watching tv over marina wireless networks?

[Burnham Bob]

Not having a tv on the boat but planning a laptop purchase to keep in touch with e-mails etc, does anyone have any epxerience of ITV player and BBC I player over marina wireless networks? At home I watch I player over the Wii console through a wireless connection, just wondered if marina wifi was up to the task.

 

[mattnj]

Not having a tv on the boat but planning a laptop purchase to keep in touch with e-mails etc, does anyone have any epxerience of ITV player and BBC I player over marina wireless networks? At home I watch I player over the Wii console through a wireless connection, just wondered if marina wifi was up to the task.

tried it in a few places, Yarmouth, Chichester and Lymington, sort of worked some of the time, was too frustrating to be reliable so gave up, although at one point, i was so fed up, i call the Spectrum support line and they "rebooted" the wireless access point and it worked like a treat for the next few hours, get a PAYG T-mobile dongle, assuming it has 3g coverage you get all the data you can use for 24hours for £1

much better option IMO

 

[stuhaynes]

Don't know if you can get one for a laptop, our is a tower with a TV card. Except when atmospherics are really bad we pick up a perfect digi signal, much better than the old TV we had. You can also use the TV facility and the computer at the same time. Well worth it. Problem with a dongle on a standard contract is the bandwidth. TV uses a lot, and if you go over your monthly limit you will get BASHED in the pocket when your bill arrives. Hope it helps. Stu

 

[bluedragon]

Not having a tv on the boat but planning a laptop purchase to keep in touch with e-mails etc, does anyone have any epxerience of ITV player and BBC I player over marina wireless networks? At home I watch I player over the Wii console through a wireless connection, just wondered if marina wifi was up to the task.

Been wondering the same, but with a decent external antenna and with most digital TV signals being boosted now that analogue is ending, a DVB dongle on the laptop is maybe all you'll need. That's what we just done in Plymouth. All channels / perfect picture / and FREE!

 

[Bosun Higgs]

wondered if marina wifi was up to the task.

Definitely not in my experience so I use a TV receiver dongle which fits in the USB port and cost about £10 from memory.

 

[Ronald_M]

Based at Bowness-on-Windermere this summer - been able to receive BBC iPlayer via the marina wifi perfectly OK, although a lot seems to depend on one's proximity to the marina's router, and therefore the strength/reliability of the the received signal.

But, being based in a marina and tied up to a pontoon (as opposed to a swinging mooring) it has proved to be a very simple matter to align an ordinary caravan-type aerial to the nearest transmitter and view perfect pictures on the aforementioned usb dongle plus laptop combo.

Don't forget that some transmitters are horizontally polarised, others vertically so, and that local reception conditions will influence your choice/size of aerial, and where/how high it should be mounted.

FWIW I'm using one of these........
http://www.gradeuk.co.uk/store/product.asp?spc=09-6200&shelfid=44S46S1
........which I just point at the transmitter then secure to the top of the mainsail bag with a few lashings.

Works for me.

Good luck,

Ron.

 

[Ubergeekian]

Not having a tv on the boat but planning a laptop purchase to keep in touch with e-mails etc, does anyone have any epxerience of ITV player and BBC I player over marina wireless networks? At home I watch I player over the Wii console through a wireless connection, just wondered if marina wifi was up to the task.

I'd be surprised if they had the backhaul bandwidth to support more than one or two people doing this.

 

[Squeaky]

Good evening:

Personally I would think this would be considered selfish by others in the marina who were simply trying to surf the web and/or send and receive e-mails as you would be hogging most of the bandwidth if you managed to watch it at all which I doubt you would be able to do.

I have my own phone line and ADSL on board and notice that any attempt to watch BBC I Player suffers if my neighbour, who is using my wi-fi, starts to watch videos on YouTube.

Cheers

Squeaky

 

[elton]

Personally I would think this would be considered selfish by others in the marina who were simply trying to surf the web and/or send and receive e-mails as you would be hogging most of the bandwidth if you managed to watch it at all which I doubt you would be able to do.

Folks using bandwidth for emails and web will have a more annoying impact on those watching video than vice-versa; slow web access as against stuttering, jerky video. Anyway, who sets the priorities? My ISP dictates what kind of traffic has priority when it's busy. I wonder if there are any similar controls on these public access wi-fi lans.

 

[V1701]

I have Spectrum WiFi at Brighton. BBC iPlayer works OK off-peak and if you opt for lower bandwidth. Haven't tried ITV, channel 4 seems not to want to play at all (Windows Vista issue?). There's tvcatchup.com (all freeview), I wouldn't even bother, might work late at night after everyone else has gone to bed or something. Spectrum service is not great by any stretch, have had to call them several times as very slow or not at all, it is not high speed wifi as claimed. Or it can be high speed some of the time but low bandwidth. I think...

Dongle is just too expensive to stream video, if you really want to watch TV go for an aerial...

 

[colvic987]

easier just using the laptop with a reciever and aerial, then trying to get it thru a low mb and slow wireless link.

http://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/onyourpc.html

 

[st599]

I'd be surprised if they had the backhaul bandwidth to support more than one or two people doing this.

The BBC have for years been supplying Multicast streams - very few ISPs have taken them up as it would reduce traffic and affect their revenue.

 

[owen-cox]

I can watch most of the channels you can get on freeview via www.tvcatchup.com on my iphone or on my laptop via a 3g dongle. on the phone it is free if I dont go over the data limit but have never come near it anyway. it is also £15 a month for a 3g dongle from orange with a large data limit and i use that a lot as I travel with work all the time. TVcatchup is free and legal as it retransmits the TV signal in real time so you can only see live tv but there a a lot of channels so there is a fair choice. I have found that in the solent the 3G signal is better than digital tv signal.

 

[Ubergeekian]

The BBC have for years been supplying Multicast streams - very few ISPs have taken them up as it would reduce traffic and affect their revenue.

I was thinking of the marina end ... bet most of them use a standard domestic/office broadband link.

 

[ffiill]

Before you decide what is wifi possible get a good aerial system-masthead with a plug in amplified bridge such as bullet2.With a wifi range of up to 40 kilometers you have then extended your choice.Came across one user who lives about four miles from his local marina who links to his home cable driven wifi using this system at both ends.
Oh yes and G3 dongles and iphones and pads are great if you live close to urban centres where particularly with the i phone your service provider actually has some coverage!
But if you are up here in the Highlands forget it-the government has just switched off terrestrial TV communications which we have had for over 50 years!-you cannot get line of sight digital with three thousand foot of granite in the way.
Chance would be a fine thing if service providers were prepared to invest in G3 infrastructure outside the big pop.centres. As for the i phone its exclusive contract with one service provider totally excludes its useage outside urbanised England and Scottish Cities and central belt.