Devolo dLAN AVpass

Devolo dLAN AVpass Starter Kit review

The arrival of iPlayer on Freesat HD is a milestone in the emergence of hybrid TV, but it's also highlighted the fact that very few homes are designed with broadband connections anywhere near the TV. Technisat sells a Wi-Fi adapter for its Freesat box, but most Freesat HD boxes only provide an Ethernet socket, and a wired connection is still recommended for reliable streaming. Short of tacking Ethernet cable around your house, the best solution is Powerline networking, which piggybacks a broadband network over your domestic mains power cables. Ethernet cables plug into an adapter at the socket, and the state of the art can exceed 100Mbit/s around a typical home. Streaming iPlayer Freesat has certified Devolo's dLAN 200 AVpass kit for streaming iPlayer and other forthcoming services. It's a starter kit of two HomePlug AV adapters, which should work with anything else carrying the HomePlug AV badge, which gives a theoretical top speed of 200Mbit/s. The AVpass adapters include a pass-through three-pin mains socket so you don't lose a socket to your network; connect this direct to the wall and add any multi-socket strip adapters on top. It's rated to 16A, and ours coped with the demands of a sizeable AV stack.