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[Article] Article: Cutting the Useless Cable (Part VII): M.O.C.A.
- Thread starter fly
- Start date
This is part s in the home theatre article series called Cutting the Useless Cable. This article will cover MOCA.
See Part I here.
See Part II here.
See Part III here.
See Part IV here.
See Part V here.
See Part VI here.
So you now have a home server setup. And you have a little HTPC connected to your television. How do you get the bits from one to the other. This step took me quite a while and quite a bit of money to figure out.
Wireless seems like its a perfect solution, right? For most hi-def video content (720p), you'll need at least 802.11n. In theory, it will give you ~100mbit connection, which would be plenty fast enough. If you download really large 1080p content, you'll require a wire. Anyway... 802.11n should be fast enough. So I went out and bought a fancy 802.11n router. It did what's called dual band, meaning it could communicate at that speed on two different frequency bands. I think this wireless router cost me like $200. Thinking I'd be good to go, I fired it up. Buffering, buffering, buffering. Terrible speeds. So I started testing various wireless NICs. And then testing the 5Ghz band in addition to the 2.4Ghz band. Needless to say, nothing helped me. I was frustrated. Then I foundGod. edit: Actually MOCA
In my case, the router is at one end of my house and the HTPC is at the other. I'd guess its probably 70 feet or so and really only goes through one wall. It should have worked perfectly. But it didn't. I know that others have had better luck, but it was beyond worthless to me. If you already have an 802.11n router, it's worth trying. If you don't, I'm about to tell you about a cheaper, faster, and more stable solution.
Enter MOCA. Or the less sexy, Multimedia Over Coax Alliance. The idea behind MOCA is that the majority of rooms that you might want to run networking to in your home probably already has a cable outlet. That cable outlet can turn into a dual purpose outlet. Not only will it run your cable TV, but can also carry network data!
The one 'problem' with MOCA is that it can only be used with cable TV and not satellite. The reason is this. There is limited bandwidth on that cable. This is going to get nerdy. The frequencies available are from about 5 mhz to 2100 mhz. This is broken down into two segments. Your regular cable TV runs in the first segment which is about 5-1000mhz. Satellite TV runs in the second segment which is about 1100-2100mhz. MOCA also runs in the 1100-2100mhz segment, so the two can't be done together. Other than that, you're ready!
Now its time to buy a MOCA device. Amazon sells some, but they are expensive ($80+). Screw that. Here's the trick. Verizon FIOS uses MOCA, which means you can use old FIOS gear. These boxes can be had for as little as $20 shipped on Ebay. You'll need two. This means that if you're patient ($20 auctions may take you a little time to win), you can have MOCA for half price. As a bonus, each FIOS router has four ports (and if you wanna get fancy, wireless). The ones for sale on Amazon only have 1!
On Ebay, what you need to look for is the Actiontec MI424WR. Here's an insider's secret on these auctions though. Apparently, the I in MI424WR looks like the number one. So some people list it that way. The misspelled auctions generally go for a lot less. So first look for Actiontec M1424WR. If you can't find any, then use the proper spelling of the model number. Note: Make sure you know what revision you're buying. The Rev. As seem to have a less than desirable lifespan.
Once you have your fancy new MOCA routers, follow the steps found here to set them up.
That's it! Now, you can get fancier from there, but I'll leave that to you. Anything from adding encryption, to additional wireless access points all over your house (where ever you have one of these Actiontec boxes). Most importantly, you've now got a fast connection from your HTPC back to your home server. For real world throughput, I generally see 80-90mbits/sec. Not bad for $40 worth of gear.
See Part I here.
See Part II here.
See Part III here.
See Part IV here.
See Part V here.
See Part VI here.
So you now have a home server setup. And you have a little HTPC connected to your television. How do you get the bits from one to the other. This step took me quite a while and quite a bit of money to figure out.
Wireless seems like its a perfect solution, right? For most hi-def video content (720p), you'll need at least 802.11n. In theory, it will give you ~100mbit connection, which would be plenty fast enough. If you download really large 1080p content, you'll require a wire. Anyway... 802.11n should be fast enough. So I went out and bought a fancy 802.11n router. It did what's called dual band, meaning it could communicate at that speed on two different frequency bands. I think this wireless router cost me like $200. Thinking I'd be good to go, I fired it up. Buffering, buffering, buffering. Terrible speeds. So I started testing various wireless NICs. And then testing the 5Ghz band in addition to the 2.4Ghz band. Needless to say, nothing helped me. I was frustrated. Then I found
In my case, the router is at one end of my house and the HTPC is at the other. I'd guess its probably 70 feet or so and really only goes through one wall. It should have worked perfectly. But it didn't. I know that others have had better luck, but it was beyond worthless to me. If you already have an 802.11n router, it's worth trying. If you don't, I'm about to tell you about a cheaper, faster, and more stable solution.
Enter MOCA. Or the less sexy, Multimedia Over Coax Alliance. The idea behind MOCA is that the majority of rooms that you might want to run networking to in your home probably already has a cable outlet. That cable outlet can turn into a dual purpose outlet. Not only will it run your cable TV, but can also carry network data!
The one 'problem' with MOCA is that it can only be used with cable TV and not satellite. The reason is this. There is limited bandwidth on that cable. This is going to get nerdy. The frequencies available are from about 5 mhz to 2100 mhz. This is broken down into two segments. Your regular cable TV runs in the first segment which is about 5-1000mhz. Satellite TV runs in the second segment which is about 1100-2100mhz. MOCA also runs in the 1100-2100mhz segment, so the two can't be done together. Other than that, you're ready!
Now its time to buy a MOCA device. Amazon sells some, but they are expensive ($80+). Screw that. Here's the trick. Verizon FIOS uses MOCA, which means you can use old FIOS gear. These boxes can be had for as little as $20 shipped on Ebay. You'll need two. This means that if you're patient ($20 auctions may take you a little time to win), you can have MOCA for half price. As a bonus, each FIOS router has four ports (and if you wanna get fancy, wireless). The ones for sale on Amazon only have 1!
On Ebay, what you need to look for is the Actiontec MI424WR. Here's an insider's secret on these auctions though. Apparently, the I in MI424WR looks like the number one. So some people list it that way. The misspelled auctions generally go for a lot less. So first look for Actiontec M1424WR. If you can't find any, then use the proper spelling of the model number. Note: Make sure you know what revision you're buying. The Rev. As seem to have a less than desirable lifespan.
Once you have your fancy new MOCA routers, follow the steps found here to set them up.
That's it! Now, you can get fancier from there, but I'll leave that to you. Anything from adding encryption, to additional wireless access points all over your house (where ever you have one of these Actiontec boxes). Most importantly, you've now got a fast connection from your HTPC back to your home server. For real world throughput, I generally see 80-90mbits/sec. Not bad for $40 worth of gear.