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I am sorry for if the question is vague or not up-to standards, but i need some opinions before I proceed.

Is it possible to design a video streaming service (minimum 720p qualitity) over lan network with wireless APs? I know it's possible over lan only, I am asking if it is possible over wireless with wireless APs? How many TVs can I support this way?

For example I have 1 host PC connected to a switch. To this switch I connect multiple wireless APs distributed all over (up to 1000ft away from the switch). Near each AP I place a monitor connected to a zero-client (VGA over LAN) which in turn connected to wireless AP set in client mode. So each monitor is connected to LAN through wireless AP set in client mode. Each wireless AP pair is configured to be one-to-one and on separate channel from other AP pairs. To visualize example please look at the image: enter image description here

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  • I think this is something NE can help with, but you'll have to break it into smaller questions. So start designing a solution, and each time you hit a specific problem, then ask those concrete/concise Qs. (And some of those Qs may end up being better asked on other stacks...) You're off to a great start with this Q though!
    – Craig Constantine
    Mar 17, 2015 at 14:52

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There are a few things where this can/will go wrong.

First of the 1000ft Cat5E is to long.. it's about 3times the Max lentgh(https://www.google.nl/?q=100m+%3D+ft). So place a bridge or repeater/another switch every 100M(328ft). Or you should take a look @ Fiber optics. So lets say you went with fiber. Its expensive but will give you the length needed without any issue.

So next up are the Wireless Access points with clients. That could work if you have the capable hardware. This depends on what bitrate you are streaming the HD Video. looking at the AC specification i don't think that will become a problem(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11ac) unless the distance/interference is so big your transfer speed gets cut down. Sidenote: the AC specification say's it uses the 5Ghz band, that inturn has less problem's with interference but distance is more the factor here. So i would suggest a test with a simple client and access point to get some readouts on the bandwidth available at those distances.

So lets say you did all that and still haven't found a problem. Well where is the server ? A C75 need a server if i'm reading the website right.. It needs resources from a server to operate ? Is that also on the "HD Streaming Host" ? if so you need to find out how much bandwidth that requires..

Beyond that i would say it's possible in theory. ;)

What goal are you trying to fulfill ?

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  • Thank you for useful insights! I overlooked repeaters, I will use them as need every 100m. I will find out how much bandwidth my software that will stream video requires.
    – Daulet
    Mar 17, 2015 at 3:49
  • I need to show student-made TV news in campus of a university, that's why I need this.
    – Daulet
    Mar 17, 2015 at 4:05
  • Thx, why not use Campus infrastructure(Ethernet) ? I whould try and lose the wifi stuff unless there is no other way. Good luck ;)
    – TheSec
    Mar 20, 2015 at 16:08
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Is it possible to design a video streaming service

Anything is "possible". How many million do you want to invest? (BTW, you aren't the first to attempt something like this.)

(minimum 720p qualitity)

720p is a frame size, not a quality. I can compress a 720p feed to 1Mbps. It'll look like s*** but it's still "720p". What bit rate do you intend to support? At what encoding? (For reference, Uverse is ~5Mbps MPEG4 and widely touted as "poor", watchable none the less.)

is possible over wireless with wireless APs? How many TVs can I support this way?

Depends entirely on your choice of hardware and method(s) of distribution. Again, Uverse does this for their "wireless STB". Uverse video distribution is done via multicast (wired) which is a problem for commodity WiFi gear. That's why they use a dedicated wireless gateway programmed to deal with that failing.

If it were unicast, which wouldn't be an issue for any WiFi gear, you'd have to have dedicated bandwidth for every receiver.

(clearly, you've got a lot more planning to do)

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    Thank you for pointing me to what I needed to consider. Once I find out at what bit rate I send video, the choke point is the wireless APs(their capability of bandwidth) and number of TV setups I will place. The formulas are "HD-stream bit rate" < "wireless AP bandwith" and "HD-stream bit rate" x "number of setups" < 1Gps, right?
    – Daulet
    Mar 17, 2015 at 4:05
  • @daulet, while you may be able to theoretically get get 1.3 Mb from 802.11ac, real life is very, very different. You should not expect to get anything even close that. See this article on newer SMB 802.11ac APs: networkworld.com/article/2895944/wi-fi/…. Pay particular attention to the throughput chart on Page 3.
    – Ron Maupin ♦
    Mar 17, 2015 at 6:25
  • Make that 1.3 Gb, not Mb.
    – Ron Maupin ♦
    Mar 17, 2015 at 6:49

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