Ideas Needed for Connecting an HDHomeRun in Another Room in a Rented Townhouse

Channels DVR Server
#1

I recently moved into a new townhouse rental with my wife. I am getting great signal strength were I have my antenna but there isn’t an Ethernet port there in the room that it is in. Currently I have just a Ethernet cable running on the ground which isn’t good lol. Could I WiFi bridge to my UDR or Power over Ethernet. What could be my options for the cleanest look for my wife? Lik

#2

I am so confused. So your wife doesn't like the look of the HDHR setup?

I guess a PoE will help but I feel like I'm missing some details. This is way I setup my stuff. Got some PoE adapters and a PoE Switch from TP-Link. You'll need another adapter for the HDHR tho

#3

If the townhouse is wired for coax, you might be able to use some of DirecTV's DECA adapters. They're not expensive, and they work fine.

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#4

If you're not wired for coax, another (admittedly more expensive) solution is a mesh wifi system.

I have a Google Nest Wifi Pro setup. My HDHR is nowhere near either coax or Ethernet, but I just put one of the Nest units in the same room and run the HDHR's ethernet cable into that. It works great.

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#5

At my mother's townhouse, there is only Ethernet at her computer on 1st floor. I use a TP link deco units (M9 plus); one at computer and one upstairs. HDHR plugs into the one upstairs as well as her DVR Server. No issues at all. Just make sure your mesh unit has an Ethernet port.

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#6

Definitely recommend MOCA if there is COAX in the room with your HDHR and then in your server room as well.

#7

At my in-laws' house, I set it up with ethernet over powerline to get reliable connections in the other side of the house. Works great. Network throughput is more than fast ethernet (100Mbps) less than gigabit ethernet. That's plenty fast for HDHR which only has 100Mbps ethernet.

#8

With all of the possible options expressed above, here's a comparison table to help you pick out the option that's best for you:

DECA vs. MoCA vs. Powerline Ethernet vs. Mesh Wi-Fi

All four technologies can extend your home network without installing new Ethernet cabling, but they differ significantly in speed, reliability, cost, and suitability for streaming or other network-intensive applications.

Comparison table

Prices are approximate U.S. equipment costs, and actual speeds depend on the hardware and installation.

Feature DECA MoCA 2.5 Powerline Ethernet Mesh Wi-Fi
Transmission medium Coaxial cable Coaxial cable Electrical wiring Wireless radio
Typical hardware cost $15–$20/pair $100–$180/pair $50–$120/pair $100–$400+ (2–3 nodes)
Advertised maximum speed 100 Mbps (common DECA) 2.5 Gbps shared 600–2400 Mbps rated 1.2–10+ Gbps aggregate rated
Typical real-world throughput 70–95 Mbps 900 Mbps–2.3 Gbps 30–400 Mbps 100–900+ Mbps
Latency Very low Very low Low to moderate Low to moderate
Connection stability Excellent Excellent Variable Variable
Distance / coverage Hundreds of feet over coax Hundreds of feet over coax Depends on electrical circuits Depends on node placement and walls
Interference susceptibility Low Low Moderate to high Moderate to high
Full-duplex Ethernet Yes, at Ethernet ports Yes, at Ethernet ports Yes, at Ethernet ports Yes, at Ethernet ports
Installation complexity Easy to moderate Easy to moderate Very easy Easy
Additional wiring required Existing coax Existing coax Existing electrical wiring None
Works through splitters Compatible coax splitters MoCA-rated coax splitters N/A N/A
Best application Inexpensive 100 Mbps connections High-performance wired networking Basic networking where coax is unavailable Whole-home wireless coverage
Overall recommendation Budget option Best wired alternative Last-resort wired option Best wireless coverage option

Important: Advertised Powerline and Mesh Wi-Fi speeds are generally aggregate physical-layer ratings, not achievable single-device Ethernet throughput. MoCA's 2.5 Gbps figure is shared network capacity; a pair with 2.5GbE ports can approach that speed under good conditions.

Additional considerations

Consideration DECA MoCA Powerline Mesh Wi-Fi
Streaming multiple 4K channels Good Excellent Fair to good Good to excellent
Gaming / low latency Excellent Excellent Variable Good
Large file transfers Poor Excellent Fair Good
Multiple adapters/nodes Supported Supported Supported Supported
Dedicated backhaul Coax Coax Electrical wiring Wireless or wired, depending on model
Satellite TV compatibility Designed for DIRECTV SWM Usually incompatible with satellite coax Independent Independent
Cable TV compatibility Generally unsuitable for active cable coax Usually compatible with proper configuration Independent Independent
Power requirements Adapter power or supported power inserter AC adapter Wall outlet AC adapter
Security Physically isolated coax network preferred Encryption and PoE filter options Encrypted pairing WPA2/WPA3, depending on model

Important technical differences

DECA: Standard DIRECTV DECA adapters provide approximately 100 Mbps Ethernet connectivity. The DECA coax network itself has roughly 200 Mbps of aggregate bidirectional capacity. Gigabit DECA hardware also exists, so not all DECA devices are limited to 100 Mbps.

MoCA: MoCA 2.5 provides up to 2.5 Gbps shared MAC throughput with average one-way latency below 2.5 milliseconds. Choose adapters with 2.5GbE ports if you need speeds exceeding 1 Gbps.

Powerline: TP-Link reports that real throughput is typically only 20–30% of the negotiated Powerline rate, which itself can be substantially below the advertised maximum.

Mesh Wi-Fi: Wireless backhaul consumes wireless airtime and performance depends heavily on distance, interference, and node placement. A wired backhaul using Ethernet or MoCA can substantially improve consistency.

Overall ranking

For extending a network to a fixed location with existing coax:

  1. MoCA 2.5 — Best combination of speed, latency, and reliability.

  2. DECA — Excellent budget choice when 100 Mbps is sufficient.

  3. Mesh Wi-Fi — Best for extending wireless coverage without relying on existing cables.

  4. Powerline Ethernet — Useful fallback, but performance is highly dependent on electrical wiring.

For your streaming devices, Channels DVR clients, and other networked equipment, I would generally favor MoCA 2.5 for high-bandwidth connections and DECA for inexpensive 100 Mbps connections.

One particularly effective configuration is to use MoCA as the wired backhaul for mesh Wi-Fi access points. That combines the reliability of coax with the wireless coverage benefits of mesh.

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