wireless streaming ??

[Goner]

i'm trying to use VLC to stream a DVD over a wireless connection (802.11g/54mpbs, but the signal is about 50% one floor lower) from a Windows 2000 Pro server, via an access-point (ASUS WL-300g) connected to a 10/100 switch in my LAN to a Win98SE machine (with an ASUS WL-138g PCI card) ...

the sound 'arrives' but no video ?
should the bandwidth be enough or could it be that the PC itself is not powerful enough - PIII 450Mhz with an 8Mb video-card ??
or can i 'tweak' the connection by using different codecs than the 'streaming wizzard' offers by default ??

tia !

[Cool1Net6]

I am brand spanking new to this (installed it less than an hour ago) but I believe that your problem is a bandwidth problem.

VLC always tries to play in real time, so it will do what is necccessary to achieve that goal (i.e. cutting video). By you not getting video, this means that your 54mbps is not enough to support both video and audio, or the 50% signal loss cuts your bandwidth down to the point that video doesnt show.

Either way, I think you are going to have to tweak VLC to transcode the media. In the VLC player, select FILE > STREAMING WIZARD and click on STEP 2. Under the Transcoding options, play with those settings until you recieve both video and audio. I would select to transcode video @ 256kbps and audio @ 64kbps. You may have to go lower to make it work.

If that doesnt solve your problem, then I am just too new at this to help you.

[markfm]

54 Mps is plenty of bandwidth for anything. What really matters, however, is actual connection speed versus best-case design speed -- are you really getting a high-speed connection (11 or 54 Mbps), or is it actually running lower (5.5 or even 2)?

Transcoding is fine to try -- for DVD, use the Streaming Wizard defaults, and if they work you could then try nudging video BW up to 2048 kbps.

You might, possibly, be running into DirectX/video driver issues -- pretty common. Search for the latest video driver for your card/operating system, and also install the latest DirectX that's available for your OS.

When you have launched VLC on the client, try doing View -- Messages, before opening the connection to the file being streamed. This opens a VLC window that displays messages as it opens the connection, picks CODECs, decodes the stream -- see if there are a slew of error messages being posted to it.

[Cool1Net6]

Well ... I think when you loose signal strength it automatically throttles down the bandwidth to compensate.

Also, MARKFM knows alot more than me

[Goner]

thanks for the replies, i'll try your suggestions ...

actually i was hoping to get replies from people who are using VLC over wireless and got it working

later i also tried a wireless connection to a laptop right next to the access-point (also 54mbps, signal almost 100%) with more up-to-date specs (Pentium4M 1800Mhz and 32Mb ATI Radeon card) but even then sound was not good - music track was OK, but voices were almost inaudible - and the display also went a bit 'blocky' (pixels) ... i'll switch off WEP encryption, maybe that will improve the bandwidth.

no problems at all streaming DVD over my wired LAN (10/100 switch) ... as expected.

[markfm]

Does the notebook PC work OK if it's wired in?
It's very important to make sure that you have the latest video, audio, DirectX installed. My work PC is an 800 MHz/512 MB/Win2K laptop, works very well with VLC -- clean video and audio, both TX and RX.

[Goner]

the laptop is doing fine as a client now using WiFi !
it's running Windows 2000 Pro and DirectX 9.0b, latest drivers from ATI.

i 'upped' the bitrate for video and audio to 2048 and 256 respectively (using the default codecs) on the server (AMD XP1700 with 512Mb, also Windows 2000) and it looks good now - tested with "Shrek"

ran the network benchmark from AIDA32 and it gave an average of 2816 KB/s on the wireless connection.

the connection to the Win98SE (also DirectX 9.0b) machine is 1358 KB/s, so i should be able to stream to that one too ... i'll try tomorrow.

[dude]

Hi there I am having similar problems but diffrent situation. I am in a diffrent City and am trying to stream my T.V. Turner card ATI AIW 8500 DV threw.I am using the following settings:
HTTP, tried ogg / asf. Translation Video wmv1 @ 16kb/s scale 1.

no audio currently

If run's on the other end fine for a couple of sec(s). I think the problem is the configuration of the card. I try to set the device properties but I can't change the output size... well I can but it doesn't stay and as well the frames per sec

Wally