# Mini over powerline



## buscuitboy

I know the mini is designed to possibly be used over coaxial lines with a MoCA adapter. Is it also possible to use a mini with a powerline adapter kit as well? This basically allows you to use your standard electrical outlets as hard line ethernet jacks. 

Or is it maybe like a wireless ethernet bridge adapter for a mini; Yea, its possible, but probably not support by TiVo.


----------



## k2ue

buscuitboy said:


> I know the mini is designed to possibly be used over coaxial lines with a MoCA adapter. Is it also possible to use a mini with a powerline adapter kit as well? This basically allows you to use your standard electrical outlets as hard line ethernet jacks.
> 
> Or is it maybe like a wireless ethernet bridge adapter for a mini; Yea, its possible, but probably not support by TiVo.


My own experience with powerline ethernet over the several generations has been poor, due to powerline noise problems. The same generations of technology have been available on coax, and are dramatically better, BUT they use the spectrum below 40MHz, and thus are incompatible with cable boxes and cable modems that also use those frequencies. MoCA is vastly better, has no compatibility problems (with proper use of filters) and great thruput. Plus the MoCA adapters aren't expensive. Use MoCA -- you have to get the cable there anyway, so use the best technology. If you want ethernet at the Mini, which doesn't bridge, for other purposes, you can use a splitter and a stand-alone MoCA adapter to extract ethernet for other uses.


----------



## buscuitboy

Sounds like MoCA is probably the better way to go, but another reason I am asking & thinking about the powerline adapters is (I think) because of a potential problem with my coaxial lines. While I have coaxial cabling throughout the house & its relatively new (via 2006), some of the wall jacks are on splitters. The splitters are behind drywall so no easy way to access them. Would having splitters be an issue in trying to use a mini with a MoCA adapter?


----------



## jjd_87

buscuitboy said:


> Sounds like MoCA is probably the better way to go, but another reason I am asking & thinking about the powerline adapters is (I think) because of a potential problem with my coaxial lines. While I have coaxial cabling throughout the house & its relatively new (via 2006), some of the wall jacks are on splitters. The splitters are behind drywall so no easy way to access them. Would having splitters be an issue in trying to use a mini with a MoCA adapter?


It shouldn't be. But if you have a Mini and a Premier 4/4XL the technology is built into those devices for free. So I would try that out before I bought powerline adapters that people have had mixed results with.


----------



## Kingpcgeek

I use the newer Powerline A/V 500 adapters to connect to switch in my entertainment center to my network router. Thus my Tivo uses Powerline to connect to the Internet. I can stream Netflix with no issues from the TiVo and Amazon Prime from a Roku on the adapter with no issues as well. However they are both of the same leg of my electrical service. 

When I tired to use Powerline to stream video from one TiVo to another TiVo I was having disconnects because the two adapters were on different legs. The manufacturers try to claim the the cross leg issues have been corrected in the latest versions of the devices, but I don't buy it.


----------



## k2ue

buscuitboy said:


> Sounds like MoCA is probably the better way to go, but another reason I am asking & thinking about the powerline adapters is (I think) because of a potential problem with my coaxial lines. While I have coaxial cabling throughout the house & its relatively new (via 2006), some of the wall jacks are on splitters. The splitters are behind drywall so no easy way to access them. Would having splitters be an issue in trying to use a mini with a MoCA adapter?


Yes, splitters are an issue -- MoCA uses the band 1000-1100 MHz, and the splitters you have are probably rated to 800 or 1000 MHz -- but they might still work -- MoCA allows for additional attentuation, for long cables. I'd try it first.


----------



## aaronwt

k2ue said:


> Yes, splitters are an issue -- MoCA uses the band 1000-1100 MHz, and the splitters you have are probably rated to 800 or 1000 MHz -- but they might still work -- MoCA allows for additional attentuation, for long cables. I'd try it first.


MoCA 1.0 was supposed to be able to go as low as 850Mhz and as high as 1500Mhz. MoCA 1.1 is supposed to be able to go as low as 500Mhz.

I use 1Ghz splitters with FiOS. My TiVos have no problem with MoCA using those splitters.


----------



## lessd

aaronwt said:


> MoCA 1.0 was supposed to be able to go as low as 850Mhz and as high as 1500Mhz. MoCA 1.1 is supposed to be able to go as low as 500Mhz.
> 
> I use 1Ghz splitters with FiOS. My TiVos have no problem with MoCA using those splitters.


To make sure, I changed my splitters to 1.2Ghz (4 way) and 2 Ghz (2 way), they all work on ch 15 that I think is about 1.1Ghz


----------



## aaronwt

lessd said:


> To make sure, I changed my splitters to 1.2Ghz (4 way) and 2 Ghz (2 way), they all work on ch 15 that I think is about 1.1Ghz


Mine is using channel 15 also with the 1Ghz splitters. I have one eight way 1GHz splitter that was supplied by FiOS(to reduce the hot signal from the ONT), and the rest I purchased.

EDIT: I guess the splitters work at a higher frequency than listed. Since I've had the eight-way in place since I got FiOS in Summer 2007. And back then I had an STB on MoCA and that was supposedly using 1150Mhz while still going through the 8-way splitter that is rated for 5Mhz - 1000Mhz. The 1Ghz splitters are the standard for FiOS installs.


----------



## lessd

aaronwt said:


> Mine is using channel 15 also with the 1Ghz splitters. I have one eight way 1GHz splitter that was supplied by FiOS(to reduce the hot signal from the ONT), and the rest I purchased.
> 
> EDIT: I guess the splitters work at a higher frequency than listed. Since I've had the eight-way in place since I got FiOS in Summer 2007. And back then I had an STB on MoCA and that was supposedly using 1150Mhz while still going through the 8-way splitter that is rated for 5Mhz - 1000Mhz. The 1Ghz splitters are the standard for FiOS installs.


That is true about the splitters but you do have less (Moca) loss with splitters rated at 1.2Ghz or greater, when I upgraded my splitters my TiVo to TiVo xfer rate went up to 80Mb/sec from about 65Mb/s, may not make much difference but the cost of new splitters was small.


----------



## aaronwt

lessd said:


> That is true about the splitters but you do have less (Moca) loss with splitters rated at 1.2Ghz or greater, when I upgraded my splitters my TiVo to TiVo xfer rate went up to 80Mb/sec from about 65Mb/s, may not make much difference but the cost of new splitters was small.


I'm getting 70Mb/s to 75Mb/s transfer rates right now over MoCA. I guess I should check out getting a 1.2Ghz splitters to see if it increases the speed.

Where did you get the 1.2Ghz splitters from?


----------



## lessd

aaronwt said:


> I'm getting 70Mb/s to 75Mb/s transfer rates right now over MoCA. I guess I should check out getting a 1.2Ghz splitters to see if it increases the speed.
> 
> Where did you get the 1.2Ghz splitters from?


Amazon, where else !!

I also have long cable runs in my home, all home runs to one end of my home so I could have between 120 to 170 feet between TiVos.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004JKT3VY/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001X3MGFU/ref=oh_details_o08_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1


----------



## todd_j_derr

aaronwt said:


> EDIT: I guess the splitters work at a higher frequency than listed.


I'd assume there's not a filter or anything, the attenuation just gradually increases above 1GHz and it's 'out of spec" (4dB?) or it just wasn't tested at those frequencies.


----------



## Bigg

I get about 40mbps over Powerline, which theoretically should be enough for a Mini, but who knows if it's consistent enough...


----------

