Networking suggestion for faster loading

D

dmxlaser

Member
HI All,

I have also tested the networking option. Neat idea , really , but when using a wireless network of 11 mbps it's very slow in loading in shows and frames.

The ability to use a WiFi network of 11 mbps is a good feature as you can simply add a WiFi card to your pc with the QM board and voila, just link your laptop to it, sit back and play shows.

Now the only problem is that this is very slow.
I wonder if it would be possible to change the ntework feature in such a way that it loads all data from it's local harddisc instead of loading over the network ?

Cheers,

Peter
 
Hi Peter,

Great question. While technically what you are talking about is possible, it goes against what the LD2000 Network actually does internally, which is to take the PCI bus on your computer, and turn it into a very long and very thin (network) cable. That is all. It is very simple, but it does have the limitation that you mentioned on older 11mBit networks. To get around this you could use a 56mBit network or so. Also, faster wireless networks are coming for sure.

Although the "slow loading on 11mBit" problem does exist, there are a few work-arounds. One is mentioned above -- use a faster network. Another is to pre-load the frames and shows yourself, at each remote location. Then, at the "local" PC, you will not need to load the frames or shows because they would have already been loaded. Another is to just give yourself extra time at the show to allow for the loading time. When it comes time to run the show, just press PLAY or run Live, no problem.

As a final note I want to say that the LD2000 Network will work with ANY LD2000-compatible program, whether Pangolin wrote it or not. This level of compatibility is a huge advantage, and to me, is worth the limitation that you see in loading times at 11mBit.

Bill
 
As somebody might have noticed...there is a new standard in wireless networking upcoming. Most of you use the 802.11b or 802.11g, 11Mb or 54 Mb. As far as i know, in a couple of months, surely before summer 2005 the new 802.11N standard wil be implemented. This standard is based on real speeds, not the problems we all have when the distance becomes to large to the accesspoint. If you buy 100Mb you get 100Mb end not a variable speed.
Just a little note...if anyone of you is planning to use wireless repeaters, good luck. I tried several of these this and it extends the range. BUT....the response time doubles...so the complete networks drops in performance. If you have an 11Mb network...put a repeater between it and you have 5,5Mb. It's sad but true.
If you can hold it......wait for the 802.11N standard.

Greetings,
Marco
 
What I do is have the Qm2000 card and the LD software on a headless desktop. I place it by the projector and have it hooked up(via cat5) to a wireless router. the Desktop is running XP with "RealVNC" running on it . RealVNC is an open source multi platform terminal server. Then on my laptop I just have the "RealVNC Viewer" program (no install required)

you could even just have the laptop running a Linux Live CD (knoppix/morphix) as they almost allways include a VNC viewer program and built in Wlan card drivers. This saves you the cost of buying an OS just for the latop. (get an old p2 500mHz latop off ebay)

if I can think of anything else I will add it later.

-Tyler
 
Hello everybody,
As i wrote above finally there is a pre-802.11n standard upcoming. Belkin manufactures a pre-standard wireless solution based on the 802.11n standard. Read all about it on the Belkin homepage. I will test the unit within 4 weeks :cool: and keep you guys up to date with it.

Greetings,
Marco :D
 
UPDATE...!!!

I'm testing the Belkin Equipment right now and it seems that it's stable.
Range test for about 100 metres were ok without any troubles.
I'll keep you informed.

Greetings,
Marco
 
Another is to pre-load the frames and shows yourself, at each remote location. Then, at the "local" PC, you will not need to load the frames or shows because they would have already been loaded
Click to expand...

Bill,

Since I had not tried pre-loading the frames and show at remote locations I decided to see what the speed difference would be. As a quick test I loaded Revelation on a non-networked computer. It took approx. 16 seconds to load the 6000 frames.

I then tried loading it on a host computer over a network with one remote computer. This took approx. 37 seconds.

I then loaded the frames on the remote computer, closed LD leaving the session and frames loaded, started the networking and tried loading it on the local computer and it still took 37 seconds.

I tried different combinations of loading just frames/show, frames and show etc. none of which provided a shorter load time than the original networked load time of 37 seconds.

Am I missing something? Is there a certain way to load the frames/show on the remote computer?

Thanks,

Rob D.
 
Am I missing something? Is there a certain way to load the frames/show on the remote computer?
Click to expand...

Yes, you did.
The idea is, that you do this:...
- On a remote computer you preload shows, close just showtime (leave frames) and run networking client.
- On a laptop, you just start showtime and DO NOT LOAD any frames. Just start showtime, start MediaPlayer (if needed) and press PLAY button. simple and fast.

Regards,
Aljaz.
 
Aljaz, thank you for the reply. So I will assume that if you load the frames in the remote computer then start Showtime on the master computer (and have already loaded the show/frames), then it will also have those frames/show display from the master computer.... I will check it out.

Thanks again for the reply!

Rob D.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top