HD Streaming Smackdown: Draft 11n vs. Powerline

[thiggins]

You might think that the winner between these two "alternative" networking technologies is obvious. But think again. [article link]

[VikingCrown]

For your HD Streaming Smackdown, did you test any MoCA products? Such as the NIM100 that was used by Verizon in their FIOS installs (until they incorporated it into the router)

they can be found on eBay regularly and they create a mesh network over your coaxial cable in your house. I am considering picking up a pair of them for my SageTV HD Extender I have

[thiggins]

I am waiting for the upcoming round of MoCA products from D-Link and Netgear that can be purchased at retail.

I think coax-based networking will be better than powerline, given the superior electrical characteristics of coax. But I won't know until I test them.

I did test a Corinex Coax-based product (not MoCA compliant) a few years back and got about 80 Mbps max.

[wmurwin]

Excellent Article!

I too recently experiment with Powerline for Stream HD, and experience similar results. I too found my self trying to decide between 802.11n Kit and a Powerline Kit, I decided to try the Powerline Kit because it was $50 cheaper then the 802.11n kit...

I also found Powerline was affected by the noise generated by TVs, Refrigerators, etc. I ended up installing a Power Strip with AC Filter for the TV, AV Receiver, and Audio Amplifiers; which greatly improved the through put...but only enough to sustain DVD quality stream video.

When attempting to stream HD video (1080P @ 15Mbps) the Audio & Video could not keep in sync & there was significant delay so that the video was unwatchable. Probably with more AC Filters installed on (Refrigerators, etc) I could improve throughput, but I could spec what would be cost and how many I would need.

The other thing I learned was the fact that might need a Phase Coupler to bridge between the different phase of 110 Volts runs in my house.

For all these reason above I returned Powerline devices.

I am encouraged to see your results with 802.11n.

For myself, I believe its time to bite the bullet and bring in an electrician to pull CAT6.

Thanks.

[thiggins]

Originally Posted by wmurwin

The other thing I learned was the fact that might need a Phase Coupler to bridge between the different phase of 110 Volts runs in my house.

Phase coupling should not be required for any current-generation powerline networking devices. They can pick up the required signal from line to line coupling.

Originally Posted by wmurwin

For myself, I believe its time to bite the bullet and bring in an electrician to pull CAT6.

It's really the only way that you are going to get trouble-free HD streaming.

[VikingCrown]

Originally Posted by thiggins

I am waiting for the upcoming round of MoCA products from D-Link and Netgear that can be purchased at retail.

I think coax-based networking will be better than powerline, given the superior electrical characteristics of coax. But I won't know until I test them.

I did test a Corinex Coax-based product (not MoCA compliant) a few years back and got about 80 Mbps max.

I can't wait for them to come out! looks like the MoCa 1.1 spec ups the throughput to 270 with an actual output of 175. I'll be very interested to see how close their numbers are.

Any idea when the Netgear or D-Link products are coming out? Both pres releases say 2008, so they should be out soon I would think.

[thiggins]

D-Link has actually announced product (DXN-221 kit). Netgear has only "previewed" something at January's CES.

I am pinging D-Link on availability.

BTW, Actiontec has supposedly had a MoCA adapter for over a year. But they won't sent it for testing.

I would take any throughput numbers with a truckload of salt. Remember that both draft 11n and Homeplug talk about 100's of Mbps of throughput, but deliver 60-80 best case in most cases.

[VikingCrown]

I did see that DXN-221 kit, I hope that D-Link gets back to you so you can give it some real world testing so we can see how close they come to their proposed throughput numbers.

I agree to take them with a grain of salt as far as numbers are concerned, but if the previous throughput of 80-90 Mbps that i've seen from the NIM100's and the 1.0 spec (on various forums) are true and not too far off their claimed throughput of 110 Mbps, then the 1.1 spec that claims 175 Mbps may not be too far off the mark.

Please let us know if you get in touch with D-Link and get your hands on a pair of their devices! I can't wait!

~ Brian

[thiggins]

Are the throughput numbers you quoted TCP or UDP?

[VikingCrown]

If you mean the 1.0 Spec, I can just point you to the posts i got it from on the SageTv forum, they don't specify. Here is what i got from the MoCA FAQ page about the 1.1 spec:
"MoCA 1.1 extension has been ratified and offers additional benefits. These include parameterized quality of service (PQoS) for provisioning and bandwidth management of real time data requests for video applications.
MoCA 1.1 with packet aggregation also increases the net throughput performance from 110 Mpbs to 175 Mpbs.
MoCA is the only organization that actively promotes its net throughput metrics. While other may claim higher performance, these are generally theoretical bit rates. This is the difference between what is promised and what is received.
This new extension also increases the network from the current eight nodes to 16 nodes. "