Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) for in-Home Networking over Coaxials
May 25, 2016
Homeowners can pause a movie they are watching on a TV, go to another room and continue the movie from the same place on another TV. This technology is known as MoCA 2.0 and it follows a standard created by the Multimedia over Coax Alliance.
MoCA technology was developed in USA during the year 2004 and it allows in-home networking over coaxial cable. Coaxial cable has traditionally been used to bring cable television signals into homes. MoCA 2.0 allows users to download HD programming to their set top box. That same content can then be sent to another room in the house. The aim is to transmit a data or video signal a primary set-top to a secondary one and vice versa.
The key benefits of MoCA are that it is reliable and cost-effective as it does not require new cables or installations and it does not interfere with existing networks. The technology operates within any environment that uses coaxial cable and complements wireless networks. Although MoCA is mostly known for multi-room DVR, it also enables photo and video sharing around the home, multi-player gaming, and photo and video transfer from a PC to a TV.
The MoCA organization estimates that coaxial cables are already installed in more than 90% of homes in US and many countries in Asia, South America and Europe. Coax is ideal for signal carrying as it is shielded and the signal carried is not subject to interference from sources outside the cable. Using coaxial cabling to transmit signals enables the technology to work over very wide bandwidths, unlike other technologies such as powerline networks or wireless which are more susceptible to interference.
Wireless networks mainly operate at the 2.4 GHz frequency spectrum in a narrow band. Many other devices including microwaves, cordless handsets and other wireless networks operate at the same frequency, resulting in many opportunities for interference. MoCA works between 860 and 1550 MHz in a wide spectrum on a shielded network. This will allow future generations of home networks to grow beyond the current limitation through the high data rate capacity.
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3 comments
Thanks for explaining what MoCA (aka Multimedia over Coax Alliance) stands for and more to the point, what it does for your home theatre experience. I never gave it much thought to how I could watch a show in the living room then resume watching it in the family room, but this was a fun read.
The question on home theater fanatics’ minds seems to be, “Should I enable moca?” I don’t think it should be limited to them however as a moca wifi extender makes life so much easier when you have multiple devices in your home. The days of running a million cables through your home is over, and from what I’ve read, you’ll be amazed at the simplicity of how to set up a moca network in your home.
This blog brings up a point I’ve been thinking about after coming here. I’ve learned that there are ways to improve your cell phone signals through things like apps, cell phone boosters, and DAS installations. At the same time, I’ve been concerned that there are so many signals floating around through the ether that sooner or later, they’re bound to interfere with one another. It sounds like the design people are looking into this, but does anyone have any inkling whether this is a problem we’re headed for?