Netgear Powerline Adapter and BlueRay
March 7, 2011 3:49 PM Subscribe
Netgear 85 mbps Powerline Network Adapter Kit and watching Netflix movies on my BlueRay player... why does movie stop, download and then start again every few minutes? I just tested my DSL speed and it is 1180 Kbps at the moment. Do I need to upgrade the Netgear Powerline Adapter to 200 mbps or is it another problem?
We really need more information. I suspect the Powerline Network Adapter is working fine; the issue sounds more like a DSL Bandwidth issue. 1180Kbps is sufficient to run Netflix at the "Good" level assuming there is nothing else running on your network. It takes 1600Kbps for "High" (1.6Mbps). 1180Kbps is not particularly fast broadband internet.
To really test if the issue is the network over the powerlines slowing things down or if it's the DSL connection, hook your computer directly to the DSL if possible, and take the powerline network out of the equation temporarily, then run a new speed test. This is to compare your DSL speed directly vs DSL speed through the powerline network. If the powerline network adapter is working correctly, the two speeds should be close.
Some helpful information would be what kind of BluRay player you have, how fast your DSL is supposed to run (usually DSL companies will tell you what it's supposed to be), what other devices are on the network, and how you are testing the speed (I love speedtest.net)
posted by Mister Fabulous at 4:04 PM on March 7, 2011
To really test if the issue is the network over the powerlines slowing things down or if it's the DSL connection, hook your computer directly to the DSL if possible, and take the powerline network out of the equation temporarily, then run a new speed test. This is to compare your DSL speed directly vs DSL speed through the powerline network. If the powerline network adapter is working correctly, the two speeds should be close.
Some helpful information would be what kind of BluRay player you have, how fast your DSL is supposed to run (usually DSL companies will tell you what it's supposed to be), what other devices are on the network, and how you are testing the speed (I love speedtest.net)
posted by Mister Fabulous at 4:04 PM on March 7, 2011
The big question: are your powerline adapters on the same circuit? Powerline will often kind-of-sort-of work when the adapters are placed on two different circults coming out of the same breaker box in the same house, but performance is sporadic and poor. This might be the first thing you want to check.
Otherwise, Mister Fabulous' point is probably right. You won't be able to get everything Netflix has to offer re: streaming if you only get 1180kbps on your broadband connection, especially if other folks or network devices are using the network at the same time. If you're subscribing to 1.5mbps service and you're serious about Netflix, now might be the time to upgrade to 3mbps or faster.
(Don't listen to Kindall; we watch Netflix HD streams off of our Powerline AV gear at our house all the time with no problem. Your 85mbps adapters should be fine in that regard, assuming they're plugged into the same circuit.)
posted by eschatfische at 4:15 PM on March 7, 2011 [1 favorite]
Otherwise, Mister Fabulous' point is probably right. You won't be able to get everything Netflix has to offer re: streaming if you only get 1180kbps on your broadband connection, especially if other folks or network devices are using the network at the same time. If you're subscribing to 1.5mbps service and you're serious about Netflix, now might be the time to upgrade to 3mbps or faster.
(Don't listen to Kindall; we watch Netflix HD streams off of our Powerline AV gear at our house all the time with no problem. Your 85mbps adapters should be fine in that regard, assuming they're plugged into the same circuit.)
posted by eschatfische at 4:15 PM on March 7, 2011 [1 favorite]
A friend of mine had this exact problem when he tried to use powerline adapters to hook his Blu-ray player up to his cable modem. He was able to watch Netflix through all of his PCs, but not over the power line adapter to the TV.
What I suspected (but never able to prove conclusively) is that devices like TiVo, Bluray players (non-computer devices) are much more susceptible to hiccups in data transfer. That is, they don't buffer a substantial amount of time in case of a data transfer interruption. If the Bluray player can only buffer ~15seconds worth of data, then it doesn't take much of a hiccup to cause the system to want to pause and try and catch up. Your PC might be able to cache 60 seconds or more of the movie in case the connection has a problem.
So you essentially have three weak links in the chain - the set top box's small RAM to cache the stream, the slow internet speeds and the powerline adapters. One or two might not be an issue - if you had 10Mbps internet speeds your Bluray player could catch up quite easily on a stream that only used 1Mbps if there was a hiccup on your powerline adapters. I would recommend trying to replace one of the weak links and see if that solves the problem (probably call your ISP and see if you can switch to a faster 3Mbps connection for a week to see if that solves the problem). If that doesn't solve it, try (with the faster connection) to watch the same movie at the same time of day on a PC or Mac. If that doesn't solve it, there might be nothing you can do about it - Blockbuster just cant stream the movie to you fast enough.
posted by SirOmega at 4:29 PM on March 7, 2011
What I suspected (but never able to prove conclusively) is that devices like TiVo, Bluray players (non-computer devices) are much more susceptible to hiccups in data transfer. That is, they don't buffer a substantial amount of time in case of a data transfer interruption. If the Bluray player can only buffer ~15seconds worth of data, then it doesn't take much of a hiccup to cause the system to want to pause and try and catch up. Your PC might be able to cache 60 seconds or more of the movie in case the connection has a problem.
So you essentially have three weak links in the chain - the set top box's small RAM to cache the stream, the slow internet speeds and the powerline adapters. One or two might not be an issue - if you had 10Mbps internet speeds your Bluray player could catch up quite easily on a stream that only used 1Mbps if there was a hiccup on your powerline adapters. I would recommend trying to replace one of the weak links and see if that solves the problem (probably call your ISP and see if you can switch to a faster 3Mbps connection for a week to see if that solves the problem). If that doesn't solve it, try (with the faster connection) to watch the same movie at the same time of day on a PC or Mac. If that doesn't solve it, there might be nothing you can do about it - Blockbuster just cant stream the movie to you fast enough.
posted by SirOmega at 4:29 PM on March 7, 2011
Best answer: To actually solve this, go get a really long ethernet cable. Plug the player into that, which is connected direct to the router. Try it again. If it does the same thing, it isn't the powerline adapter's fault.
posted by Threeway Handshake at 5:58 PM on March 7, 2011
posted by Threeway Handshake at 5:58 PM on March 7, 2011
Response by poster: Thank you Threeway Handshake, this is probably the best idea, it will take a long ethernet cable (and they are pricey) but this would answer my question. I really don't want to upgrade my DSL right now, I am more interested in cutting cost, not adding.
posted by sandyp at 7:23 PM on March 7, 2011
posted by sandyp at 7:23 PM on March 7, 2011
Response by poster: But I have another question... is there a certain kind of ethernet cable I need to buy? I don't have a HD TV, I will be using a Sony BluRay Disc Player. Sorry I am so clueless.
posted by sandyp at 7:28 PM on March 7, 2011
posted by sandyp at 7:28 PM on March 7, 2011
How long of a network cable do you need? $9+SH for 100' seems reasonable.
posted by SirOmega at 8:19 PM on March 7, 2011
posted by SirOmega at 8:19 PM on March 7, 2011
cat5e cables (what you want) are dirt-cheap on the internet (less than 10 bucks).
go to
http://cat5ecableguy.com/ or Monoprice
Both have worked great for me in the past.
On preview, what SirOmega said.
posted by rockindata at 8:22 PM on March 7, 2011
go to
http://cat5ecableguy.com/ or Monoprice
Both have worked great for me in the past.
On preview, what SirOmega said.
posted by rockindata at 8:22 PM on March 7, 2011
Response by poster: OK, I got a ethernet cable and directly plugged into my DSL Router and Blu Ray Player - results were same thing - Play a few minutes, stop & start again. So... now I know it is my DSL speed (or Blu Ray) and not the Netgear powerline adapter. Thanks for all the helpful advice!!
posted by sandyp at 5:54 PM on March 9, 2011
posted by sandyp at 5:54 PM on March 9, 2011
I'm glad to see you are having good results with your power line Ethernet adapter. I tried two different sets and got great performance for ten minutes or so followed by approximately 90% packet loss. This is why I recommended that you ditch it.
posted by kindall at 5:15 PM on March 10, 2011
posted by kindall at 5:15 PM on March 10, 2011
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posted by kindall at 3:56 PM on March 7, 2011