Beolink Wireless Advice

Due to the difficulty I have in wiring this house, I've picked up a couple of used Beolink Wirelesses. I just set up the first pairing yesterday, hooking up with one of my Beolab 2000's. Had a couple of problems yesterday with the receiver losing sync, reoriented the receiver a bit and so far after a couple of hours today of listening haven't had a repeat of the problem. 

So, before I finish permanently mounting them, any advice on how best to locate these, any other advice?

I have noticed that my PC to Playmaker drops out a lot now where it wasn't before, so I'm wondering if the Beolink Wireless is interfering...so far I haven't noticed the issue with Spotify and the iPad. 

One person said they thought Apple sent from iTunes in Apple Lossless instead of whatever codec the file was originally encoded in...I don't think that's so. For a 256kbs VBR file it maxes out network traffic at 150kbs so it seems to send the file undecided and let the PM decode it. 

BTW, the PM signal strength is unchanged. I've been watching the system monitor while watching dropouts in sound. Occasionally they occur when I see a spike in network traffic from the PC...I assume this is a resource choke point causing the dropout, but I see a number where the network traffic dips to zero when the dropout occurs, which leads me to believe tha PC loses contact with the PM at those times. 

I am thinking of running a network cable to the entertainment center to handle both video and audio streaming. I have no issues with video streaming but it would allow me to move a lot off the wireless and if the PM still has dropout issues it will be needed I think, I need more than Spotify alone can provide. 

Another question, is anyone streaming DLNA to the PM, and if so do you see the same dropout issues? Is this an Airply issue only?

 

Thanks!

Jeff:

One person said they thought Apple sent from iTunes in Apple Lossless instead of whatever codec the file was originally encoded in...I don't think that's so. For a 256kbs VBR file it maxes out network traffic at 150kbs so it seems to send the file undecided and let the PM decode it. 

I am thinking of running a network cable to the entertainment center to handle both video and audio streaming. I have no issues with video streaming but it would allow me to move a lot off the wireless and if the PM still has dropout issues it will be needed I think, I need more than Spotify alone can provide. 

Another question, is anyone streaming DLNA to the PM, and if so do you see the same dropout issues? Is this an Airply issue only?

Thanks!

A lot of questions....

If you with "One person said they thought Apple sent from iTunes in Apple Lossless instead of...." mean when streaming via AirPlay (from iTunes), the answer is, that this is correct.

All sound is transcoded into ALAC 16/44.1 (two channels) before sending via AirPlay to an AirPlay receiver (in your case the Playmaker). It is much easier for the receiver to handle the stream this way.

The issues that you have experienced with AirPlay after setting up the BL Wireless most likely are interferences. If possible, you should hardwire the connection Pc to Playmaker to see (hear) if it makes ny difference.

The less wireless traffic, the better!

DLNA streaming will probably not have the same issues, but - then again - others. And you can't stream from iTunes via DLNA.

 

What do you mean with: "....I need more than Spotify alone can provide....."?

 

Greetings Millemissen

That's interesting, but it still doesn't make much sense to me for several reasons. One is that it maximizes network traffic though it does limit the number of codecs the receiving device has to handle, perhaps they figure bandwidth is cheaper than chips. But, when Playmaker came out didn't it specify AAC in various bit rates, or am I misremembering the specs? The other reason is that the bit rate after upconversion from AAC should be higher than that I would have thought. Do you know if ALAC is compressed even if not lossy? I would have expected a much higher bit rate than I'm seeing.

I imagine the wireless Beolink is stomping on the Playmaker channel, I need to grab a long Cat 5 cable when I hit the store next time and see what happens. If I have to wind up wiring it it's a lot simpler for me to run one network cable rather than several Masterlink cables. This house is very well made, it has three horizontal members in the wall near the roof, floor and middle of the wall. It makes drilling and running wires a frustrating experience, even though it has a huge crawlspace below, there is no room above the ceiling.

I really wish the Playmaker had a 5 GHz option...

By saying I need more than Spotify, I mean it doesn't cover all my musical needs, I have a lot of things in iTunes that just do not exist on Spotify, plus a lot of playlists established. I find having both to be ideal. All my CDs and a few of my LPs are ripped into iTunes.

So far after about 6 hours of play no dropouts on the Beolink wireless though...It's really nice to have music in the sunroom/dining area. Bedroom is the next to be linked, so I can use my Beotime.

Jeff

I would recommend that if you are to use the wireless 1 system that the sw is up to date and hard wire the PM or use a Devolo point to point power line system. The latest sw allows the wireless 1 to be set to either channel 1, 6, 9 or Auto. In an over crammed wireless band there just aren't the channels to play with (12). You can preform a channel sweep to see what you and your neighbours router channels are set too enabling you to decide what channel to set the wireless 1 units too.

If you have only experienced short drop outs this may indicate that the units are already on Auto and they were switching channels momentarily.

Regards

Stuart

I will have to check to see what s/w the Beolink is running. It doesn't have a switch for selecting any channel, how do you do the s/w update? Is it a firmware chip replacement? And afterwards how do you select the channel?

The Devolo sounds like a great solution. From what I've heard in the past these types of things don't work if you plug them into a power strip with protection, is that right?

Ideally I'd like to connect my BluRay and Playmaker for streaming via wire, so this could be the solution. Easier than stringing wire, last time I had electricians in here working they vowed never to return. Took them three times longer at least then they bid for. But at least the house is not likely to fall over soon!

Jeff:

That's interesting, but it still doesn't make much sense to me for several reasons. One is that it maximizes network traffic though it does limit the number of codecs the receiving device has to handle, perhaps they figure bandwidth is cheaper than chips. But, when Playmaker came out didn't it specify AAC in various bit rates, or am I misremembering the specs? The other reason is that the bit rate after upconversion from AAC should be higher than that I would have thought. Do you know if ALAC is compressed even if not lossy? I would have expected a much higher bit rate than I'm seeing.

ALAC is a losless compression - just like FLAC is. As for bitrate and bandwith in a modern network setup you don't have to worry.

The bandwith of an ALAC file is by far no problem! It is really nothing compared to what the network is capable of transmitting.

 

The Playmaker does not need to decode AAC if send via AirPlay - because the AirPlay chip receives an ALAC stream only.

However the Playmaker should accept AAC files -> 320kpbs - if using DLNA. (I don't know about variable bitrates?).

If your files are organized in iTunes, you most likely won't have any DLNA server running on your Pc.

And the DLNA server would be needed, if you want to use the DLNA part of the Playmaker.

 

Thanks for the explanation about 'Spotify and more...' For me it is exactly the same - Spotify hasn't (by far) got all I need.

I use Spotify for exploring and first time listening - and use my losless  ripped collection for listening.

 

MM

 

Interesting, thanks for the information on ALAC. Still would have thought the bit rates would have been higher than what I saw streaming by, but obviously not.I hadn't thought of sending AAC over DLNA, I'd been stuck thinking of Airplay as the only way to send that, but obviously that's not the only way to send AAC. I do wonder if the Playmaker with a PC is better on DLNA, but I don't know of any DLNA client that would take iTunes as an input.

I see on the Devolo site that there are some surge protectors by APC that they work with, will have to investigate them. We occasionally get some big thunderstorms here so I'm loathe to hook anything up without protection.

If you are happy with iTunes and AirPlay, please don't make yourself a problem with DLNA.

I rarely use the DLNA function of my Playmaker.

Exploring Develo would be interesting in your case, I think.

MM

Well, Develo isn't in the US and the similar systems here get decidedly mixed reviews. But the more I think about this the less it makes sense. The iPad has no issues, with the Beolink running I can stream video on 2.4 GHz flawlessly to a TV next to the Beolink. But the PC wired to the router and wireless to the PM is unstable. 

Two experiments, turn off the Beolink wireless and see if the problem remains, and run a wire from the router to the PM and see how that works. I still think there's something going on that is not obvious or related to wireless streaming. 

Jeff, the long way home...... Run the cable. Under the floor, externally what ever. Wireless can pick up interference from more the most unusual source.

If you have the meters to find rf thats great , but moving on.

As a trial would you consider running the cat 5 (temp) to all the places and see if it sorts your problems ?

valve1:

Jeff, the long way home...... Run the cable. Under the floor, externally what ever. Wireless can pick up interference from more the most unusual source.

If you have the meters to find rf thats great , but moving on.

As a trial would you consider running the cat 5 (temp) to all the places and see if it sorts your problems ?

That's one of the two experiments I'm going to perform, the other is disconnecting the Beolink wireless and see if the dropout issues go away again. During the dropouts today the only wireless networks that showed up at all when running my network tool for wireless were my two networks, the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz ones. 

If I connect with a wire and still get issues that will be very interesting...

It still puzzles me that Spotify on the iPad running to the wireless router and then to the Playmaker works about flawlessly, while the PC wired to the router then wireless to the Playmaker has problems. I still tend to think there is either something futzed in the iTunes AirPlay SW on the PC, or some background process(es) on the PC muck things up. 

I kep posting about this not only for any advice, which I appreciate greatly, but also to document what I find in the hope it helps someone else. Thanks again to everyone.

Jeff:

If I connect with a wire and still get issues that will be very interesting...

Do not go there

 

I just did an experiment, I had my wife open iTunes on her PC, stream to the Playmaker over 2.4 GHz, no wires, with the Beolink wireless playing in the next room. 

Guess what? Not a single dropout in two hours plus of playing. As I suspected it's something in my laptop. 

Guess its time to finally unpack and setup my dedicated music server PC, though I'd still like to figure out what's up. 

Word of advice though, if you are having Playmaker issues the problem may not be what you think. 

Well, I seem to have fixed the problem, I've been listening to music streamed from my laptop for a couple of hours now with no dropouts. 

I disabled the Netgear Genie app on my laptop. This app monitors the Netgear router and Internet connection. I've found it useful for the odd times when the network upstream of the router lost connection as it will tell you and let you tell it to reaquire the network. But it's nothing I can't also do by logging onto the router directly with a web browser. 

This app seems to generate a slew of packet collisions when it pings the router for information which causes the Playmaker and iTunes all sorts of grief. 

So, if you're having B&O streaming issues think about causes other than blaming the PM or other Beo gear, and make sure you have a good router. This Netgear was kind of pricey at about $150 US, but it has been a whole lot better in stability and performance than any cheap router I've ever had. Sometimes you do get what you pay for. 

You can can sniff the home for the least crammed channels listed before. Then you can tell your local installer to plug into your wireless kits and permanently lock them into that channel. The Beolink wireless is super sensitive and will jump channels frequently if you have close neighbors etc.

Thanks for the info. So far everything, including the Beolink Wireless, is working perfectly since I killed the Netgear app. The Beolink has been rock solid. Fortunately I'm on a 3 acre lot so interference from other houses is minimal to non existent, at least so far. 

On a related matter, I'm liking my Beolab 2000 a lot, it's a slick little integrated package, speakers and control buttons in one neat package.