I took the plunge.......bought a TPLINK TL-WR1043ND and a TL-WN812N...kanasai...the TL-WN812N is ver 3.1...screwed liao...WDTV cannot detect....It is written on a small sticker on the box which i didn't see....so if you guys wanna buy any of this adaptors...ALWAYS CHECK THE STICKER ON THE BOX FOR REVISION NO!!!  It is not shown anywhere else, even on the adaptor itself!

Now, i took back my old Aztech WIFI N150 adaptor from my friend whom i borrow to earlier. I was hoping for max speed for 300N, but looks like now have to stick to 150N....i'll test tonight and see how is the result..if it works but slow, maybe i'll hunt for another compatible WIFI-N300 adaptor...

Official compatibility list here:

Official WDTV Live compatible USB WIFI Adaptor list

Looks like ASUS is the common unit that can be found in the shops here.

Btw, i've tested with my laptop the TP-LINK USB WIFI adaptor...the file copy speed i get is about 9MB/s...which loosely translate to 72Mbps...which is pretty good considering when i copy files over a 10/100 wired network, only get 7.xxMB/s.

Cross finger my Aztech can give decent speed for streaming at least 10GB files.......

Will update again.

I haven't test yet...will only test the performance with my Aztech 150N tonight...but i bet it'll be sucky...300N barely enuff, much less 150N...

I'll post the results later tonight.

As for the USB WIFI adaptor, i found a good review for the ASUS N13

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/3441/asus...ter/index6.html

So far, i haven't found any good reviews for the DLINK DWA-140...only some bad comments. So i am leaning more towards the ASUS.

Maybe if you find some other reviews, pls share.

You have searched for it?? I just went to a few shop just now....and found 2 shops carrying it. The problem is, THERE IS NO WAY TO TELL WHAT VERSION IT IS. The WDTV chart list as ver 1.10.  But those boxes don't have any indication of what version...(unlike the TPLINK, which shows the version). One of the shop even open the box for me...cannot find any version number anywhere....*sigh*...dun dare to buy already.......

Maybe i go to Digital Mall next few days and search.

---

Added on December 13, 2010, 5:08 pm
Thanks bro. I'll try to update the firmware once i fix the wireless streaming...one at a time...later too stressful....haha.
For me, i just on the TVERSITY to stream in the PC server. Then the WDTV Live will show PC-NAME:TVERSITY in the menu...no need configure anything...so i just select the folder and files only...

Yesterday also very stressful for me...configuring the TPLINK router/wifi to my Aztech modem/router/wifi....configuring a router/wifi to a modem is straightfoward, but 2 routers is different story...spent 3 to 4 hours on that....if any of you guys have problem fixing router to router, pls ask me...

What i suspect is ..if there's no indication...usually means ver 1.0....no revision number...
Btw, ur DLINK DWA-140...is the version number specified anywhere? All the TPLINK i saw now is version 3.1....

Yeah, the shop assistants were puzzled too...."What version number?? This is usually latest version!!!"...haha.

Good News!!!

Just watched Alice in Wonderland....1080p 8.3GB file....watched for em...20 minutes++ NOOO LAGGGGGG!!! Woooo hooo!!! Tears almost stream down my eyes after all those hard work (and $$$$ spent)! I've even fast fowarded 10 minutes during play...still no lag!!!

I am using the cheap RM19 Aztech modem i bought earlier.....will do more testing later.

Keep watching this news. Brought to you LIVE by Matrix....hehe..

More Updates:

Avatar Extended Edition 1080p...16GB++......watched for 1 hour plus, very smooth! It only lags a few second in one part, dunno why, maybe my server running something. Not sure.

Some HD Documentary 720p...2GB+......no problem

Youtube=no problem.

The Ultimate test:
30GB++ uncompressed Pirates of the Carribean = Finally the N150 is beaten...it'll lag and buffer every now and then. I guess this is one file that really needs N300. Hey Alucard, have u tried such files before in your setup?

Verdict:
For my purpose of watching mostly 8GB movies and sometimes <15GB movies, it pass!! Finally, the dream of a wireless networked home streaming HD movie is a reality! Look ma, no cables!!!

I think i'll take my time to hunt for a N300 WIFI adaptor. Vikas, this WIFI adaptor is only RM29 currently (normal price). Ok, gotta go enjoy more streaming now.

Ok, another update:

I've returned the TPLINK TL-WN821N and exchanged it for an ASUS USB N-13 by topping up the difference (Price for this ASUS is RM 89, while TPLINK was RM55). Guess what..... it's plug and go!!!! The 30GB file now stream smoothly for over 20 minutes!!!


There was no version no on the box, i checked their DLINK DWA-140 but it's version 1.4(instead of 1.3) so confirmed cannot use...so i try my luck with the ASUS... guess i am lucky tonight!

Here is a photo of the sticker on the ASUS box, hope this information will help WDTV Live user out their looking for a good working WIFI-N300 unit!

[attachmentid=1938964]

The signal of the ASUS WIFI adaptor i got is FULL BAR. Previously, the Aztech adaptor shows only 2 bars. The AP setting is the same...transmission power set to 'Low' (i am kiasi and scared of high power transmission...later die faster. )

Now my wireless network is in Nirvana. Perfect. Calm. Peace. Amen.

It's my theory, haven't test out...but it's like this. The server should have always able to maximise the the throughput (which means go for wired gigabit port...my test shows maximum 100MB/s throughput achievable, average over 50 MB/s). My WIFI-N test shows you can only go maximum 10 MB/s even on WIFI-N300. Furthermore, it'll contend with the client device for the wireless bandwidth transmission and at the same time introduce more collission, which will reduce the already not too fast speed. And if you wants to stream to multiple device, i think it is even more critical.

Well, it's my theory anyway...u can test it out and let me know...hehe.

Well, i think you can try first. If it lags bad, then only you stick the CAT-6 cable. I think if you buy some good double sided tape, there should be no problem sticking to ceiling. You don't have to stick all the way (that would be really expensive!! DS tape not cheap...just stick on interval like every 9 inches or so.).

The network speed test is simple, from ur laptop/PC, via WIFI-N300, connect to your other pc/server. Copy a huge file (say 4GB+). Paste it to your local laptop/PC. Then the small windows pop up copying the file. You can click to see more advanced info to show the transmission speed while it is copying.

Anyone here experience issues when streaming media files (guess it should be large HD files) and if the PC is downloading something at the same time, the file being downloaded on the PC will most likely not finish downloading and the download stops completely?

Nope, just normal Firefox download. For mine, both is on wireless.

Example of problem:
Firefox is downloading say a supposedly 500MB file, when I stream files via my WD TV Live, Firefox will probably say download is complete when the file is less than 500MB (e.g. 150MB) which also means the file did not finished downloading.

If the download doesn't stop, then the video being streamed to the WD TV Live might lag, everything becomes jerky.

Streaming 1080p from what I noticed depends a lot on the file's bitrate. I think comfort level is about 4000-5000kbps bitrate.

I'm planning to switch the wireless to homeplugs instead.