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Do Routers Effect Streaming Quality

Hi Linus people :D

I'm just wondering something about a network related question.

My laptop is connected via WiFi to my houses router, and my dads pc is connected via ethernet to the router.
I have all of my media (movies,pictures ect) on my dads pc and I stream the files from that pc to ps3, xbox, laptop ect.
I am thinking about ripping all my bluray and dvds so i dont need to have them on display (il put them in a cupboard or something.

Will this sort of oversaturate the router with data when i watch my vids on something other than pc where they are stored and also will it effect the sharpness and overall quality of the files?

Thankyou :D

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Short answer:

In most cases you should be just fine doing so, with normal streaming services (plex or xbmc) or just flat storing the files the streaming quality should not cause too many problems with your router.

 

Long answer:

 

It depends, there are certain scenario's such as high device count, high bitrate streaming, old wireless standard, poor signal quality scenarios where you could put a hurting on the wireless infrastructure either with that device that you are streaming from or the wireless network as a whole. These are generally corner case scenarios and can be overcome by wireless upgrades or modifications to your layout if you find you are having problems (more access points, positioning them better, adopting a higher performance standard such as N or AC) 

 

I have done exactly what you are doing years ago even across wireless and have never looked back it is fantastic and with a plethora of media services they make it really cheep and easy to use just about anywhere in your home for almost no money way more convenient. 

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Depends on the bitrate of the movies, if you want 95% Blu-ray quality your going to have ~ 34GB per movie which will suck for streaming unless your router on the 2.4 Ghz side is in wireless N mode only otherwise you'd have to use the 5 Ghz side if your router has it (I would really recommend it anyway) also there's the storage space problem if your doing 34GB movies even with 11-12GB movies can pile up quick which would be the bare minimum I'd recommend ripping your Blu-rays at otherwise you should just watch your Blu-rays normally also depending on the amount of streams going on at once your PC/router SoC may not be able to handle it.

Mein Führer... I CAN WALK !!

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Short answer:

In most cases you should be just fine doing so, with normal streaming services (plex or xbmc) or just flat storing the files the streaming quality should not cause too many problems with your router.

 

Long answer:

 

It depends, there are certain scenario's such as high device count, high bitrate streaming, old wireless standard, poor signal quality scenarios where you could put a hurting on the wireless infrastructure either with that device that you are streaming from or the wireless network as a whole. These are generally corner case scenarios and can be overcome by wireless upgrades or modifications to your layout if you find you are having problems (more access points, positioning them better, adopting a higher performance standard such as N or AC) 

 

I have done exactly what you are doing years ago even across wireless and have never looked back it is fantastic and with a plethora of media services they make it really cheep and easy to use just about anywhere in your home for almost no money way more convenient.

Thankyou for your advice.

It is really amazing isnt it?

My parents love it since they watch all their shows on tv now.

To address the problems that you put in your long answer.

High Device Count: 2 Android Phone's, Laptop, Tablet, PS3, Xbox One. Sometimes all connected at once.

High Bitrate Streaming: I want to be able to stream my uncompressed Blu-Ray rips over the network so I guess thats what you mean by it :P

Old Wireless Standard: Not sure but this is the router I use (I got it from Optus) http://www.netgear.com.au/service-providers/products/cable/gateways/cg3000-cg3100.aspx

Poor Signal: Usually around 3-4 bars if that helps when in my room.

Thanks for the info :D

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You shouldnt have a problem. I have a plex server set up in my rack space with just a 30Mb connection up and down and I can stream 720p to wherever no problem. Even tested out of state so no problem doing it on your local network.

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To address the problems that you put in your long answer.

High Device Count: 2 Android Phone's, Laptop, Tablet, PS3, Xbox One. Sometimes all connected at once.

High Bitrate Streaming: I want to be able to stream my uncompressed Blu-Ray rips over the network so I guess thats what you mean by it :P

Old Wireless Standard: Not sure but this is the router I use (I got it from Optus) http://www.netgear.com.au/service-providers/products/cable/gateways/cg3000-cg3100.aspx

Poor Signal: Usually around 3-4 bars if that helps when in my room.

With that grade wireless, i.e. N300 2.4Ghz? You're going to run into problems. If you're doing uncompressed Blu-Rays the speed will average around 35Mbps but you'll want a bit more headroom so it doesn't buffer at the start. Best case scenario N300 will do around 70Mbps and that's with no other traffic on the network, full signal, nice neighbours and a quality adapter at the device end. Even a decent quality, compressed Blu-Ray rip will hover at around 10-15Mbps. It should work but it's not exactly ideal. If it was me and I wanted to do it I'd either get a better wireless access point (no need to replace the whole thing) or find another way to connect. Like proper Ethernet through the walls or using powerline so that it's running on a different medium.

 

Infact it was me and I ran Ethernet through the walls. Because the way some devices setup their buffers with some files and not even full quality Blu-Ray rips it wasn't great. And even when it was ok if something else was going on, like someone else watching a video, it'd struggle. And that was with N600 where I had a second channel.

Fools think they know everything, experts know they know nothing

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With that grade wireless, i.e. N300 2.4Ghz? You're going to run into problems. If you're doing uncompressed Blu-Rays the speed will average around 35Mbps but you'll want a bit more headroom so it doesn't buffer at the start. Best case scenario N300 will do around 70Mbps and that's with no other traffic on the network, full signal, nice neighbours and a quality adapter at the device end. Even a decent quality, compressed Blu-Ray rip will hover at around 10-15Mbps. It should work but it's not exactly ideal. If it was me and I wanted to do it I'd either get a better wireless access point (no need to replace the whole thing) or find another way to connect. Like proper Ethernet through the walls or using powerline so that it's running on a different medium.

 

Infact it was me and I ran Ethernet through the walls. Because the way some devices setup their buffers with some files and not even full quality Blu-Ray rips it wasn't great. And even when it was ok if something else was going on, like someone else watching a video, it'd struggle. And that was with N600 where I had a second channel.

Humm sounds like i should just put the files on a USB 3.0 HDD and play them off there :P

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Humm sounds like i should just put the files on a USB 3.0 HDD and play them off there :P

Well for performance? Sure. But then you lose the main advantage of streaming your media over the network. I can have a video on my PC, push it to the NAS then walk to the TV in the other room and press play. Or maybe while I'm doing that someone wants to watch another video on the same disk on another screen. I mean sneakernet works. I could have multiple external disks that I keep synchronised and move them between screens. It's possible, but it's not the same. When something becomes easy to the point of not having to think you tend to actually use it.   :)

Fools think they know everything, experts know they know nothing

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