Media Centre PCs

[SMHarman]

Originally Posted by altis

200 megabytes = 1600 megabits
10 minutes = 600 seconds
2 minutes = 120 seconds

So, by my calcs:
wireless transfer rate = 1600 / 600 = 2.6 megabits per second
wired transfer rate = 1600 / 120 = 13.3 megabits per second

I think that's the same sort of speeds as I'm seeing - I'll check tomorrow.

Sounds like some better math than mine. Probably need to add the TCPIP overhead to get the actual data tfr rate, rather than the data transferred rate, but the latter is more useful in real life.

[ZrByte]

Originally Posted by altis

200 megabytes = 1600 megabits
10 minutes = 600 seconds
2 minutes = 120 seconds

So, by my calcs:
wireless transfer rate = 1600 / 600 = 2.6 megabits per second
wired transfer rate = 1600 / 120 = 13.3 megabits per second

I think that's the same sort of speeds as I'm seeing - I'll check tomorrow.

7 mins = 420 seconds

682 MegaBytes = 5456 megabits

5456 / 420 = 12.99 megabits per second

I used a DivX compressed .avi movie for the test since this is probably the most common file anybody would want to move accross a media PC's connection.

These are the speeds of my wireless network, as you can see it is bareley slower than the wired network in your example and I was having interferrence problems (No functional problem it just slows the transmission) this was probably due to my room feeling like a sauna at the moment

[SMHarman]

That would be a 54g network then?

[ZrByte]

Originally Posted by SMHarman

That would be a 54g network then?

Yes, sorry forgot to state that.
Though I thought people would have assumed that anyway since I listed my specs in my previous post.

[altis]

For reference: the maximum data rate off a video DVD is 10.08 megabits per second.

[sherer]

just saw this thread and thought i'd give you some advice.. I have a MCE machine and it is the dogs but has limitations in the PAL \ European circuit that the US with their HDTVs don't have.

For Divx \ MP3s photos etc the best bet is to copy the data onto the machine and then watch it hooked up to the TV rather than trying to stream this. I transferred all my data onto the MCE machine and it worked fine onto the TV..

Not the MCE machine doesn't have a scart connection so you have to convert the scart RGB signal into an s-video signal and feed that into MCE. This downgrades the picture quality and was at a standard i wasn't happy with so gave up with the pvr stuff ( i./e pasuing live TV, setting up schedules etc)

Also not the NTL boxes use IrDR for the remote and the MCE remote uses RC5 which aren't compatable.. You will need to get a convertor from www.redremote.co.uk.

I've built my own system with a MSDN download.. Not sure if this is still available.. i've got 1GB of ram and a Athon Xp 2800+ chip and 200 GB HDD.. with a hauppage 250 TV card and a Geforce FX 5200 graphics card..

mce is XP with the MCE added on... it is great but found in the EU with our TV setup the input of the TV signal was dissappointing..

you can checkout www.thegreenbutton.com and www.xpmce.com for more info..

if you want any more info let me know..

[SMHarman]

Originally Posted by ZrByte

Yes, sorry forgot to state that.
Though I thought people would have assumed that anyway since I listed my specs in my previous post.

Looks like both are working at their maximum throughput (with overhead) then.

54b - 2.6Mbs
54g - 12.99Mbs

2.6*5 (5 times faster) = 13

Originally Posted by sherer

Not(e) the MCE machine doesn't have a scart connection so you have to convert the scart RGB signal into an s-video signal and feed that into MCE. This downgrades the picture quality and was at a standard i wasn't happy with so gave up with the pvr stuff ( i./e pasuing live TV, setting up schedules etc)

if you want any more info let me know..

But if your graphics card is RGB capable you can build a whatever socket it is to SCART cable. This is a limitation of your graphics card, not the scart socket requirement?

[sherer]

the TV signal needs to be put into the TV card which so far only take s-video or RF.. never found any that have any better inputs than this.. the graphics card does the output to the TV.. never had a problem with the output and divx, mpeg II and IV was fine but the TV side the signal was downgraded and i wasn't happy with this.. In the US with HDTV they don't have any problems with any downgraded signals..

[altis]

This morning I've been doing lots of backing up from a variety of machines to one server. It has a 1GHz Athlon and a 15Krpm SCSI drive. The server has an Allied Telesyn TX-2700 NIC (AMD chipset) and all the workstations have TX-2500s (Realtek chipset). The network is wired and runs at 100mbps through an SMC Barricade switch/router. The transfer rates were as follows:

1) 1GHz Duron, IDE HDD: 581,804,416 bytes in 93 sec = 50 mbps
2) 233MHz Cyrix, IDE HDD: 421,238,016 bytes in 106 sec = 32 mbps
3) 1GHz Athlon, 15K SCSI HDD: 335,179,136 bytes in 43 sec = 62 mbps
4) 500MHz K6/2, IDE HDD: 717,455,616 bytes in 135 sec = 42 mbps
5) 1GHz Athlon, IDE HDD: 439,887,104 bytes in 58 sec = 61 mbps

(mbps = megabit per second)

Backups were compressed to a single file and then copied over to the server. Timings were taken from pressing control-v 'til the copy box disappeared. There was no other network activity. Unfortunately, the Cyrix was also 'playing' a CD drive cleaner at the time.