How many bars are you getting with your WRT600 on the graph view?  I have powerline networking, but the results are "marginal" through the network tuner.  Typically I'm one or two bars below the "acceptable for HDTV."  Just curious if an N router would get me into the acceptable range and I'm curious what everyone's results have been.

Thanks,

Monty

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XPS420 w/ 2 ATI OCURs
HDHomerun
DMA2100 Extender x 2

Montyward:

How many bars are you getting with your WRT600 on the graph view?

My graph is usually about 1-2 divisions from the top in the line graph, with short dips below "HDTV" once or twice a minute.  It works well at 720p, the dips in the graph do not seem to be a problem.

My wrt600n is located one story directly above the DMA2100 with wood stick & drywall construction, hardwood floors.

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Deane G Win 7100 x32, 2x Hauppague 2250, HD3450 at 1080i to plasma, Intel D945GNTLR w/Pentium D 2.80GHz, 2GB, Seagate 300MB + Hitachi 1TB, Linksys DMA2100, Harmony 550, Microsoft Wireless Entertainment Keyboard 7000

If I'm not mistaken, I saw a posting here somewhere about DMA 2100 with Linksys WRT150N and both work fine with HD resolution.

I'm also thinking to get a wireless-N router. WRT600N is beyond my budget. Other linksys wireless-N have mediocre review (cnet.com & pcmag.com). Any comments about the this Netgear double-band N-router (around $100):

http://netgear.com/Products/RoutersandGateways/RangeMaxNEXTWirelessRoutersandGateways/WNDR3300.aspx

Should I get a linksys or non-linksys router? I'm just afraid of imcompatibilites. Thanks.

etudes

 

I just got this router (Netgear WNDR3300) and it works great. Dual band is a great solution for my home ATM. I have a DMA2100 on order, so I will report how back on how these work with each other.

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Vista Ultimate 32-bit SP1
Asus M2A-VM HDMI
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ (65W)
500GB SATA HDD; 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 800 SDRAM
nMEDIAPC HTPC 500BAR
Samsung 20X DVD±R
HD HomeRun; nVidia DualTV
Linksys DMA2100; WRT600N Router
ZALMAN CNPS 8700 NT

As you can see from an earlier post, I first tried the WRT600N but had very little success with it, especially on the 5GHz band.  I returned it and picked up the WNDR3300 and so far I've been fairly impressed with it.  Everything is in the exact same positions as when I had the WRT600N but I'm now able to connect my DMA2100 to the 5GHz band (channel 44) with very good bandwidth (according to the Tune Network application).  However, I'm experiencing some very frequent and large dropouts according to the same graph that sometimes causes Live TV to freeze up for a few seconds.  Turning encryption off has helped but not totally solved this problem.  I will continue to tweak with the settings to see if I can eliminate them.

My xbox360, however, hasn't had the same luck connecting to this router.  I've heard of a few others also having this problem so I'm guessing it's a firmware issue on one side or the other.  While I wait for an update, I've added my old Belkin Wireless G Plus MIMO as an access point with a different SSID that my xbox360 easily connects to.  I now have 3 different wireless networks in my house (2 from the Netgear and 1 from the Belkin) and things are more stable.  However, I do, on occasion, have to reset the Netgear router as my DMA2100 will sometimes disconnect and won't reconnect unless I reboot the Netgear router.  I'm also hoping this is a firmware issue and will soon be fixed.

bkw:

I'm now able to connect my DMA2100 to the 5GHz band (channel 44) with very good bandwidth (according to the Tune Network application).  However, I'm experiencing some very frequent and large dropouts according to the same graph that sometimes causes Live TV to freeze up for a few seconds.  Turning encryption off has helped but not totally solved this problem.  I will continue to tweak with the settings to see if I can eliminate them.

I also have the WNDR3300, and I too have experienced the dropouts.  I changed the security from WPA2 to WPA and the problems have disappeared.  I also find that rebooting my DMA2100 will improve the bandwidth if it seems strangely low...

Let me know if WPA helps.

ACraigL:

I just got this router (Netgear WNDR3300) and it works great. Dual band is a great solution for my home ATM. I have a DMA2100 on order, so I will report how back on how these work with each other.

So I'm finally setup with my DMA2100 and the Netgear WNDR3300 and I gotta say I'm pretty happy. In the network tuner, (I perfer the line graph) I am typically just shy of 100% performance, and it does often peg at 100%. I do notice occassional, and often volent dips of bandwidth, but it does not seem to affect overall performance. I'm able to stream HD programming in realtime, even manually skipping commercials without so much as a momentary lag.

I agree the interface is not as smooth as the actual VMC, but it's pretty close. This also improves with additional bandwidth. I have my router on my main (first) floor with the DMA2100 N client in the master bedroom on the second level. I have additional G clients on the second floor as well as the basement and those are all reporting "excellent" connections. The dual band is excellent in this respect and I have 2 SSIDs to differentiate what I'm connecting to. 

BTW, I was in Best Buy today and they have the Netgear WNDR3300 for $109.00 -- which they refunded $20 to me -- very happy :)

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Vista Ultimate 32-bit SP1
Asus M2A-VM HDMI
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ (65W)
500GB SATA HDD; 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 800 SDRAM
nMEDIAPC HTPC 500BAR
Samsung 20X DVD±R
HD HomeRun; nVidia DualTV
Linksys DMA2100; WRT600N Router
ZALMAN CNPS 8700 NT

Does this match what you are seeing in terms of the network tuning:

http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/thread/244032.aspx

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Vista Ultimate 32-bit SP1
Asus M2A-VM HDMI
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ (65W)
500GB SATA HDD; 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 800 SDRAM
nMEDIAPC HTPC 500BAR
Samsung 20X DVD±R
HD HomeRun; nVidia DualTV
Linksys DMA2100; WRT600N Router
ZALMAN CNPS 8700 NT

Yes, that is exactly what I'm seeing. 

bkw:

Yes, that is exactly what I'm seeing. 

So, this is a DMA problem and not the router? Are you using DHCP or static IP addressing?

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Vista Ultimate 32-bit SP1
Asus M2A-VM HDMI
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ (65W)
500GB SATA HDD; 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 800 SDRAM
nMEDIAPC HTPC 500BAR
Samsung 20X DVD±R
HD HomeRun; nVidia DualTV
Linksys DMA2100; WRT600N Router
ZALMAN CNPS 8700 NT

Hmm, why do you say it is a DMA problem?  I'm using DHCP.

I was also seeing the exact same thing with my DMA2100 and WNDR3300.  I was also seeing these drops with a Belkin F5D8233-4 and a D-Link DIR-655.  (The Belkin and D-Link routers were returned to the store.)

1.  I have found that changing my wireless security from WPA2 or WPA to WEP (64-bit) has eliminated these fluctuations.

2.  Regarding the WNDR3300, I was also having problems with my other wireless-g devices losing connection to the router when network security was set to WPA or WPA2.  Now that I am set to WEP, I am no longer having this problem.  I am wonding if I have a lemon router, or are other people having this problem too.  I will do an exchange at bestbuy if others are not having this problem. 

Can someone else confirm items 1 & 2 above with your experiences?  I'd like to go back to WPA because I believe it to be better security, but WEP will have to do for now...

thanks,

67

I'm seeing the above with NO security enabled.

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Vista Ultimate 32-bit SP1
Asus M2A-VM HDMI
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ (65W)
500GB SATA HDD; 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 800 SDRAM
nMEDIAPC HTPC 500BAR
Samsung 20X DVD±R
HD HomeRun; nVidia DualTV
Linksys DMA2100; WRT600N Router
ZALMAN CNPS 8700 NT

At first I had WEP (64 bit) and when watching TV my picture would, from time to time, freeze for a second or two.  I then totally disabled encryption and the freezing has stopped, although the Tune Network graph still shows the frequent dropouts.

Basically, the graphs looked the same but actual performance has improved by turning off encryption (although I'm using MAC address filtering to prevent anyone else from connecting to my network).

I bit the bullet and got the WRT-600N.

I was seeing the same problem with that router and I tried everything to resolve the issue.  I finally went and rechecked the firmware and it had the original release (I swear I checked it when I set it up 2 weeks ago).  Anyway, the new firmware made the problem disappear.  I now have a nearly solid line across the top of the graph with occasional dips down to 1 bar from the top. This is with WPA turned on.  I also set the radios to "802.11n only" for 5Ghz and "802.11g only" for 2.4GHz and am using different SSIDs for each band.  No stuttering or pixelization on HD shows with these settings.

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Velocity Micro Cinemagix Grand Theater, C2Q, 2GB, 2 TB, 2 DCT, 2 HDHomeRun
XPS420, C2Q, 3GB, 1DCT, 2 HDHR
Homebuilt C2Q, 2 GB, 1.5 TB, HVR-1600, FireSTB
Dell E1705, T7600, 2GB, 250GB, HVR-950
WHS, WRT600N, DMA-2100, DMA-2200, XBox360