Ethernet from your TV Outlet: NETGEAR MoCA Coax-Ethernet Adapter Kit Reviewed

[kk22]

Is this kit being discontinued by Netgear? It seems many online stores have them sold out and deactivated (i.e. not to be restocked again).

I'm considering getting a kit to give it a try vs Powerline. My Powerline speeds are very unstable, going from 20Mbps to sometimes 50Mbps on a good day. I don't find that it's related to anything I plug in or turn on in the house... it just varies for some reason. I'm hoping MoCA will give more me consistent results.

I think I've answered my own question here. Checking Netgear's site, it does not list the Moca adapters anymore:
http://www.netgear.com/home/products/powerline-and-coax/

I assume then they're discontinuing the product.

 

[kk22]

Looks like there is a new MCA1001v2 that popped up on Netgear's support pages. Not sure what the difference is aside from exterior...

http://support.netgear.com/app/products/model/a_id/20082

 

[Bob K]

My media streamer (Xtreamer) does not streamer HD video over MoCA very well because of the limited default performance on MoCA with no TCP Window Size specified.

Ken

Ken--Did you ever find a solution. I have 4 MCA1001s in my LAN. I consistently get 84Mbps read speeds when testing with LAN Speed Test (www.totusoft.com). However, as soon as I try to stream higher bitrate videos--overall bitrate of 16.9Mbps with occasional surge to 30Mbps--I get consistent intolerable stutter.

I have removed every component from the topography to test for problems. I've attempted streaming from a Win7 PC, a Win7 Laptop, and a Netgear ReadyNAS Ultra 4. The video(s) stream properly to the blu-ray player in every configuration that does not include the MCA1001s. However, anytime the MCA1001s are between the video source and the blu-ray player (even when connected by only a short piece of RG6), I get stutter.

Using TCP Optimizer (http://www.speedguide.net/downloads.php), I've played around a bit with TCP Window Size, scaling heuristics, ECN, etc. but haven't yet found the magic solution. I definitely think you're on to something, I just don't know where to go next.

 

[facke02]

Ken--Did you ever find a solution. I have 4 MCA1001s in my LAN. I consistently get 84Mbps read speeds when testing with LAN Speed Test (www.totusoft.com). However, as soon as I try to stream higher bitrate videos--overall bitrate of 16.9Mbps with occasional surge to 30Mbps--I get consistent intolerable stutter.

I have removed every component from the topography to test for problems. I've attempted streaming from a Win7 PC, a Win7 Laptop, and a Netgear ReadyNAS Ultra 4. The video(s) stream properly to the blu-ray player in every configuration that does not include the MCA1001s. However, anytime the MCA1001s are between the video source and the blu-ray player (even when connected by only a short piece of RG6), I get stutter.

Using TCP Optimizer (http://www.speedguide.net/downloads.php), I've played around a bit with TCP Window Size, scaling heuristics, ECN, etc. but haven't yet found the magic solution. I definitely think you're on to something, I just don't know where to go next.

Hi Bob,

I gave up on the MCA1001s and wired my house with Cat6. That solved my problem.

I never could find a solution that worked. I think there's a problem with the MCA1001s as I've spoken with others that have good success with other adapters.

You might want to try a different manufacture and see if the problem still exists.

Ken

 

[Bob K]

Hi Bob,

I never could find a solution that worked. I think there's a problem with the MCA1001s as I've spoken with others that have good success with other adapters.
Ken

I'm still pursuing a solution because it's been a great learning opportunity for me. I was able to replicate your troubles by using Jperf. If I leave the TCP Window at the default 8K, I only get about 20Mbps throughput. However, if I change the TCP Windows to 128K, I get over 90Mbps.

I'm learning how to use Wireshark (www.wireshark.com) to capture packets. Even though I don't yet see a problem with the TCP Window when comparing a "no stutter" TCP capture with a "stutter" TCP capture, I've got the smart folks in the Wireshark forums chewing on the problem: MCA1001 TCP Window Troubleshooting.

What intrigues me is that many other MCA1001 users have reported no problems at all streaming high bitrate (20+Mbps) videos. It's odd that some users would have the problem but others would not.

What would be really useful for me is if I could talk someone--who successfully streams high bitrate video over the adapters--into using Wireshark to capture packets during a high bitrate portion of a video. Maybe then I could do a comparison and detect differences.

 

[stevech]

See my post #3 at

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=7012

My MoCA is 1st generation D-Link.
These MoCA things are layer 2 bridges, so the layer 3 TCP window default in Windows 7 should be OK (65KB). The default in all but the last Win XP was smaller, as I recall.

Indeed, I think most video streaming doesn't use TCP, but rather, RTP or other UDP variant where windowing (buffering) is an application issue, not an IP protocol issue.

I suppose that if the MoCA signal to noise is poor (weak signal or interference from other RF signals), there could be bad video streaming due to delays for error corrections.

 

[Bob K]

My MoCA is 1st generation D-Link. These MoCA things are layer 2 bridges, so the layer 3 TCP window default in Windows 7 should be OK (65KB). The default in all but the last Win XP was smaller, as I recall.

I appreciate your response. I'm hungry for any dialog on my problem because it's so mysterious.

As I've recently learned, Vista and Win7 have automatic TCP Window scaling to make up for some previous IPV4 TCP stack weaknesses. When I look at my Wireshark capture files, the TCP Window scales up to almost the exact same size in both the "stutter" and "no stutter" captures. That's why this is so baffling to me.

Indeed, I think most video streaming doesn't use TCP, but rather, RTP or other UDP variant where windowing (buffering) is an application issue, not an IP protocol issue.

I stream from a Win7 machine through the MoCA adapters to an LG BD670 bluray player using CIFS. The Wireshark capture shows 99% TCP packets during streaming with an occasional packet for other protocols.

I suppose that if the MoCA signal to noise is poor (weak signal or interference from other RF signals), there could be bad video streaming due to delays for error corrections.

I thought that might be the issue, so I performed my testing with a single 12" piece of RG6 coax between the MoCA adapters.

Weird, huh?!

 

[Top942002]

Actiontec MoCA Device Sale

Walmart dropped their price on the ECB2500C02 Coax Network Adapter. Its now $93 vice 120. Thought I'd pass it along.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/22641847?...0-1-0-4&e_id=218458203a31fb5f2da30a05a6dc7a32