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(More customer reviews)My file server PC and my home theater PC are at nearly opposite ends of my home - separated by a floor and 5 interior walls. Over the past 3 years I've tried multiple options to get fast enough speeds to stream 1080p HD video content between the two. I've been limping along by using a Buffalo 802.11g Ethernet Converter combined with a high-gain antenna (the BNC connection made it trivial to swap out the factory provided antenna) connecting to a very solid router - the Linksys WRT600N 802.11n dual-band router. This gave me about 10-12Mbps sustained data transfer speeds. Just a tad bit slower than my internet connection speed. Sigh.
I was about to give up and pay through the nose to get Cat 6 Ethernet installed, when I came across the current generation of 802.11n 5 Ghz media bridges. I considered getting the D-Link DAP-1522 802.11n Wireless Bridge but saw the so-so reviews and noted that it had no external antenna. Given the distance involved for my network, I doubted that the DAP-1522 would do me much good without a high gain antenna. I then saw the DAP-1562 Media Streaming Kit which claimed "4x4 spatial streaming WLAN and data rates up to 600 Mbps". So what the heck, I took a $300 gamble.
It worked out. Without fiddling with any specific positioning or orientation I'm getting 112 Mbps sustained between my PCs. Certainly lower than the peak speed promised, but understandable given the distance in this case.
This kit comes with two units (hence the cost). One acts as the access point and the other as the bridge. Setup was quite easy - though I was forced to use the enclosed CD to make SSID changes. Out of the box they are configured to work only in the 5 Ghz 802.11n range, which is exactly what I wanted (least interference and max speed).
Note that there is only a single Ethernet port on each box. The AP plugs into an existing router or switch, so that's fine. However I would have appreciated another port or two on the bridge unit. I'm assuming I can add a switch to get a PS3/XBox/Wii and the HTPC all wired up at the same time, but I haven't yet tested that.
There are 4 antennae on each unit. They rotate individually, but can not be removed / replaced with high gain versions.
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