Streaming using powerlines
 

We had a V6 box installed a couple of weeks ago and our old TIVO box was moved to our TV room in place of the old V+ box.

As we had about 49% of the TIVO box full we were keen to stream from the TIVO box to the V6 box and from what I have read on here and on the VM main site you can do this using powerlines, so today we got the Netgear 1200 ones from VM and I set them up earlier today.

They seemed at first to be working fine, I managed to watch a whole hour with no problems, but this evening we were watching a 50 min programme and the connection cut out about every 7/8mins, which was annoying.

I'm not very good with technical things, so I'm not sure if maybe I have set something up wrong, although as it did work fine at first I'm assuming I must have set them up right.

The set up we have is a superhub upstairs, which I assume is set to modem only as we use our Apple router. We have the TIVO box in one room downstairs and the V6 box in another room. The V6 box is connected through WiFi as the engineer said the signal was good enough to connect it that way.

I've got an ethernet cable going from the back of the superhub into the first powerline plug and the other ethernet cable from the back of the TIVO box to the second powerline plug. Both plugs have 3 green lights on them and as far as I am aware our electrics are not old.

I'd appreciate any advice if anyone can help as the idea of being able to stream seems such a good one in theory!

Re: Streaming using powerlines
 

First, I'd say you are not in modem mode because you are driving a Powerline from a hub Ethernet port.

Second, driving the V6 over WiFi is a bad idea unless you (not the VM tech who knows nothing imo) are certain that there is a strong 5GHz channel signal at the V6 box. You probably don't know whether the V6 is connecting using the dodgy 2.4GHz band or the 5GHz band.

To bring this under control, I recommend you do what I do. I have 2 x TIVO boxes all connected to my router via Powerline adaptors in different parts of the house. I strongly recommend you buy another PLW1200 (with mains pass-through).

Next there's the matter of modem mode. The hubs - all models - are poor devices under load. Yet you have an Apple Router (an Airport Extreme). They are excellent routers, albeit Apple quirky. You might actually care to put your hub into modem mode and work off the AE.

Finally I use Netgear Powerline in one of my houses and am totally satisfied with them. I no longer use an Apple Router but the one I have served me well before I switched to ASUS (no need for you to do so).

Keep us posted.

Re: Streaming using powerlines
 

Thanks for your reply. I logged into the hub to check and you are right, we are in modem mode even though I asked the engineer when he was here to make sure it was set up to use the Apple router.

When I check the settings on the TV that is connected to the V6 box it says the WiFi connection speed is anything between 49% and 55%, the 49% figure came up as 'marginal', I now wonder if that is why we get a lot of pixelation on the TV screen? Our hub is probably about 20 feet away and upstairs, so not close at all to the V6 box.

I must have been on the phone to CS for nearly an hour this morning. Spoke with 3 different people and finally got to talk to someone who was English! Now have an engineer coming tomorrow morning to see if the V6 box needs to be hardwired. Is there anything I should ask about the settings that might help with the powerlines :confused:

Re: Streaming using powerlines
 

To be clear, if you are feeding both the first Powerline and the AE from the hub, then you are NOT in modem mode.

The following should work:

1. Buy an additional PLW1200 (with power pass-through) and place it close to the V6 box.

2. Connect the V6 box to Powerline and turn V6 wireless off.

As regards pixellation - if that occurs when streaming between Tivo & V6, then the WiFi is causing that.

If pixellation occurs when watching normal TV through either the V6 or the Tivo, then the content is being served by the Virgin Media Coax and there is either a circuit fault or some form of circuit congestion.

Re: Streaming using powerlines
 

I'm only connecting one of the powerlines directly to the hub, the other is from the back of the TIVO box and then into the mains socket, although as the TIVO box is wired I assume that makes them both connected to the hub, or not, I really am getting lost with this!

The pixellation isn't happening when I am streaming, just happens on the main TV that is connected to the V6 box and quite often the red lights come on the box and I can't use catch up services. Maybe they will hardwire the box when they come tomorrow and that might help :confused:

Re: Streaming using powerlines
 

Assuming you to be in router mode, the AE router and the first Powerline would be connected to the hub. No other Powerline would be connected directly to the hub. The first Powerline delivers data to the Tivo via the electrical mains and the other Powerline adaptor. I.e., the Tivo is connected to the hub.

As regards the main TV pixellation, that signal is fed from the coax cable in the same way as the hub's Internet signal is fed from the coax cable. Either the cable has worked loose and needs screwing in tightly, or there is a circuit impairment, like noise, outside your control. The technician would need to fix that.

Presumably you get full speed on your broadband all the time?

Re: Streaming using powerlines
 

Getting this speed at the moment, assume that's okay. We are supposed to be on 100Mbs but I understand it's usually lower than that :confused:

Re: Streaming using powerlines
 

If that's what you're getting in the middle of the day, I imagine it's rather lower in the evenings. Cable Broadband should deliver full speed unless there is a circuit impairment or congestion.

The TV frequencies are different from (and thus don't clash with) the broadband frequencies. They all come down the same cable that goes to you external wall box.

If your Tivo coax cable hasn't loosened at either end, and if there is no line impairment, then at peak times it would seem that there is indeed congestion - though that is a rare occurrence going by what I see on the forums. A search on the term "pixellation" might provide more insight for you.

Re: Streaming using powerlines
 

I think I misread your post yesterday, didn't realise that AE meant my Apple router.
Am more confused today. Had an engineer round, was hoping he would move the superhub downstairs but he just checked all the connections and recommended we go out and buy a gaming router in addition to using the Apple router. He said only Apple products can connect through an Apple router, although I've never read anything that confirms that.

I did go down to PC World to try to buy one, but the guy there said he didn't think the information we had been given was correct and to get back to VM. Meanwhile the internet has gone down 3 times this morning and the V6 box keeps going off. Am on hold to CS right now, but wish I had kept my old set up as really don't know how to fix this :confused:

Re: Streaming using powerlines
 

The technician gave you a load of gollox. The AE routers (Airport Extreme) are general purpose and only quirky to the extent of Apple Speak used in their terminology (e.g. "Keychain").

VM have to fix our circuit - it's external to you. You did check that the coax cables are tightly screwed in? Neighbours should be suffering too.

Re: Streaming using powerlines
 

Haha love the term gollox! Thanks for your help. I did think it odd that the AE could only be used with Apple products as our mobile phones are connected through that and work perfectly and they are both Android not Apple.

They are sending another engineer tomorrow, not sure what they are going to do. The one this morning did tighten the coax cable as apparently it was loose. I did suggest moving the hub downstairs and hardwiring it to the V6 box but he said it was 'a big job', it's actually not as the box on the outside of the house is only feet away from where it would need to come into the room where the V6 box is, so I did feel he was just trying to get out quickly. If that can't be done I'd like to at least try to get the AE set up, not very confident about doing it myself but I may give it a try later on as I guess it can't be that hard :shocked:

Re: Streaming using powerlines
 

If they have to do anything, like drill from the external Omnibox into a new room, they'll charge £99.

To get the AE set up, I strongly recommend that you put the hub into modem mode (from yhr menu after login). They key setting in the AE is to set it's mode to DHCP. You won't need to change anything else. Then you'd connect it to the bottom Ethernet port of the hub. Switch then both off. Switch the AE on first and let it settle for a minute. Turn the hub on and it will negotiate with the AE and supply an IP address.

The Powerline would attach to the AE as would the V6. If you run out of Ethernet ports, you could buy a small switch that would add 8 more.

Re: Streaming using powerlines
 

I wish they had mentioned the £99 before, we did talk about the probability of them having to hardwire the box, but they said it would be for free!

I didn't have any success trying to set the hub up in modem mode with the AE, in fact I ended up with no internet and had to ring CS again to get the hub back on as silly me suddenly realised that with no internet I wasn't able to log back into the hub to change the settings back.

Got another engineer coming this afternoon and will ask if he can set the AE up for us. Right now I am only getting 28Mbps speed yet paying for 100 :shocked:

Re: Streaming using powerlines
 

Which model AE do you have?

There are different Airport Utility menus for different models.

Are you sure you got the hub into modem mode?

Re: Streaming using powerlines
 

I've tried looking at the AE to see what model it is but it doesn't say, all I can find from logging into it is that it says Version 7.6.9 on it and it runs on 2.4ghz and 5ghz.

The engineer came round earlier, he was here for quite some time. He couldn't find anything wrong other than saying the isolator resistor was damaged and he changed that. I did ask him to put the hub into modem mode to see if that would sort out the internet dropping all the time and I know he did as we had to reset the settings in the TV and put the password in that we use for the AE.

At the time when the engineer left, we had a fairly reasonable internet speed and the powerlines were working and I thought all was okay. However the internet has dropped 3 times and the powerlines have disconnected twice.

I have absolutely no idea what is wrong and I've got to the stage where I just don't know who to ask as if I phone CS they are just going send an engineer out again and I'll have to sit around half the day waiting and they will go through the motions, say it's all working then go. I'm not blaming the engineers, I know our set up worked fine before we had the SH3 and V6 box installed, so it has to be something to do with that, but I have no idea what :confused:

Re: Streaming using powerlines
 

If the AE has a green light then it is already correctly configured. If it shows an orange light, then you need to set the NETWORK /ROUTER MODE setting to DHCP+NAT.

So the next diagnostic stage - that the technician should have checked - are your power/noise stats. So we might as well have a look.

On the login page of the Hub 3, please click CHECK ROUTER STATUS.

Then copy/paste the following into your reply:

Downstream
Upstream
Network Log

Don't worry about the formatting if it looks naff. There may be an obvious explanation for the internet dropping.

The Powerlines drop because the Internet (VM circuit) drops.

Re: Streaming using powerlines
 

Thanks I am so grateful for your help!

The green light is showing on the router, so that seems to be configured correctly.

Here are the screenshots from the router status.

Re: Streaming using powerlines
 

Upstream power looks high and you should have more than one channel ?

Re: Streaming using powerlines
 

Please copy & paste the stats so that the whole data can be seen.

Re: Streaming using powerlines
 

Sorry about that, didn't realise you needed all of them. Thanks once again. It will only let me upload 8 files and I have 9 so will post one separately for you.

Re: Streaming using powerlines
 

Last file. I did go into town to see about getting a better router as I thought maybe mine might be a bit old but wasn't sure if I would be wasting my money so didn't get one!

Re: Streaming using powerlines
 

There are two things wrong in order of priority:

1/
Your upstream is flapping (that means dropping and coming back). The evidence is the 57 dBmv power level, which is the point at which the circuit resets. That is the cause of loss of service. Furthermore, you are only provisioned with 1 upstream when there should be 2 or more. It is impossible for your circuit to hold up.

2/
Less important but nevertheless noteworthy - your downstream frequencies are incorrectly sloped. This won't mean anything to you, but the power levels at the lower frequencies should be higher than the power levels at the higher frequencies. It prolly isn't harmful given your upstream problem, but it is not how VM intend the downstream amplifier settings in the street cabinet to be.

The technician should have checked that all out. Is there an attenuator attached to the rear of your hub? If so what is the value in dB stamped on it?

Do any of your neighbours have this problem? I would expect so.

Re: Streaming using powerlines
 

I'm not sure if any of our close neighbours have VM, I know our immediate neighbour is with Sky, our house is the last house in the road and between us and the next road is where the street cabinet is, there is a house close to that but I can't remember who they are with but I can go and ask.

I had a look at the back of the hub, there is a metal thing in the rear if that is what an attenuator is, I'll attach a pic in case it's not the right part! There is nothing else that I can see at the back.

I'll go and knock on a few neighbour's doors and see if anyone else is having any issues.

Re: Streaming using powerlines
 

No - that's not an attenuator - just the coax connector. Your circuit (at the weekends) is in a dire state imo.

Re: Streaming using powerlines
 

I can only assume that we don't have an attenuator at the rear then as I checked everything that I could see and didn't see anything else.

I did go and knock on the neighbours house that is just around the corner and they had a V6 box installed about a month ago and he told me that for the first couple of weeks they had issues but it's okay now, although he did say he doesn't really keep a close eye on when his connection drops, so probably wasn't much help.

What would you suggest I do now, phone up CS and ask them to send another engineer out :confused:

Re: Streaming using powerlines
 

Yes, you need that upstream to be below 51

Re: Streaming using powerlines
 

... and you need more than one of them.

Yes a call would seem necessary, but at the weekend you're likely to be talking to a chocolate teapot. All they'll do is send another tech who might be as useless as the last.

It would be best to post the problem (and your evidence) on the Virgin Media Forum site (community.virginmedia.com) and a few days later a competent person will try and sort things out for you. Their process will still require a tech to attend before networks can be called into this, but the file notes will contain your evidence.

Let us have a link to your VM Forum thread.

Re: Streaming using powerlines
 

Thanks so much for all your help, it really is appreciated.

I will go now and post on the VM forum and post a link to it here :)

---------- Post added at 11:01 ---------- Previous post was at 10:20 ----------

I have just posted on the VM forum, should have read it a bit more thoroughly before posting as did make a typo or two, but here is a link to it

http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/...654317#M174107