As I wrote in a previous post, I have recently found myself in need of a fast network connection from the kitchen to the XBOX 360. The USB based wireless network card for the XBOX 360 has exceptionally poor reception (especially if the XBOX is placed in a shelf or elsewhere out of sight), so wireless connections are out of the question for me. The idea of laying out CAT-5 cable throughout my house doesn’t really appeal to me either, as it is both unsightly and rather inflexible to work with. Also, the idea of even more cables in the living room is a difficult sell in a marriage.

So, what is a guy to do? I recently came across a review of some homeplug products, and even though review concluded that performance varies widely, depending on the exact topology of the electrical grid, I decided to give it a shot (Buying stuff online in Denmark means that it can be returned within 2 weeks for any reason, if the buyer decides to do so). So, I recently went ahead and ordered a couple of PLE200 units from shg.dk. I’ve now had a chance to hook them up, and see for myself what they can do. So far I am getting mixed results. Having hooked both units up through outlet boxes (ie. not directly into wall sockets), I get a sustained transfer rate of 1 MB/s (~8 Mb/s).  While that is sufficient for streaming most current DivX encoded movies, it is not nearly good enough for HD streaming (which requires up to 20 Mb/s). However, moving the PLE200 unit at the XBOX end to a wall socket, increased the speed to roughly 1.5 MB/s or 12 Mb/s. I suspect plugging the router end PLE200 directly into the wall may yield a similar speed increase, although I haven’t had a chance to test that.

All in all, the PLE200 falls far short of its theoretical speed limit of 200 Mb/s, but it does provide sufficient bandwidth for streaming non-HD encoded movies, which is what I need right now. And opposed to the wireless network, the PLE200 units provide a reliable connection. So, for the time being I am satisfied.

Now, if only XBLM would get here …