Resolved Need WiFi help for my new Smart TV

Yea, it's all a bit confusing... I found

Source: https://www.ht.com.au/attach/files/gbgm.pdf

This to be true... I do have a set (TP-LINK TL-WPA4226KIT AV500) of powerline adapters... changing outlets makes a big difference in speed, mine are not on the same breaker (both my office and living room are on a different breaker as the bedrooms).

 

Yes, it is. Plug the two units into the powerline sockets next to the equipment you want to connect and don't think too much about circuits and breakers.

I have the fiber installation entering the apartment in the "media center". It has 5 ports that can be connected (short 0.5 m cable) to whichever of the 6 wall outlets in the rooms. The "media center" and the rooms each run on its own circuit breaker.

I have one connection to my bedroom/work space. The outlet in that room is connected to the router with WiFi. The desktop is connected (cable) to the router. The laptop connects to the router via WiFi.

Unit 1 of the powerline adapter is powered from the "media center" and is connected to one of the fiber inlet ports.

In the livingroom, there is no router, the TV-box connects directly to the "media center" via the powerline adapter. The "streaming device" (HiFi) is connected to the second outlet on the powerline adapter.

In my apartment (or anywhere else, I guess), you don't need a router unless you wish to create a network (including WiFi) or connect an IP-telephone. If I wish, I can connect my laptop (cable) to any of the wall outlets directly, without a router and also to any of the outlets on the powerline adapter.

It works and I have empirically shown that the need for "on the same circuit breaker" is misinformation ... ... !

 

Directly into the wall outlet, no extension cord, no nothing inbetween!

 

Read the manual and find on page 8:

Plug the powerline adapter directly into a wall outlet. Do not plug the powerline adapter into a power strip, extension cord, or surge protector.

I can't speculate if it will work if these recommendations aren't adhered to.

How you power your TV has nothing to do with the powerline adapter.

 

Everything blocks the WiFi signal to some extent but will it be noticeable?

 

I've got a 4K TV that works at 200 Hz but the transmitted programs are still well below that resolution (1080) and frequency (24 FPS) for a normal digital broadcast or DVD. I'm not 100 % sure about the numbers but it's a hype on performance and transfer speeds and they sell a lot of TVs letting people believe that it makes a difference. If you have a TV-box connected to the ethernet and HDMI to the TV, check out the HDMI specs and be convinced that a 1 GHz port is more than enough by a wide margin.

 

Stable, solid, 1080p streaming with audio requires only about 2-5 megabits/sec. Stereo or 5.1 audio with 1080p video requires slightly more bandwidth, maybe 3-6 megabits/sec. Unbuffered 4k streaming requires approx 18-25 megabits/sec.

Consider that most online streaming is not 4k. Most HD streaming is 720p or 1080p. Amazon just recently added 4k streaming. But not all content is 4k. A 1080p movie or tv show cannot be bumped up to 4k by the content provider. If the content was encoded to 720p it cannot be changed to 1080p or 4k. And a 4k TV cannot render 1080p content at 4k, that TV is backward compatible to display lower quality content.

The key here is having a constant stable connection. Wifi connections are not constant like wired connections are. Thus, if use powerline adapters and get a stable 25 megabits/sec throughput you'll have more than enough bandwidth for media streaming to the TV. The adapters will never get the max (1000 or 2000 megabits/sec) that they are advertised as or capable of, but they will provide much more than is needed for what you want.

If you get a stable 25 megabits connection to the TV, and still get buffering, then the problem will be your router, or more likely, your Internet provider.

And consider getting a generator to seamlessly retain power. I used to have only well water and it really made life horrible during power outages.

 

Sorry but I can't help wondering why you ask a question if you already know the answer?

 

You will only benefit from 2 gigabit/sec adapters IF the other devices on your network have 2 gb/sec adapters. If the TV has a 1 gb/sec adapter then it can only send & receive at 1 gb/sec.

My guess is that it will be years until new TVs, set top boxes, media systems, etc. will have higher than 1 gb/sec adapters because rates that high are not necessary for HD video.

 

Just remember that a big portion of the measurement will be on the delivery from the providing server but we're awaiting the results of the jury!

 

Like I said in a previous post, the need for speed is hyped up. In my previous apartment, I had 100/100 Mbps which was increased to 1000/1000 Mbps. (Not my choice but the "housing society" made the decision.) I'll not make you guess if I noticed a difference, I didn't. Possibly on rare occasions when downloading a large file from e.g. Microsoft but the providing server limits the speed when under high demands.

In my new apartment, I hade the choice of different providers and bandwidth, from 10/10 Mbps to 500/500 Mbps. I chose 100/100 Mbps because it's the "sweet spot" in terms of performance vs. cost and it's more than enough for a normal household. With a bunch of teenagers streaming games you might benefit from higher bandwidth, somewhat higher, not ridiculously higher. Under these circumstances, a 500 Mbps port is more than enough but today, they're more often 1 Gbps and higher. Reading tests and focusing on stabilty is more important.

Personally, I'd have a 1 Gbps device and a beer rather than a 2 Gbps device ... ... !