Another month, another blockbuster trade show.
CeBIT's show floor doesn't open up until tomorrow (and yeah, we'll be storming it like no other), but
Netgear's wasting precisely no time in unveiling its latest wares. The two pieces that are nearest and dearest to our hearts are the WNHDB3004 and WNHDB3004, the former of which is an 802.11n HD Home Theater Kit and the latter of which is a universal WiFi adapter that adds wireless support to any AV product with an Ethernet jack. Users interested in streaming "multiple, simultaneous, jitter-free 1080p HD video streams wirelessly throughout the home" should certainly give the first a look, as it enables instant wireless streaming from your existing router to any component with an Ethernet port; think of this as the beautiful alternative to running a 50 foot patch cable through your living room and simultaneously eroding your relationship with Mr. / Mrs. Significant Other. The outfit also doled out a few SMB-centric
ReadyNAS devices and a couple of
HomePlug AV boxes with AC outlet passthroughs, all of which are detailed there in the source links.
posted March 1st 2010 10:45AM
WNHDB3004 and WNHDB3004?
@emopoops yeah i saw the same thing. typo. made me double take though.
@emopoops the universal adapter is WNCE2001
is it possible to hook one of these up to a home NAS and stream to your telly?
They really have a nack for giving their products easy to remember names that roll off the tongue. WNHDB3004 and WNHDB3004, who could forget those?
How is this different than WNHDEB111 ?
@KClough its WNHDB3004
@KClough
My question exactly. Looks like it has 4 ports instead of 2 and 4x4 antenna instead of whatever is in the 111. But still the same 300mbps, probably just better coverage.
@KevinQ
I suspect aside from the extra 2 ports it's just better marketed to the people who are likely to use them. I've got a pair of the WNHDE111 serving my living room because I'm too lazy to get in my crawlspace and run new Cat6, and the pair is almost as fast as a hardwired connection. Takes care of my PS3, 360, DirecTV DVR, Denon receiver, and leaves me a place to plug in a laptop or something else if I need to move big files off the server tucked away in my home office.
@KClough
WNHDEB111 is a wonderful device. I've used it four times for jobs where people refuse to pay for me to run a line, and it has never let me down. I plug them in, press a button. And they are done in 2 minutes flat. I've had these things 125 feet apart before and they were still getting their 19Mb/s internet speed and transferring files pretty quickly. So if they take the WNHDEB111 design, and add in more ethernet ports and 4x4 MIMO, then I am all over this as an ethernet substitute.
I also have the WNHDEB111 and love it. It stretches across a large bi level loft apartment, so sometimes 1080p videos over 11gb (sorry don't know the bitrates offhand) break-up, but 90% of my 1080p rips stream just fine. 720p stuff is no problem.
I have the WNHDE111 and I'm able to stream 720p content from my Office PC to my Living Room HTPC, 360 & PS3 flawlessly.
There is no substitute for hardwired 100mbit Cat-5. I would only use Cat-5 for stationary devices, including home theater.
@(Unverified)
Yep, no substitute at all. Except the superior 1000Mb/s CAT6 cable.
@HollisJamison I can't argue with you there, but Cat-5e is capable of gigabit. Because of installation costs, I would always install at least 5e, probably 6 or soon 7 for in-wall installations plus patch panels at that level, and then cable patch at whatever I had laying around or could get cheaply, including cat-3 or cat-nothing (telephone wire), which will carry at least 100mbps, even if it's not officially supported. Patch cables are super easy to switch out later if the networking gear is being nitpicky about what it's running on. I think everything is 5e now though, so I would end up patching at 5e (gigabit capable) and running 6 in the walls.
The real key to video streaming is the bit rate. Blu Ray runs ~40 Mb/s. A G wireless connection can barley manage 8-10 Mb/s. Get it into the 6 Mb/s range and yes, streaming HD video.... that looks like crap. Some of the services stream "HD" around 3-4 Mb/s. Regular old DVD/SD runs around 1-2. I can almost guarantee you a well mastered DVD will looks far better than most "streamed" HD content. AND some of the broadcast HD content as well.
To get around running the CAT-5, I setup 2 Netgear WNDR3300's which run at 5GHz. The speed isn't amazing but does a stream (roughly 10GB, 1h45min) content without any pausing to my WD TV Live. Running 2 streams at the same time will however causes some issues.
After doing the research it's one of the cheapest solutions around since you can get a WNDR3300 for $30 refurbished.
For the homeplugs, when they released the last Australian version, they put all of the bulk of the device below the earth pin, which is always on the bottom of the Australian Socket.
So unhelpful when so many powerepoints are close to desk level or floor level.