Looking for some detailed info on the "Use DHCP Routes" setting

[iFrogMac]

Hey all, I'm bringing another question here, because I haven't been able to find any detailed info.

What does the Use DHCP routes setting do under LAN / IPTV? By default it's set to Microsoft, but I don't think I'm using the setting, so, should I set it to disabled? Also, does it control the static routing functions, or is it a separate setting?
If someone could explain what situations this would apply to, I would appreciate it.

Thanks.

The only references to the setting I've been able to find on my own, have mainly been in how to set up IPTV, but no real explanation on the setting itself.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Are you actually using IPTV? If not those settings are irrelevant to you.

 

[iFrogMac]

Are you actually using IPTV? If not those settings are irrelevant to you.

The only thing I enabled was Multicast routing, as it's recommended to ensure airplay and other similar apple services work as best as possible. That's why I was curious about the setting.

 

[ColinTaylor]

The only thing I enabled was Multicast routing, as it's recommended to ensure airplay and other similar apple services work as best as possible.

That is incorrect. Multicast routing is used with IPTV, it is not the same as general multicast. IIRC you have an RT-AX86U so that setting is having no effect for you. There was an "issue" on some older routers where you needed to enable that option but that's not the case on the newer routers.

 

[iFrogMac]

That is incorrect. Multicast routing is used with IPTV, it is not the same as general multicast. IIRC you have an RT-AX86U so that setting is having no effect for you. There was an "issue" on some older routers where you needed to enable that option but that's not the case on the newer routers.

OK, that's good to know, most of the info I've run into when doing this kind of research is usually older, and it's been hard to find current answers unless I ask. So on newer routers, these settings don't mean what they used to on older hardware, and software then.
Yes, I have the RT-AX86U.
@ColinTaylor here is the thread I was referencing from my recent searches: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4554393 It is an older thread, and yes, it's an older router. Since it was Asus though, and I haven't found any current apple config guidelines, I got the impression it still applied, especially since Asus routers of today still have many of the same settings and functionality. Thanks again for your input.

 

[iFrogMac]

So, after re-reading the replies here, I thought I would ask, when it comes to IGMP Snooping (which is on by default) on this router (RT-AX86U), does that also apply just to IPTV style (multicast routing) or does that also include general multicast, the type I would be using with my Apple and other devices that rely on mDNS, and similar services for discovery. I was curious about that, because in my own testing, turning the setting off seemed to have an effect on functions such as multi room music with my amazon echo devices, where one device would stutter, or cut out, or not start at all, where as leaving it on seems to have made this functionality more stable.

As per recommendation on this forum, and personal experience, I've found I've been able to leave many settings at default with the exception of features like UPNP, where if you don't need it (which I currently don't), it's safer to turn it off. Beyond that, I've mainly only changed settings in the wireless settings that are known, to cause problems with older, or ioT devices.

Since the initial question was centered around an IPTV specific feature, I'm still not fully clear on what constitutes IPTV, e.g. I know now, typical streaming services aren't iPTV, they're unicast streams. The other info I've been able to make sens of, is IPTV gives me the impression of paying for cable, or sattelite, and streaming it over the network, vs just using the box directly connected to the TV and the coaxial line.
This has been my main source of misunderstanding on these particular types of settings. For example:

When I've done my own research, which I try to do before asking, is one common use case might be "if you use AirPlay, or screen mirroring, or do any kind of audio / video streaming" enable the IGMP, and multicast settings for better performance. Well, the mentioned tasks, I do. However, I don't pay for Cable, or Satellite TV, just internet and individual streaming services, or I locally stream with Plex, Airplay, DLNA, etc
So, based on the above reply, how do these things translate to modern routers, vs older routers I am used to when it comes to these types of settings.

 

[ColinTaylor]

The IGMP Snooping and multicast options under Wireless - Professional only apply to WiFi devices. Normal LAN multicast is not configurable in the GUI (it just works).

 

[iFrogMac]

The IGMP Snooping and multicast options under Wireless - Professional only apply to WiFi devices. Normal LAN multicast is not configurable in the GUI (it just works).

OK, I follow now, that's why it was a bit confusing because I have a mix of wireless and wired devices. Most of the time, anything that would require multicast / IGMP would be going wireless to wired, unless it was the Chromecast Ultra, then it would be wireless to wireless. I try to hardwire whenever possible to eliminate as many wireless problems as possible. My Living Room TV is on wifi too, but, I typically don't cast to it directly. I usually use the Roku, Apple TV, or the Shield TV (or Chromecast) if I want to watch on the bedroom TV, which in that case is a dumb TV.
My smart TV is a 2016 Sony TV that runs Android TV.

Thanks again for your help. I've been trying to catch myself up, but what I want to find, and being able to find it is hard. I typically want to read data sheets for products I own with the protocols they use, how they work and the correct setup needed. I've found that hard to find on my own, so that's why I end up asking on different forums.

It was much less frustrating when I was using primarily Apple products (including Airport) because they were designed to just work together. Most of the time, any third party WiFi devices just worked as well. This Asus router, while a nice router, has made me feel like I need to revisit my network training, that I had early on, just to catch up with the settings and new standards.

 

[ColinTaylor]

It was much less frustrating when I was using primarily Apple products (including Airport) because they were designed to just work together. Most of the time, any third party WiFi devices just worked as well. This Asus router, while a nice router, has made me feel like I need to revisit my network training, that I had early on, just to catch up with the settings and new standards.

I think part of the problem with Asus/Merlin routers are that they expose so many settings to the user. In most cases the default settings work well enough. But when users experience problems they start looking for things to change in the GUI and when things still don't work they blame the router when in many cases it's a client problem. The old Apple products "just worked" because they were simpler devices and you were playing inside Apple's walled garden with a limited section of clients.

Side note: While double-checking multicast behaviour on my network I noticed my Windows 10 PC wasn't sending multicast onto the LAN. After some searching this is a known "feature" of Windows 10 when you have more than one Ethernet adapter installed.

 

[Tech9]

I think part of the problem with Asus/Merlin routers are that they expose so many settings to the user.

The reason I recommend running stock Asuswrt and close to default to new Asus router users and not jump straight to Asuswrt-Merlin.

 

[iFrogMac]

I think part of the problem with Asus/Merlin routers are that they expose so many settings to the user. In most cases the default settings work well enough. But when users experience problems they start looking for things to change in the GUI and when things still don't work they blame the router when in many cases it's a client problem. The old Apple products "just worked" because they were simpler devices and you were playing inside Apple's walled garden with a limited section of clients.

Side note: While double-checking multicast behaviour on my network I noticed my Windows 10 PC wasn't sending multicast onto the LAN. After some searching this is a known "feature" of Windows 10 when you have more than one Ethernet adapter installed.

I agree with both of you, and I haven't switched to Merlin yet. Still running stock. As far as fixing client issues. I switched to a different brand of smart bulbs (Wiz connected ) vs the Geeni / MERKURY bulbs I had b been using and the new ones seem to play nicer on my network. They cost a bit more, and seem a bit better quality. I had one bulb start going offline, but I think it's just that specific bulb, as the others have been fine, so I reset it, and moved it to a lamp closer to the router. As far as the random issues I had been having, those seem to have cleared up now. So the multicast questions have mainly been geared toward the Apple, and other devices that use discovery, to make sure things just work. Thankfully modern routers most of the time just work now.

One thing I found out that is recent of last year on the apple communities is, the Airport is still safe to use as a router, the main problem is, that it's older hardware, so it's not optimized for the faster speeds of newer devices, and internet plans.

There is a question I want to include here, because we have been talking about being exposed to settings, and that is, when should I use Bluetooth co-existence on the Asus router? DD-WRT, and AsusWRT are my only experiences with this setting, most of the routers I've owned haven't had it. From my experience, I haven't any BT issues that I'm aware of, but will the Asus Router having this setting change it's behavior in anyway so I will need to use it at some point?

Thanks, I think those are the remaining questions I've been tossing around that I've dropped into this thread.

 

[ColinTaylor]

when should I use Bluetooth co-existence on the Asus router?

When your Bluetooth devices are interfering with the operation of your 2.4GHz clients or vice versa.

Advanced Wireless Settings - TomatoUSB

tomatousb.wikidot.com

 

[iFrogMac]

Hi @ColinTaylor, I was looking at this website here: https://www.firesticktricks.com/free-iptv.html: It looks like several things I use are considered IPTV. Does this mean I need to enable the IPTV features of the router for best results? From what I have experienced, these services seem to function without any specific IPTV features enabled. However, I was looking for clarification because I initially answered no, when you asked me above if I used IPTV. Based on this site, I might have to change to Yes, or maybe Yes, and No for the answer.

The Services I use on that list are:
Pluto TV
Peacock TV
Plex (lifetime Plex Pass)

The other thing I wanted to ask is, are there different types of IPTV like different types of multicast where you said the kind I'm working with is different from the iPTV settings, or am what I am using also needs extra features enabled, for the best performance.
Thanks.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Those services are not the same as the router's IPTV support. They are more like streaming services (i.e. Netflix, but with live feeds). The router's IPTV is typically used to support hardware TV boxes supplied by your cable company or ISP.

 

[iFrogMac]

Those services are not the same as the router's IPTV support. They are more like streaming services (i.e. Netflix, but with live feeds). The router's IPTV is typically used to support hardware TV boxes supplied by your cable company or ISP.

That was my initial impression as well. I was just making sure. As far as Plex, I primarily use it LAN to LAN e.g. the computer runs the server, and it's wired, and I stream to wired device such as Apple TV, Roku, etc that run the Plex client. For better understanding, of the terms and settings, If I wanted to send a Plex stream to multiple devices (I usually just use one at a time) is this a time where the multicast routing option would help, or does Plex use different protocols for streaming? I know it's discovery protocols typically work regardless of the IPTV settings. So to sum up the question, I understand the settings in the router, would not benefit me for my current forms of internet traffic, but what about local traffic such as streaming from Plex. I can pretty much agree with your initial comments and say it just works, but that's using one device at a time (in most cases) to watch content. If I wanted to stream to multiple devices from the one server would changing any of the settings help, in those cases.

Thanks

EDIT: Reading this suggests I don't need multicast for local plex streaming, even for multiple devices. It also suggests that Plex is designed for one client at a time. However, that's about 4 years old. I wonder how much has changed since.
Link:

https://www.reddit.com/r/PleX/comments/8i4jmz

 

[ColinTaylor]

No. The IPTV settings only apply to IPTV from the WAN connection.

IIRC Plex doesn't "broadcast" anything. Each device runs a Plex client and pulls it's own stream from the Plex server.

 

[iFrogMac]

No. The IPTV settings only apply to IPTV from the WAN connection.

IIRC Plex doesn't "broadcast" anything. Each device runs a Plex client and pulls it's own stream from the Plex server.

OK, I better get it now. The settings I have been in question about are WAN to LAN, and not LAN to LAN. It also sounds like they're focused on taking the single stream from the IPTV device and converting it to multicast, so the local network doesn't get flooded, or taxed from unnecessary packets. I understand why it's different now too. The type of streaming I am doing is a single P2P connection, so even though I might want to use multiple devices, each device has it's own stream, it's not a shared stream