HomePlug AV networking

[Luis G]

I'm thinking of connecting the PS3 to a DLNA server in wired mode to improve performance, I'm currently using 802.11g (54Mbps) and sometimes the video is not a fluid as I'd like it to be. Because the ps3 only supports G and not N wireless looks less attractive.

HomePlug AV seems to have good bandwidth, but is it worth it?
Anyone has experiences on it?

 

[Mirlyn]

Can't find any true bandwidth requirements for DLNA. I'd be surprised if the PS3 is running at the full 54bps rate and still can't keep up with it. Doesn't look like DLNA is that intensive. Could be wrong, I suppose--never used it before.

 

[Luis G]

The DLNA requirments vary according to the file being streamed.

When streaming video there are portions which are over 9Mbps (using divx/xvid), of course that isn't a steady rate, but nonetheless it tends to drop some frames here and there at those parts. I've also noticed that the PS3 tends to buffer some seconds, but it seems that isn't enough.

Also, wireless-g does not give the net 54Mbps, a more realistic number is 16Mbps at most.

 

[Mirlyn]

Also, wireless-g does not give the net 54Mbps, a more realistic number is 16Mbps at most.

Yep, depends on the AP's radio, encryption type, AP traffic/congestion, environmental interference, client radio, etc.

 

[Luis G]

I had to move the AP much closer to the PS3 and connect it via ethernet cable.

These are the scenarios and the performance observed.
- PS3 and computer via wireless, just those 2 devices with strong signal, encryption is WPA-PSK TKIP and no other applications are using the network: 800-900kB/s (7200kbps or 13%).
- PS3 via ethernet 100 Full duplex and computer via wireless, once again those are the only 2 active devices on the network, strong signal encryption is the same: 2.1MB/s (16.8Mbps or ~30% of the bandwidth).

After seeing the incredible difference I went to do some little research and found that wireless operates in half-duplex mode, I thought it had sub-channels for Tx and Rx but that's not the case.

Even with a steady 2.1MB/s rate I'm still seeing the occasional judder and audio drop at high rates. I managed to watch a 1280x720 AVI file with little interruption, but I don't think the network could handle 1920x1080.

Moral of the story, DLNA via wireless is not good yet, at least in the high def department. I don't think even the N standard will be able to cope with it and in order to get ethernet 100 performance you will need a wireless standard that is at least 700Mbps, i.e. 700/2 * 0.30 = 105.