a better one.

Since you obviously know what you are talking about, would a high end N900 Dual-Band Wireless Router help out?

The specs state:
Dual-Band
Simultaneous 450Mbps + 450Mbps* data streaming delivers maximum video speed.

As there are going to be about 9 TV's will this work? The steaming data will be like a mix of videos and stills made into a clop with iMovie. Obviously the stated speeds are based off perfect situation. I see some routers are saying like 1ghz wireless etc is that just based on total throughput?

 

[eibgrad]

In the case of that one example, you're dealing w/ two different bands (2.4GHz and 5GHz), each of which supports 450Mbps. Each one of those bands is actually three channels within the band, each capable of 150Mbps (that's why these wireless N routers are always sold in 150Mbps steps; 150Mbps, 300Mbps, 450Mbps, etc.). The chipsets aren’t any faster/better, they just keep bonding more channels together. And why you see so many antennas, one for each channel.

So if you work it all out, MIMO has the potential for 6 concurrent streams of 150Mbps, 3 of them on 2.4Ghz, the other 3 on 5Ghz.

However, that assumes your wireless client adapters are compatible w/ those freqs *and* support MIMO! Not all do, in fact, probably most low-priced ones don't, or might even prove to be incompatible w/ some wireless routers. So if your smart TV, for example, has built-in wireless adapters, you may very well need to replace them.

That's why even though you can theoretically make it all work, at least on paper, it's still tricky, and perhaps expensive. And as you said, stated speeds are based on ideal conditions. Who knows what any one of us will experience in the real world.

So it's never easy and never a guarantee. Minimally you need to have a plan and understand how it could be done. But once executed, you just have to keep your fingers crossed and hope for the best.

That's why nothing beats a wired connection. I would strongly urge you to consider something like Gigabit powerline adapters or even MoCA (ethernet over coax), perhaps both. MoCA in particular can deliver 100Mbps or better in many cases. And while that's still shared across the MoCA link, it will probably prove more reliable, cheaper, and just plain more likely to work. Maybe 5-6 streams might be too much for it, but I bet 3-4 streams would work reasonably well.

 

[badomen]

Yeah i considered powerline just the cost would be an issue and the tvs are mounted about 3M high on the wall. At the moment my plan is to try the wireless and if that fails just use USB in 8 of the tvs and just stream the main one.

TVs are samsung 6000 series so there not to bad. May have to look into the COAX internet but i assume that works along the same llines as a MATV setup.

Thanksa again for your help

 

[daviesow]

Here's a thought. I'm assuming you have coax to each TV. How bout hook half of them up with high band MOCA adapters like most of them (actiontec Verizon routers, or ECB2XXX MOCA adapters, Netgear MOCA adapters, DLINK MOCA adapters) and the other half with mid band MOCA adapters (e.g. the DTV adapters).

The first half will use the High-RF band at 850-1500 MHz and the other half will use the Mid-RF (DTV) band at 500-850 MHz. Just make sure your source is connected to both types like maybe connected directly to an ActionTec router with a DTV adapter also connected to the router and both connected to the COAX. Next make sure each TV is connected to something that only does one or the other like half the TVs have High-RF adapters/routers and half have Mid-RF (DTV) adapters.

See this blog for details:

http://mocablog.net/2010/08/02/you-say-moca-i-say-deca-which-is-it/

Am I crazy or would this work to get only half sharing each band? It still may or may not be enough but I think it will do much better than any wireless solution.