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Hands On: Western Digital Livewire Powerline Adapter Kit

By on September 23, 2010 in Networking Reviews, News, Reviews

Introduction

In this connected world, there are 3 basic methods of getting information from one computer to another.  All 3 have their advantages.  And disadvantages.  These methods are:

Ethernet cable networking, which provides the fastest and highest quality signal, but can be quite expensive to run in homes that do not lend itself to running cable.  It also limits the mobility of mobile computers such as notebooks and netbooks.

Wireless networking, which allows one to “cut the cable”.  While wireless has improved greatly over the years, particularly with wireless-N technology, limited range along with “cold” spots have hampered it’s success for streaming media.

Powerline networking, which is basically another form of Ethernet cable networking, but uses the electrical wiring in a home to duplicate the function of routing Ethernet cable to areas that would not be accessible otherwise.  It is there to provide Ethernet cable quality networking for steaming media.  It is not as fast as Ethernet cable and not as flexible as wireless networking; it is simply an alternative to when the other options are not feasible.

Which brings us to the

Western Digital Livewire

which is the subject of today’s review.  A powerline kit from WD seems to be a natural extension of WD TV media player lineup.  After all, what is the point of having a media player hooked up to your TV (or if you already have an Internet-ready TV) if you cannot connect to your LAN and/or the Internet?  In my case, running Ethernet cable is not economically feasible, and it is cheaper to use a powerline adapter than to upgrade to wireless-N.  The question, of course, is how well it works.  Before we get to that point, we need to first find out

What’s In The Box?

We have that WD blue on the the outside front,

l2 thumb Hands On: Western Digital Livewire Powerline Adapter Kit

rear,

l3 thumb Hands On: Western Digital Livewire Powerline Adapter Kit

and side.

l4 thumb Hands On: Western Digital Livewire Powerline Adapter Kit

We have the layered inside contents.

l5 thumb Hands On: Western Digital Livewire Powerline Adapter Kit

Digging down deeper, we have the laid-out documentation and hardware contents.

l6 thumb Hands On: Western Digital Livewire Powerline Adapter Kit

The kit contains

  • Two 4-port HomePlug AV adapters
  • Two Ethernet cables
  • Two power cables
  • Quick Install Guide
  • CD with WD Livewire utility software
  • Warranty and support guide

Finally, we have a closer shot of the matched sender/receivers, both of which includes a 4-port switch.  I really like and need the integrated switch feature, particularly on the receiver side as my media area includes a media player and an Internet enabled BD player.

l7 thumb Hands On: Western Digital Livewire Powerline Adapter Kit

The connections on each adapter are explained below.

lw33 thumb Hands On: Western Digital Livewire Powerline Adapter Kit 

Please note the reset switch is for use when upgrading the device firmware.

The indicators on each adapter are explained in the following illustration.

lw34 thumb Hands On: Western Digital Livewire Powerline Adapter Kit

That takes care of the package contents and it is on to the

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About Jim Clark

Hello. I’m from the heartland of the U.S. Lots of corn and beans, although Iowa is a lot more than just farmland. It also has a few computer enthusiasts (no, not me!). I’ve been around PCs since I got my 1st PC XT aloooong time ago. WGS is one of the first sites I found centered around WHS. And the best. Every once in awhile, I do get away from the KB and enjoy time with and my wife and our 4 kids. And I do have a day job.
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  • usacomp2k3

    You rated the speeds in "MBits/Sec". That's a mixture of 2 sets of nomenclature. The capital 'B' is universally used to denote bytes while a lower case 'b' is used to denote bits. The proper way to say it would be either mbps or Mbits/sec.

    • Jim_Clark

      I agree that B represents bytes while b represents bits. In this case, I used the same nomenclature as PerformanceTest did (KBits). As long as I spell it out, it should not matter.

  • Vern

    Can I use this powerline technology with multiple connectors, without affecting performance. For instance, can I use four or five powerline adapters to connect gaming boxes, computers, and BluRay players in a single house?

    • Jim_Clark

      One always has the possibility of running out of bandwidth when multiple connections are made in a switch, whether that be a powerline switch or a "normal" switch or router. The only time I have run out of bandwidth on any device in my network is when I am downloading a big file and both my boys are playing Xbox. Both will complain of lagging, but the lagging is caused by my 7Mbit Internet connection, not my internal network.

      I'm not sure if that specifically answers your question, but the simple answer is you should not.

  • Dave_Marchant

    Jim,

    Can you comment on whether the adaptors get hot. I have been using early Zyxel Powerline units and have had some overheating problems, even to the extent of getting too hot to touch and discoloring the casings.

    • Jim_Clark

      As I was doing the review, I kept having to switch out the Netgear and Livewire adapters, quite often after they had been in use for serveral hours to more than a day. I never noticed anything more than mild warmth.

      That is not to say if one had 3-4 devices plugged in and making some heavy demands, that they would not heat up more. I can't see them getting as hot as you describe the Zyxel units, tho.

  • Jim_Clark

    I am pretty sure that I am different legs, but I could be wrong. I will have to try an experiment by putting the adapters in the same room and seeing how that effects the signal.

    I have not seen any discussion about bridging from manufacturers. If this involves work inside the breaker box, then I doubt they would mention this due to liability issues!

  • autodrivel

    Hi Jim,

    Two Questions:
    1) How well does the 4-port switch perform as a switch (doh!)
    Which is to say if 2 PCs are both connected to the same switch, is bandwidth BETWEEN the two PCs, the same as what you would expect from a "standard" 10/100 Mbs switch?
    I assume that the Livewire switch IS a 10/100 Mbs unit – couldn't find mention of that anywhere.

    2) Did you run any tests on cross product connectivity?
    I have the following setup:
    <Main LAN + Internet>
    +
    Billion BiPAC 2073N (PowerLine + 802.3N Access Point)
    +
    Solwise PLA-PIGGY6 (Powerline + 3way switch – http://www.solwise.co.uk/net-powerline-av-piggy6….

    The Billion unit was purchased because it was the only 'N' Wifi powerline that I could find. It sits under my TV and is connected by a small switch to the main LAN (along with the TV, A Dune streamer & A Squeezebox)
    The main consumer of the Wifi is my son's laptop.

    The "PIGGY" unit, sits in the Kid's "Den/Pit" on the first floor & connects their XBox, Wii and my daughter's PC.

    ATM I have two ongoing issues with this setup.
    1) My son's laptop has intermittent throughput issues, which are signal strength related. He mostly connects from his bedroom. If he uses the laptop in the main (TV) room he gets rock solid connection. So I want to resite the Billion into his room.
    2) The Dune streamer (mentioned above) replaces a TViX streamer that I put in the Kids Pit, so they could access all the ripped DVDs. Disappointingly, however, playback is very choppy when connected via the PIGGY unit.

    I'm thinking that the WD LIvewire kit could be the answer.
    One downstairs under the TV, replacing the Billion unit & the small switch I mentioned.
    One upstairs replacing the PIGGY unit.

    Any info greatfully received.

    (BTW – for all you XBox fans – yes I know it can stream video – but it can't stream DVD (VOB) rips without a lot of faffing about. Like Jim, I'm a big fan of ripping DVD's to the Server, unchanged and playing back with something that understands the VOB structure)

    • Jim_Clark

      Whoa! I am still digesting. First, the Livewire is a 200Mb/sec device. For some reason, I missed that when outlining the specs. I will have to update that bit. Your NIC will see it as 100 Mb connection.

      Regarding bandwidth, see my reply 3 comments up. If you are doing large file transfers across the adapters, you *might* have a problem. For Internet use, I can't see saturation occurring. But to be specific to your question, I did not hook up multiple devices in a effort to saturate the PL connection. If you are simply transferring stuff across a single adapter (like a switch), it will behave as one. I just transferred a flle directly across the switch @ 11MB/sec = 88Mb/sec.

      I'm not sure if this answered all your questions. If not, give me a shout! :)

      • autodrivel

        Hi Jim,
        Thanks for the update.
        I think you've answered my first question.
        The configuration that I was thinking of was one of the units downstairs with the switch connected to; 1) The rest of my LAN, 2) The TV, 3 The Dune Streamer.
        Ignoring the other unit (upstairs), what I was interested in was streaming performance of the Dune, which would go out through connection 1 and hit my WHS. In that scenario the powerline performance is irrelevant – I'm interested in the throughput between Port 1 and 3 of the switch in this example – which your stated test above shows as a decent 100 Mbs switch. So it looks like I'll be able to replace 2 devices (my Billion Powerline and a netgear switch) with 1.

        As regards compatibility of the Livewire with the Billion AP, I'll take a punt on that and anticipate that it will be ok. If you do get chance to run any cross-product tests though I'd be interested in the results.

        • Jim_Clark

          I've run a mix of powerline adapters from different companies. As long as they adhere to the HomePlug AV spec, you should be fine.

          • autodrivel

            Hi Jim,
            Quick update.
            I took delivery of a LiveWire kit and it's now installed as I described earlier:

            WHS—-Router—-LiveWire1 ***** LiveWire2—XBox / PC / TViX Streamer
            ***** Billion AP -+-+- HP Laptop

            —- EtherNet **** PowerLine -+-+- Wireless

            And everything works fine xD
            I can play DVD Rips on the TViX Streamer without issue
            The Internet connection on the HP Laptop is solid
            I can play DVD & BluRay Rips on the Dune Streamer (attached to LiveWire1)

            Smiley, happy people all round!

            There are some bandwidth limits.
            For example I can play a DVD Rip on both the TViX & the Dune Streamers simultaneously without problems.
            If I play a BluRay rip on the Dune, it kills DVD playback on the TViX.
            Realistically though it's not a problem, since we mostly only watch BluRays on the main TV (and generally the whole family wants to watch).

            Installation of the LiveWires was straightforward – per your write-up. The only stumble was getting the Billion AP to connect. That was resolved when I realised that I first needed to release the Billion from its existing Powerline network.
            To explain: The Livewires were bought to replace rather than add-to an existing PowerLine network. When I set them up, the existing Powerline network was switched off, so the Livewires found each other and created a (new) network. When I first switched on the Billion, I expected it to join the new network, but it was still looking for the old network, until I told it to forget about that and look for another network. At which point it joined the Livewire network.

          • Jim_Clark

            It is always nice to hear a success story! :)

  • OwlSaver

    Good review of an interesting product. At the strart, you left out MOCA – Ethernet over COAX. Several vendors offer products that support MOCA. For some users, this may be the best bet.

    • Jim_Clark

      MoCA, for whatever reason is not widely available yet in the consumer arena, hence I did not mention (I probably should have…) I actually tried a Netgear kit, however my cable lines are so screwy, it would not work (not Netgear's fault). I would really have loved to see it work, tho… :(

  • OwlSaver

    In US homes, the power comes in on two legs that are not connected. So, if the devices are plugged into separate legs, the data transfer has to go back to the transformer on the street to get from one leg to the other. I have experienced this with X-10 and Insteon. There are bridges that can connect the two legs. Does Netgear talk about this issue and offer any solutions?

  • Holt

    OwlSaver is correct about the two 120v feeds that come into your beaker box. A well balanced breaker box will have half of the commonly used circuits on one leg and half on the other. They share a common neutral but the "hot" sides don't connect until the winding in the step-down transformer at the street. Phone and cable all share the same connection at the service box. This is one of the problems holding this technology back to these lower speeds. If you turn of a circuit and find two plugs that go with that circuit, the speed is bound to be more consistent. Otherwise, you have to look at the breakers to see which circuits share the same leg.

  • john_melon

    Thanks for a great review. Is it possible to connect say four of theise?

  • Tom

    I find the Livewire units unreliable. I spent the weekend setting up these units as a powerline bridge between my home office and my entertainment room. The Livewire utility shows a strong connection between the two Livewire units, but I still drop IP connectivity between my computer in my office and the DSL/Router in my TV room. I think the problem is with the built in switch in the Livewire units. The problem is spotty, I can get the IP connection working for a while, then it will drop for no apparent reason. The utility shows that the powerline connection is still good between the two Livewire units, but my computer can't find the router. A ping to the router fails and "ipconfig /renew" fails.

    I used to have a Linksys powerline bridge, but one of the units failed after a storm over the holidays. The Linksys units worked fairly reliably for over a year using the same power outlets on both ends.