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Post by Chris Miller on Mar 14, 2010 12:23:09 GMT -5
Ceton has finally announced a ship date for the their Ceton InfiniTV 4 card. This is a PCIe card that can record 4 channels from a single m-card. Orders are being taken now for a May 31st ship date from zones.com. The retail price is $399. It's not cheap, but it doesn't have much in terms of competition. ATI has their external Cablecard device, but you would need 2 of them to equal the Ceton card and good luck trying to find one. Sony stopped selling them and Amazon lists them as out of stock.
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Post by Skaggs on Mar 14, 2010 18:58:57 GMT -5
How would you get SDV channels? In other words, do you need 4 tuning adapters in order to record 4 live streams from 4 SDV channels?
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Post by Chris Miller on Mar 14, 2010 20:37:36 GMT -5
How would you get SDV channels? In other words, do you need 4 tuning adapters in order to record 4 live streams from 4 SDV channels? From what Ceton posted on their site, if your CableCo uses the Motorola tuning adapter, you only need one. If you have the brain-dead (my words - not theirs) Cisco tuning adapter like we do (featuring "Das Blinkendes grĂ¼nes Licht"), then you need two of them to handle 4 channels. Some guy on TheGreenButton has been beta testing the 6 channel Ceton card and Ceton has lifted his NDA. Lot's of good stuff posted in the Ceton MOCUR Q&A thread. He's on TWC and has 3 Cisco 1520's to handle the SDV duties for a 6 channel prototype. There's some background information on Ceton company in an article posted by the Seattle Times. It likes they may release a 2 channel version later in the year in PCIe and USB versions for around $300.
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rv65
New Member
Posts: 10
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Post by rv65 on Mar 15, 2010 23:16:14 GMT -5
Silicondust is working on a dual tuner HDHomeRun with Cable Cards.
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Post by Chris Miller on Mar 16, 2010 20:38:19 GMT -5
Silicondust is working on a dual tuner HDHomeRun with Cable Cards. A screen short posted by a Slicondust employee. Competition is always good, that should keep prices lower. I wonder how Silicondust is going to handle the DRM restrictions required by Cable Labs for the CableCard support. In order to get certified, the tuner has to obey the CCI restrictions. That can be a little dicey as the current generation of HDHomerun units allow multiple PC's to use it. I think that Cable Labs requires you to lock a tuner to a specific PC.
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Post by Chris Miller on Apr 3, 2010 22:58:20 GMT -5
Engadget HD got their hands on the Ceton InfiniTV 4 and posted their review here. What it really comes down to is that we love the InfiniTV 4. It works as advertised and really makes Windows 7 Media Center the best DVR there is (for cable subscribers). Whether you already have an ATI CableCARD tuner, or you're thinking of switching over from an TiVo HD, we think this is a great upgrade. We think that this will be the device that makes Media Center become the DVR of choice for those who demand the best.
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Post by hurnik on Apr 5, 2010 15:47:51 GMT -5
Very nice. Although not sure if I would want two Cisco TA. One is trouble enough.
haha
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Post by UsualNoise on Dec 6, 2010 10:54:17 GMT -5
I'm on the verge of placing an order for one of these Ceton cards. I'd like to wait to see how good the HDHomeRun Prime is, but I don't know when it is coming out. I have a regular HDHomeRun and it works great, but I'm itching to replace my TW cable boxes sooner rather than later ($32 a month for two boxes at the present time).
If I get the Ceton, it sounds like TW Albany doesn't let you just "pick up" a CableCard. They have to come and "install" it. Given that, is there any chance at all that whoever comes will have any idea what to do with an HTPC install? My guess is no. I'm probably going to have to do most of the work. Anyone else have a non-Tivo CableCard install experience?
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Post by BenJF3 on Dec 6, 2010 16:05:15 GMT -5
This may find life once Time Warner has to start following the new FCC guidelines for CableCard next year. Right now, TWC only supports 2 tuners (new regulations require support for 4). Also, the new regulations require them to allow self installs of CableCards.
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Post by hurnik on Dec 6, 2010 22:33:34 GMT -5
Yes, truck roll and $17 or $20 for the "install" of the cable card. AND they won't let the installer bring a tuning adapter for the SDV channels AND they won't let you order one until AFTER you have the cable card installed. So you'll get to be without the SDV channels for about 2 weeks while you wait for the stupid letter to show up and then you get to drive to Clifton Park or Schenectady to get one.
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Post by BenJF3 on Dec 6, 2010 22:53:00 GMT -5
I read the FCC ruling and the Cable Companies fought tooth and nail to KEEP Tuning adapters saying they are perfectly adequate because there is no demand for third party units. Tivo wants an IP backchannel to eliminate the need for tuning adapters and the cable ops DO NOT want that.
Thing is, there is a demand, especially with this new Navigator garbage. I'd really like a Moxi box that could handle VOD!
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Post by UsualNoise on Dec 6, 2010 23:51:03 GMT -5
So you can't just go to an office the day of / after your CableCard install and say "Hey, I need a tuning adapter"? Seems stupid if true.
In any event, I just learned something that made me decide NOT to get a Ceton card. Turns out you cannot playback a Copy Once program recorded on one Windows 7 Media Center PC on another Windows 7 Media Center PC. You HAVE to have a Media Center extender to do that. It makes no sense to me why Microsoft doesn't allow what seems like an obvious action. Oh, wait, that's standard operating procedure.
So now I'm thinking of waiting for the HD HomeRun Prime to be released since then I can at least record on more than one computer. If I end up getting one I'll post back here about the experience.
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Post by BenJF3 on Dec 7, 2010 1:06:42 GMT -5
So you can't just go to an office the day of / after your CableCard install and say "Hey, I need a tuning adapter"? Seems stupid if true. Nope, they have to order you one from Texas and drop ship it. I'm trying to get an official word from someone at Time Warner on when they plan to be in compliance with the new rules, but that is going to be a task in itself.
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Post by hurnik on Dec 15, 2010 20:47:51 GMT -5
And, to my knowledge, the only "extender" for Media Center is an Xbox 360. My GUESS is that it's probably the only way to appease Cable Labs as it'd be extremely difficult to hack without Prom modifications whereas you could potential hack a Windows Media Center PC to bypass the copy protection. But that's just a guess.
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Post by Skaggs on Jun 7, 2011 9:33:48 GMT -5
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