AirPort Express for XBox 360?

May 8, 2008 5:05 AM

What's the best option for getting an XBox 360 online--the official wireless adapter from Microsoft or an Apple Airport Express?

I'll be playing Live and streaming videos and music from my computer to the 360, and my router is an Airport Extreme (802.11n). Does the Express' n capability make a difference in performance at all, in terms of lag/speed? Is this setup really as difficult as my googling would suggest? (And a bonus question--what's better, Rivet or Connect360?)

posted by cosmic osmo to computers & internet (10 comments total)

I think you're confusing the two parts. An Airport Express is Apple's smaller, more portable base station - think Airport Extreme Lite. The wireless adapter from Microsoft is something that enables your 360 to use wireless to connect, since the console does not have that capability out of the box.

If you already have an Airport Extreme base station, there's almost no need to buy an Express. The 360 isn't going to be doing 802.11N.

(As for the bonus question - haven't used Rivet because I've never had a problem with Connect360.)
posted by Remy at 5:36 AM on May 8, 2008

honestly, if you're going to be streaming hd video, you're better off with a wired connection. even 802.11n isn't quite fast enough.
posted by Oktober at 5:38 AM on May 8, 2008

The wireless adapter is great - works like a dream, but it's the equivalent of a dongle that you'd plug into your laptop - it's not the same product as an Airport. You'll need both, unless you just run an ethernet cable between your router and the 360, and that kind of defeats the point of going wireless.
posted by Happy Dave at 5:39 AM on May 8, 2008

My modem and router are two floors away from my television, so I can't go wired. I was thinking I could plug the Xbox 360 into the Airport Express via an ethernet cable and then connect to my existing wireless network using either WDS or ProxySTA. Is that not true?
posted by cosmic osmo at 5:50 AM on May 8, 2008

Yeah for streaming video, you'll want to be wired for best performance. You can still get on live with that setup, it's how I'm running right now. Under XP, the wired ethernet port on the computer gets a static IP, same on the 360 (same subnet). My wireless connection on the computer is DHCP, then I've bridged the wired / wireless connection through network tools.

Everything works great, the two downfalls are proximity (running the cable could be a PITA) and the comupter must be on for bridged connection to be running for the 360 to get on Live.
posted by Mahogne at 6:23 AM on May 8, 2008

My modem and router are two floors away from my television

Disregard my post then, how did I miss a comment from half an hour ago?
posted by Mahogne at 6:24 AM on May 8, 2008

the airport express does indeed have 'client mode' where it effectively acts as a wireless to wired ethernet bridge, so you could definitely use it for 11n bridging to your existing router (client mode works with any 11g or 11n network). The biggest down side is the airport express 11n only has a 100Mb/s network card; at full speed, the 11n network will be faster than the ethernet port. But that's ok, as the xbox 360 only has a 100Mb/s network point. You can get 11n bridges cheaper than an airport express, but they all have a fairly ropey reputation.

Alternatively, you can use WDS and setup the airport express as a remote station for ethernet connections, as you surmised - shown here

Client mode simpler, WDS more clever and flexible. Both will be faster than doing it at 11g speed.

802.11g at short range is enough to do HD - just. 54Mbits/s maximum, with a realistic 4 - 5 MBytes/s transmission speed absolute maximum. At range, that drops off quickly. HD streams are up to usually about 2MB/s, so you see the problem.

802.11n goes at 300Mb/sec depending upon configuration. Best I've ever got out of it was about 12MB/sec, but it does drop off due to range less.

If you're planning on doing HD video streaming, an express in client mode is probably a good idea, and it won't hurt to have more bandwidth to play with when it comes to a decent connection at range either. Bear in mind, you may well be limited by the bandwidth of your computer too, if it's connected by wireless as well.

Try connecting a laptop with 11g to your wireless from near your TV (grab a friend?), and test video streaming that way. It's very dependant upon the thickness/material of your walls as to what signal strength you'll get at that range, and thus whether 11g is going to cut it. I suspect it won't.

One final suggestion, if the wireless signal proves to be too weak; powerline/homeplug adapters, which use the power cabling in your house to transmit a wired signal are coming along nicely - I've found them to be give a faster connection for streaming video more reliably than wireless at range. Not cheap though, given you have to put one by your switch and one by the 360.
posted by ArkhanJG at 6:48 AM on May 8, 2008

Hey, I'm doing this right now. I have an old (802.11g) Airport Express with my 360 plugged into it, bridged to my LAN via WDS. I use it primarily for streaming video, and it works great - I've never seen a glitch or pause. The highest bitrate I stream is the roughly 700 MB an hour that seems to be standard for TV episodes. As others have mentioned, it's going to come down to the quality of the wireless signal you're getting in the target location.
posted by pocams at 6:57 AM on May 8, 2008

Client mode or if you want to save money you can buy an older linksys and put DD-WRT on there. Some people rave about home ethernet over power adapters, but I dont have any experience with them. It might be something to try in your scenario. Some of them do over 100mbps, without the delays, retransmissions, and wifi drop-outs.
posted by damn dirty ape at 7:55 AM on May 8, 2008

I've used some 3rd party wireless bridges (Linksys, Dlink, etc.) expressly intended for adding wireless capability to consoles, but the only 100% pain-free, plug and play experience I've had is with Microsoft's own Xbox-branded wireless adapters (on both the original Xbox and the 360). Worth the cost to save the headaches. Strangely, the official 360 wireless adapter plugs neatly into the USB port on the rear of the unit, leaving the ethernet port free. This does makes for a cleaner installation since the small unit literally clips onto the back of the 360 (no external AC plug required), if aesthetics or clutter are a concern at all.
posted by wubbie at 9:56 AM on May 8, 2008