EyeTV 200, EyeHome and video performance

[quidire]

Hello all,

Well I just bought an EyeTV200, and find myself with several questions. In this thread I'm hoping to figure out why my eyeHome, when told to play back EyeTV 200 recordings, displays the video with so many stalled pauses that the recording in unwatchable.

This is the setup. It is a three-bedroom apartment on two levels (one right atop the other, no unusual geometry). On the lower level at one end is where the cable modem is located. It connects to an Airport Extreme. At the other end an Airport Express is connected to my eyeHome, which is in turn connected to my TV.

Upstairs another Airport Express extends the wireless network. My PowerMac G5 is about 6 feet away from the Airport Express, in my bedroom. The EyeTV 200 is connected to the PMG5.

The eyeTV is recording something or another on and off throughout the day (as I, my girlfriend and our flatmates all schedule recordings on it). Is the stuttering due to the harddrive not being able to keep up with the demands of recording video and playing it back simultaneously?

Is it the obvious choice, poor wireless performance? How to I determine which leg of the network is weak, and how do I fix the problem (in the case of the A. Expresses I can't add an antenna)...

Is the eyeHome just a crap product? Has anyone ever gotten it to work well?

Thanks
-RS

 

[macbaseball]

It sounds as if you have your Airport Express as a WDS station, basically meaning that there isn't a network cable plugged into it. If this is the case, unplug your Airport Express, and connect to your network. Post how many bars of wireless signal you have. (Or semi-circles) My thinking is that your signal between the Airport and the Airport Express is weak, which is causing the glitches. In general it would be better to stream the video arcoss an ethernet cable, but I'm not sure that's possible in your case.

BTW, the Eye products have gotten great reviews, and there are many happy MR users. I highly doubt it's a low quality product.

 

[quidire]

It sounds as if you have your Airport Express as a WDS station, basically meaning that there isn't a network cable plugged into it. If this is the case, unplug your Airport Express, and connect to your network. Post how many bars of wireless signal you have. (Or semi-circles) My thinking is that your signal between the Airport and the Airport Express is weak, which is causing the glitches. In general it would be better to stream the video arcoss an ethernet cable, but I'm not sure that's possible in your case.

BTW, the Eye products have gotten great reviews, and there are many happy MR users. I highly doubt it's a low quality product.

I don't quite follow; there are two Airport Expresses. Which link are you referring to?

-RS

 

[macbaseball]

Ok. It helps with that visual. What I'm asking is how are the two Airport Expresses connected to the Airport base station. Is there a physical wire connecting the stations to the network or is it just a wireless connection.

 

[quidire]

Ok. It helps with that visual. What I'm asking is how are the two Airport Expresses connected to the Airport base station. Is there a physical wire connecting the stations to the network or is it just a wireless connection.

All of them are wireless connections; the only ethernet cable in the whole place is between the Airport Extreme and the cable modem.

-RS

 

[macbaseball]

All of them are wireless connections; the only ethernet cable in the whole place is between the Airport Extreme and the cable modem.

-RS

That's the reason your picture is glitchy. There is a weaker singal between the WDS clients. The obvious way to fix your problem would be to make some/all of your wireless connections wired, but that's not always possible. In your current set-up, think what your video does - it goes out wirelessly from the Power Mac G5, through the Airport Express, through the Aiport Extreme Base Station, through the second Airport Express, and then finally it's sent wirelessly to the EyeHome. That's a lot of places where that the network can be weakened. The signal at the Airport Expresses, is defintiely weaker than the signal the Airport Extreme is sending out. Bottom line - your losing quality because of the wireless connections.

What you should do - I'm not sure how your house is set-up, but this is where you could improve your network -

1) Move the cable modem upstairs, by the EyeTv 200. I'm not sure if you have another jack up there, but I know you have at least one. Then take the cable modem and plug it into a broadband router. Also plug the Power Mac G5 and Airport Extreme into the router. Then set it up so the Airport Extreme upstairs talks directly to the Airport Express the EyeHome is connected to. This takes out a ton of wireless communication.

2) Plug your cable modem into a switch downstairs, and also plug in the Airport Extreme and EyeHome into it. That way your Power Mac talks to the Airport Express, which talks to the Airport Extreme, which then has direct access to the EyeHome via wires.

Again I have no idea how do-able these solutions are, as I have never been to your house. Again, basically you want to remove a couple of the wireless runs, and makes them wired. Hope that helps.

 

[Gerg]

I have the EyeTV 200 and EyeHome as well, and I run everything wired through my LAN. I have no glitches or hiccups as you describe, and there are times when I'm watching one thing on the EyeHome while EyeTV is recording something else, and all of this on a Mac mini.

I tend to agree that your wireless set-up is the culprit.

There's also another good forum for Elgato products, Jim Dalrymple's forum. There are some great gurus over there.