MRV over SWM

[bryan_j_t]

Awhile ago I remember reading that there was a demo given to installers showing MRV being used over SWM, not Ethernet.

1) Is there a possibility of this actually happening?

2) Does DirecTv prefer to have this done over Ethernet to get people to have their boxes connected to the internet ( making it more likely that people will order PPV and OnDemand content..

I think that MRV would be much more successful if they went this route with the obstacles people run into creating a wired home network and the lack of reliability of powerline and wireless networks transferring HD content.

 

[rad]

#1 - Who knows, but DirecTV is a member in MoCA alliance.

#2 - I look at it as just being another option that they can use to provide connectivity between their STB's. IMHO, if a wired ethernet network is there it would be the best way to go since when connected via a switch each receiver would have 100Mbps dedicated bandwidth, with all the other ways the bandwidth is shared with whatever else is on the medium. But no matter which way it goes IMHO there needs to be an connection to the internet for DoD, TV Apps, Media Share and whatever else D* has cooking in the lab.

 

[bryan_j_t]

Probably wont happen.. but it would be nice if you could network up one of receivers and have it share its connection over SWM to the other receivers

 

[cfb]

I dunno, as slow as these boxes are, adding IP routing capabilities to them might be a little too much to ask.

I also dont think the receivers as they stand have the capability built in. I suspect there would be a little box connected to the ethernet port and connected to the sat wire and that it'd cost at least $100 unless directv subsidizes it.

 

[bryan_j_t]

I think that if they could do something at that price-point or less it would definitely be worth it

 

[JosephB]

It's coming, they've demoed it, but there aren't any details. It could be as easy as using existing SWM hardware and they just update it via software or it could require a MoCA bridge, or some combination

 

[armchair]

The question I have about MRV over Coax is would it require the use of a tuner to receive the stream or is there some kind of switch to combine with and separate server stream to/from satellite signal? (To allow both to occur simultaneously without causing tuner/recording/playback conflicts).

In other words, would the server and client method apply as in the current Ethernet connection.

 

[JosephB]

The question I have about MRV over Coax is would it require the use of a tuner to receive the stream or is there some kind of switch to combine with and separate server stream to/from satellite signal? (To allow both to occur simultaneously without causing tuner/recording/playback conflicts).

In other words, would the server and client method apply as in the current Ethernet connection.

Who knows Details at that level are yet to come

 

[cfb]

SWM uses a particular bandwidth of the cable. Incorporated into that bandwidth is a low speed data path that allows the receivers to communicate in a very limited and low speed fashion, so actually a SWM equippped batch of receivers can and do send stuff like pay-per-view info via SWM and if one receiver is tied to a telephone line or the internet, that info can then be sent back to the mothership.

Real high speed communications would require a separate device that would utilize a different bandwidth of the cable to set up an ethernet type connection. Existing ethernet bridges that use sat/cable coax as their medium and the MoCA products do this today.

Unfortunately i'm pretty sure that MoCA uses an overlapping area of the bandwidth as the SWM, so it'd either have to be a custom bridge for each receiver that plugs into the receivers ethernet port and then into a split of the sats SWM cable, or a standard MoCA bridge and some sort of a device similar to a BBC that would convert the sat receiver and LNB's SWM signal to a different bandwidth.

I dont think there is any MoCA capability built in to the current receivers, but there would be nothing stopping them from having one of the companies who build MoCA products today to offer up a version of their bridge tuned to a custom frequency that doesnt conflict with SWM, and incorporate that MoCA capability into future receivers.

Most of the MoCA and coax based ethernet bridging stuff is OEM and sold through the cable companies but you can buy them used on fleabay.