EngadgetHD reviews MoCA Ethernet adapter

Netgear MoCA Coax-Ethernet adapter review [EngadgetHD]

The day of the networked home entertainment center is already upon us, as many videophiles are already connecting their HDTVs to media center PCs or Internet connected set top boxes. But existing technologies like wi-fi and powerline networking really don't do HD signals justice for those that want to move those signals around the house from a source to a television. EngadgetHD has reviewed a consumer product from Netgear that uses a CableLabs standard called MoCA (Multimedia over Coax) that allows users to use bandwidth on the coaxial cables in their homes to move HD content around the home. And for that matter, the MoCA standard can also be used for simply creating a home network with super-fast speeds - try speeds up to 270 Mbps that can be achieved without interfering with your cable service, according to Netgear.

This article reviews a hypothetical connection to an network-enabled LG Blu-ray player that allows streaming of HD content from a PC. If you didn't want to move the PC into the room with your television and Blu-ray player, you simply connect one of these MoCA adapters to your PC via an Ethernet cable and connect the adapter to a coax jack. Make the same connections with another adapter to the Blu-ray player, and you have a network on the cable within your home. Engadget indicates that their experience with the adapters was plug-and-play and the setup and configuration were a cinch.

Until new wireless standard speeds catch up, MoCA is a reliable transmission method for moving HD content around the home. Plus, it doesn't have the signal degradation problems that some proprietary HD wireless solutions inevitably exhibit on occasion.

Comments

[Jeffrey Struss]

It's great and all, but when will CableLabs allow home users to purchase cable card devices to make their OWN HTPCs (home theater PCs). Right now, you have to buy a FULL computer from a limited number of manufacturers, because CableLabs only allows THEM to make and use devices for cable cards. This is stupid. It makes people who legitimately want ot make their OWN HTPCs frustrated.