RT-AC68U + DD-WRT for Local Video Streaming to iOS Devices

[sedwo]

I'm using an RT-AC68U with DD-WRT installed for streaming 480p video to multiple iOS devices.

This wifi setup will only exist within one main auditorium and be local only (no internet or other LAN/WAN traffic).

Preliminary tests seem like it should be fine and stable. But there are times when the video drops a few frames or experiences glitches before fixing itself.


My concerns/questions are:

- Am I going about this the right way in using this router? Or might there be better options still? (industrial routers?)

- My DD-WRT setup is quite simple with only the Wifi details set for both bands.
G/N = Chan. 11 @ 40Mhz (2.4GHz)
AC = 40MHz (5GHz)
Both have the same SSID.
beam-forming is ON

- Given that the auditorium is quite large, I'm thinking of setting up two of these routers on either end for greater coverage. Tx power = 80%.


The single goal here is to avoid any streaming glitches over wifi.

Multicast by the way is not supported in our setup. But the scale of it will only need to handle about a dozen connected iOS devices for the moment.

Thoughts? Opinions?

 

[L&LD]

I would change to Asus RMerlin firmware as it is generally acknowledged that the wireless driver is superior to the generic driver DD-WRT uses.

20MHz width is recommended for the 2.4GHz band.

40MHz width for the 5GHz band.

For both bands; set the Tx value to 100mW and the Wireless mode to Auto too.

I would test each control channel (1, 6, 11 on the 2.4GHz band) for both bands to see which channel gives the highest throughput (not signal strength or inssider score).

I would also test if Beam-forming is beneficially or not (I'm guessing not with the single antenna in ios devices).


If you do flash back to the RMerlin firmware (374.40 alpha4 is the recommended version for your router), make sure you reset to defaults.

For only a dozen wireless clients you don't need two routers. Set the router as high as possible and not obstructed in all three planes if possible for at least 3 feet. If the auditorium is less than 150' in maximum length or width and the clients will all be line of sight, you don't need anything else for them to connect optimally.

And if flashing another firmware make sure to use a new ssid for each band (and different from what you're using now) or at least 'forget' the connection on each device and re-associate each one to the router again to make sure the new/different drivers will be used optimally by each device.

 

[Mordred]

I would change to Asus RMerlin firmware as it is generally acknowledged that the wireless driver is superior to the generic driver DD-WRT uses.

This is complete BS. Just compare the output of:

root@ASUSAC68U:~#wl ver

6.37 RC14.86
wl0: Mar 16 2014 14:32:54 version 6.37.14.86 (r456083)

DD-WRT has the same driver + newer than Merlin.

If you have dd-wrt on it you should keep it unless you prefer random reboots. Make sure you get a kong build.

 

[L&LD]

Newer, does not mean better.