Originally Posted by
pgershon 
I purchased a 3-tuner DVR and a 2-tuner DVR, along with two Mates, to run on a TWC system in NYC. My initial plan was to run both Mates with the 3-tuner DVR and the second DVR was added about a week later. I have found it impossible to run the two Mates from the 3-tuner DVR, despite company claims that it should work, and wonder about the experience of others. Is anybody running two Mates with LiveTV off the same Moxi 3-tuner DVR?
With that basic theme, here are some comments and some bugs I have found. Moxi support has been very responsive, although they have not fixed my problem and I think they are wrong to blame my network configuration. I went so far as to disconnect my entire network and rewire as a test with simple w Mates and one DVR connected to a router connected to DSL and I had the same issues on the Mates with Live TV.
Issue #1: Moxi Mate responsiveness. Even when I am not pairing both Mates on the same DVR, when each Mate is paired to a different DVR, changing channels is at best a sluggish process. The guide and channel banners come up instantaneously, but I get a 3-10 second message "Please Wait" before the tuned channel appears. While I can live with this, my wife screams. It is particularly irritating when trying to switch back and forth between two channels. And this is not the worst of it, sometimes the channel guide itself goes away and I just get a "Change Time Slot" message instead of a channel list.
Moxi support has led me to look at the bandwidth the Mate is receiving by going to the Media Link screen, choosing get info, and then choosing check connectivity. I have found that with one Mate tuned to a DVR connectivity is generally between 80-95 and when two Mates are tuned to the same DVR, connectivity drops to 60-75. Poor performance on the Mates seems to correspond to connectivity below 85 (although the delay for programming on LiveTV I cited above happens even with 95 values for bandwidth).
My units are all connected with ethernet Cat5e wiring. My home network seems to run at gigabit speeds (at least the 1000 baseT display lights come on with my Dlink switches). The network is large and it is an extended star, with a DSL modem, a router and a switch in the center, and another dlink switch at each branch (connecting, generally, the Moxi unit, a Macintosh, an Apple TV, and maybe a wireless access point, one per floor of my townhouse). I did a network survey and their are 24 IP addresses on my network assigned by the DHCP of the router, but this should be a workable number. I am speculating that the Moxi Mates themselves are the limiting feature (100 base T limit) and that running multiple streams from one DVR to two mates causes bottlenecks. Not sure what else could be going on.
Bottom line here is that I would like to see the bandwidth and channel changing speed on the Mates improved. The DVRs themselves are very responsive.
Issue #2: Tuner usage. When the DVR is recording, one tuner is used for the program being recorded. A second tuner is used for whatever the last channel that unit was set to, even if the TV is off and no one is watching it. Unlike the Mates, the DVR does not release its tuner when not in use. This is problematic if someone tried to use a tuner from a Mate. The Mate comes up with a message that one tuner is being used for a recording and one tuner is in use. The Mate, in theory, allows you to drop eitherr the recording or the other show. In practice, dropping the recording works fine, but dropping the channel that is live on the DVR (though the TV is off and no one is watching) fails. This is a bug. Moxi shoudl hopefully address it.
Issue #3: Random power offs. Like some of the other users here, I have had a few random shutoffs, where my DVR seems to reboot for no reason. Only happened twice, but completely unexplained. The log was sent to moxi and they have a ticket open on this issue.
Issue #4: Pairing Mate and DVR. This process does not work as well as it should. I doubt there are many users yet who have multiple DVRs and multiple Mates, but there likely will be with time. Right now, it is difficult to determine which DVR a Mate is paired with and very cumbersome to change once paired. The only way to change a pairing, I believe, is to unplug the Mate, unplug the DVR you want to pair with, boot up the DVR, and then boot the Mate. The Mate pairs with the last DVR to reboot. My suggestion is that (1) Moxi establish a better pairing process and (2) Moxi put in a banner to identify the DVR a MAte is paired with.
Having said all of this (and it is a long entry I realize), I actually like the Moxi. The picture is probably sharper than the one TWC delivered through the SA8300HDC boxes and better than the one on my Samsung HD box (I think 3090). Also, and most significantly, having the ability to watch recorded shows in any room is key. This is why i bought the Moxi and this is unmatched by TWC or by Tivo.
I don't see any update? Since 6.1.0.25R4BR-P.30145O
