VOOM DVR: So what's it going to be....RG-6 or Cat5?

[riffjim4069]

This question has been numerous times over the past year, but I'll ask once again...will RG-6 or Cat5 be used to network the HD DVR and clients? It has been more than eleven weeks (yes, 11 weeks) since the HD DVR was demo'd at CES2005 and a Motorola/UCentric engineer was unable to state which one VOOM would implement.

VOOM has to be very, very close to releasing the HD DVR and this information certainly isn't a trade secret - they have to know the answer to this one by now! So what is it...RG-6, Cat5 or both?

 

[timfouts]

I think I remember reading in an old AV Interiors that the "good" thing about the Ucentric solution was that RG6 had a better transmission rate than Cat5. Cable companies, after all, use it for HSI access and most homes are wired already for RG6 in some form. I'm just reporting what I read.

 

[Andrew B]

I would bet it will be RG6. I can't imagine requiring folks to run CAT5e from one TV to the next (or do 'home runs' to each room), just to use their DVR. Personally...I would prefer the CAT5e or even CAT6 since I already have 95 runs of it in my house (don't ask). But let's be realistic, it will probably be RG6 since VOOM installers can handle that. (No offense to the responsible ones that are also reading this - YOU might be able to handle setting up a LAN in someone's home, but MOST VOOM installers can't even handle showing up).

MY WISH? I would happily take BOTH CAT5e/CAT6 and RG6.

Andrew

 

[jagouar]

it will be both i think.... theres a USB 2.0 port on the back they are planning on using with some kind of adapter.

 

[Lobstah]

The USB wireless approach would be the easiest in most cases. That' what Tivo has done. A friend of mine just set his up, and it's the bee's knee's

Lob

 

[cfarm]

I think I remember reading in an old AV Interiors that the "good" thing about the Ucentric solution was that RG6 had a better transmission rate than Cat5. Cable companies, after all, use it for HSI access and most homes are wired already for RG6 in some form. I'm just reporting what I read.

My RG6 connection at home provides me with 3 Mbs HSI cable speeds while my Cat5 network cable provides 1 Gbs between workstations.

It has nothing to do with the transmission rate. More likely it's the ability to retrofit to the largest number of homes.

 

[cfarm]

The USB wireless approach would be the easiest in most cases. That' what Tivo has done. A friend of mine just set his up, and it's the bee's knee's

Lob

Wireless is not an option. There is no standard or QoS features that will support the bitrates necessary for HDTV. It's generally accepted that something around 60 Mbs will be needed in combination with a good Quality of Service spec for video transmission. That's a couple of years out at least.

 

[T2k]

My RG6 connection at home provides me with 3 Mbs HSI cable speeds while my Cat5 network cable provides 1 Gbs between workstations.

It has nothing to do with the transmission rate. More likely it's the ability to retrofit to the largest number of homes.

Exactly. At the same time UTP wiring has some future options, though I'd welcome the wireless way, at least as an option.

 

[jnardone]

Wireless is not an option. There is no standard or QoS features that will support the bitrates necessary for HDTV. It's generally accepted that something around 60 Mbs will be needed in combination with a good Quality of Service spec for video transmission. That's a couple of years out at least.

I send HD wirelessly from my PC to a $250 LinkPlayer media server attached to my HDTV. It can take WM9, Mpeg2, HDivX. You just need the computing power in the box to be able to decompress the video file on the fly.