I know...before even thinking it, yes, I know being on WIFI is the problem, but I am not getting the wired network done until around Christmas.  For now though, I am using WIFI to stream media to Apple TV / XBMC.  For the most part it works nice, aside from some buffering on 720p videos.  Some videos buffer more than others, so I was thinking of using Powerline to solve this, and then eventually I could use it for other parts of the house that I am not going to wire later on.

 

I'm lost though...using Powerline seems to be worse.

 

*WIFI*

Read: 8.2 MB/s

Write: 4.75 MB/s

 

*Powerline*

Read: 7.5 MB/s

Write: 7.7 MB/s

 

Using Powerline on other machines other than unRAID, I am able to achieve around 12 MB/s.

 

Any ideas of what might be happening?

While I did not personally use them, I did research them extensively when I wanted to move my popcorn hour into a bedroom. Some devices worked better than others. Another thing I picked up on was they worked best on a continuous electrical run.

 

Eventually I settled on trying a MOCA network. In case your unfamiliar that ethernet over cable. While it was OK for the most part, I hated having this big motorola router in the bedroom.  One day I realized a simple cat6 run alongside the cable run would provide me a homerun.  I pulled the cable line back out of the house, taped Ethernet to it and pulled it back into the house. I did the same thing on the opposite end, some silicone, 2 port doghouses, a switch and I was done. Not sure if that will work for you but thought it worthy of explaining. Granted not ideal way to run Ethernet but it's worked well for me so far.

You can try 500Mbps power line bridges. I saw some for $80 at buy.com. Powerline will give consistent data rates while WIFI will not. You should only need 5MBps to stream uncompressed blu-ry rips.

You're hitting the limitations of both networks, WiFi and PowerLines. I've never had any decent speeds with either. That's why I use cat-6 wired ethernet.

Ok, so some buffering on a 720p file is expected and the best I can get on either then?  I think the Apple TV just has less buffer size as it does not buffer streaming to another PC.

As others have mentioned, you're getting pretty standard real-world results from both of these technologies.  Even with all n-spec wireless gear your results are fairly typical.  I'm not sure why your powerline speeds are slower for unRAID than other systems.  When you are comparing results are you using the same powerline adapters in the same location?  Make sure all your powerline adapters are plugged straight in to the wall and not in to power strips, and try to avoid having big power transformers or other electrical devices right next to them.

 

How bad is the buffering?  How often does it happen and how long does playback stop for?

 

Your problem might be solved by increasing the playback buffer size, but unbelievably, XBMC does not have this option [except on the XBox platform]

 

When it comes to streaming HD content over a network, gigabit wired is the only way to be sure.

Yes, I am running an all n wireless network right now, and the 7-8 MB/s is fairly consistent.  I just ran some more tests, both reading files from unRAID to the same PC.

 

Powerline: 7.5 MB/s which seemed to keep getting higher as it went on.  7.54 MB/s was the highest I saw, but it started at 2 MB/s, and just slowly crept up on a 1.2 GB file transfer.

 

WIFI: 7.9 MB/s, but stayed around that the whole time, but initially started at 11 MB/s.

 

It's very odd that Powerline results in lower speeds.

 

Both powerline adapters are plugged into the wall.

 

Buffering is really inconsistent.  Sometimes, it happens once, maybe at the beginning, and then maybe once more throughout the rest of the movie/show.  Other times, it's unwatchable, as it does it every 30 seconds for a 5 minute period.

 

Can't wait for the gigabit network to be done in a few months.  Unfortunately, we won't be able to do it upstairs, which is where I was hoping this Powerline would work well.