Ceton Introduces 6-Tuner PCIe & Ethernet Editions (1 Viewer)

[Sam Posten]

We're saying the same thing. If I have a 10mb printer there is no way I am getting data to it faster than 10mb even with a gigabit router between my PC and that printer.

 

[mattCR]

We're saying the same thing. If I have a 10mb printer there is no way I am getting data to it faster than 10mb even with a gigabit router between my PC and that printer.

Ok.. Then I'm confused.. I may have misunderstood you. I was saying: if the Ceton plugs directly into your switch, and your computer runs to the switch, then it doesn't matter what your router is, either way.
I thought you were implying your router needed to be gigabit in order to accomplish this.
So, I guess your router is in a different location (where the Ceton would be?) than your switch?

 

[DaveF]

I just spoke to my whole home installer, they tell me the kit is modular so I can change the router in the box without upsetting the rest of the LyriQ system. Will confirm tonight but I may be able to just swap this guy in:

http://www.amazon.com/-Q-Legrand-DA1008-8-Port-Gigabit/dp/B0032FO20O/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1368558962&sr=1-4&keywords=on-q+legrand

what does a $150 switch do that a $35 switch doesn't? This s what I put in my wiring hub for the house?
http://www.amazon.com/TRENDnet-Unmanaged-GREENnet-Standard-1000Mbps/dp/B001QUA6RA/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1368585623&sr=1-1&keywords=trendnet+switch
My setup is:
External cable in to Fios Router
Fios router to 8 port gigabit switch
Living room port to 100 Mbps Apple Extreme for wifi and living room devices

 

[mattCR]

what does a $150 switch do that a $35 switch doesn't? This s what I put in my wiring hub for the house?
http://www.amazon.com/TRENDnet-Unmanaged-GREENnet-Standard-1000Mbps/dp/B001QUA6RA/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1368585623&sr=1-1&keywords=trendnet+switch
My setup is:
External cable in to Fios Router
Fios router to 8 port gigabit switch
Living room port to 100 Mbps Apple Extreme for wifi and living room devices

Honest answer:

In consumer grade, not much. The trendnet, like many, is a Realtek-based switch and it performs decently well. Anything really in the sub-$200 range doesn't really provide anything "standout" frankly, and in all my testing, telling them apart is worthless.

Meanwhile, jump into business class, and you start getting some more important features; from correctly honoring QOS for QOS devices, Network Management, VLAN support, Network Priority Settings, etc.

But for most home users those functions are by and large not anything they are after. In this case, I think Sam is looking at that because he has a whole-house system that uses that, so it would be the replacement panel type.

 

[Sam Posten]

I was saying: if the Ceton plugs directly into your switch, and your computer runs to the switch, then it doesn't matter what your router is, either way.
I thought you were implying your router needed to be gigabit in order to accomplish this.
So, I guess your router is in a different location (where the Ceton would be?) than your switch?

That might be what you meant but what you said was:

Your switch could be 10Mb, 100Mb, or whatever, but if your endpoints were all plugged into a gigabit switch, they talk amongst themselves as gigabit.

Either way I rummaged through my box and boy was I surprised to find that NEITHER of the ON-Q solutions was implemented. They actually just have 4 of the 5 wall plugs from my rooms run to the back of the FIOS actiontec combination router and modem. One room I never used wasn't plugged into anything. /boggle

So I purchased a cheap netgear gigabit switch and will have the 5 rooms plug into that and then upstream that to the Actiontec and should be good to go.

UNLESS the Airport extremes wont be fed IP via NAT doing it that way. I can have those two plug into the Actiontec directly and the other rooms onto the new Netgear switch, I assume that they'll get NATed fine tho....

 

[Sam Posten]

I got my Infinitv ETH yesterday and got it installed. Wasn't easy. For some unknown reason the CableCard paired just fine but there was no Verification signal getting to it. Spent 50 minutes on the phone with Verizon trying to figure it out. Think they had something misconfigured at their end, at one point the tech told me that the Device ID and another code were put in duplicate when they were actually two different numbers. We aren't sure WHAT fixed it but after a half hour of that they finally got it to go through.

Despite Matt's advice to not bother with wireless I had no choice since my Gig switches had not gotten here yet (I expect the 8 port for connecting all of the rooms together to get here today and I purchased 2 more 5 ports, one for my office and one for the basement so those Xboxes will connect via cable and not wirelessly now, (And I'm assuming they have GigE and not 100mb! Will have to look into that).

Once I got the verification signal to go through I then ran into issues with Media Center. Apparently my installation didn't have the Digital Cable stuff in the extras that most people should. Searching online I found a direct link to the x84 and 64 bit .msi files and installed it and that worked no sweat. That got me all of my standard channels but none of the encrypted ones. The Ceton instructions were a bit lax on that but I noticed I kept getting a message that "Your computer is not digital cable ready" so I searched on that and found instructions on fixing it by the MC setup.

So now I can watch HBO no sweat. It lags a bit here and there and goes to massive macroblocks every once in a while, but hoping putting it on full Gigabit will fix that.

Outstanding issues:
- It did tell me that it thought the Ceton could only use 4 tuners. Will have to figure that out eventually but I don't see me using more than 3 at a time for the forseeable future anyway.

-Need to figure a way to lock keyboard input while watching. Cats walk over the keyboard!

-Definitely going to have to calibrate this screen. Too bright for sure.

-Definitely see all of the flaws of the compressed cable image, I guess I will get used to it but it looks way worse than it does coming off the Fios set top box going to my 120" screen. Again, moving to a wired connection will probably help fix that.

 

[mattCR]

Sam- Good run down..

The XBOX's are only 100Mb. But remember, they are only receiving one stream at a time (15Mb) so this is not an issue at all. The issue is how many streams you are pumping out.. as you multiply that up, that's where you run into trouble.

What tells you you can only use 4 Tuners? If it's just media center telling you that, it's because Media Center has a built in limit of 4 tuners.. to fix that, you have to use a seperate program that enables more tuners.. it's called TunerSalad: http://www.mychannellogos.com/Pages/TunserSalad.aspx

Good luck with the rest!

 

[Sam Posten]

OK will look into TunerSalad thanks!

 

[Sam Posten]

From AVS:

I am not sure if it still applies to the Eth 6 tuner, but I had to install a Low Pass Filter (LPF) on the coax line running into the PCIe 4 tuner version in order to fix the corruption issues you are talking about. If you request a tech come out to fix the problem, he will have one in his truck he can install for free. I would wait until after the physical network is setup, just in case that is the issue.

OK, I updated the software and moved to wires and its a lot more stable, but now the display is flashing white on all encrypted channels.... Ideas on that?

On the plus side, when I re-ran Media Center setup it recognized that I had 6 tuners! So no tuner sandwich.

 

[mattCR]

I've seen people do that, but you generally don't have to. Your cable card company will do that for you.
Do you use an SDV box from your cable card company? If yes, you really need to remember to NEVER use the "TV Out" on the SDV box, use a splitter BEFORE the SDV box, with one cable going to it, and one to your cable card adapter. The only thing that should connect the two is the USB.

You may need to reset the box after a reconfigure and run through the Media Center setup with tuners again, if you have not already.

 

[Sam Posten]

No, FIOS does not use SDV from what I understand. So I need to have the cable company put the LPF on? Can't do that myself?

 

[Sam Posten]

It sounds like a stupid registry issue and not the low pass filter:
http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?m=1543142&mpage=1&print=true

http://experts.windows.com/frms/windows_entertainment_and_connected_home/f/114/t/102998.aspx?PageIndex=1

Screwed if I can follow the dopey instructions on those pages on what they want me to muck with in the registry tho.

 

[Sam Posten]

Here's what the flashes look like:

 

[mattCR]

Sam-

What video decoder are you using? And I take it by this you are using an Nvidia output card? (I admit, this is part of the reason why I punted Nvidia and went ATI) But now I've got a better idea of what you've run into..

If you need help with the registry hack, LMK, we can always join.me to do it... and yes, you can get a LPF on your own, but since your provider should do it for free... but if you want one on your own, ask Radio Shack

 

[Sam Posten]

I have no idea what the -right- setting is supposed to be. The latest Nvidia drivers allow you to modify the settings but changing them in their tool have no effect.

As far as decoder I am running stock Windows Media Center

 

[Sam Posten]

I'm at 38.6 dB SNR and -3.4 dBmV Signal level and 54.6 degresse celcius btw.

 

[mattCR]

I have no idea what the -right- setting is supposed to be. The latest Nvidia drivers allow you to modify the settings but changing them in their tool have no effect.

As far as decoder I am running stock Windows Media Center

Ok, that's good. Sometimes if you have to get around a bunch of different filters, it can be tricky.. if you've got it on stock and you're getting flashing, then it's the way the Nvidia is handling the incoming and conversion.. there are options on that (sorry mind running slow tonight) as to your signal strength.. that's very good, you shouldn't have any issuses.. I don't think this is an incoming issue as much as it is a decoding issue; Nvidia is seeing the extra stuff and trying to integrate it into the picture, and it shouldn't...

 

[Sam Posten]

OK, thanks. Saw your PMs. Will try to work out a way to talk with you after work, can't have any interactive chat services going here. Thanks again!

 

[Sam Posten]

Another AVS poster just recommended "Digital Color Format" to "YCbCr444" will try that too.

 

[mattCR]

Another AVS poster just recommended "Digital Color Format" to "YCbCr444" will try that too.

That should make almost no difference at all in the decoding process, unless your monitor is not a standard 16-235, or if you're using some different decoder...