Cisco Catalyst 2960-24TT-L For Streaming Videos Over XBOX360

[EverydayDiesel]

I have 4 xbox 360s in the house that stream up to 15MB (blue ray encoded) video each.

I went from a netgear 8 port (the old metal one) which i though was a great switch but unfortunately I learned that streaming video requires a fairly large buffer to stream constantly/smoothly. That one had a 192kb buffer.

I went to a netgear 16 port gig switch with a 2M buffer and noticed a huge improvement but recently I have been seeing 'network error' messages randomly.

My question is, the Cisco Catalyst 2960-24TT-L seems cheap enough that it has 2 uplinks (i would use one to the media center pc that has a intel nic card)
and then all the other ports (xboxes) would use the switches 100mb connections. Do you think the cisco switch will keep up? Do you see any problems using this switch?

My goal is to have the most reliable connection possible. Please keep in mind that the xbox360 only connects over 100mb so i dont see the need for 1000mb unless I am missing something.

[lithium630]

I have the HP Procurve 1410 and it's fantastic. I very rarely have a network issue.

[barnabas1969]

I wouldn't call a switch "fantastic" if I "rarely have a network issue". You should never have a network issue.

But, to answer your question specifically about the buffer size in a switch, I have used switches with a 1Mb (that's mega bit, not mega Byte) buffer for a couple of years, and I could run four extenders simultaneously without any issue whatsoever.

I'm currently using this switch without any issue:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6833181152

It has 256KB (that's Kilo Bytes) buffer, which equals 2Mb (Mega bits). Note the difference between a capital B (Bytes) and a lower-case b (bits) in the abbreviation. 256KB = 256 * 8 bits-per-byte = 2048 bits = 2Mb

[EverydayDiesel]

so would that cisco out perform the netgear and get rid of the random and pretty rare network issue.

(I have had 2 errors in the past 3 days)

My main concern is that the main ports are only 100mb but should be ok since the xbox is only 100mb. The wmc will have a gig card in it and will be plugged into the 'uplink' on that router

[lithium630]

I wouldn't call a switch "fantastic" if I "rarely have a network issue". You should never have a network issue.

Barnabas if you did not go to law school, you definitely missed your calling. The Procurve is a fantastic switch. I'm guessing anyone who owns it will agree. I tried several other cheaper switches before finally getting this one.

[barnabas1969]

I wouldn't call a switch "fantastic" if I "rarely have a network issue". You should never have a network issue.

The Procurve is a fantastic switch. I'm guessing anyone who owns it will agree. I tried several other cheaper switches before finally getting this one.

That may be true, but it doesn't preclude the possibility that your switch is defective.

[lithium630]

I wouldn't call a switch "fantastic" if I "rarely have a network issue". You should never have a network issue.

The Procurve is a fantastic switch. I'm guessing anyone who owns it will agree. I tried several other cheaper switches before finally getting this one.

That may be true, but it doesn't preclude the possibility that your switch is defective.

There are other reasons why the network error can occur. As I said any I VERY rarely get it.

[Crash2009]

Cisco 2960 is a nice step up for you. I probabaly got some overkill going on here, but they told me to go all Gig, so I did. The Dell PowerConnect 5324 has been good to me (6 mb buffer) (E-bay $175). 1 HTPC, 12 worksatations, 2 Echos, 2 Xboxes, 1 WAP with a bunch of phones, laptops, and tablets connected. No complaints. Gig router, of course.