10 Reasons Coax, Not Wireless, Is Future of Video Distribution

Another great article written by someone who has a vested intrest in a product. This should have a big label at the top that says - ADVERTISEMENT - The good news is apparently MoCA marketing chair is doing his job really well. Unfortunately a lot of people who tend to read an article not realizing they aren’t getting an objective view of the Pro’s and Con’s of each system.

I personally don’t believe wireless will be a standard anytime soon but MoCA doesn’t like a viable standard either.

I can’ wait for Randy Klein’s article on the best control systems, or Brian Barr’s article on the best speaker products.

CEPro is really becoming a joke.

Larry, I couldn’t agree more as regards your “Advertisement” theory.

Our company works with Wireless, MoCA, HPNA, and ofcours Ethernet.  MoCA is fast, reliable, able to handle high-bandwidth, and very well suited for retrofit applications.  I’d love to see CE pro do an independent technology shootout.

My thoughts were if this was an objective article and not an advertisement then we would see the “cons” in addition to the “top inherent benefits”.

Wesely Wisdom

One of the draws to this industry is pushing the envelope and being on the frontier of what technology is allowing us to do with content.  The landscape is ever changing.  More so than some trades that have stabelized and therefor settled into growing and establishing themselves and standards for many decades.  Like electrical, HVAC, etc.

But with economics being so trashed, there seems to be more in-fighting within our industry as we all scramble to define ourselves and our own niche.  Like it or not, there are groups (like MoCA) that are attempting to build momentum for our trade to grow to the next stage.  Alas, it hasn’t happened yet.

So, whether it is Best Buy, SpeakerCraft, MoCA, ADT, Sonos, Apple, Microsoft, Google or some other entity - I look forward to this industry maturing beyond this stage.  Though I hope it always leaves room to allow for crazy technology and free thinking engineers.

As for CE Pro’s role.  That too is left to be seen, I don’t think all the readers are cynical and critical.  Maybe some of them will help this platform be a positive contribution.

I agree with the above, that articles like these really need a disclaimer or full disclosure that the viewpoints expressed aren’t objective, but rather subjective.

I digress.

While I like the idea of MoCA fundamentally, the problem is that, for raw file distribution, Coax is kind of…slow, at least with current standards, for multi-stream content.  While it’s great for smaller homes, where you want to watch a Living Room program from the DVR on your HDTV in the bedroom, it’s nowhere near as capable as, say, CAT6 cabling (or even traditional ethernet & TCP/IP) for larger installs with MIMO situations.

I like MoCA for broadcast, I really do, but for larger distributions, it falls flat in its current form.  Price is also an issue, as is the fact that many MoCA capable devices on the US market today or limited to Custom Installers or Cable/Satellite companies only.  What about our Blu-Ray players? Our game systems? Our video streamers, music servers, laptops, tablets, cell phones, etc.  Until MoCA addresses those, I don’t see it being a big player.

Guys—No intention to mislead. I presumed that the deck citing MoCA was clear as to the source of the point of view being espoused. So, no offense meant, but your comments remind me a bit of a buddy who once told me after seeing the movie “Philadelphia” that he “was surprised by the gay agenda.”

As an avid DIYer, with a larger home that includes three primary TV viewing areas (each with HT and multiple connected devices), along with 4 other rooms with TVs and additional connected devices, MOCA has been the answer to my wireless streaming problems.  For years I spent $80-$120 each on many occasions to purchase wireless products trying to improve video streaming.  None worked good enough to solve the buffering issues.  Initially I was too cheap to buy the $220 Netgear MOCA adapters. Finally, hundreds of dollars later I finally decided to try MOCA (via the Netgear branded adapters that used to be available at Fry’s, and perhaps still are.). It has completely solved my problems. In fact I have since purchased adapters for all my TV rooms. These adapters allow me to stream network-stored videos from room to room, enables my family’s XBOX, PS3, HTPCs, ROKU, SONOS, and AppleTV. I even tap into the MOCA network with wireless access points on opposite ends of the house to improve wireless throughout the home too.  Sure, CAT5-6 would have done the job equally as well but I had no desire to invest the money to rewire, repair, and repaint after the installation. MOCA was a simple solution that provides a super fast connection at a very low cost. These adapters can be found regularly for about $110 a pair on the internet.  MOCA has by far been the best solution, short of rewiring CAT5, I’ve found. Buffering is a thing of the past. A constant, always on and available, fast connection has been my experience with MOCA for the past 2.5 years. Obviously, I highly recommend it.