New 530 Unit MFH3 Install - Need Input

[GTS]

I'm preparing to perform said install and would like any and all input you'd care to offer. This will be a triple play install and is 100% FTH with no IDFs. What can I expect by way of problems, anomalies and such. This is strictly an HDDVR, 2 to 3 per unit, roll out. I'm told by ALU there will not be a bandwidth problem, but I have my doubts. Do you have any data you can share? How well do the IP receivers perform? Is the normal channel changing delay seen on the RF models still prevalent? Is the delay better, worse or the same? MRV?

Any and all tips, comments and advice are more than welcome.

Thanking you all in advance,

Luis

[GTS]

WOW!
Not even one reply. Has no one here done an MFH3 install?

Well, thanks anyway.

[BattleZone]

The number of folks who install MFH3 is going to be very, very small (only a handful of companies nationwide), so I'm not surprised that you didn't get much of a response.

[litzdog911]

You might try the installer forums at DirecTV ....
http://forums.directv.com/pe/index.jsp?portalPageId=10472402&channelID=1

[GTS]

Thanks Guys,
I Knew the hands on knowledge pool would be quite limited, but I thought there would be at least one individual on this site with the answers.

Thanks again,

Luis

[woodybeetle]

I'm preparing to perform said install and would like any and all input you'd care to offer. This will be a triple play install and is 100% FTH with no IDFs. What can I expect by way of problems, anomalies and such. This is strictly an HDDVR, 2 to 3 per unit, roll out. I'm told by ALU there will not be a bandwidth problem, but I have my doubts. Do you have any data you can share? How well do the IP receivers perform? Is the normal channel changing delay seen on the RF models still prevalent? Is the delay better, worse or the same? MRV?

Any and all tips, comments and advice are more than welcome.

Thanking you all in advance,

Luis

The problems to expect, bad splices, microbent fibers, non connectivity. All these items will present immediately, no maybe its bad, maybe its not. As far as the recivers, they act the same. Thompson is a great company to work with. Congratulations on the installation contract, I hope the pay is good for the work involved.

[vader78]

Dont know if you have started yet but you can PM me with questions - I have done 10 MFH3 installs...

Bandwidth should not be a problem since all MPEG4 now - you will see about 10M per HD box in a unit...you will probably see it cap out around 60M if all 6 tuners are in use at a residence. Alcatel or Thompson should have told you how to setup the VLANs and allocate bandwidth correctly.

Receivers perform fine - their software is a little behind the National roll-out so some of the bugs still exist. They are almost out of HR-20i boxes and should be selling you HR-24i come this fall. Channel changing is fine and works same as if there was a dish. MRV, DOD and other data services work but you need to have a seperate data network in the unit. For example, one of the ethernet ports on the box takes the MFH3 stream and the other ethernet port on the box connects to the units data network (needs to pull a DHCP IP address). Most of the time you can split the pairs at the box and at the CPE to achieve this.

Congrats on the job - the fiber and RF setup will be the most complicated part of the setup...the MFH3 gateways are essentially plug and play once the config templates are loaded.

[EnemyNSA]

Hey everyone.. figured I'd piggyback on this thread since it's the only real mention of MFH-3 here.

Our company is thinking about deploying MFH-3 (or whatever the fancy name they have now is) in three residential communities relatively soon. These are all pre-wired Ethernet units with current 100base-T connectivity.

Just wondering what to expect versus normal MFH-2 installs.. :D

[GTS]

Thanks for the input and opportunity to get in touch Vader. I will definitely take you up on this. Yes, Alcatel-Lucent has been good to work with, but I always like to get the perspective of the hands on personnel as to what to really expect. It's one thing to "know" how something works "on paper", it's quite another to see it in a real world scenario.

Thanks again,

Luis

____________Edit__________

Enemy,

I've only just ordered the head-end, so I don't have any input as of yet, but as soon as I do it will be posted here. As you can see from this post, not a lot of hands on personnel with MFH3 experience here, or anywhere else I've posted.

Once again, my thanks to Vader for stepping up and being willing to be of service.

[EnemyNSA]

Thanks for the update GTS!

I'd love to hear about the head-end unit.. that thing looks like a beast!

And yes, I imagine the MFH-3 community is going to be very small, and like you I prefer real world experience vs the manuals!

[FeralPig]

Absolute peak on Directv MPEG4 HD channels is 18MB. MPEG2 SD channels peak around 9MB. Typical for HD is 6-9MB and SD is 2-3MB. If its all fiber to the premise I wouldn't expect bandwidth issues. VDSL2 is another story. I have seen bandwidth issues there when added together with Inet access.

Channel delay is about the same as an RF DVR unit. If you see long channel change times that is usually an RF issue first or a network loading issue second.

Dont know if you have started yet but you can PM me with questions - I have done 10 MFH3 installs...

Bandwidth should not be a problem since all MPEG4 now - you will see about 10M per HD box in a unit...you will probably see it cap out around 60M if all 6 tuners are in use at a residence. Alcatel or Thompson should have told you how to setup the VLANs and allocate bandwidth correctly.


Receivers perform fine - their software is a little behind the National roll-out so some of the bugs still exist. They are almost out of HR-20i boxes and should be selling you HR-24i come this fall. Channel changing is fine and works same as if there was a dish. MRV, DOD and other data services work but you need to have a seperate data network in the unit. For example, one of the ethernet ports on the box takes the MFH3 stream and the other ethernet port on the box connects to the units data network (needs to pull a DHCP IP address). Most of the time you can split the pairs at the box and at the CPE to achieve this.

Congrats on the job - the fiber and RF setup will be the most complicated part of the setup...the MFH3 gateways are essentially plug and play once the config templates are loaded.