MRV without hardwire option.

[twizt3dsist3r]

So Ive been reading around all morning as its my day off, and Im starting to wonder about different options for my home network. Lets start off by saying I use on demand religiously and I had another coax ran to mirror my DVR to all the other tvs to make my own MRV long before I joined SGuys and joined the CE. So obviously I download the new CE every week. Ive been using the homeplug devices for ondemand that directv sells because im a tech and can get them cheap as dirt, and of ondemand, they work fine. But as far as MRV goes, SD seems ok, but HD is choppy as all hell, it pixelates every 10min or so, skips, freezes, it seems as if there would be a bad fitting somewhere causing the 103/99 to short, thats what MRV looks like to me at most times on HD. Of course I would watch the program on the host box just to make sure that wasnt the case. anyway, so now i am asking you, the Satellite Guys Community. What do you use for your MRV, and what is your experience with it? I refuse to do a wireless bridge, and prefer homeplugs of some sort, because running cat cable, isnt going to happen. I was considering looking into the network over coax units. (cant think of the name atm) but I run D*, E*, and Comcast into this house, so im not sure thats a good idea, and I already had bad experiences diplexing with SWM. the only coax line that runs to the basement is RG59 and currently used for my dish tv2 lines, so i guess i could share that, not sure how those units like 59 though. and pulling 6 through is going to be a very difficult project as I have already tried.... Anyone have any other input?

 

[ekgermann]

Straight Cat5 homerunned to a Linksys business switch. Other than issues with the consolidated program list updating, once you can *see* the program in the listing, it's rock solid. May pixelate once for a second or two maybe once in an hour program.

My wife and kids would kill me if I ever dropped the CE program until MRV goes NR. I tell them I have to update every Friday night or they'll lose it and they have re-scheduled their viewing habits to accommodate the download window. How's that for behavior modification? It's a must have.

If you're already having trouble getting it working on power lines and you see issues with SWM in the past, it seems like it would make more sense to cut your losses, bite the bullet and pull a cat5 to each IRD. In the end, the data should flow over a data network. I would argue you'd have marginally better success going wireless than powerline as there is so much noise on powerline.

EKG

 

[rad]

twizt3dkitty, I have a pair of DirecTV powerline adapters and they're working just fine for where I have them placed. The utility that comes with them shows them running at around 80Mbps, it plays back HD content no pausing at all.

But to get that speed I needed to mess around a bit on what outlets I placed them on to get that speed. If you can try use them on outlets that are on the same side of your breaker panel so they're on the same phase. If not, and you feel comfortable doing so, try to switch one circuit on the panel so they're both on the same side, that should help.

But if you can, the best way currently is to run cat5 or greater cable and go with a hardwired network.

 

[cfb]

I get plenty of pixelation with hardwired 100Mb/s, but it was pretty good up until the last week or so CE's.

Could get SD but not HD to work on 170Mb/s panasonic adapters.

Depending on the distance and interference issues, wireless G or 85Mb/s powerline might work, might not. Wireless N or 200Mb/s powerline should work, but might not.

 

[ilkevinli]

Try checking the through put you are getting by using Qcheck. You want at least 35mbps.

Just so you know, Im on a wired connection and I get breakups.

So Ive been reading around all morning as its my day off, and Im starting to wonder about different options for my home network. Lets start off by saying I use on demand religiously and I had another coax ran to mirror my DVR to all the other tvs to make my own MRV long before I joined SGuys and joined the CE. So obviously I download the new CE every week. Ive been using the homeplug devices for ondemand that directv sells because im a tech and can get them cheap as dirt, and of ondemand, they work fine. But as far as MRV goes, SD seems ok, but HD is choppy as all hell, it pixelates every 10min or so, skips, freezes, it seems as if there would be a bad fitting somewhere causing the 103/99 to short, thats what MRV looks like to me at most times on HD. Of course I would watch the program on the host box just to make sure that wasnt the case. anyway, so now i am asking you, the Satellite Guys Community. What do you use for your MRV, and what is your experience with it? I refuse to do a wireless bridge, and prefer homeplugs of some sort, because running cat cable, isnt going to happen. I was considering looking into the network over coax units. (cant think of the name atm) but I run D*, E*, and Comcast into this house, so im not sure thats a good idea, and I already had bad experiences diplexing with SWM. the only coax line that runs to the basement is RG59 and currently used for my dish tv2 lines, so i guess i could share that, not sure how those units like 59 though. and pulling 6 through is going to be a very difficult project as I have already tried.... Anyone have any other input?

 

[trehutch]

I tried the powelines and the mvr was a no go still jumpy and stalls. Then I ran a direct cat 5 to my router, viola no problems. My wife is already bitching when I installed a 1.5 tb drive and she has been using the National release without MVR for a week. How did we live without it????

 

[rad]

From the testing and experience I've seen with MRV, breakups are caused by the boxes, not the network. The network, if bandwidth is too low, will cause pausing in the playback. If you're seeing pausing, pause the playback for 10 seconds or so, that way the buffer in the box fills up (it can handle 5 to 6 seconds of HD) and then play, you shouldn't see any pausing for a little while until the buffer empties out again because the network doesn't have the throughput.

 

[rad]

I tried the powelines and the mvr was a no go still jumpy and stalls. Then I ran a direct cat 5 to my router, viola no problems. My wife is already bitching when I installed a 1.5 tb drive and she has been using the National release without MVR for a week. How did we live without it????

What speed did the utility that came with them showed? Did you see if both outlets were on the same phase on your power panel? If different phases and you don't want/can't rewire you can try one of these solutions, MisterHouse - X10 Phase Coupler Homebuilt

 

[cfb]

I'm not sure that the x10 phase couplers will with with powerline AV stuff. The x10 stuff operates up around 120MHz (IIRC) and the x10 phase couplers shunt off everything below that.

The powerline AV operates between 2 and 20MHz while the Powerline 85 is at 4-21Mhz.

I havent seen any phase couplers for powerline ethernet gear, although there might be such a thing.

 

[rad]

I'm not sure that the x10 phase couplers will with with powerline AV stuff. The x10 stuff operates up around 120MHz (IIRC) and the x10 phase couplers shunt off everything below that.

The powerline AV operates between 2 and 20MHz while the Powerline 85 is at 4-21Mhz.

I havent seen any phase couplers for powerline ethernet gear, although there might be such a thing.

OK, just passing along some info that I saw someone else post. Not using one myself, maybe someone can try one and see if it does or doesn't work for them?

 

[twizt3dsist3r]

Yea so i was just assuming that the directv branded ones were garbage, didnt really realize that hardwired solutions are breaking up as well. lets hope software updates fix things..

 

[Bob Nielsen]

Hard wired would be best, but some people have reported improvement when switching to 200 Mbps HomePlug AV powerline adapters (ymmv).

I'm using the Directv (iit, actually) 85 Mbps adapters. When MRV first came out, HD was stuttering pretty badly, but about 3 CEs ago it improved to where I rarely notice any problems.

 

[B-Dog]

Running CAT 5 is easier than you think

A dedicated CAT 5 data line will give you the best possible performance, running the line isn't to bad either, if you have a basement/crawl space or attic access. I just ran a 130 foot line under the house in 35 minutes. You can buy little plastic punch tools to terminate to a keystone at home depot or lowes.

Network topology and physical infrastructure affect performance quite a bit, a good switch properly ran cables and tight connections will make for smooth data transfer. Even if you have a high speed connection, it does not mean it is high quality, packet loss is the cause of jitter, noise is the cause of packet loss. So the only solution is to hardwire cat 5, but cat 5 is easier to run than coax. If you make sure you have tight connections, (I dont advise crimping yourself, purchase a keystone and use a factory made patch cable) and make sure that cat 5 is at least 18" away from electrical as the cable is unshielded so subject to noise.

 

[toffee]

Newbie here, so please tolerate. My objective is to network two DTV HD-DVRs so that I can watch program recorded on DVR#1 from DVR#2.

Am I to understand that if I have two DTV HD-DVRs, which I have. All I have to do is to link them via Cat5+switch? Do I need some sort of software to enable DVR#1 to see DVR#2 etc.?

 

[rad]

Newbie here, so please tolerate. My objective is to network two DTV HD-DVRs so that I can watch program recorded on DVR#1 from DVR#2.

Am I to understand that if I have two DTV HD-DVRs, which I have. All I have to do is to link them via Cat5+switch? Do I need some sort of software to enable DVR#1 to see DVR#2 etc.?

That's about it. Both HD DVR's need to be loaded with the latest CE software, should be a new release this weekend. Once on the new CE software do a keyword search for IAMANEDGECUTTER and group ALL, won't find it but it turns on the backdoor Miscellaneous Options menu (hit menu, then select "Parental, Fav's and Setup", the new menu's there). There is an option there for MRV, turn it on. Also then System Setup menu there's a new Location selection, select that and set the options you want and name the DVR's.

 

[toffee]

That's about it. Both HD DVR's need to be loaded with the latest CE software, should be a new release this weekend. Once on the new CE software do a keyword search for IAMANEDGECUTTER and group ALL, won't find it but it turns on the backdoor Miscellaneous Options menu (hit menu, then select "Parental, Fav's and Setup", the new menu's there). There is an option there for MRV, turn it on. Also then System Setup menu there's a new Location selection, select that and set the options you want and name the DVR's.

Thanks rad for your help. I am going from dumb to dumber here:

Where and how can I download + install the latest "CE software"?

 

[rad]

Thanks rad for your help. I am going from dumb to dumber here:

Where and how can I download + install the latest "CE software"?

Read:

http://www.satelliteguys.us/directv...ogram-terms-faq-how-hidden-features-more.html
and
http://www.satelliteguys.us/directv...mail-alert-option-hd-dvr-series-hr2x-r22.html

 

[twizt3dsist3r]

this thread went way off topic