Is 802.11n fast enough to serve/share/stream 1080p content locally?

[mstrkrft82]

I have a home netowrk - wireless 802.11g. I want to upgrade to 802.11n only if it will allow me to stream 1080p content (think mkvs). Will this work? Preferably no quality loss wanted.

[chconline Veteran]

Normally if you are within reasonable range of your router, then it should be fine.

[Richard Hammond]

No, i had WDTV Live with USB 802.11n dongle and every so often it would stutter for 5 seconds or so and good luck trying to ffwd and rwd.

[Crisp]

Streaming is always better on the wire IMO.

[CPressland]

Speed is fine, Wireless N is MORE than fast enough, the issue is latency, asking for another segment of video and having to wait an extra 50ms makes a huge difference when you're dealing with the high bitrates of 1080p Videos, especially if you're transcoding live.

Hell, we have issues 'Call Bargin' on wireless at work, and thats only 50kbps audio, latency is everything in low buffer streaming situations.

[Dick Montage]

Vegetunks is 100% correct!

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

i can stream high-bitrate mkv's (blu-ray rips) from my 'n' router to my 'n' notebook just fine.

[ViperAFK]

Should be fine as long as you have good signal to your router. I've done it on g before (only 1080p a couple of times, but I steam 720p to my laptop nearly every day)

[Another Canuck]

On 2.4Ghz (20Mhz): Possibly. I wouldn't rely on it.

On 5GHz (40Mhz): It should be fine.

There are a lot of factors. How many other devices on the network? How far from the router? Any other 2.4Ghz devices in the house?

[Evolution]

It all depends on the router, how far away you're from the router and how many barriers stand in between. Presumably if it's to a computer it can buffer it.

[neoraptor]

if you are behind a wall, forget it.

[Hell-In-A-Handbasket]

Works perfectly with me streaming over 802.11G, N should be fine

[PsyOpWarlord]

On 5GHz (40Mhz): It should be fine.

I've always got the best results on 5Ghz wireless-n when streaming HD content.

[Evolution]

5 Ghz has a far more limited range than 2.4 Ghz and some routers don't even offer a decent transmitter for the 5 Ghz mode.

[tsupersonic]

I guess I am the only one who has great success on streaming 1080p even on 802.11g.

[lnmnky]

I had better results on Wireless G through a couple of English walls than on Wireless N. Range was bad on Wireless N.

I've since converted to 5MBs (real world results) Powerline and it's faultless. That's.... 200mbs right. Netgear's HD theater stuff. Can't remember.

The only thing is... your query is ambiguous. "1080p"..... that doesn't really dictate an actual quality. I can get a 5GB file or a 15GB file both rated at 1080p. They are going to need a very different bandwidth.

If I would have gone Powerline from Day1 then I would have saved a lot of money. I tried to give wireless 2 generations of chance, I even thought B was enough in 2003. It worked ok between 2 PCs and poor quality rips of 24 season 2. That's really not enough these days.

Are you in an old English house or in a new or American house? We have brick walls remember.

[paxa]

i can stream 1080p to both my laptop and to my htpc just fine using wireless g and there are a couple of walls between the router and where the htpc is and where i usually am with my laptop.