Dummies, Wireless

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Part IV: Using a Wireless Network
Figure 12-1:
The
Squeeze-
Box digital
media
adapter is
one of our
favorites.
The high bandwidth requirements of video were one of the driving forces
behind the development of 802.11n. 802.11g may have a nominal bandwidth
of 54 Mbps, but in the real world users can expect less than 20 Mbps of real
throughput across the whole network. A single channel of HDTV would stop
the entire network dead.
If you’re considering streaming high-quality video across your wireless network,
you should definitely build an 802.11n network. Most wireless audio
and video gear now available on the market is shipping with 802.11g on board,
but a few vendors have begun selling 802.11n equipment. Again, remember, if
you’re just doing audio streaming, 802.11g is more than adequate.
You can choose from a number of different options when you build a wireless
entertainment network, including the following:
� Media adapters: The most basic (but by no means unsophisticated)
wireless media systems are known as media adapters. These devices
have no storage themselves, so they are strictly for streaming media.
A media adapter does exactly what its name says it does — it converts
(or adapts) a streaming audio or video file coming from your computer
(such as an MP3 music file) to an analog or digital audio (or video)
format that your TV or audio equipment understands. A media adapter
connects to your wireless network on the computer side using Wi-Fi,
and connects to your home entertainment gear using standard audio and
video cables. Examples of such gear include Logitech’s Squeezebox (www.
slimdevices.com, shown in Figure 12-1) and Apple’s AirPort Express
(www.apple.com).