Need advice on network connectivity for premiere upgrade

[atomarchio]

I am going to my upgrade my Series 3 to a Premiere in our master bedroom.

We don't have network wired to the room so I have been using the old wireless adapter which gets a signal strength of 30 to 45% on average.

To get the best performance, do you think I should purchase Tivo's wireless N adapter?

I guess you can buy these things which plug into outlets for network connectivity?

Or should I go through the trouble of having a professional installer run a physical network line which likely won't be easy?

Please let me know. Thanks.

[awsnyde]

Wireless N might help a little, but I'm skeptical that it would help with the "elephant-in-the-room" issue, which is the low signal strength.

You could try one of the devices that use powerline networking--using the wiring in your house. One device plugs into a wall outlet near your router, with Ethernet cable connecting it to the router. Another one (or more than one for multiple locations!) plugs into an outlet near the device you want to connect to your network--in this case, your TiVo--which it connects to with Ethernet cable.

This won't be as fast as a complete Ethernet solution, but it's much faster than anything wireless. My main TiVo unit is near enough to the router for a direct wired connection, but the bedroom one isn't. There are other brands too, but I've had good luck with ZyXel's solution. I bought their Powerline Ethernet Adapter Starter Kit (PLA-401), which includes two units and two Ethernet cables. I've also since added an additional single unit to use where my wife usually sits with her laptop.

[atomarchio]

Does the new wireless tivo n adapter improve my signal strength?

[awsnyde]

As my answer indicated, my guess would be no, though I haven't done real-world testing to back that up. You might get a very small speed boost from using the newer wireless standard, but probably not enough to even do wireless transfers with that low a signal strength, much less actual streaming.

[unitron]

Originally Posted by atomarchio

I am going to my upgrade my Series 3 to a Premiere in our master bedroom.

We don't have network wired to the room so I have been using the old wireless adapter which gets a signal strength of 30 to 45% on average.

To get the best performance, do you think I should purchase Tivo's wireless N adapter?

I guess you can buy these things which plug into outlets for network connectivity?

Or should I go through the trouble of having a professional installer run a physical network line which likely won't be easy?

Please let me know. Thanks.

Do you have cable TV cable already run to that room?

If so, go learn about MoCA

http://www.mocalliance.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multime..._Coax_Alliance

and MoCA adapters.

I think the new Elite already has it built in, not sure about the orginal S4s.

[Derek Nickel]

Originally Posted by atomarchio

To get the best performance, do you think I should purchase Tivo's wireless N adapter?

Does your Wireless Access Point (WAP) support wireless N? If not, then getting Tivo's wireless N adapter woin't help.

Originally Posted by atomarchio

I guess you can buy these things which plug into outlets for network connectivity?

I've wired my house for phyical ethernet, however, I've used the Powerline AV apdaters from Netgear in relatives homes with good results.

[Quake97]

802.11n has better range, assuming your router supports 802.11n. I highly recommend MoCA if you can justify the cost. I'm a FiOS customer, so half of the solution is already in place. I have one on my TiVo in the family room and it works great. I don't have to worry about any wireless problems.

Joe

[atomarchio]

Yes. My router does support Wireless N. So it would be worth buying that instead of the older wireless one I have now?

[aaronwt]

Try a wireless bridge instead of the TiVo wireless N adapter. It will cost the same or less plus allow other devices to connect to the network. Then you can also get one that might work better with a low signal strength. The ones I use on my network have no problem getting decent speeds with a signal strength in the 30's and 40's. With the weaker signal my bridges aren't as fast or faster as the wired TiVo connection(like when you have a strong signal), but they will still get throughput speeds of around 45Mb/s or 50Mb/s. At least with the testing I did in the past. But I also specifically set up four APs so I wouldn't have to worry about weak signals or over saturated Access Points.

[CharlesH]

Originally Posted by aaronwt

Try a wireless bridge instead of the TiVo wireless N adapter.

Actually, the TiVo wireless N "adapter" IS a bridge. Note that it plugs into the Ethernet port, not the USB port, and has its own power adapter.

[unitron]

Originally Posted by CharlesH

Actually, the TiVo wireless N "adapter" IS a bridge. Note that it plugs into the Ethernet port, not the USB port, and has its own power adapter.

But it doesn't accomodate any other devices via RJ-45 jacks the way a wireless router configured as a bridge would, does it?

[unitron]

Originally Posted by atomarchio

Yes. My router does support Wireless N. So it would be worth buying that instead of the older wireless one I have now?

Do you have tv cable run to that room or not?

[atomarchio]

Originally Posted by unitron

Do you have tv cable run to that room or not?

Yes but I am already using the Coax cable into the Tivo. What are you suggesting?

[unitron]

Originally Posted by atomarchio

Yes but I am already using the Coax cable into the Tivo. What are you suggesting?

That with MoCA you already have the network cabling you need. It uses the same co-ax as the cable TV signal for Ethernet.

[gt5059b]

http://www.netgear.com/home/products...e/default.aspx

Forget wireless and go powerline networking. It's just as good as a dedicated hardwire line, but without the fuss. Someone mentioned coax networking/MoCA; it probably works just as well, but I've never tried it. Also, you're limited to where you have a coax outlet and the hardware is more expensive than powerline equipment.

It's night and day, especially when dealing with multi-story homes were the signal is weak and inconsistent. In the past, I used WiFi and tried all flavors of G and N and could not maintain a constant and consistent throughput for HD video streaming.

Once I hooked up a powerline network; I was shocked at how well streaming HD video could work.

You can even have a hybrid model; have powerline adapters to each floor/area and then hook up a wireless access point to it and give you solid WiFi reception in that space. Though I still use hardline for critical things (PC, Tivo, etc).

[atomarchio]

Originally Posted by gt5059b

http://www.netgear.com/home/products...e/default.aspx

Forget wireless and go powerline networking. It's just as good as a dedicated hardwire line, but without the fuss. Someone mentioned coax networking/MoCA; it probably works just as well, but I've never tried it. Also, you're limited to where you have a coax outlet and the hardware is more expensive than powerline equipment.

It's night and day, especially when dealing with multi-story homes were the signal is weak and inconsistent. In the past, I used WiFi and tried all flavors of G and N and could not maintain a constant and consistent throughput for HD video streaming.

Once I hooked up a powerline network; I was shocked at how well streaming HD video could work.

You can even have a hybrid model; have powerline adapters to each floor/area and then hook up a wireless access point to it and give you solid WiFi reception in that space. Though I still use hardline for critical things (PC, Tivo, etc).

Does the powerline networking use my existing router? How would performance compare to wireless N?

[atomarchio]

While this powerline networking looks interesting, I would still need to have more outlets. I only have a single bank of 2 outlets to do everything. DVR, Tuning Adapter, etc.

[Quake97]

I don't recommend power line. It's slow and unreliable, in my experience in two different houses. One new and one 22 years old.

Joe

[atomarchio]

Originally Posted by Quake97

I don't recommend power line. It's slow and unreliable, in my experience in two different houses. One new and one 22 years old.

Joe

If I do the powerline, I would then have to get more outlets which is electrician and more fuss.

If I do the MOCA, I would have to add another COAX outlet in the wall, right?

Neither solution seems to be plug and play unless I am missing something.

[aaronwt]

Originally Posted by CharlesH

Actually, the TiVo wireless N "adapter" IS a bridge. Note that it plugs into the Ethernet port, not the USB port, and has its own power adapter.

Yes it is a bridge but it supposedly only works with the TiVo. While with a regular bridge you can connect multiple components to it.

Also with powerlines networking it can't be connected to a ups. So if the power goes out so does the network connection. I was going to try powerlines adapters a couple of years ago at my GFs house for her S3 boxes. But since the network would go down since they don't work through a ups I went with the TiVo wireless G adapters, so the network connection will stay up if there is a power outage.

[atomarchio]

Originally Posted by aaronwt

Yes it is a bridge but it supposedly only works with the TiVo. While with a regular bridge you can connect multiple components to it.

Also with powerlines networking it can't be connected to a ups. So if the power goes out so does the network connection. I was going to try powerlines adapters a couple of years ago at my GFs house for her S3 boxes. But since the network would go down since they don't work through a ups I went with the TiVo wireless G adapters, so the network connection will stay up if there is a power outage.

Does any Wireless N router support the Tivo bridge? I have a DIR-655 from DLINK. Will that work?

[aaronwt]

Originally Posted by atomarchio

Does any Wireless N router support the Tivo bridge? I have a DIR-655 from DLINK. Will that work?

The TiVo wirless N adpater should work with basically any wireless router or Access point.

The only issue I see is the price. For the same price or less you can get a wireless bridge that has multiple ports that will also allow you to connect other wired devices to it as well as the TiVo.

[unitron]

Originally Posted by atomarchio

If I do the powerline, I would then have to get more outlets which is electrician and more fuss.

If I do the MOCA, I would have to add another COAX outlet in the wall, right?

Neither solution seems to be plug and play unless I am missing something.

No personal experience with MoCA, but I suspect it's probably pass-through. If not, a 2-port splitter should suffice. No need to put any more holes in the wall.

[gt5059b]

Originally Posted by atomarchio

Does the powerline networking use my existing router? How would performance compare to wireless N?

Yes, you can use your existing router. I think there might be some models that can act as routers, but most models I've looked at are not. The powerline adapter just provides an ethernet port wherever you have an electrical outlet. The powerline adapters basically form their own network amongst themselves and act as a bridge to your normal network.

There are powerline adapters that support up to 500Mbps now. I think Wireless N can support up to 600Mbps and that's only if you have an access point and wireless adapter that support 4 stream MIMO.

I live in a 3 story townhome and could never stream HD consistently w/o interruption before switching to powerline networking.

[gt5059b]

Originally Posted by Quake97

I don't recommend power line. It's slow and unreliable, in my experience in two different houses. One new and one 22 years old.

Joe

I have the exact opposite experience. I have had fantastic results with powerline networking in a new townhome and a 30 year old single family.

My advice to anyone interested is just pick up a starter kit (comes with 2 adapters) from Best Buy and test it in your house. If it doesn't work then just return it; no harm no foul, that's what I did.

Powerline networking is dependent on the electrical wiring of the house; depending on the building standards where you live can affect your performance.

FYI, there are power companies that are offering internet service themselves using this same technology..

[gt5059b]

Originally Posted by atomarchio

While this powerline networking looks interesting, I would still need to have more outlets. I only have a single bank of 2 outlets to do everything. DVR, Tuning Adapter, etc.

No problem. Ever heard of a hub or switch? Just plug that in the powerline adapter and now you have as many ports as you need. Hell you can use a spare router if you want, just turn off the DHCP and basically it becomes a fancy switch.

My main router and cable modem is on the top floor of my town house; there is a powerline adapter connected to that router. In the basement I have my TV, tivo, PC, Xbox, PS3, etc. I have one powerline adapter in the basement. I have it hooked to it a wireless router, with DHCP off. So now it acts as a 4 port switch with a built in wireless AP. Everything in my basement is either hardline to it or connects wireless to the basement AP and not to the AP up stairs.

If I need more hardwire ports I can just plug in a switch to the router or I can even add another powerline adapter to another outlet in the basement, hook a switch to it, etc.

[Leon WIlkinson]

Originally Posted by atomarchio

If I do the powerline, I would then have to get more outlets which is electrician and more fuss.

If I do the MOCA, I would have to add another COAX outlet in the wall, right?

Neither solution seems to be plug and play unless I am missing something.

I have MoCA like many here do, it is just to good to be true.

Basically you have a box with 2 coax connection and a Ethernet

Good thread on MoCA

[fyodor]

Originally Posted by unitron

No personal experience with MoCA, but I suspect it's probably pass-through. If not, a 2-port splitter should suffice. No need to put any more holes in the wall.

Most MoCA kits have pass-through. The wall cable goes into the MoCA adapter and a pass-through runs from the adapter to your Tivo.

[atomarchio]

I purchase the 2nd Premiere with Wireless N. I can stream but it pauses every few seconds.

On Tivo's website, I could purchase a MOCA bridge for $79. From what I was reading, I would just buy 2 of these (one by router and one at wall near Tivo) and be all set.

Is there any other items I would need to purchase? I would need a splitter still, right?

Please let me know. Thanks.

[RoanokeHokie]

Originally Posted by atomarchio

I purchase the 2nd Premiere with Wireless N. I can stream but it pauses every few seconds.

On Tivo's website, I could purchase a MOCA bridge for $79. From what I was reading, I would just buy 2 of these (one by router and one at wall near Tivo) and be all set.

Is there any other items I would need to purchase? I would need a splitter still, right?

Please let me know. Thanks.

All of the MoCA Bridges I've seen some with two Coax jacks, enabling pass-through of the cable signal to other devices. This is similar to the Motorola Tuning Adapters, so no splitters are necessary.

If you go the MoCA route, you'll also want to add a MoCA Point of Entry (PoE) Filter where the cable drop first enters your home. Otherwise, it's possible that other subscribers on your node could also pick up your MoCA signal & gain access to your network.