# I'm still confused about TIVO Stream set-up



## Snake Plissken (Nov 23, 2012)

I'm still very confused. We bought the Stream and the Moca adapter from TIVO. Each has instructions but they don't show both together. I made a crude drawing of my network below.

I have cable internet coming into my office/spare room. It goes into my cable modem and then to my wireless adapter. That broadcasts a signal to all my devices (laptops, iPads, and my TIVO wireless-N adapters).

In my living room I have cable TV coming in from the wall and into the TIVO box. The box has a dual cable card in it. Wireless N adapter is hooked up to the TIVO.










As I see it I would need to install a Moca adapter in my office/spare room directly connected to the modem and use the filter.

I assume I also need a Moca adapter installed in my living room hooked up to the TIVO itself.

Assuming those are correct....where does the Stream hook up? In my office or the living room? If it's the office does that mean both the Moca adapter and the Stream need to connect to the back of my wireless router?

I'm so confused I'm about ready to return all my Stream equipment.


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## windracer (Jan 3, 2003)

Snake Plissken said:


> As I see it I would need to install a Moca adapter in my office/spare room directly connected to the modem and use the filter.


Correct. The coax from the wall would connect to the MoCA adapter, and then to your cable modem. Additionally, the MoCA adapter would be connected via ethernet to your wireless router.



Snake Plissken said:


> I assume I also need a Moca adapter installed in my living room hooked up to the TIVO itself.


Correct. Unless you have an XL4, which has MoCA built in.



Snake Plissken said:


> Assuming those are correct....where does the Stream hook up? In my office or the living room? If it's the office does that mean both the Moca adapter and the Stream need to connect to the back of my wireless router?


The Stream has MoCA built in as well, so it doesn't matter where on the network it is. If you go the MoCA route you would just need a coax connection (in addition to the MoCA adapter connected to your router). Alternatively, you could put it next to your router and just connect it via ethernet without a coax connection.


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## Snake Plissken (Nov 23, 2012)

windracer said:


> Correct. The coax from the wall would connect to the MoCA adapter, and then to your cable modem. Additionally, the MoCA adapter would be connected via ethernet to your wireless router.
> 
> Correct. Unless you have an XL4, which has MoCA built in.
> 
> The Stream has MoCA built in as well, so it doesn't matter where on the network it is. If you go the MoCA route you would just need a coax connection (in addition to the MoCA adapter connected to your router). Alternatively, you could put it next to your router and just connect it via ethernet without a coax connection.


So if the Stream has Moca built in why do I need a Moca adapter in my office?


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## windracer (Jan 3, 2003)

Snake Plissken said:


> So if the Stream has Moca built in why do I need a Moca adapter in my office?


Because you need a MoCA "bridge" to connect your MoCA/coax network to the rest of your home network (ethernet/wireless).


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## Snake Plissken (Nov 23, 2012)

windracer said:


> Because you need a MoCA "bridge" to connect your MoCA/coax network to the rest of your home network (ethernet/wireless).


So in my drawing it the Stream would go in my office, next to my Moca adapter, and connect using a CAT 5 cable?

I'm still wondering why I can't hook up the Stream using my wireless-N and not use Moca adapters.


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

Snake Plissken said:


> So in my drawing it the Stream would go in my office, next to my Moca adapter, and connect using a CAT 5 cable?
> 
> I'm still wondering why I can't hook up the Stream using my wireless-N and not use Moca adapters.


Because of this:



> What are the technical requirements for TiVo Stream?
> 
> In order to use TiVo Stream you must:
> 
> ...


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

You can use wireless N but it's not supported so if you have trouble TiVo is just going to blame the network. The Stream is a very basic device. It can technically be anywhere on your network and as long as the TiVo and the iPad can communicate with it then it will work. However the connections between all those devices need to be solid enough to sustain all the streaming. (i.e. streaming from TiVo to Stream and from Stream to iPad)

Dan


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## Snake Plissken (Nov 23, 2012)

Dan203 said:


> You can use wireless N but it's not supported so if you have trouble TiVo is just going to blame the network. The Stream is a very basic device. It can technically be anywhere on your network and as long as the TiVo and the iPad can communicate with it then it will work. However the connections between all those devices need to be solid enough to sustain all the streaming. (i.e. streaming from TiVo to Stream and from Stream to iPad)
> 
> Dan


But it needs to connect using CAT 5 to the router...correct?


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## BigJimOutlaw (Mar 21, 2004)

Windracer is mistaken. There is no moca support built into the Stream. It simply has an ethernet port.

To keep things simple:

- The Stream connects to your router just as any other wired computer or device on your network would. Preferably ethernet.

- The moca adapter connects as the picture indicates to your router/modem as well. But if your Tivo is not a 4-tuner box, you'll need another moca adapter for behind the Tivo as well.


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## windracer (Jan 3, 2003)

BigJimOutlaw said:


> Windracer is mistaken. There is no moca support built into the Stream. It simply has an ethernet port.


Oops. Guess I was confused ... that's what I get for trying to help out with a device I don't own. Sorry!


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Snake Plissken said:


> But it needs to connect using CAT 5 to the router...correct?


It doesn't "have" to be connected via Cat5. Like I said it's a network device and is transparent to the actual connection method it's using. However if the network connection between the TiVo, the Stream and the wifi router/access point is not fast enough then you will get stuttering video, dropped connections, etc...

When I first got mine I had it setup using a powerline network. Even though that quote above said it wouldn't work it worked just fine. However if I was streaming something to my iPad and to a TiVo in another room it was too slow and one of the two streams would stutter or drop out. I upgraded to MoCa to fix that problem. But if I were willing to live with the limitations it still would have been usable.

Edit: The Stream itself only has an Ethernet connection, so in that sense it does have to be connected via Cat5. However there is nothing that would prevent you from connecting it to wifi bridge, or any other networking bridge. It's all just TCP/IP.

Dan


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