# Gen2 mini and 4-tuner Roamio - simplest MOCA bridge?



## wkearney99 (Dec 5, 2003)

Ok, 82 year old mother-in-law has a 4-tuner Roamio (not the plus, pro or OTA model). _Someone at Tivo should be beaten with a stick for the dumb-ass Roamio naming..._

The Roamio is hard-wired via Ethernet. No MOCA nor WiFi involved. She has Time Warner cable (on their most basic, cheapest, slowest possible connection). I installed an SB6121 cable modem for her a while ago. It's fed into a DLINK router and then CAT5 to the Roamio. This works fine.

The location for the Mini currently only has coax. I could run ethernet to it, but there's only so much effort and tools I want to be dragging up from DC to Buffalo to make this all work... Not to mention fending off the MIL commentary regarding holes being drilled...

Easiest solution would be to have the Mini use MOCA, correct?

The trick being getting a MOCA network set up, as the 4-tuner Roamio cannot act as a bridge, also correct?

The wrinkle is I'm sure she'll soon ask for a 2nd Mini for a TV in another room, also currently served only by coax. So a MOCA network would seem like a better plan that my stringing multiple CAT5 lines all through her basement joists.

So what widget am I best served using to create an Ethernet to MOCA bridge for this Mini? Simple is better, I don't want to go through the hoops of using an Actiontec router.

Sorry if I've missed this, feel free to point me to the post that explains this particular kind of scenario.


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## mdavej (Aug 13, 2015)

Plug in any Moca adapter. I have the same setup. 5 minute job.


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## wkearney99 (Dec 5, 2003)

mdavej said:


> Plug in any Moca adapter. I have the same setup. 5 minute job.


Take one CAT5 port off the router, into the MOCA adapter and then loop the coax from the head-end to the Mini through it?

The last step possibly being a challenge as I cannot recall exactly how her coax wiring is laid out.. If I'm lucky it all terminates in the house where the Roamio is installed.


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## BigJimOutlaw (Mar 21, 2004)

$50 moca adapter from Tivo.com. Connected at the modem/router as shown. It will feed the whole house, assuming all the coax has one common point of entry.

A POE filter on the input side of the primary splitter would also be recommended.


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## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

wkearney99 said:


> Ok, 82 year old mother-in-law has a 4-tuner Roamio (not the plus, pro or OTA model). _Someone at Tivo should be beaten with a stick for the dumb-ass Roamio naming..._
> 
> The Roamio is hard-wired via Ethernet. No MOCA nor WiFi involved. She has Time Warner cable (on their most basic, cheapest, slowest possible connection). I installed an SB6121 cable modem for her a while ago. It's fed into a DLINK router and then CAT5 to the Roamio. This works fine.
> 
> ...


Just add a MoCa adapter to the router... Since Roamio is already on ethernet, don't need one....


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## stark (Dec 31, 2003)

I have the exact same set-up.

Do you need Ethernet on the Mini side? If not, you can just set the Roamio to act as an Ethernet-MOCA bridge and connect the Mini to the coax. You don't need any additional hardware or wiring.

You only need the Adaptec if you need to convert the coax back to Ethernet for other devices near the Mini.

After you activate the Mini, be sure to force a connection to the Tivo servers with the Roamio. Otherwise, the Roamio will not know that the Mini is activated.


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## wkearney99 (Dec 5, 2003)

stark said:


> I have the exact same set-up.
> 
> Do you need Ethernet on the Mini side? If not, you can just set the Roamio to act as an Ethernet-MOCA bridge and connect the Mini to the coax. You don't need any additional hardware or wiring.


From what I've been lead to understand the 4-tuner Roamio (aka Roamio Basic) does NOT have the ability to bridge between Ethernet and coax for MOCA. It's only the Plus and Pro models that have this bridging feature. Correct me if I'm wrong.

The unit installed at her house has a TSN beginning with 846-0011 and has only 4 tuners. I'd be delighted not to have to install anything else, but I'm willing to buy whatever works best.

Thus I'm thinking all I should need to do is take a wired Ethernet connection from the router to the MOCA adapter (I'll just get the Tivo unit to minimize potential issues) and make sure it feeds the coax BEFORE where Mini get connected.

This would potentially mean I'd be wiring the coax from the street, into a splitter with one leg to the SB6121 cable modem (since it has only one port) and then the other to the MOCA adapter. An additional splitter would be needed with one leg going back to the other Mini units elsewhere in house. The other leg would continue to the Cisco Tuning Adapter (should we get a working one from TWC) and then on to the Roamio basic. Meanwhile there'd be a hard-wired ethernet connection to the MOCA adapter and the Tivo (both from the wifi router).


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## fcfc2 (Feb 19, 2015)

wkearney99 said:


> Ok, 82 year old mother-in-law has a 4-tuner Roamio (not the plus, pro or OTA model). _Someone at Tivo should be beaten with a stick for the dumb-ass Roamio naming..._
> 
> The Roamio is hard-wired via Ethernet. No MOCA nor WiFi involved. She has Time Warner cable (on their most basic, cheapest, slowest possible connection). I installed an SB6121 cable modem for her a while ago. It's fed into a DLINK router and then CAT5 to the Roamio. This works fine.
> 
> ...


Hi,
A few thoughts, you will almost certainly need a MoCA POE/ Whole Home DVR filter to install at the input of the first splitter serving your Grandma's home. Coax wiring is always a concern when using MoCA, hopefully you won't run into any really old or cascaded splitters but if you do, some replacements or rewiring may be in order. Home Depot usually stocks most everything you would need except for the filters (cheapest on Ebay). 
I know you seem to have ruled out using any of the Actiontec (Fios) routers and while configuring them to act as MoCA bridges can be confusing, these same routers can also be used on most any cable system by simply running Ethernet from the cable modem to the WAN port on the Actiontec. An Actiontec W1424WR Rev F-I have MoCA 1.1, the older Rev A-E are only MoCA 1.0. A Rev I is N speed single band with gigabit Ethernet and often is available in the $50 range on Ebay. Add a splitter to the feed on your cable modem to the Rev I, and your MoCA network is ready, wiring permitting.
http://www.actiontec.com/products/prod_archive.php?pid=189#q23


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## wkearney99 (Dec 5, 2003)

Yeah, I have FIOS here and have used Actiontec units for a while. I don't use the coax side of it at all (no Verizon STBs). I tried, at one point, to make use of it for setting up a separate subnet (for various reasons). And while it's "possible" the number of flaming hoops you have to jump through, and the very specific config steps made it a hassle to keep using. Especially in light of Verizon's forced updates and remote config resets. 

My Actiontec is fed via Ethernet straight from the ONT. No coax involved at all. Which is an option most folks don't know about.

The site isn't local and I'm looking for the least number of headaches.


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## phughes200 (Jul 24, 2014)

Would using a TiVo stream with an Amazon fire stick be an option? You would need a WiFi network for this option. Might be harder to explain to your MIL how to use it.

If your MIL is like my mother, your plan is better.


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## wkearney99 (Dec 5, 2003)

Simple is better. I got them started on Tivo back in the days of the Humax units that had the integrated DVD player. So they're used to that interface and remote. Introducing another element would be problematic, especially since she's on the lowest-tier internet service they offer.

That and Amazon, Netflix and other streaming options are available through the Tivo. We have some Amazon units (Fire TV and stick) and never use them, preferring to just use the Tivo remote instead.

To my great surprise this past week I discovered she almost never uses the on-screen guide! Preferring instead to consult the TV listings in the newspaper. Talk about old dog/new tricks... I switched the on-screen guide to the grid format and she likes it much better. Me, I prefer the Tivo live guide format, but hey...


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## snerd (Jun 6, 2008)

wkearney99 said:


> From what I've been lead to understand the 4-tuner Roamio (aka Roamio Basic) does NOT have the ability to bridge between Ethernet and coax for MOCA. It's only the Plus and Pro models that have this bridging feature. Correct me if I'm wrong.


You are correct.



> The unit installed at her house has a TSN beginning with 846-0011 and has only 4 tuners. I'd be delighted not to have to install anything else, but I'm willing to buy whatever works best.
> 
> Thus I'm thinking all I should need to do is take a wired Ethernet connection from the router to the MOCA adapter (I'll just get the Tivo unit to minimize potential issues) and make sure it feeds the coax BEFORE where Mini get connected.
> 
> This would potentially mean I'd be wiring the coax from the street, into a splitter with one leg to the SB6121 cable modem (since it has only one port) and then the other to the MOCA adapter. An additional splitter would be needed with one leg going back to the other Mini units elsewhere in house. The other leg would continue to the Cisco Tuning Adapter (should we get a working one from TWC) and then on to the Roamio basic. Meanwhile there'd be a hard-wired ethernet connection to the MOCA adapter and the Tivo (both from the wifi router).


Since you have ethernet at the Roamio, one simple way to connect the coax for the MoCA adapter:

```
wall -> coax -> "Coax In" [MoCA adapter] "TV/STB out" -> Roamio
```
You will need two PoE filters, one at the input of the main splitter, and one attached directly to the tuning adapter. Tuning adapters don't play well with MoCA signals.


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## Peter G (Jan 3, 2012)

MoCA is dead simple. I have Roamio basic and 4 minis, all connected via MoCA. Works great. So the simple solution is , as posted above, one MoCA adapter ($50) and one POE ($8-10). You will now have internet wherever you have a coax outlet. 

Good luck

Peter G


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## tonyh619 (Jan 25, 2016)

Peter G said:


> MoCA is dead simple. I have Roamio basic and 4 minis, all connected via MoCA. Works great. So the simple solution is , as posted above, one MoCA adapter ($50) and one POE ($8-10). You will now have internet wherever you have a coax outlet.
> 
> Good luck
> 
> Peter G


Thanks for all the great information everyone. I am going to attempt this as well with my Roamio OTA and Mini over MoCa.


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