I’m not sure either of the recent TiVo (pre)announcements warrant an independent post, given the company’s typical long lead between partnership revelations and tangible products. However, given the pings and forum chatter, they’re probably worth touching on briefly as part of a larger ‘week in TiVo’ post.
First, at IBC TiVo and Samsung announced that they’ll be working together on an “advanced PVR solution” — the initial implementation intended to port the TiVo experience to European Samsung DVB DVR hardware. And presumably leveraging Samsung’s existing cable and satellite relationships overseas. Assuming all goes well, the companies “may add non-PVR devices and additional platforms worldwide.” As you’ll recall, TiVo has previously indicated a foray into non-DVR television solutions with an upcoming Internet-connected Best Buy Insignia HDTV.
In the other bit of news, TiVo has joined the Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA). Which comes as no surprise to me, given their previous allusions to a modernized whole home solution for partners and DirecTV’s current multiroom MoCA solution. MoCA networking is an elegant solution that’s generally transparent to the end-user, requiring no new wired or wireless networks as data is transmitted over existing coaxial cable. But don’t take it from me, here’s TiVo’s justification: “Integrating MoCA into our products will enable service providers to offer a simple home networking solution that offers unrivalled Quality of Service.” However, I doubt we’ll see MoCA embedded into retail TiVo hardware anytime soon. Fortunately, with the Premiere’s seriously beefed up network throughput, MRV could still be re-worked into a streaming versus downloading solution.
It would have been nice if this had made it into the Premiere, but like usual it is a wait and see what happens if anything.
“However, I doubt we’ll see MoCA embedded into retail TiVo hardware anytime soon.”
I understand the appeal of MoCA to infrastructure providers. It’s an easy way to wire your customer’s in-home infrastructure.
But if you’re wiring your own home, you’ve already gone to the trouble of getting your LAN to wherever you have a TV. And given that 5ghz WiFi (or ethernet) delivers a better connection than MoCA, I don’t see the appeal of MoCA for the hobbyist consumer who buys retail TiVo’s.
In short, if I were TiVo, I wouldn’t be in a rush to add MoCA to my retail boxes until the cost of the additional hardware necessary approached zero.
Chucky, I agree with most of what you said except,
“And given that 5ghz WiFi (or ethernet) delivers a better connection than MoCA, I don’t see the appeal of MoCA for the hobbyist consumer who buys retail TiVo’s.”
I had a Netgear 5ghz WiFi setup that I finally ditched for hard wired ethernet because it just didn’t work reliably enough. I would have to reboot my NG router’s a couple of times a week while the wired ethernet just works. My guess is that MoCA will have the equivalent reliability of wired ethernet.
I wonder what the cost of adding MoCA to the TiVo is compared to embedding 802.11n? Since MoCA is so entrenched in the CATV equipment, it might be a no-brainer to add MoCA to the S4 to maintain continuity from the retail to the MSO product.
“I had a Netgear 5ghz WiFi setup that I finally ditched for hard wired ethernet because it just didn’t work reliably enough. I would have to reboot my NG router’s a couple of times a week while the wired ethernet just works.”
Well, routers are highly complex beasts. They are little computers running an OS, after all. And some router models work much better than other models. While Netgear is not a bad brand, some of their routers have been absolute dogs.
For my own 5ghz infrastructure, I keep things simple by just using a few of the very cheap ‘n’ basic Netgear WNHDE111 Access Points. I’ve never had to reboot one of those. In my experience, as long as they have a clear line of sight, they’re 100% as reliable as a wired connection.
“My guess is that MoCA will have the equivalent reliability of wired ethernet.”
From the research I did back when I was figuring out my own infrastructure, not only does MoCA have lower throughput than 5ghz WiFi or ethernet, but it seems to have some real-world hiccups that lower reliability.
I wouldn’t tell folks to stay away from MoCA, if their specific needs are most appropriately served by going that route. But it does seem a least best choice, from what I understand.
I switched from 802.11g (Tivo HD plus Wifi adapters) to MoCA for my Tivo HD units (Netgear) and have never had a hiccup. Transferring HD shows (~15Mbps) goes about at 1x, rather than faster, but that’s better than my previous experience with Wifi. And the MoCA units never need rebooting while the wifi routers (I have one on each floor) do. For a unit that requires a Coax connection I don’t see why Tivo wouldn’t build MoCA support in. But I expected it in the Premier so what do I know?