Ceton InfiniTV4 Tuner

[CybrSage]

I am the proud owner of a new Ceton InfitiTV4 Tuner. I have my FiOS install for Friday, at which point I will obtain my cablecard and get 4 channels of unencrypted goodness.

Here are the install pics to whet the appitite:





And yes, I will be obtaining a can of air soon.

[CybrSage]

Just got FiOS installed today and have the cablecard up and running. It was VERY VERY VERY easy to do. The two hard parts were:

1. The card was a little to far to the side (most likely my mobo and case do not line up perfectly) and the cablecard would not slide in. Easy fix, remove the tuner and slide the card in. The label goes towards the CPU side of the mobo.
2. My mobo is OCUR ready, so it asked me for an OCUR key. I had already grabbed the one from TheGreenButton, so I was ready to put it it. Hard part was I could not copy and paste - it made me manually type it.

The install went smooth, Win7 detected the tuners and the cablecard. The lineup downloaded quickly and everything worked. Pretty simple.

The FiOS install tech was great. He did not know anything about cablecards though. But he did tell me that whenever he has one the homeowner always knows more about them than he does so he steps out of the guy's way and turns into a support tech for him. I was happy to hear it, since I did know far more about HTPCs than he did. He was eager to learn, so I did some impromptu training. Since I also work for Verizon (though in a completely different departement), I am listing that time as interdepartmental team building and training. It will look good on my review.

Sor far I love the card. I no longer have to worry about the HDHomeRun not getting a strong enough ClearQAM tuner to record. No longer have to worry about any of the myriad of little nagging issues when using multiple tuners of different technologies. I had an AverTV 780 analog and digital tuner and the HDHomeRun digital tuner.

I also vastly reduced the clutter behind the entertainment center. I removed several coax cables, several power cords, and an ethernet cable. Going to FiOS also allowed me to combine my cable modem and wireless router into only one FiOS box...which is actually quite small and nice looking.


So far I am quite happy with the move to the Ceton InfiniTV4. It also allows me to get all my HD channels directly into the PC in full HD goodness, rather than downgraded to analog via my cablebox. FiOS is also cheaper and faster than my old Comcast service.

It is also faster tuning for me than with my AverTV to IR repeater to Cablebox setup. It is about twice as fast...or as my wife says "oh, that is much better".

[Rakeesh]

I'd like to get one of these if you could use DVR software other than windows media center. I want one computer to be the DVR, and another computer able to watch programs off of that much like a media center extender, however you can't do this without actually buying say an xbox 360 which I don't want to do. MS for whatever reason simply will not release a media center extender for windows.

[Bman212121]

Sweet card. I dream of the day when a cablecard in the pc actually works, and can use it with Beyond TV. It's much nicer to be able to use your own hardware.

As a side note, I could live with using their DVR box if they had software that would let your PC stream from it. Then you just need the 1 main DVR to record up to 4 channels, and let you stream to your other devices.

[CybrSage]

Most of the limitations are caused by CableLabs, the group setup by the government to control cable cards.

Right now Microsoft is the only vendor who built in all the needed DRM that CableLabs demands, so they are the only one which can use cable cards.

MS did have a software extender in alpha or beta some time go, but then they realized it would simply be torrented and they would make no money off the time and resources it took to create it. They shelved it until someone else invents such a thing and they need it to compete. OK, the last sentence is my opinion, but I suspect it is correct.

The InfiniTV4 will work on any and all cable cards, provided they are M tuner cards and not S tuner...they must be multi and not single, so it will work with Comcast. The way to get the cable company to give you one is to tell them you have a multi tuner Tivo and need an M tuner cable card.

If you are not on FiOS, you have to see if the provider is using SDV (Switched Digital Video). This means they are not sending all the channels all the time, but only sending a channel if someone in the viewing area is actively watching that channel. This saves on a lot of bandwidth (which is why FiOS does not use it, they do not need to save bandwidth). If your provider uses SDV, then you need to get two tuning adapters from them and connect them to the InfiniTV4, otherwise you will only get the channels other people are actively watching...which would suck.

[Q]

I've been following this thing for over a year, but hesitated on the pre-order because I wanted to make sure the reviews on the final product were good.

It looks like they are.

[CybrSage]

Originally Posted by Q

I've been following this thing for over a year, but hesitated on the pre-order because I wanted to make sure the reviews on the final product were good.

It looks like they are.

Missing Remote had a great review of it. Part 1 is up, more to follow:

http://www.missingremote.com/index.p...=5075&Itemid=1

His wife posted a blurb in it, here is part her quote:

Ceton, thank you for the InfiniTV 4—my hats (or ears) off to you. Finally a product that works, and just in time for Shark Week! I have been waiting (and increasingly less patiently) for a product to come along that would facilitate TV time. I’ve been told “it is working; it is the consumer, not the product”. I beg to differ. And if it is, why is he spending our money on products I can’t use without breaking or having to “learn” how to use? Sometimes this would lead to me taking out my frustration on the remote control (yes honey, I am the reason it rattles).

Tuning into your favorite TV shows like The Big Bang Theory, Castle, True Blood and Dexter, should be effortless and simple, right? Wrong. In fact, it has been a very frustrating ordeal and has been for the past 6 months or so [Editor’s note: Approximately 6 months ago Comcast reduced the number of ClearQAM channels available in our area. We went from ~40 channels down to 6]. Here are a few examples: 1- I am a channel-hopper, I like to flip through channels. With our previous setup I could not do that. It was simply too slow—slow, slow, slow! Ok I may be exaggerating just a smidgen due to my lack of patience, especially during downtime. But when making a selection it would take several seconds to respond and then a few more to get a clear picture. 2- Constantly receiving a weak signal error. 3- The channels would lag regularly. It was almost impossible to watch a show in its entirety, from start to finish, without any interruptions of some sort. In a nutshell, I was very unhappy.

When my husband mentioned this new product that was going to solve all these issues I'll admit I was skeptical. In fact, I tuned out the entire conversation. I thought to myself, "Great, another tuner that is going to magically work!" But I love my husband and thought I would give him one more chance.

I am very pleased with the outcome. Immediately I noticed how much faster it works. I was thrilled. After experimenting for an hour, changing channels, recording, etc...I realized there was no lag time. No weak signals. I can watch a show and record several others at the same time, an option I did not have before [Editor’s note: Not exactly true, for the few ClearQAM and ATSC channels we could record up to 9 channels at once but having to explain that doesn’t bode well for stability and ease of use]. Everything is working perfectly, better than I had expected. I also noticed an improvement in the picture quality; the HD channels seemed more clear and crisp. Not sure if the Ceton InfiniTV4 tuner has any effect on the quality of the picture but I saw a great improvement.

If you are encountering the same issues, or similar, as I have in the past then I highly recommend investing in the Ceton InfiniTV 4 tuner. It is pleasing to know that there is finally a product out there that works and that I can use without any disruptions. My only question, why has it taken so long?

This is great news for my husband who will never again have to hear me cry out: "Why can't we just watch normal TV like normal people!"

I let my wife read that shortly before my tuner came. She said she relates completely. She has also frequently said "Why can't we just watch normal TV like normal people!" too.

So far, she is quite pleased with the tuner.