Portal Review

[Brian]

hmmm, i have a lot of things plugged into trailing socket, tv, two pvrs, aerial booster, stereo downstairs and pc, external hdd, printer upstairs and no spare sockets. sounds like the dongle may be better way to approach things if all this equipt would cause it to slow via homeplugs?

I wouldn't worry too much, my 85 Mbps home plugs for my HDR-FOX T2 and Technika SmartBox 8320HD are plugged into a full six-way trailing socket, which is plugged into a full four-way trailing socket, I have not noticed any problems with speed, and can watch BBC iPlayer, and stream music and videos from my laptop via WiFi to my router, and then via home plugs back to the pvr's.

 

[ThatMartinChap]

I agree with Brian, even with a little slow down. the speed is still more than sufficient to watch BBC iPlayer in HD over this connection on the Hummy without any issues at all.

 

[framedtoo]

hmmm, i have a lot of things plugged into trailing socket, tv, two pvrs, aerial booster, stereo downstairs and pc, external hdd, printer upstairs and no spare sockets. sounds like the dongle may be better way to approach things if all this equipt would cause it to slow via homeplugs?

if it drops to 100Mb that will handle HD no problem, and AV2 spec. should be out the back end of this year, which will be backward compatible with AV spec.

 

[framedtoo]

for my units it is certainly true. For example, my main PC in my home office connects to my BT homehub via 200Mbps homeplugs. If I plug my homeplug into the same socket as all the PC gear is hanging off-of, i.e. PC, 2 monitors, several disks, NAS, several printers and scanners, phone charger, battery chargers (a frightening tally actually) then I get something like 50Mbps or sometime nothing at all, even if all the kit is in standby. However, If i plug into another wall socket (or unplug all the other c**p) then I get something like 150Mbps.

I believe it has something to do with the number of transformers hang off of the local circuit introducing local noise. Especially the "slab type" external power supplies that are on all the time regardless of if the equipment is in standby or not.

Another example, The home plug serving the Hummy will vary it's connection speed considerably if I unplug the Wii. Even if it is standby, it's transformer seems quite noisy..

So I think in many cases, you'll get a good connection. But your mileage varies depending on local wiring and what else you have plug in the same outlet.

For me though, anything around or above 100Mbps is fine.

i was going to mention inductive loads, but i dismissed that because i would have expected anything coming off the transformers to be around the 50Hz mark, and as homeplugs work at higher frequencies with a band pass filter, that they wouldn' t be affected that much

more homework is needed i think

 

[bixieupnorth]

thanks for advice, can anyone suggest suitable homeplugs to buy please?

also is that all i will need, or will there be extra cabling necessary to connect everything?

sounds very clever using existing house cables?

 

[bixieupnorth]

am i right in thinking that a surge protection system in my trailing socket could affect or stop homeplug working?

 

[framedtoo]

am i right in thinking that a surge protection system in my trailing socket could affect or stop homeplug working?

yes. the surge protector acts like a filter,

homeplug would have to be mains side of the surge protector, for it not to be affected

 

[bixieupnorth]

so theres a safety issue if i buy a normal trailing socket so i can accomodate homeplug? is it something that you can just switch on or off when you dont want to stream anything? other socket near tv has lamp plugged into it so i guess i can just get two way block adaptor and put homeplug into it, think my pc trailing socket also has surge protection, so will have to sort that too. maybe i'm destined to dongle!!

pro and cons of both systems if anyones got the time please?

 

[Brian]

My home plugs are plugged into remote controlled sockets and are turned off when not in use.

 

[af123]

thanks for advice, can anyone suggest suitable homeplugs to buy please

The ones I got (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/179960) have been discontinued but they are great. With the pass-through 3-pin socket they don't get in the way and they have a standby feature that means that when I put the Humax into standby and it takes the Ethernet port link down, the home plug goes into standby too and uses almost no power.

For around £50 you should be able to get a pair of adapters that will run up to 200Mb/s (mine are running at 185Mb/s)

 

[MrPloppy]

This is a great series of posts about the homeplugs, but I cent help thinking this should be put under a new thread?

 

[framedtoo]

so theres a safety issue if i buy a normal trailing socket so i can accomodate homeplug? is it something that you can just switch on or off when you dont want to stream anything? other socket near tv has lamp plugged into it so i guess i can just get two way block adaptor and put homeplug into it, think my pc trailing socket also has surge protection, so will have to sort that too. maybe i'm destined to dongle!!

pro and cons of both systems if anyones got the time please?

wireless:- go wireless n 300Mb. the chances are you will get no where near the 300Mb mark. wireless works best in open air, walls and barriers will affect the signal, sometimes can be a pain to setup. no control over the signal. good for laptops, phones. expertise needed medium


homeplug:- go for AV 200Mb. dont put them extension leads, or behind surge protectors, plug directly into the socket, if house cabling is old could have weak signal (if its that bad it may indicate house may need a rewire). more secure than wireless. guess how your house is wired, units work better with shorter runs of cabling. easy to setup. expertise needed minimal

could be problems with inductive loads, transformers, fluorescent fitting (still investigating). RCDs, RCBOs (17th edition regs, still investigating)

Ethernet (cat5):- best option. most secure, potential mess installing. fastest speed as long as terminated right. expertise needed, if terminating the cable yourself medium, if buying off the self pre-made cables minimal

 

[framedtoo]

This is a great series of posts about the homeplugs, but I cent help thinking this should be put under a new thread?

maybe one of the mods could move some of this thread to where it should be

 

[framedtoo]

wireless:- go wireless n 300Mb. the chances are you will get no where near the 300Mb mark. wireless works best in open air, walls and barriers will affect the signal, sometimes can be a pain to setup. no control over the signal. good for laptops, phones. expertise needed medium


homeplug:- go for AV 200Mb. dont put them extension leads, or behind surge protectors, plug directly into the socket, if house cabling is old could have weak signal (if its that bad it may indicate house may need a rewire). more secure than wireless. guess how your house is wired, units work better with shorter runs of cabling. easy to setup. expertise needed minimal

could be problems with inductive loads, transformers, fluorescent fitting (still investigating). RCDs, RCBOs (17th edition regs, still investigating)

Ethernet (cat5):- best option. most secure, potential mess installing. fastest speed as long as terminated right. expertise needed, if terminating the cable yourself medium, if buying off the self pre-made cables minimal

moved this to hummy arms

 

[bixieupnorth]

This is a great series of posts about the homeplugs, but I cent help thinking this should be put under a new thread?

sorry my bad, i started it? i think i've got all my info now so hopefully this will return to its original theme