Posts filed under ‘DirecTV’
Pace, DirecTV Prep Launch of Home Media Center :: Communications Technology
Pace, DirecTV Prep Launch of Home Media Center :: Communications Technology.
The trend towards a big Media Server in the home that will provide all HD video services to your connected TVs, game consoles, iPad/tablet, or smartphone is building momentum. DirecTV and Pace will launch the first RVU servers that will complement the Samsung RVU TVs that were launched earlier this year. Of course, MoCA plays a big part in connecting all of the devices together whether it be to a Smart TV in another room, a wireless access point to bring service to an iPad, or an IP set-top box for your old legacy TV through a MoCA Adapter.
TiVo also announced their monster 4-tuner DVR which will play the same Media Center role for TiVo subscribers (also using MoCA connectivity). The next step will be all new apps available for the client devices – more TVs, STBs, and mobile devices that will work with the DirecTV or TiVo servers. Stay tuned!
NFL goes OTT on PS3
DIRECTV and PlayStation Bring NFL Sunday Ticket to PS3 – PlayStation Blog.
Once upon a time, if you were a lowly cable subscriber you had to suffer through the NFL season watching your local team and some other random game on Sundays. Now through the miracle of OTT Internet video, relief is finally here (Oakland/SF Bay Area fans rejoice!), NFL Sunday Ticket is available via any broadband connected PS3 (for a small fee of course). DirecTV is allowing non-DirecTV subscribers to sign up for 17 weeks of out-of-market NFL games, the Redzone channel, and mobile access for $340 for the entire season. That’s just $20 / week, about the price of 2 movie tickets, for an all-you-can-eat NFL buffet.
This just happens to coincide with the recent PS3 price drop to $250 for the basic console. And since every game is streamed over the Internet at full HD quality, it’s a no brainer to use MoCA Coax Networking to ensure a HDTV quality picture every Sunday and beyond. In addition, networking your PS3 with MoCA gives you stutter free online gaming with no interference versus a wireless connection.
Read the announcement here.
You Say MoCA, I Say DECA – Which Is It?
If anyone is slightly confused about the differences between MoCA and DECA, they may sound like they’re different but in reality they are the same standard. MoCA stands for Multimedia over Coax Alliance which maintains the standards for MoCA coax networking. MoCA has specified 2 frequency bands at which the network can be operated: High-RF MoCA for Cable MSOs and Verizon FiOS from 850-1500 MHz, and Mid-RF MoCA for DirecTV from 500-850 MHz. Our more advanced readers may recognize that cable TV broadcasts below 850 MHz on the coax and satellite TV broadcasts above 950 MHz, hence the need for MoCA to avoid interfering with current signals on the line and 2 separate RF bands. Both versions of MoCA are being deployed primarily to enable the Multi-Room DVR feature available from all the major Pay TV providers.
So what is DECA? DECA stands for DirecTV Ethernet-to-Coax Adapter, a simple network bridge with an Ethernet port on one side and coax on the other, and operates at Mid-RF MoCA frequencies. The DECA is used mainly to connect legacy (older) DirecTV DVRs to Whole Home DVR service but is also being used by some consumers to connect Xbox’s, Bluray Players, Internet TVs, etc… to the Internet (also requires a DECA at the broadband router). Some folks are incorrectly using the term DECA to mean Mid-RF MoCA (which is technically incorrect, but perfectly understandable since it SOUNDS like MoCA).
The DECA’s counterpart for High-RF is called the MoCA ECB which stands for Ethernet-To-Coax Bridge. The ECB serves the same function for Cable MSOs and Verizon FiOS as a way to allow Ethernet onto the coax cable. One of the advantages of an ECB is that the same ECB, currently available from NETGEAR, D-LINK, or Actiontec, can be used with any Cable TV or Verizon FiOS service. Today, DECAs only work in DirecTV households and are not compatible with ECBs.
In summary, Cable and FiOS use High-RF MoCA which supports ECBs to convert between Ethernet and coax. DirecTV uses Mid-RF MoCA which supports DECAs to convert between Ethernet and coax. When will we have a single Ethernet-to-Coax bridge that is compatible with all MoCA bands? What will DISH Network use? Stay tuned to MoCABlog.net for the latest MoCA networking news and information.
DIRECTV launches Whole-Home DVR using MoCA!
It’s here, officially on the DIRECTV website! With DIRECTV Whole-Home DVR service now you have the power to share all your recorded programs with any TV in your home. Thanks to MoCA networking you only need one DIRECTV HD-DVR to record your favorite shows and programs and watch them in any room inside your house. MoCA is represented by all the dotted yellow lines on the diagram which connects all of the receivers through the coax. See the website for official launch information.
For more info and a video click here
DIRECTV using MoCA for multi-room DVR – Videonet
Videonet – news, blogs and analysis for the pay-tv industry – Video and Audio.
For all of you DirecTV subscribers who have felt left out of the MoCA revolution, fear not MoCA is on the way. In this video interview, a DIRECTV engineering director gives a preview of what’s coming later this year including MoCA-enabled Set-Top Boxes, MoCA Ethernet-to-Coax adapters (mainly for legacy STBs), and multi-room HD-DVR service. Note that the retail MoCA adapters for Cable TV from NETGEAR, D-LINK, and ACTIONTEC won’t work on the DIRECTV network (the Satellite and Cable TV work on different frequencies) so you’ll have to call DIRECTV if you want some extra MoCA adapters to hook up your PC, Blu-Ray, TV or whatever device in other rooms of your house. That leaves only 1 conspicuous absence without a MoCA networking solution (actually 2 if you count AT&T who uses HPNA) and it starts with a D_SH. Since they are prominently mentioned all over the MoCA Alliance website, it might not be a long wait.
See the video here.
