DECA Adapter for Network Hub

[petsheep]

So... I really haven't seen a definite answer, but I'm pretty sure I know what to do.

I want to take a DECA adapter and covert tbe signal to my network switch.

I've got a SWM8 RG6 line split into two. One going to my HR24 and one going to a DECA adapter. The DECA adapter has an PI connected to simulate a receiver. The output of the DECA Cat5 is going to my switch. The switch has many network applications connected. Will this work? I basically want to allow my "HTPC" equipment to use the DECA cloud to route my network traffic from my media servers. Makes sense... right? Should work? I think so. Thanks!

 

[Bodo Fenrirsson]

So... I really haven't seen a definite answer, but I'm pretty sure I know what to do.

I want to take a DECA adapter and covert tbe signal to my network switch.

I've got a SWM8 RG6 line split into two. One going to my HR24 and one going to a DECA adapter. The DECA adapter has an PI connected to simulate a receiver. The output of the DECA Cat5 is going to my switch. The switch has many network applications connected. Will this work? I basically want to allow my "HTPC" equipment to use the DECA cloud to route my network traffic from my media servers. Makes sense... right? Should work? I think so. Thanks!

OK,how is your HR24 connected to the internet? Is your RG6 line split in two with a SWM preferably green labeled two way splitter? Is your switch otherwise hooked up to your router apart from your proposed DECA adapter? Or are you hoping that the internet connection will run from your HR24 through your DECA adapter to your switch & the other applications connected to your switch? Now THAT last part,if it is your plan sounds flakey to me.

 

[Bodo Fenrirsson]

Get a Cinema Connection Kit "wired(not wireless)." Attach the CCK/Broadband Adapter(comes with its own power inserter) to your router & then to your splitter(you will need at least a swm green labeled 4-way splitter for this set up & terminate the unused ports). How many receivers/dvr's do you have? Run one cable to your HR24 from the splitter & then you won't need it hooked up to the internet by ethernet cable,the coaxial cable will take care of that. Attach the other cable from the splitter to your DECA adapter(& you will need the PI for it also) & then run the coaxial cable from the adapter to your switch. using a 4-way switch,you'll only need to terminate one input out of the 4(the other three will be hooked up to your CCK/Broadband adapter,HR24,& DECA adapter).

 

[petsheep]

Thanks for both responses. Sounds like what I was trying to do is defiantly feasible. All I really need to get is a PI for the DECA.
Here is my setup. Should paint a clearer picture.

DISH -> SWM PI -> 4-Way Green Splitter
Splitter Output -
1: CCK -> goes to main switch (office)
2: HR22 w/DECA adapter (office)
3: H25 (bedroom)
4: 2-Way Green Splitter (living room)
---1: HR24
---2: PORT IN QUESTION: want to us a DECA adapter to add another switch in this room

As I typed this out, I just thought of something. By adding the DECA adapter, will the SWM consider that as a "registered receiver" and count it against the 8 available tuners? My guess is no, but I'm not sure how it sees the adapter.

Thanks.

 

[BobStokesbary]

I think you are a bit confused here (or I am over terminology issues). By switch, I am assuming you mean your home network switch (that is connected to your internet router). Once you have a line from that switch (your in-home network switch) to your CCK you have all your D* on-demand information traveling over your coax network. You do not need to have another connection to your CAT-5 network for any of your D* receivers. For any receivers earlier than the H/HR24 you will need an external DECA to connect the coax network traffic to your receiver (via the network jack on the back of the receiver). Hopefully, this clarifies things a bit.

On edit: I just re-read all your posts. I think I finally understand what you are trying to do. And one reason you have not seen a definitive answer to your question is that it is highly improbable your concept of using D*'s coax as an extender to your in-home network will work. For one thing, the coax network is not capable of the speed you get on a CAT-5 line so you don't want to have a lot of high demand (as in video) units working simultaneously on this line. D* uses a lot of compression in their video that makes it work for them.

You also exhibit a bit of misunderstanding of how the whole coax setup works. Only the tuners register with the SWM unit. For network traffic, all your DVRs (which are the only units that can currently receive on-demand programming) register directly with your router via whatever networking methodology you employ. You can look at your router table and see each of the D* DVRs listed there. There really is no such thing as a DECA cloud. "Clouds" require caching and controlling devices. A DECA only translates from a twisted pair wire to a coax and back. The closest you get to a "cloud" is what your router is controlling. You really don't want to mix any HTPC traffic on your D* coax network.

 

[petsheep]

I think you are a bit confused here (or I am over terminology issues). By switch, I am assuming you mean your home network switch (that is connected to your internet router). Once you have a line from that switch (your in-home network switch) to your CCK you have all your D* on-demand information traveling over your coax network. You do not need to have another connection to your CAT-5 network for any of your D* receivers. For any receivers earlier than the H/HR24 you will need an external DECA to connect the coax network traffic to your receiver (via the network jack on the back of the receiver). Hopefully, this clarifies things a bit.

On edit: I just re-read all your posts. I think I finally understand what you are trying to do. And one reason you have not seen a definitive answer to your question is that it is highly improbable your concept of using D*'s coax as an extender to your in-home network will work. For one thing, the coax network is not capable of the speed you get on a CAT-5 line so you don't want to have a lot of high demand (as in video) units working simultaneously on this line. D* uses a lot of compression in their video that makes it work for them.

You also exhibit a bit of misunderstanding of how the whole coax setup works. Only the tuners register with the SWM unit. For network traffic, all your DVRs (which are the only units that can currently receive on-demand programming) register directly with your router via whatever networking methodology you employ. You can look at your router table and see each of the D* DVRs listed there. There really is no such thing as a DECA cloud. "Clouds" require caching and controlling devices. A DECA only translates from a twisted pair wire to a coax and back. The closest you get to a "cloud" is what your router is controlling. You really don't want to mix any HTPC traffic on your D* coax network.

I should have been a little more clear with some background knowledge. I'll start again...
I upgraded my HR22 to an HR24. HR22 needed the DECA adapter. For a little over the last year, here is how I had it setup:
DISH -> SWM PI -> 4-Way Green Splitter
Splitter Output -
1: CCK -> goes to main switch (office)
2: empty
3: H25 (bedroom)
4: DECA Adapter (living room)
---RG6 out: HR22
---CAT5 out: Network switch in my cabinet

This setup above gives me an extra 3 cat5 connections in my living room. Really 4, but the 4th is being routed to my HR22. So my HR22 is NOT connected to the DECA adapter. Wired straight into my switch. This has been working flawlessly for over a year. I watch 1080p (compressed ~15GB files) movies over my WDTV while my fiance is in the bedroom watching an recorded HD show over MRV. No pixelation, no freezing, no performance loss. It's great. No need to introduce wireless for my "stuff" in the living room.

Now that I have an HR24, I can't do that anymore. My goal of this post was really to see if what I'm proposing will work and I don't need the DECA adapter connected to a receiver. Just connecting the PI to the DECA should power it... then extending my network to the living room. I didn't want to buy a splitter/PI and find that it won't work like it did when I had the HR22.

As for my coax knowledge... I realized after my post that the SWM only registers tuners. Was going to edit, but didn't have time until now, so you beat me to the explanation.

 

[harshness]

You could use a CCK to add your LR switch, but I'd caution against locating a file server on the far side of the DECA cloud from the equipment that might use it.

You may be better served to move your media server to your main switch so that the non-DIRECTV stuff stays as much out of the cloud as possible. DECA(MoCA) is a half-duplex technology (only one device can transmit at a time) and as such, it doesn't have nearly the bandwidth of switched Ethernet.

 

[petsheep]

You could use a CCK to add your LR switch, but I'd caution against locating a file server on the far side of the DECA cloud from the equipment that might use it.

You may be better served to move your media server to your main switch so that the non-DIRECTV stuff stays as much out of the cloud as possible. DECA(MoCA) is a half-duplex technology (only one device can transmit at a time) and as such, it doesn't have nearly the bandwidth of switched Ethernet.

I agree, this is not the best solution, but I don't have any line to my main switch available. Running one is not an option either. Well it is, but I wont be at this place for many more years so I'm not going to waste the effort.

 

[BobStokesbary]

Like harshness, I don't recommend what I am about to say, but you theoretically can do it. Since you were happy with your HR22 setup you really can just duplicate it on your HR24. When you take the wire from your living room switch (which is serviced by your living room external DECA) and plug it into the internet connection on your HR24 you deactivate the internal DECA in the HR24 making it act like an earlier unit. I would not do this, but since you are happy with the results you have had up to this time, go for it.

 

[petsheep]

Like harshness, I don't recommend what I am about to say, but you theoretically can do it. Since you were happy with your HR22 setup you really can just duplicate it on your HR24. When you take the wire from your living room switch (which is serviced by your living room external DECA) and plug it into the internet connection on your HR24 you deactivate the internal DECA in the HR24 making it act like an earlier unit. I would not do this, but since you are happy with the results you have had up to this time, go for it.

See, that's what I thought. I could never get it to work that way. That's why I started this thread. My HR24 kept telling me "not able to connect" and "make sure you ethernet cable is plugged in." For some reason I couldn't get an IP. I just figured the HR24 didn't like the DECA connected... which made not sense to me. Maybe I'll try again so I don't have to get the PI.

 

[petsheep]

From people's posts, it doesn't seem like anyone would want this setup, but here is an update: I completed the setup today with the PI and everything is working flawlessly. This is the setup below:

DISH -> SWM PI -> 4-Way Green Splitter
Splitter Output -
1: CCK -> goes to main switch (office)
2: HR22 w/DECA adapter (office)
3: H25 (bedroom)
4: 2-Way Green Splitter (living room)
---1: HR24
---2: DECA
------Coax: Power Inverter
------Cat5: 4 port network switch

Thanks for the help everyone!

 

[jprall]

From people's posts, it doesn't seem like anyone would want this setup, but here is an update: I completed the setup today with the PI and everything is working flawlessly. This is the setup below:

DISH -> SWM PI -> 4-Way Green Splitter
Splitter Output -
1: CCK -> goes to main switch (office)
2: HR22 w/DECA adapter (office)
3: H25 (bedroom)
4: 2-Way Green Splitter (living room)
---1: HR24
---2: DECA
------Coax: Power Inverter
------Cat5: 4 port network switch

Thanks for the help everyone!

I have 4 x hr24s that were all hardwired via ethernet to a common switch. When I moved they set me up so that I had multi-room viewing working over coax, but if the one of the DVRs wanted to be able to download on demand, it needed a internet connection to its Ethernet port.

Ive used power line adapters and wireless bridges (wireless was flaky, 500mbit power line works well) to get all my receivers "hardwired" via their Ethernet port. It all works, btw, but...

Can I use a single DECA adapter at my router and since the hr24 has deca built-in, all the dvrs can download directly from the internet just using a single coax cable.? HR24 so shouldn't need deca at each receiver, right?

Then to follow up on this thread directly, with Xbox, ps3, DTv receiver, and "smart" TVs, the need for a switch by each receiver is pretty high. Putting a little 5 port switch on the "output" of a deca near the receiver seems like a good way to go.

Many switches have a priority port or will support QoS if implemented via standards.

I guess my question is - do you only need one deca plugged into your internet router and then ALL receivers can download from the internet?

If the answer to that is yes, then adding a deca adapter at each receiver, each with a 5 port switch, should in theory work. For the sake of discussion, remove any concerns of network performance, reliability, etc. This question is simply "can you get all devices on the same network, all seeing the internet directly, with a switch and deca adapter at each receiver?

Thanks!
jp

 

[petsheep]

I have 4 x hr24s that were all hardwired via ethernet to a common switch. When I moved they set me up so that I had multi-room viewing working over coax, but if the one of the DVRs wanted to be able to download on demand, it needed a internet connection to its Ethernet port.

Ive used power line adapters and wireless bridges (wireless was flaky, 500mbit power line works well) to get all my receivers "hardwired" via their Ethernet port. It all works, btw, but...

Can I use a single DECA adapter at my router and since the hr24 has deca built-in, all the dvrs can download directly from the internet just using a single coax cable.? HR24 so shouldn't need deca at each receiver, right?

Then to follow up on this thread directly, with Xbox, ps3, DTv receiver, and "smart" TVs, the need for a switch by each receiver is pretty high. Putting a little 5 port switch on the "output" of a deca near the receiver seems like a good way to go.

Many switches have a priority port or will support QoS if implemented via standards.

I guess my question is - do you only need one deca plugged into your internet router and then ALL receivers can download from the internet?

If the answer to that is yes, then adding a deca adapter at each receiver, each with a 5 port switch, should in theory work. For the sake of discussion, remove any concerns of network performance, reliability, etc. This question is simply "can you get all devices on the same network, all seeing the internet directly, with a switch and deca adapter at each receiver?

Thanks!
jp

If you all your boxes are HR24's, you only need a DECA adapter or CCK hooked to your router... so your statement is correct. Each 24 has will receive internet over coax.