chooppy DV playback over wireless network:

[mikeny]

When I playback transferred DV footage from my Sony H30 Camcorder it plays fine on the computer it was transferred to. However, when I try to play the files over my wireless network it is very choppy. It's unwatchable. I've tried Microsoft Media Player 10 & Nero Showtime. I am surprised because I am able to play other hi-quality divx, dvd, and mpeg files flawlessly over the wireless network. (those also have large file sizes)

I have installed the panasonic dv codec, mainconcept codec and I just installed the canopus.

(I don't know if the canopus will help because I installed it away from my network so I can't access the files now.)

I tried installing a sony dv codec but it didn't install right.

DMA is enabled if available.

Should I not expect smooth DV playback over a wireless network?

Thanks in advance.

[Baldrick]

DV has a high bitrate, ~27Mbps in comparison with dvd, 10Mbps. How fast is your wireless? You need at least the double speed(52Mbit wireless) but it might not be enough anyway.

[TBoneit]

Or IOW if you really want to play your DV video over the wireless you need to encode it to something like MPEG2 or Divx or Xvid and that will lower the bandwidth needed. It is choppy because you do not have high enough bandwidth on your wireless network. Other option to avoid encoding is go wired network.

[mikeny]

I appreciate your replies.

The connection tops out at 54Mbps but can drop to 36, 24, and even 11 at times, especially at the end of wireless range. Like I said, it never effects playing the other files or internet browsing, but it sounds you wouldn't expect smooth DV playback right?

[seinman]

You're never going to be able to play DV over wireless using current wireless technology.

If you're using 802.11g, your top speed is 54 mbps. DV is (as mentioned earlier in this thread) somewhere between 25 and 30 mbps, lets call it 25 just for the sake of arguement. Well firstly, wireless is half-duplex, which means you can only send OR recieve at a time. Every time your computer sends data to the other about the status of the transfer (known as overhead) it has to stop receiving the file. This drops your bandwidth significantly, leaving you maybe 30 mbps throughput. Still enough for a DV stream, it seems, but that's under PERFECT conditions. In the real world, even if it says your'e connected at 54 mbps, it's really more like 30 to 35. Oh, you're using encryption, right? Drop 10 mbps off that number for encryption overhead. You're down to 20 mbps, not enough for DV anymore.

If you really need to stream DV from one machine to another, do it over a wired connection. My friend has sucessfully edited over 100 mbps ethernet without dropping any frames during playback.

[mikeny]

I enjoyed your explanation. Thanks a lot. I'll continue to encode to mpeg-2 with TmpgEnc Plus and author to DVD with TmpgEnc DVD Author. I was just interested in previewing the DV clips wirelessly before I complete the 'project' on the 'resident machine' but I could live without it until the technology improves.

[TBoneit]

Considering that most people only use wireless to share the internet or occasionally send a file the G speed is more than adequate. There are some 108Mbs wireless available. It operates as I remember it by in effect bridging two 54Mbps wireless connections in one device. Thus to use it you need it at both ends. And these days users are starting to see multiple networks, I see 5 or 6 depending, here at work. The 108 speed wireless halves the available channels since it uses two channels. Down the road we may start seeing interference issues.

Having said that the first thing I did at home when Verizon sent the wireless 4 port router/DSL modem was make sure the antenna was off. We do not run wireless here at work either. Wired is secure.

Also are you typing passwords and account numbers through a wireless keyboard? Not secure!

[mikeny]

Yes, the Netgear WGT624 for example is Super G' 108 Mbps router, but it only achieves those speeds in conjunction with other Netgear Super G WiFi cards.

IMO, we will see more high bandwith WiFi products, with more HD Video streaming wirelessly, especially in coming years.

As far as security: use a firewalled router & protect your network with a software program like McAfee Home Wireless Network Security or Trend Home Security, use WPA AES encryption (not WEP) and constantly rotate your keys. Also use a software firewall.

There are pretty good odds you'll be secure, unless of course there's a hard core hacker living next door to working 24/7 to crack your network.