Router or hub for home theater A/V devices?

[mikefm101]

Hi,

The last few months we've been upgrading the home theater, finally ditching a 32" flat screen for a 60", etc.

WiFi in the house isn't great, fixing it is another task on my list. I already have an Ethernet cable going to my son's X-Box in the entertainment center, and would like to hard wire the smart TV and a new A/V receiver that is on order.

Would I place a router or a hub in the entertainment center for this?

Today we have a Comcast cable modem with an Ethernet output connected to a four-port router with built in wifi. This is all in the basement. A single Ethernet cable goes from the router to the X-Box on the first floor, the other Ethernet ports in the basement router are already used for home offices PC's so I do not have more port capacity to run to the entertainment center.

So, would a second four-port router in the entertainment center distributing Ethernet to each device be the correct item to use, or is a hub a more appropriate device?

I looked around for this on line but nothing discussing two routers back-to-back popped up.

Hope all this makes sense an that you can help.

Thanks....Mike

[Mr_Mike]

Hub is sufficient. Routing is already handled with the existing.

If your wiring and router supports it, get a 100 megabit vs 10megabit hub or you are multiplexing all the devices down to 10 megabit in total. However, even that should be sufficient.

[fixtureman]

I would use a switch not a hub

[J-W-P]

Yes a switch.,
I don't think they even make hubs anymore do they?

[Mr_Mike]

Sure. Didn't even think of a switch. Just don't need a router.

[Alex Grigoriev]

To clear the misunderstanding:

A router connects two subnets, for example, 192.168.0.x and 192.168.1.x. "Routers" sold at Fry's perform Network Address Translation (NAT), which allows to use a single external IP address for multiple internal IP addresses on your home subnet.

You don't need a router to connect a group of devices to the rest of your home network.

A hub is an analog repeater which connects devices on a single collision domain. Hubs only work for half-duplex link layer protocols, like 10Mbps coax and twisted pair, long obsolete. I don't think you can buy a hub anymore.

A switch forwards packets based on their MAC address, which it learns from the ingress packets. A switch can do full duplex transfers. A switch connects devices in a single broadcast domain.

What you need is a switch.

If you have coax in the wall in your TV/entertainment room, you could just move your cable modem/router there. That will also fix your "WiFi is not great" problem.

[sroxberg]

Alex Grigoriev said:

---

To clear the misunderstanding:

A router connects two subnets, for example, 192.168.0.x and 192.168.1.x. "Routers" sold at Fry's perform Network Address Translation (NAT), which allows to use a single external IP address for multiple internal IP addresses on your home subnet.

You don't need a router to connect a group of devices to the rest of your home network.

A hub is an analog repeater which connects devices on a single collision domain. Hubs only work for half-duplex link layer protocols, like 10Mbps coax and twisted pair, long obsolete. I don't think you can buy a hub anymore.

A switch forwards packets based on their MAC address, which it learns from the ingress packets. A switch can do full duplex transfers. A switch connects devices in a single broadcast domain.

What you need is a switch.

If you have coax in the wall in your TV/entertainment room, you could just move your cable modem/router there. That will also fix your "WiFi is not great" problem.

---

What Alex Said!!!

A switch is what I use.

[mikefm101]

Thanks all.

Was asking about the hub as I have two 4 port hubs in a desk drawer leftover from a previous job. I'll try that first and if it doesn't work will buy a switch.

Mike

[arthropod98]

switch will definitely work.

at our entertainment center (keep in mind, we're relatively paranoid ), we've got a MANUAL switch -- sorta like this:

http://www.amazon.com/SANOXY-Network-Swi...5+manual+switch

this at least allows us to have NO connection if we want, without having to just pull the power plug. also, not a fan of whatever these "smart" devices might wanna do, so we like having full control.

[fixtureman]

if you have an old router just use it in bridge mode