[mythtv-users] Way out idea on watchingsame thinginmultiplerooms

Greg Oliver oliver.greg at gmail.com
Thu Jan 7 21:49:36 UTC 2010


On Thu, Jan 7, 2010 at 3:43 PM, Gareth Glaccum
<gareth.glaccum at btopenworld.com> wrote:
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Frank Merrill" <fmerrill1 at gmail.com>
> So, if you buy a switch and it acts like a switch, and it can't be
> configured to properly handle multicast, then you bought the wrong
> hardware if multicast is needed.
>
> ---
>
> And now we are in the realms of telling the home user that they bought the
> wrong hardware if they want to use myth.
>
> All switches should in theory support layer 2 (this is why they are switches
> not hubs). Although it seems strange, IGMP snooping is actually part of the
> layer 2 functionality that should be incorporated in a switch.
> There are many layer 2 only switches which claim multicast snooping as their
> features (try 'layer 2 igmp snoop' in google). But rarely are they tested
> (well, from the number of layer 3 ones which don't function correctly, this
> is what I surmise. Got told by a company which considered itself a Tier 1
> last year, that they didn't have enough equipment to test 3 switches,
> connected to 4 switches, to ensure that their software worked).
>

Older cisco switches have snooping as a feature set..  You have to pay
for it to get it (and you need the memory to support the image).  All
of the new ones have it standard.  Home wireless routers are a
different animal alltogether.  I have 2 d-links that just flat out
will not forward multicast, a linksys that just blindly broadcasts it,
and 2 linksys that support it properly.

It is definitely a toss up.  I have to create tunnels through certain
routers to get the traffic passed sometimes.  Luckily I have extra
"test" equipment laying around...   All of my dtv receivers need
multicast though, so it is a pain in the butt at times..

-Greg


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