Anyone Good at Troubleshooting MoCA Networks?

We've recently switched to cable TiVos and have two TiVo DVRs and four Minis on a MoCA network. When playing DVR'd content from a "remote" DVR, we occasionally get "Your network is too slow to play this content (V69)" errors, and I'm trying to figure out how to troubleshoot the issue.

What I can't seem to find is conclusive information on how the DVR'd content is transported over the MoCA network. My assumption is that--since a MoCA network isn't required--the DVR is transcoding the video for transport over Ethernet. I have MoCA TX/RX rates that seem to be fine (PHY > 200 at every node), so I'm stumped as to why the network is being reported as too slow. To make matters worse, I'm fairly MoCA-stupid.

1. Where should I be looking?
2. I've read about POE filters and their ability to help (potentially) improve performance. Any chance that this could help?
3. Bonus Question: Would it be preferable to run the TiVo network on Cat6 with a separate subnet?

Thanks in advance,
Dave

I can say that wi-fi can transfer recordings between TiVos but is no good for streaming; I'm currently looking to hire a young & agile person to help me run Cat 6 to 2 tv locations for better TiVo exchange and better Netflix service.
I have also read that an amplified splitter on the coax will disable MoCA.
Ethernet from TiVo router is likely the best choice, if possible.



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I can say that wi-fi can transfer recordings between TiVos but is no good for streaming; I'm currently looking to hire a young & agile person to help me run Cat 6 to 2 tv locations for better TiVo exchange and better Netflix service.
I have also read that an amplified splitter on the coax will disable MoCA.
Ethernet from TiVo router is likely the best choice, if possible.



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Thanks. No WiFi here--all the TiVos are on MoCA. I read the same thing about an amplified splitter, but it sounds like that depends on where in the system it's placed (no splitter here either). I may bite the bullet and go the Cat6 route. I couldn't find conclusive proof that Cat6 was better (faster) than RG6, but it does have the benefit of eliminating a point of failure.

I believe the max speed of a MOCA network is 100Mb. And it's all one network segment, so multiple streams are sharing it. So if you can switch to an ethernet network with a Gigabit switch, you'll have less contention on the network even if the individual devices are only 100Mb.

I've always been of the opinion that MOCA is a decent alternative if all you have to work with is RG-6. But if you have UTP cables, ethernet is better.

I believe the max speed of a MOCA network is 100Mb.

That's really helpful and pretty much settles it. I'll go gigabit.

Thanks for the info.

[jay (support)]

No helpful recommendations here. Anyone have direct comparison experience with TW's STBs vs TiVo? How about TiVo on MoCA?

<rant>I think Time Warner's DVRs (Arris), the remote STB (Cisco), and the communication between the two suck. Not sure what/were the issue is (hardware, software, both) but since switching to TW in our new house I'm really missing the DirecTV days (hard to believe since I wasn't fond of their DVR after switching from TiVo). I do suspect that part of the issue is MoCA. For instance, fast-forwarding a show on the Cisco STB is very rarely a good experience - it'll jump ahead of where you stop or it will freeze when trying to start FF. The Cisco STB is terribly unreliable - have to constantly reboot it (sometimes the FF issue above can't be resolved until it's rebooted for instance).

I've got Cat6 to the DVR, I just need to figure out how to get it to the STB. I do hope that this will solve the problem with the STB. Of course, I also have issues with the DVR. It periodically freezes for no reason and requires me to pull the plug on it. The UI is, IMO, pretty crappy, though that's probably more of a personal preference. In general, my experience with TW video has been worse than with DirecTV. I may try switching to TiVo even though it'll be more expensive - I was a TiVo user from 1999 on DirecTV (until DTV kinda dropped them in ~2006) and I loved it. Maybe it's time to shell out more $ to get back to that experience.</rant>

No recommendations here for TW vs. TiVo. We went from DirecTV STB to Mediacom TiVo. For us, there are benefits and drawbacks for both. The main reason we switched is because we were originally pumping one DVR throughout the whole house via an RF modulator over coax. This was low def (except for the TV at the DVR) and was a poor experience quality-wise. Then I tried an HDMI over Ethernet solution that I was never really satisfied with. SO we decided to bite the bullet and put boxes at each location. DirecTV's solution (at least at the time) didn't allow you to pause a program at one location and then pick up where you left off somewhere else. Or at least I couldn't get them to confirm that it would. The TiVo setup let's you do that.

DirecTV had much better customer support than Mediacom (not TiVo's fault). Mediacom is also cheaper (packaged with cable Internet and unlimited VOIP), and they also bumped us up on speed and gave us 1T of data per month. We're saving something like $60 a month over a similar package with DirecTV.

I may try switching to TiVo even though it'll be more expensive - I was a TiVo user from 1999 on DirecTV (until DTV kinda dropped them in ~2006) and I loved it. Maybe it's time to shell out more $ to get back to that experience.

I pay a bit more to have TiVo and think it is far superior to COX's DVR/STB. However, I will warn you on one thing - getting the TiVo setup with the CableCARD and tuning adapter can be a pain. The install, of course, is easy and the setup on the TiVo is relatively painless, but in my experience the technicians, at least at COX, have zero clue whatsoever about these things and calling support is like pulling our your fingernails. Once setup, they work pretty well -- and the newer TiVo's will actually work with the cable provider's OnDemand services as well, at least it does with COX, which was a nice surprise.

I run 2 TiVo's in the house and generally only stream one show at a time, but never have any issues -- it is on a Cat6 network backed up with some decent gigabit switches; note that you'll want to check your switch when you get one, Dave, not all gigabit switches are created equal. Get one with decent backplane stats if you will be slinging video and/or cameras around.

I run 2 TiVo's in the house and generally only stream one show at a time, but never have any issues -- it is on a Cat6 network backed up with some decent gigabit switches; note that you'll want to check your switch when you get one, Dave, not all gigabit switches are created equal. Get one with decent backplane stats if you will be slinging video and/or cameras around.

Thanks for the caution Adam. I was looking at the Unifi Switch 8 which looks like more than enough. It would probably only be switching 1 or 2 simultaneous streams at a time and would live on its own subnet--so it wouldn't be competing for anything but Internet.

Thanks for the caution Adam. I was looking at the Unifi Switch 8 which looks like more than enough. It would probably only be switching 1 or 2 simultaneous streams at a time and would live on its own subnet--so it wouldn't be competing for anything but Internet.

That switch doesn't explicitly state the backplane but I'm assuming that is what they are trying to claim with the 16Gbps... so should be more than fine... some of the el cheapo switches that you can get have a slow backplane that will be eaten up just with a few cameras / streams going on (I don't know what TiVo uses for compression between TiVo devices TBH).

Honestly, you don't need it own subnet unless you really want it -- just having a dedicated switch for it is more than enough... with a separate subnet anything you use that scans for TiVo's won't find them if that is of any concern (though of course should be able to talk with an entered IP).

Adam

That switch doesn't explicitly state the backplane but I'm assuming that is what they are trying to claim with the 16Gbps... so should be more than fine... some of the el cheapo switches that you can get have a slow backplane that will be eaten up just with a few cameras / streams going on (I don't know what TiVo uses for compression between TiVo devices TBH).

Honestly, you don't need it own subnet unless you really want it -- just having a dedicated switch for it is more than enough... with a separate subnet anything you use that scans for TiVo's won't find them if that is of any concern (though of course should be able to talk with an entered IP).

Adam

Thanks. What I found online is backplane = ports x port speed x 2, so 8 x 1,000 x 2 = 16Gps, which makes sense. I figured that it should be enough because UBNT claim it is a good choice for cameras. I'll have to think more about whether to bother with the subnet. I understand your point, and it makes me realize that there are other considerations, like Plex.