Turn your Windows PC into a killer home entertainment network with the InfiniTV 4 (1 Viewer)

How to Turn Your PC into the World’s Coolest Set-Top Box for Your TV

InfiniTV 4 USB from Ceton gives virtually every Windows 7 user exactly what they need to supercharge their home entertainment experience in ways cable set tops simply can’t match


KIRKLAND, WA — October 26, 2011 — If you’re running Windows 7 on a home PC, chances are you’re half way to TV nirvana. Available now, the new InfiniTV 4 USB digital cable tuner from Ceton Corporation can turn virtually any style of Windows 7 PC into the ultimate entertainment device for your TV, with features you can’t get from your cable set-top box. The InfiniTV magic starts with the ability to watch and record four live high-definition cable channels at once, not just two. Add a Media Center Extender like the Xbox 360 to your set up and you’ll be able to watch live HD shows and have DVR available on any TV set in your home. Using the PC as your home entertainment hub delivers benefits your cable set-top box and DVR simply can’t handle today:

• First, adding InfiniTV 4 USB to your PC with Media Center brings all of your TV and video content together in one device, including four simultaneous channels of basic and premium high-definition cable TV plus DVDs, Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, and any Internet video service you can access online.
• Second, your Windows PC can have far more storage than DVR set-top boxes, so you won’t have to delete a show you haven’t had a chance to watch yet or want to save.
• Third, if you add Media Center Extenders like the Xbox 360, you can enjoy whole-home entertainment such as watching a show on one TV, pausing it, and picking it up on another TV, since all shows are stored on one central PC.
• Finally, Windows Media Center is a free feature included in most versions of Windows 7, so you can get rid of those expensive set-top box rental costs and annoying monthly DVR service fees and use your PC with InfiniTV instead.

“With today’s economy, consumers are looking for ways to get more out of the gear they already own, and shave a few costs in the meantime,” said Gary Hammer, Ceton CEO. “Windows Media Center and InfiniTV 4 USB help families actually get more out of their cable subscription, lets them ditch cable set-top boxes and monthly rental fees, all while giving them a better way to enjoy TV. Ceton’s InfiniTV 4 USB is the cornerstone of an entertainment platform that brings all of a family’s TV entertainment together on one device – and just in time for football and the new fall season of shows.”


InfiniTV 4 USB is available starting today at a suggested retail price of $299 from Amazon, Cannon PC, Fluid Digital, Micro Center, the Microsoft Store, Newegg, Velocity Micro and Zones.


About Ceton Corporation


Ceton Corporation is the world leader in digital cable tuner solutions for the PC and is developing the next generation of in-home digital entertainment and communication solutions. Combining stellar hardware and software engineering capabilities with market-making technology, Ceton aims to help unlock the potential of the digital home to unleash a new generation of in-home connected entertainment and communication services for PC and device makers, software developers and consumers. More information about Ceton and its solutions is available at http://www.cetoncorp.com

This is the same hardware as provided in the Ceton PCI-Express.


If you haven't, check out all of the Ceton Cable Card talk in these threads:


RAF Talks about why you should consider it:


http://www.hometheaterforum.com/t/305703/the-ceton-digital-cable-quad-tuner-pc-card-and-why-you-should-seriously-consider-it


How to use the Ceton with other tuners, for an 8-Tuner Home solution (NOTE: there is now a 12 Tuner solution that will update soon!!)

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/t/308134/using-a-ceton-and-2-other-tuners-for-8-tuners-how-to



Ceton has a quality product that really brings Media Serving into the home..

Just to be clear, to make this product useful you need a handful of cablecards that are going to run you some serious $ per month from your cable company, housed permanently in a PC that this thing connects to 24/7, correct?

No. You need 1 Cable Card. My cable company (Surewest) charges $3 for one.

Your cable bill is up to you, depending on how many channels you subscribe to.. that's what they program the cable card for. For example, the basic package is $25/month, but it's basic.. HD adds more, premium adds more.. it's whatever your company charges. For some of us (who grab Showtime/StarZ/HBO) it can be a bit, but *shrug* it's not too bad, frankly.


But I've never found anyone who charges more then $5 for the cable card per month, it's generally cheaper then a cable box.


1 Cable card = 4 tuners.


This is USB, so the PC doesn't have to be on and it doesn't have to be running. Cable Labs only certifies MS Media Center 7. Elegato has worked some functionality (for most non-encrypted channels) into their offering for the Mac, though they aren't Cable Labs certified to my knowledge.


In other words: it's a TiVo in your Windows Media Center cheaper then TiVo. Your guides, etc. are free, performance is solid, and you can stack them to have multiple, multiple tuners at a much cheaper rate then leasing a cable box from a cable company OR using TiVo.

Originally Posted by Sam Posten

Just to be clear, to make this product useful you need a handful of cablecards that are going to run you some serious $ per month from your cable company, housed permanently in a PC that this thing connects to 24/7, correct?

Click to expand...

/t/315759/turn-your-windows-pc-into...ment-network-with-the-infinitv-4#post_3864325

OK, then I'm really confused what this gets me, even reading RAF's glowing report. Can you break it down for me why I'd want this, assuming I was big on DVRed content?

Ok, Sam.. I'll break it down.


Let's say you are a big fan of DVR. Maybe you like your TiVO. The case for a HTPC Cable Card device (which is like a TiVo) is that much of your content can be archived... forever. Or longer. In original, full format. So, let me give you an example of why that matters:


Last year, using my Ceton, I recorded every episode of "Parenthood: Season 2" in full HD, from my NBC provider. Perfect. I have it forever. Since my HTPC has about 22TB at the moment, I have no urgency to delete it. The network decides not to issue Blu-Rays. The DVDs they issue have altered soundtracks. Guess what? I still have originals, HD Quality with correct audio.


Or, for Cable Card.. HBO does documentaries.. so does ESPN. In HD. Great stuff. I set them to record, archive, and I have them forever. Maybe I want to burn them out to Bluray. I can. In fact, I've taken many a recording and spit out my own nice blurays. Full quality with DD5.1 tracks attached.


Let's say you're just a nut about whole home media.


In my living room, my HTPC connects to multiple Cable Cards (2) so I have 8 Tuners. And 4 Classic Tuners (12 tuners).


So, in my main room, I can watch "Castle". My wife in her office can watch back "16 Candles" on HBO, my kids can watch recordings of something else. Meanwhile, I can be recording multiple other tasks. With one point of entry, I'm not supplying cable boxes into every room of the house. I effectively cut my cable bill by $40, while adding services.. win/win for me.


Cable card services may not be for everyone, but for people who view HTPC as the holy grail, it's the end all. Want to record and store every college football game and keep them?

Wait, you're on the go? Oh yes, your Windows Media Center will stream your DVR recordings and your live TV to your iPad/iPhone anywhere in the world, as long as you have broadband on both ends and remote potato.

I guess it depends on what you're after and what you're looking for.

Why can't I do all that with just the windows PC tho?

Well, here's the thing: Cable cards allow you four tuners on 1 device. They also are native which means they already transmit a digital stream, so they don't have high CPU usage for the most part.


You can get to 8+ tuners with Cablecard; it'd be VERY hard to do it with any other device as most are 1 or 2 tuner per PCI/PCI-Ex card, or 1 tuner per USB.. so that'd be an issue.

The other issue is that without cablecard, you can receive analog cable (Channels 1-99) and ClearQAM (unprotected or required HD) but you cannot recieve any cable company tiers or product sheets. ClearQAM will never have say: HBO, Sho, Starz, Cinemax, etc. It also is unlikely to have many HD specialty offerings (think Fuse, MTVHD, BravoHD, AMCHD, etc.) which you can get with Cable Card.


With Cable card, my Media Center looks like this:







So, outside of all the extra programming, I also have an assurance with cablecard that I don't get with ClearQAM or with Analog, and that's here:





Cable Card gives me a signal to quality rate that tells me whether or not my provider is giving me full flow of a channel and I'm receiving it in the best possible quality; and since it's all digital end to end, I can be assured it's as good as it gets. Here, I have Showtime HD set to record in a cascading order and I've assigned it four cable card tuners off of Tuner1, so that Tuner1 is it's primary, and it can record 3 other stations as well as Showtime (though if all four are busy, I have not assigned Tuner2 to Showtime as well, though I have that option)


Windows comes with all the functionality built in. The cablecard advisor is part of the heart of it - it's been built in since Windows7 shipped. But now the cable cards are available through parties other then the cable companies contracting you expensive 2 tuner devices.


So, for those who love themselves a ton of TV.. it works out VERY well.

And moments like this:





Record five while kids watch a recording from yesterday in their room, and wife watches recordings of whatever in her room.. Comes in handy! Oh, that in the corner? Suburgatory from this week.

Ok got ya, if I EVER need more than two streams, cap my knees.

Just wait until you have kids sam. Then tell me how much Phineas and Pherb or Wizards of Waverly Place you're prepared to watch..

I have an Infitv 4, it is amazing. It took a week or two to work out all of my issues (pc settings, networking ect), but I now have my HTPC and 2 xbox 360's setup as extenders. Here is a video of my PC that I built to run the Infinitv on... Video of my HTPC Here

Nice build, Andy.. maybe a bit overboard for what I'd do, but I like the design.

Neat. Quite the powerhouse of a system.


Can you tell us the price (in round numbers) for such a system?

I was looking at the infiniTV 4 Card instead of the box, but since it's the same tuners my questions should still apply, Does it work with Satilite providers (DTV) And do you need to use the WMC interface or can you use XBMC as the interface. BTW slick little card and is what I have been waiting for since I built my HTPC.

No, the Ceton is cablecard only. You cannot use it with Satellite.

XBMC (and nothing other then WMC, frankly) supports CableCard Encryption. So you cannot use XBMC with Ceton, outside of unencrypted content

Originally Posted by Lisn2me

I was looking at the infiniTV 4 Card instead of the box, but since it's the same tuners my questions should still apply,
Does it work with Satilite providers (DTV)
And do you need to use the WMC interface or can you use XBMC as the interface.
BTW slick little card and is what I have been waiting for since I built my HTPC.

Click to expand...

/t/315759/turn-your-windows-pc-into...ment-network-with-the-infinitv-4#post_3868172

I was afraid that was the case.. Bummer, Maybe someday DTV will allow a company such as Ceton to create a card for them and release the DMR to someone other than Mircosoft. Using WMC wouldn't be a deal break I just don't like the look and feel of the interface.