As the late great Howard Cosell said “I’m just telling it like it is”, and so are the guys at SmallNetBuilder as they once again stage their HD Smackdown using the latest WiFi competitor, 3 stream 11N.  Identified by 3 antennas instead of the usual 2, the latest in WiFi technology has demonstrated increased throughput, but can it successfully stream 1080P HD video without interruptions?  Sadly, it’s more “Agony of Defeat” as summed up by SmallNetBuilder:

It may seem hard to believe, but all the additional bandwidth provided by three-stream N still isn’t enough to ensure trouble-free 1080p wireless streaming. The best performance I could achieve still had minor, occasional problems during fact action sequences with a strong, next-room signal and the router set to spectrum-hogging Auto 20/40 MHz bandwidth mode.

So how do you hook up to your brand new Internet TV?  Not with the (2 antenna) dongle that comes with the TV and it doesn’t look like powerline does the job either.  What do the reviewers recommend?

So it still appears that your best bet for trouble-free 1080p network play remains 100 Mbps Ethernet, with MoCA a viable alternative if your setup allows it.

Read the posting here.

Have you ever been in a situation where you absolutely needed to run an Ethernet cable and you just couldn’t run one due to your living situation? Where you first tried wifi (802.11a/b/g/n) and quickly found that wifi, even N wifi, was not stable enough. Then you went on to try alternative connectivity solutions such as Ethernet over power line adapters and they too just didn’t cut it? Well Ethernet over coax MoCA adapters might just be the solution for you.

Read the review at MissingRemote.com

Another MoCA review is in the books, this time by Tom’s Hardware and the conclusions versus Wireless and Powerline are what everyone has come to expect:

For those who can’t string Gigabit Ethernet, MoCA is clearly the only choice when high performance is needed.

Tom’s Hardware puts MoCA through a number of tests, but where MoCA really shines is in whole home network performance as seen in the chart above.  When there are multiple video streams through the house, MoCA performance is almost double what Powerline and Wireless-N have to offer.  That means better HD streaming from Netflix, Xbox, TiVO, VUDU, DLNA or whatever movie services happen to be watched in your home.

Read the full review here.

Maximum PC gives NETGEAR’s MoCA adapters an 8/10 score and raves about the easy installation, speed and security of the product.

Setup is Joe-six-pack friendly: Just unplug the coax cable from your TV set and plug it into the Netgear MOCA adapter. Run a second coax cable from the adapter to the TV. TV signals are passed through transparently, so your American Idol viewing won’t be disturbed.

The reviewer also streams HD videos with no problem and gives his final verdict thusly: + Easily builds a secured, wired, network using existing coax cables, – Doesn’t work with satellite providers, VERDICT -> 8 (out of 10)

See for yourself at Maximum PC

More and more positive reviews of the Netgear MCAB1001 MoCA Adapters are coming to light. These are a few more great reviews; check them out if you need even more reasons to buy one of these adapters.

Read the Review via zatznotfunny
Read the Review via grahms

The New York Times has created an article that compares Wi-Fi, Powerline and MoCA. Simply put, MoCA comes out on top, followed by Powerline, then, trailing the pack, Wi-Fi. They do specify that this is best for people who want to do some network intensive processes such as streaming videos/movies, etc.

Read the Full Article

Read the full review

The folks over at Engadget HD have reviewed the Netgear MCAB1001 MoCA Coax-Ethernet adapter. They do a great job at simplifying the concept and describing how the technology works.

This is a new device so we think a little introduction is in order. While this little box looks like a switch it’s really a bridge, in fact it is a Ethernet to coax bridge. You need two devices to get started, but can use up to 16. Each one has two coax connections and one Ethernet. The coax acts as a pass through so you can continue to use the coax cable for its initial purpose — you know cable TV or an ATSC antenna (not compatible with satellite). With these you can add a network connection anywhere in your house you have a coax cable running.

They give it a rave review, saying that that it works exactly as advertised without the pain of dropouts or weak throughput that powerline and Wi-Fi have. Pictures and a screen shot are included in the review, so, if you want to check it out, go to Engadget HD.

The folks at Station Stops have reviewed the Netgear MCAB1001 MoCA Coax-Ethernet Adapter Kit. Overall, it seems to have gotten a positive review.

If you want to plug multiple devices on the remote end (as I did – it is sitting behind my TV and needs to feed my game consoles, TiVo, remote Wifi AP and internet-connected TV) – you just need to plug the remote end into a cheap router (as the remote device itself only exposes a single IP address).

Previously, the only way to accomplish this type of thing without wifi or ethernet was to use Powerline ethernet, which is basically an identical solution except that it uses your AC wiring. The problem with Powerline is that the real throughput speed can vary widely, and even in the best case maybe tops out at 45 Mbps – half that of the Coax product.

If you want to read the full post, check out Station Stops’s review.