The CETON Digital Cable Quad Tuner PC Card and why you should seriously consider it (1 Viewer)

[KeithAP]

Originally Posted by RAF

And here's Tip #1 (lots more as the thread progresses): [COLOR= #ff0000]Remove any protective software - other than Windows 7 itself. [/COLOR] Remove means fully uninstall it, not just turn it off. Apparently, Norton and similar consider any TV signals to be external threats and they won't let such signals through. As soon as the software was removed the program guide magically (o.k. No so magically) appeared.

Are you talking about Norton's Security Suite or just standard antivirus software? What about having the system behind a router that has an SPI firewall? I can't imagine I would ever consider running a Windows box (even Windows 7) directly connected to the internet without some sort of protection.

-Keith

 

[RAF]

I would imagine that any hardware firewalls, etc. would remain in place and not interfere with a CETON/WMC installation. I was using Norton Internet Security 2010 (my suite of choice in all my PC installations) and it was preventing the program guide from being captured and displayed by WMC. I would imagine that any of the various software protection suites would act in similar fashion (be considered to be an outside threat) although I didn't have them available to test this out. Basically, I physically removed Norton Internet Suite 2010 and then the WMC installation proceeded without further incident. My router and other peripherals still maintain hardware firewalls, etc. and they seem to act fine without hindering a CETON/WMC installation.

It's one of those things that can really frustrate an installer until this is pointed out.

 

[mattCR]

It should be noted there is one product I STRONGLY recommend that works like a charm with this (surprise!) Microsoft Security Essentials. http://www.microsoft.com/securityessentials

 

[lvicious]

My Zino 410 doesn't support full size cards like this. Only mini PCIe's and my cable company does not give out M cards. Oh well. Thank you for the write-up. It sounds fantastic.

 

[DaveF]

It occurs to me: this is cable-only? This four-tuner card won't work with over the air reception?

[EDIT]
To answer my own question: No, it doesn't work with OTA HDTV. But maybe it will in the future.

http://www.cetoncorp.com/support_faq.php#faq_211

Q: Will the Ceton InfiniTV 4 tune analog, Clear QAM and/or ATSC channels in addition to encrypted digital cable channels?
A: The Ceton InfiniTV 4 will have the ability to be used as a ClearQAM or ATSC tuner in a future firmware update. As a digital TV solution it will not support analog channels however. There are many low-cost analog TV tuners available on the market that you could add to a Media Center PC if you require analog TV support in addition to digital TV.

 

[Kevin Collins]

I use SiliconDust for my ATSC / QAM signals. The nice thing about Silicon Dust is that they are networked tuners, so you can have them anywhere and the WMC will still see them.

 

[Kevin Collins]

There will be other network version of this that have been announced. This would allow you to put the cable card in the network tuner and have your Zino PC see it as if it were an internal tuner. There are also USB options that have been announced.

 

[Dave Moritz]

Has anyone used this set up to archive sporting events to bluray disc? I would hope that as long as you are recording it to disc for your own personal use that it would be legal. Based on the legal wording the NFL uses they say any recording other than the private use of our audience is prohibitad, I would take this as it should be ok to record to bluray for private use. I realize that it is a completely diferent situation with movies and that would most likely be not legal as far as movies go, and besides I would rather have the store purchased disc for movies and have lossless audio.

 

[RAF]

I don't personally use recordable Bluray discs to archive sporting events but there is no reason why I couldn't if I added a Bluray recording drive to my CETON/WMC server. The limiting factor here (other than any legal ramifications) is whether or not the station copy protects its content. Interestingly, there doesn't seem to be any consistency from TV station to TV station. For example, CBS copy protects all of its content (news, sporting events, movies, etc.) whereas other stations like FOX and HBO do not copy protect any of their content. If content is copy protected you cannot burn a disc, either HD or standard DVD. The CETON/FIOS programming information screen clearly lists (in the lower left hand corner) whether copy protection is present or not. Alternately, you can set up your windows explorer screen on the server to include a field that lists this information in tabular form. Generally I have found that it's an all or nothing situation. A network seems to copy protect everything or nothing. I suspect that at this point it's a matter of very small numbers of CETON and similar cards or other such devices being on the market. My guess is that as more and more people start setting up their own TV Media servers some of these networks might rethink their position on copy protecting their content.

The bottom line at the moment, to return to your sports archiving question, is that during the pro football season I could (if I wanted to) archive HD games broadcast on FOX, NBC and ESPN to Bluray media but not games broadcast on CBS due to their (CBS's) copy protection.

 

[mikebomb]

My understanding is that by using an M Card with FIOS, you lose access to all On-Demand channels and services. Is this the case in your setup?

 

[mattCR]

For right now, yes, you lose access to on-demand services. This is true across the board; however, there are scheduled offerings by Microsoft which should enable those functions over the next summer (Post SP1). I will admit, I generally find nothing in ondemand if I have a big enough storage for DVR'd material, and with 7MC, I've managed to assemble together my own stations... I'm going to try something fairly wild with my ceton tomorrow, since I'll be snowed in, I might post pictures to see if it works...

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Moving to the HTPC area.

 

[DaveF]

Boy howdy, the price has plummeted in some places!
http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/05/infinitv-4-cablecard-tuner-prices-are-dropping-down-to-256-shi/

 

[mattCR]

Yep, price has plummetted! I setup the second media center in the wife's bedroom, to look a bit like this:

So, watch 9 shows, record a tenth?

Actually, the max I figure you could do is record 7, watch an 8th, due to split tuners.. oh well.

But, yes, it does make life simpler. I keep getting asked "why analog and QAM if you have cable card" Well, two reasons: (1) The QAM cards are cheaper, and (2) I'm with Surewest. Which means, like TimeWarner, channes1-77 are Analog, they aren't digital, and the Ceton won't tune them at all. Most of the channels are available digital (all the locals, etc.) But some channels (like Nickelodeon) are analog only here. And since my kids record a lot of Spongebob..

But I'm trying to figure out how to do it cheap, and with a budget of $650, which was where I put my "high end" I had no problem getting 10 tuners, a 2TB HDD, and a CableCard Ceton @ $265 off Amazon. Came in 2 days, also. Which was nice.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Wow, its tempting to upgrade to the ceton especially considering I could do network sharing.

 

[mattCR]

I think that's one of the best things about them, that the tuners can be shared across a network with other MCE devices. Ceton last week rolled out their new Network Sharing and Tag apps, which are pretty useful, and the way they work is pretty creative.. so if you've got multiple Cetons, you can share or utilize them.. Pretty fun stuff. I found with 8 real "in use" tuners, I can effectively support 4 rooms off one common DVR.. and using WHS to control the media, I have a pretty deep store of content.
Sometimes people ask me why I save so much recorded TV. Boy, do I have examples of that.. "Pretty Little Liars" was a goofy show on ABCFam, but some light mystery.. presented GREAT in HD.. it will only be on DVD now. Same with titles like "Dan Vs." (Hub) etc.. I may end up holding onto a lot of originals that way..
Then again, some shows I still haven't seen come out on DVD, I snag when I can (I've still got some of my History Channel "China Beach" recordings, though not enough to make up the full seasons, damnit! I missed some episodes in there)

 

[Todd H]

I just finished my HTPC and purchased the Ceton card when it went on sale. My cable company is coming next Tuesday with the M-card. Looking forward to seeing how it compares to my current provider DirecTV.

 

[ArchMike]

The one thing I've been most happy about is how fast the Ceton changes channels in comparison to my DirecTV box. The negative is that I can't do picture-in-picture with media center. But I didn't use that much except during football season. I found out the hard way, so here's some advice: trash the disc that comes with the Ceton. Go to their website and download the newest drivers.

The only other negative is that I didn't realize my cable provider didn't have everything in digital. So, the first 77 channels I don't get. Most of that is stuff I don't care about, but I do wish they'd move E! and TVLand into the digital, because the Ceton won't tune those.

 

[Todd H]

The one thing I've been most happy about is how fast the Ceton changes channels in comparison to my DirecTV box. The negative is that I can't do picture-in-picture with media center. But I didn't use that much except during football season. I found out the hard way, so here's some advice: trash the disc that comes with the Ceton. Go to their website and download the newest drivers.

The only other negative is that I didn't realize my cable provider didn't have everything in digital. So, the first 77 channels I don't get. Most of that is stuff I don't care about, but I do wish they'd move E! and TVLand into the digital, because the Ceton won't tune those.

Good to hear. My DirecTV box is painfully slow.
My wife has taken to Windows Media Center like a champ and loves that it has consolidated most of the boxes that were hooked to the television. I used Media Center Studio to simply and rearrange things for her and it has worked very well.

 

[ArchMike]

Good to hear. My DirecTV box is painfully slow.
My wife has taken to Windows Media Center like a champ and loves that it has consolidated most of the boxes that were hooked to the television. I used Media Center Studio to simply and rearrange things for her and it has worked very well.

Good luck with the cablecompany, though... mine stood around like they were idiots and kept saying "I don't know how this works". I had to lie to mine and just say I had a TiVo. Make sure you get SDV adapters if your cable company requires them; supposedly all SDV are supposed to support tuning 4 adapters by August first, but my stupid Ciscos only do 2, so I have 2 SDV boxes.

I agree, though - my wife is MUCH happier with this solution compared to the DirecTV DVRs.