DLNA blesses HomePlug Ethernet-over-mains tech The Digital Living Network Alliance, the organisation behind the DLNA media streaming standard, has given the thumbs-up to powerline networking. The DLNA said it likes HomePlug powerline technology in particular, and will add the specification to its device interoperability guidelines, which are due to be revised shortly. …
I love powerline networking, but have never managed to stream anything over it without major buffering. I dont know if its interfearance or just not enough bandwidth by the time its got all round my ring main, but i finally succombed a got a legacy switch from work and chucked CAT6 all round the flat.
Never looked back!
> by the time its got all round my ring main
On the other hand, looks like you could use it as a "network storage" appliance, BOFH-style.
Network over the mains always seems to me like a half-arsed compromise between proper cabling and wireless anyway. With added drawbacks such as radio interferences all over the place.
....all powerline networking devices newly placed on the market must meet the EN55022B:2006 standard, which the currently available devices fail by as much as 40dB below 30MHz and possibly above it as well.
So, does anyone believe that the newer devices will meet these limits, which by and large make PLT as RF quiet as all other devices must achieve? There is 6 months to complain about a device once it's on the market, that includes the time taken to investigate and take action. So, anyone near these things with an interest in a quiet RF environment, get working on finding them and then shopping them to TPTB.
What next? Are they going to recommend copper as the preferred medium for wired DLNA connections, or how about air as the preferred atmosphere in which DLNA wireless traffic should be transmitted in?
Before the hams pipe up, I have to say I love powerline networking kit. Before I ran some cat5e cable I could cheerily watch 1080p video streamed from one side of the house to the other with no stuttering over some inexpensive powerline kit and 80's electrics.
It's the shortwave listeners that do all the bleeting.
Radio Hams on the other hand are licensed to transmit as well as receive and through the law of reciprocity no homeplug is safe within the local of my QTH good buddy. A couple of Kilowats of squarewave on top band is usually enough to nobble them.
Last time I looked into that it was pretty near worthless. 802.11b was faster by the time you figured in the interference from that pesky power in the power lines. Has it gotten better in the last couple years? If not then I'd think that running DLNA over it would be an exercise in frustration.
"Last time I looked into that it was pretty near worthless".."Has it gotten better in the last couple years?"
I've been using it for a few years. The original 40MB stuff was a bit in bandwidth. Since the 85MB kit it has been more than sufficient for any home-networking I've thrown at it giving me a more reliable connection than 11g wireless. I'd put it on a par with a decent 11n router with multiple antennae.
The only downside - and maybe I have just been unlucky - is reliability. The kit seems to cook itself after roughly 18 months continuous usage. Then again, I find ADSL routers and USB WiFi adaptors tend to do the same. Maybe it is my magnetic personality?
Not worthless to me - it let me move my router from two floors up to downstairs beside where the main phone socket is, flooding downstairs with lovely WiFi (and drowning out all the neighbours WiFi) and piping the network back upstairs via powerline. The two BT plugs I have are the best things I ever bought.
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Have you tried getting a DLNA compliant TV working to a DLNA compliant PC or a DLNA complaint Xbox360?
Compliant seems to be a purely theoretically accreditation. DLNA does not mandate *how* it interacts (wrt transcoding, compatibility etc) so actually getting it to work is flipping tricky.
So you can still now officially theoretically make a DLNA connection over an IP network just replacing a copper cable with a copper cable using Powerline adaptors?
(I am happy to be corrected if someone has more positive DLNA experiance. A Bravia TV to a PS3 does not count, that is not manufacturer agnostic its Sony-Sony)
In my humble experience, I only got my Bravia TV to play stuff using the PS3 server app running on a PC; it wouldn't talk to my DLNA NAS, nor the windows media sharing software, nor a Mac.
However, the PS3 server app refuses to serve content to any other device I have; perhaps the Sony version of DLNA is different? (For the record, Sony refused to help at all unless the TV was streaming from a Sony PC or PS3, nor would they help with USB flashdrive problems, unless it was a Sony USB flashdrive; presumably using the Sony version of USB)
Funnily enough I've just finished setting up my own DLNA server in exactly this manner. In my office I have a Synology DiskStation NAS and an old laptop running CentOS w/ Serviio, Subsonic and Air Video. It's not lightning fast but it's low power, quiet and powerful enough for real-time transcoding. This all goes through a cheap TP-Link gigabit switch connected to 200Mbps TP-Link power line plugs. Elsewhere in the house i have one power line plug next to my router and another next to my Sony Bravia.
I was very surprised at how well it all worked, to be honest, given the DLNA horror stories I'd read. Admittedly I did quite a lot of research before picking Serviio because I'd heard about how fussy Bravias are with DLNA profiles, but the power line plugs are simply fantastic when cable isn't a practical option and you need fast, reliable connectivity. I haven't tried lobbing HD at it yet but so far the setup hasn't dropped a single frame.
I had some powerline adaptors I was using to stream video, wifi reception was too poor so this was a good alternative. It worked great for about 12 months then one day the adaptors started showing average or poor signal suddenly it wasn't possible to stream even low quality iplayer, let alone full bluray rips. In the end I just put in a run of outdoor coax, gigabit speeds, perfect reliability.
As they are constantly blowing the electronics in them and tripping out the RCD when they go pop, due to the high levels of DIGITAL NOISE that the HOMEPLUGS introduce onto the mains wiring of my house.
My low energy bulbs only last about 3-6 months before going BANG! on a regular basis...
sorry but how are they supposed to be more efficient than filament bulbs if they wont even last half as long as them???
Its also fantastic news for all HAM Radio Operators, as all low frequencys (below 6Ghz) are now PermaJammed by the RF noise that they (homeplugs) emit 24/7.
It also seriously sucks to be anyone who needs to use any of the Emergency Radio Frequencies, which are also jammed by bleedover from them.
"It also seriously sucks to be anyone who needs to use any of the Emergency Radio Frequencies, which are also jammed by bleedover from them."
Strange, I've been using my Emergency Services radio (TETRA) for about 7 years now. Off the top of my head I'd say I've been using HomePlug for 6 of those and have never noticed an issue. In fact, I've never even heard it mentioned.
Strange that the DLNA bods say this now, I've been running (Netgear) powerline stuff for a while now. I stream films/music from my Netgear ReadyNAS or Mac to PS3 and Sony BluRay and amp. Generally works fine, no buffering at all (compared with WiFi).
Though as I only use them for streaming and PS3 connectivity I usually switch them off when I'm done.
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