Networking Issues

[centorix]

I bought an HD-fox-T2 for a second TV (I have an HDR-Fox-T2 for the main TV). I was hoping to be able to use it to stream recorded programmes from the HDR and the PC and also watch TV and the iplayer. I’ve been trying to set this up for a week and the only thing that works reliably is just watching TV.

I originally had the HD plugged into the network via Devolo homeplugs (dLAN 200 AV). The same homeplugs work perfectly on the HDR in another room. One the HD however, streaming from both the PC and the HDR works to an extent but the picture stutters loads making it completely unwatchable (every few seconds). The sound cuts out after the first stutter. The iplayer won’t connect properly and usually ends up in with the message “an error occurred whilst launching the application http://www.humaxtvportal.com/”. Once I get this message, the only way I’ve managed to stop it happening every time is to default to factory settings – meaning that have to perform a re-scan.

I thought this all sounded like a network performance problem to I tried another homeplug of the same model and another cable but the results were the same. So I tried wifi – using the Edimax EW-7711USN wifi USB dongle. This gave a full strength wifi wireless n signal and the HD measured the speed at 135 Mb/s – plenty fast enough for an HD signal. This seemed to give a more stable iplayer in that it would actually get into the menu this time but not 100% reliably and and stuttering streaming issues seemed exactly the same as with homeplugs.

Have I bought a duff unit here? Anyone got any thoughts or experienced the same issues? Any wisdom from other would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[centorix]

I think I may have fixed this issue now - or almost. The wireless definitely seems to be giving me a better result than the homeplugs. The USB wireless dongle came with a USB extension cord. If I use that and position dongle with it's high gain aerial away from the other electronic equipment (and higher up), then everything behaves itself much better. The iPlayer is now working flawlessly, HD movies are streaming perfectly from the PC and SD recorded programmes are working fine from the HDR.

The only issue now is that that HD programmes streaming from the HDR still seem to stutter and lose sound (though not as bad as before). I suspect I may now be seeing the same homeplug problem at the HDR end as the PC streaming seems fine. I've ordered another wireless dongle of the same model (which I definitively recommend by the way) to use with the HDR and see if that fixes the remaining issue.