Can you connect two BW's directly by cable?

maverick#1 · Post by **maverick#1** » Sat May 28, 2011 22:19

I have two questions about creating a network that only includes two Beyonwizes (a P2 and a Lite i) and whatever networking equipment is required. The first question is the subject of this topic. The second involves setting up the same network wirelessly (see this topic). I decided to create two separate topics to make it easier to keep the wired and wireless reponses separate.

Okay, so to start this topic, I have a P2 in my lounge room and a Lite i in the bedroom. I watch most of my recordings in the lounge on the bigger TV. This means that if I recorded something in the bedroom and I want to watch it on the P2 in the lounge, I have to copy it from the Lite to a USB HDD first, which can take up to an hour depending on the program length and if it was recorded in SD or HD.

Ideally, I'd like to simply stream the recording directly from one BW to the other. Wirelessly would be best (refer to the other topic for responses to this option), but after having problems trying to set up a wireless network previously (probably due to my own lack of skill and knowledge in this department), I would be happy to settle for a wired solution.

Is a direct cable connection possible, and, if so, what equipment would be required? Is it just a simple matter of an ethernet crossover cable linking the two BW's and the appropriate network settings on each? I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to network configuration settings (e.g. IP addresses, subnet mask, etc), so any info on this side of things would be appreciated as well.

Thanks,
Mav

prl · Post by **prl** » Sat May 28, 2011 23:01

Mods, could you close one of these two identical posts?

Gully · Post by **Gully** » Sat May 28, 2011 23:20

prl wrote:Mods, could you close one of these two identical posts?

I have closed the other one.

There really us no need for 2 posts for essentially the one question, Mav.

Just add the other part of your question to this one.

brianh · Post by **brianh** » Sun May 29, 2011 07:33

Mav,

setting up the wireless connection may or may not work for you - it should stream SD quite OK, but may struggle with HD, depending on the presence of any other wireless networks or devices in your area - DECT phones, anything operating on 2.4 GHz can interfere with your network's throughput speed especially if there are two or three nearby networks on channels that then limit your choice.

I ran a cable between my S1 and P2, connected via an Icebox2 router, and it works a treat. The boxes are in separate rooms and the cable is about 15 metres long, I tucked it down under the carpet around the edges (the doorway was a bugger, I had to lift the joining strip at the edge & tuck it under that too).

If you can get hold of a laptop with NetStumbler or a similar free WiFi locator on it, you can see what is around you in the way of networks to help plan your approach.

IanB · Post by **IanB** » Sun May 29, 2011 09:32

Topologically simplest is a single long cross over cable. However long cross over cables can be hard to find.

If you have a sparky run cable with RJ45 wall plates then only 1 cable from the wall plate to the BW should be a cross over, the other should be a standard cable.

A more practical solution might be to include a hub, then long standard cables can be run from each BW to the hub. The hub can be with either BW or at a convenient point somewhere in between.

Configure each BW with a unique static IP address, e.g. 192.168.004.002 and 192.168.004.003. Set the subnet mask to 255.255.255.000, leave all the other values as 000.000.000.000

Also enable both the server and client in Setup > Network > WizPNP and give each unit a unique name

The WizPNP protocol can take a few minutes to discover the other BW each time they are turned on.

To connect the 2 BW wirelessly you need a device for each BW.

The powerline ethernet devices although very simple to set up seem to need all your ducks in a row to work successfully. Between 2 points on the same fuse probably okay beyond that the risk of not performing adequately increases. If you try these make sure you can return them if they do not perform.

Next step up would be a pair of wireless 802.11N access points. One configured as an AP the other as a Bridge. You will need a PC to configure each unit. A friendly shop may pre-configure them for you.

Wireless 802.11B/G will not cut the mustard. With 802.11N you may have the choice of 2.4GHz or 5GHZ operation. The 2.4GHz band has more congestion from other wireless devices but goes through walls and structures better. The 5GHz band has many more available channels, has far fewer competing devices but does not go through walls or structures as well.
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maverick#1 · Post by **maverick#1** » Tue May 31, 2011 13:17

IanB wrote:Topologically simplest is a single long cross over cable. However long cross over cables can be hard to find.

I've got a 5m crossover cable and another 5m standard cable. I bought a joiner from Dick Smith (see here) to link them up, but I wasn't able to get them to communicate. I have a feeling that I didn't have the IP addresses etc. set up correctly.

Configure each BW with a unique static IP address, e.g. 192.168.004.002 and 192.168.004.003. Set the subnet mask to 255.255.255.000, leave all the other values as 000.000.000.000

Also enable both the server and client in Setup > Network > WizPNP and give each unit a unique name

The WizPNP protocol can take a few minutes to discover the other BW each time they are turned on.

Is this still correct if I don't use a hub but use a crossover cable instead?

Thanks,
Mav

maverick#1 · Post by **maverick#1** » Tue May 31, 2011 13:22

Gully wrote:
prl wrote:Mods, could you close one of these two identical posts?
I have closed the other one.

There really us no need for 2 posts for essentially the one question, Mav.

Just add the other part of your question to this one.

Sorry, but I wanted to keep the two topics separate. I suspected that there would be many more responses to the wireless network question than the wired question. I didn't want to have to wade through heaps of responses for the wireless network stuff in order to find the one or two answers to cabled network problem (or vice versa).

- Mav

IanB · Post by **IanB** » Tue May 31, 2011 20:36

maverick#1 wrote:
IanB wrote:Topologically simplest is a single long cross over cable. However long cross over cables can be hard to find.
I've got a 5m crossover cable and another 5m standard cable. I bought a joiner from Dick Smith (see here) to link them up,

I assume these are the bits :-
Cat#: DSAU_XH3297, DSE 5m Cat 6 Crossover Cable.
Cat#: DSAU_XH3293, DSE 5m Cat 6 Network Cable.
Cat#: DSAU_F2169, Modular inline coupler 8p8c

These should be fine.

but I wasn't able to get them to communicate. I have a feeling that I didn't have the IP addresses etc. set up correctly.

If the cabling is working correctly then the little network icon on the display of the P2 should light up. It is to the right on the top row of symbols, above the units of seconds digit when the program duration is displayed. It's a little like this ascii art (squint a lot) :-

. . . . A . . .
. . A . . A .

If the network symbol does not light up, move both units to the same room and test with just the cross over cable. I have used these cable joiners many times before, but have had 1 unit that was poorly assembled. Two of the little gold spring wires were sharing the same slot. I carefully coaxed the truant spring back into it's right spot and it now works perfectly.

Step 1 is the network symbol on the P2 display must be lit. Without this there is no connectivity.

Configure each BW with a unique static IP address, e.g. 192.168.004.002 and 192.168.004.003. Set the subnet mask to 255.255.255.000, leave all the other values as 000.000.000.000

Also enable both the server and client in Setup > Network > WizPNP and give each unit a unique name

The WizPNP protocol can take a few minutes to discover the other BW each time they are turned on.
Is this still correct if I don't use a hub but use a crossover cable instead?

Yes the network configuration is independent of cabling topology. A hub will perform the cross over functionality when present. There needs to be exactly 1 cross over functionality in the network topology, i.e. a hub or a cross over cable.

Unfortunately without a PC there are no network diagnostic functions in the BW.

As I warned the WizPNP protocol can take a few minutes to discover other BW's, so you may need to revisit the player network list several times at the start.
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maverick#1 · Post by **maverick#1** » Wed May 21, 2014 15:13

Well, after 3 years, it appears that I have finally found out what the problem with my BW network was. But first, a little bit of backgroung about how I found the answer...

After following all the advice in this forum and still having no luck getting the P2 and Lite i to talk to each other 3 years ago, I gave up on ever getting them to communicate over a network. But recently I managed to get my hands on a bit of wireless networking gear so I thought I'd give it another try. Before starting with the wireless stuff, though, I thought I'd try the direct cable connection again as I had only recently installed a new firmware version on the P2 (v01.07.350). After connecting all the bits and making sure I was using the settings people had kindly suggested here, I searched for a connection ... and found the Lite i recordings were visible on the P2!!! Yes!!! But then came the fall. I couldn't see the P2 at all on the Lite i. Why did it work one way but not the other?

That's when I started searching the forums again and discovered this bug in the firmware. It appears that if the index.txt file on one of the BW's is >64kB, other BW's won't be able to see that BW over the network (see here and here for more info). I have more than 400GB of recordings on the P2's 500GB HDD (including hundreds of little recordings), but the Lite i has only around 250GB of the 500GB used (and very few small recordings). So it appears that I had been doing the right thing all along, but because of this bug (and because they both had hundreds of recordings on them 3 years ago), neither BW was able to see the other!

Anyway, a big thanks to all of those who posted replies on this forum. If I have any further success getting the BW's to talk to each other, I'll post more details here.

- Mav

maverick#1 · Post by **maverick#1** » Thu May 22, 2014 14:20

A quick update...

I checked the size of the index.txt files on the P2 & the Lite i last night. Sure enough, the index.txt file on the P2 was 84KB (this was the BW that couldn't be seen on the network) and the index.txt file on the Lite i was 58KB (this was the BW that could be seen on the network). The number of files on the Lite i now is a lot less than it was 3 years ago meaning that the index.txt file is probably a lot smaller than it was back then, which would explain why the P2 can see it now.

- Mav