Ceton InfiniTV 4 Quad Tuner - some concerns/questions

g0dM@n · Mar 14, 2012

I bought a new house and already have a brand new Ceton tuner waiting to be installed into my HTPC - I knew I was buying a house, so I waited and have had it waiting a while to install. I paid $220 back in Nov, even though it's only $200 now... but no biggie... not the end of the world. Anyway, here are my worries/concerns:
1. I have 2 xboxes, one always sits in my home theatre setup (next to the HTPC/server), the other in my office. Do I have to buy yet another xbox for the bedroom? That's a lot of money to spend just for a tuner, and what about my mancave... I will need to buy 2 xboxes, that adds up more than the savings from FIOSes boxes of $6/month
2. My wife will KILL me if the HTPC dies out or crashes a lot with this, so I'm already thinking of getting a more expensive mobo and PSU

My main concern is finding the CHEAPEST (and stable of course) option for the satellite setups that will connect to the tuner. Xboxes use a lot of energy. I thought about a netbox (or small/cheap mATX computer setup), but those use even more energy AND take time to boot up...

Thanks in advance.

g0dM@n · Mar 14, 2012

For my reference, saving some links I found useful:
Basic Tricks from SD

g0dM@n · Mar 15, 2012

No one uses this tuner?

FX4 · Mar 15, 2012

I think it's more of a case of not really understanding what you are doing.

FX4 · Mar 15, 2012

Really if you explain your end goal I can help you. What I get from your post is:
1. You have built an HTPC
2. It has a TV tuner capture card that you intend to use for DVR purposes.
3. You want some kind of satellite system? Meaning? You want to stream to them from the HTPC? What is the end goal?

Neuromancer · Mar 15, 2012

I would look at media players. The DVR recordings will be saved to your HTPC and then you can stream them throughout your network. Most media playes will even accept Wireless USB devices if you cant wired ethernet them (although I do not recommend using wireless at ALL).

No familiarity with the Ceton tuner itself though.

FX4 · Mar 15, 2012

Okay I read the manual for the Ceton tuners. The way I read it any device capable of playing a Windows media center stream will work. Now I don't know if a dlna player will work, but I'll do a little more digging. The way it looks at the moment is you would have to have an XBox or PC at each television.

Yeah after reading all the documentation it looks to me like you will need either a PC or XBOX at each location. It seems you need the cliient software running to receive the network feeds. You only need one card though for the HTPC.

g0dM@n · Mar 16, 2012

FX4 said:
Okay I read the manual for the Ceton tuners. The way I read it any device capable of playing a Windows media center stream will work. Now I don't know if a dlna player will work, but I'll do a little more digging. The way it looks at the moment is you would have to have an XBox or PC at each television.

Yeah after reading all the documentation it looks to me like you will need either a PC or XBOX at each location. It seems you need the cliient software running to receive the network feeds. You only need one card though for the HTPC.

Yes, that sounds about right with what I anticipated. I was curious if a MEDIA PLAYER, like the Western Digital HD Media Player would work as a satellite setup (satellite, meaning a receiving client that connects through the network to the tuner). Basically, I want something cheap in the bedroom and my soon-to-be mancave.

Just so everyone has an idea of how this works:
-FIOS (or any cable provider) gives you a multi-room DVR for ~$20/month
-FIOS gives you cable boxes for other/satellite rooms for $6/month
-You can record up to 2 shows simultaneously to the DVR and then the other boxes can access the DVR to watch recordings

What I'm replacing FIOS's boxes would be:
-Godman installs Ceton InfiniTV Quad DVR Tuner into his HTPC and hooks up FIOS's service card into it
-Godman then uses a cheap device for satellite rooms
-Godman can record up to FOUR shows simultaneously to the Ceton tuner and HTPC. The satellite boxes can also record (I think, but have to check on that)

So I basically want a cheap device replacement for what a REGULAR cable box does.

I think we're all on the same page, but just wanted to explain... an Xbox is just too expensive.

The whole reason for this is:
-To save $$ in the long run
-Have full control over my recordings
-Have unlimited space for my recordings - limited by my storage space, not by the small hard drives provided by Verizon

I can't wait much longer, so I bit on this (hope it does the trick):
Foxconn nT435H-0h0w-B-A-NA Intel NM10 Black Mini / Booksize Barebone System

FX4 · Mar 16, 2012

I'll be curious. My two year old Atom processor has a hard time handling streaming video. Maybe newer ones will do better. Probably will be okay, just keep the OS and software down to just what you need for the STB. You don't want a bunch of processes running on it.

g0dM@n · Mar 16, 2012

FX4 said:
I'll be curious. My two year old Atom processor has a hard time handling streaming video. Maybe newer ones will do better. Probably will be okay, just keep the OS and software down to just what you need for the STB. You don't want a bunch of processes running on it.

I'd be glad to entertain any advice you have. I guess I will turn off as many services as I can. I'd even put no security on it and put a blank proxy, but I was kind of excited to have the option of browsing in the bedroom (though I do more prefer my tablet).

FX4 · Mar 16, 2012

What I would install on it is windows 7 starter. It's stripped down but still has the functionality you will need.

g0dM@n · Mar 16, 2012

FX4 said:
What I would install on it is windows 7 starter. It's stripped down but still has the functionality you will need.

Good point. I guess I will try that first. Will a w7 pro key work with starter? I know how to alters disk to install starter instead but hopefully my extra pro key will work.

Just realized that the htpc section may have been appropriate for this. Oops.

FX4 · Mar 16, 2012

Man I don't think so. W7 and license keys are locked down pretty hard.

Neuromancer · Mar 16, 2012

You can edit windows 7 with RT7 lite though. But you will need Home Premium, Pro or Ultimate to get Media Center.

Unless you have some other method of connecting to the Ceton tuner. MC will let you manage recordings view live streams etc remotely while still accessing any media already on the HTPC.

FX4 · Mar 17, 2012

I'm pretty sure I downloaded media center onto my starter edition somehow.

Neuromancer · Mar 17, 2012

FX4 said:
I'm pretty sure I downloaded media canter onto my starter edition somehow.

You can download it for Windows 7 N. Maybe you found a hack for it for starter?

dfonda · Mar 17, 2012

Just getting around to reading your thread Gman.

I may be missing something. How many TV's are you trying to live feed? With 1 Ceton and its 4 tuners I use 3 for one HD TV. I just couldn't see using less, that way you can record on at least 2 tuners and watch live HD with the 3rd. The other tuner is used on a laptop. So thats 4 tuners for 2 devices. The tuners have to be dedicated. You can't flip them between devices with out doing the set up again( a PITA) If you are only wanting to watch programs you have recorded off the tuners then they can be watched from any of your PC's or Media devices. Not live tv though unless the tuner is dedicated to it. So 4 tuners comes up short real fast. Two Ceton tuners(8 tuners) is a lot better to cover a house.

When prices came down I figured I would add a second Ceton to my Game room TV, (PC is next to it as a gaming PC). Now that one I could see sharing 3 of the tuners. But in my case I only have 3 HD Tv's. The other 2 tv's are old CRT's and use the 2 free digital boxes. At $200 thats a nice price for what they do. I paid $300 for mine.

So my question is how many HD tv's do you have? Could you use Verizon's free digital boxes for your non HD tv's? Also if the TV's do not all have to be watched at once(kids,wife,etc) I wonder if you could dedicate 1 tuner to a laptop, and then carry that between to tv's and use to feed out to them.

I am on Comcast but the cablecards used in the Ceton's work the same way.

I'll be interested in your solutions. :beer:

FX4 · Mar 17, 2012

Neuromancer said:
You can download it for Windows 7 N. Maybe you found a hack for it for starter?

I think that is probably the case.

dfonda · Mar 17, 2012

Oh and by the way Gman this thread should be moved to here...

HTPC

g0dM@n · Mar 19, 2012

dfonda said:
Just getting around to reading your thread Gman.

I may be missing something. How many TV's are you trying to live feed? With 1 Ceton and its 4 tuners I use 3 for one HD TV. I just couldn't see using less, that way you can record on at least 2 tuners and watch live HD with the 3rd. The other tuner is used on a laptop. So thats 4 tuners for 2 devices. The tuners have to be dedicated. You can't flip them between devices with out doing the set up again( a PITA) If you are only wanting to watch programs you have recorded off the tuners then they can be watched from any of your PC's or Media devices. Not live tv though unless the tuner is dedicated to it. So 4 tuners comes up short real fast. Two Ceton tuners(8 tuners) is a lot better to cover a house.

When prices came down I figured I would add a second Ceton to my Game room TV, (PC is next to it as a gaming PC). Now that one I could see sharing 3 of the tuners. But in my case I only have 3 HD Tv's. The other 2 tv's are old CRT's and use the 2 free digital boxes. At $200 thats a nice price for what they do. I paid $300 for mine.

So my question is how many HD tv's do you have? Could you use Verizon's free digital boxes for your non HD tv's? Also if the TV's do not all have to be watched at once(kids,wife,etc) I wonder if you could dedicate 1 tuner to a laptop, and then carry that between to tv's and use to feed out to them.

I am on Comcast but the cablecards used in the Ceton's work the same way.

I'll be interested in your solutions.

Okay, well I went with a more powerful net box:
Foxconn NTA350-0H0W-B-A-NA AMD Hudson D1 Radeon HD 6310 Black Mini / Booksize Barebone System

I'm just going to return the ATOM one.

I have to learn how to set up streaming from MC... when you do that, the computer streaming does most of the work... still curious if my WD HD Player in some way can be a box also, to work with the Ceton tuner...

dfonda said:
Oh and by the way Gman this thread should be moved to here...

HTPC

I mentioned earlier I needed to move it as I noticed my OOPS.

It's just that I was on OCF mobile from my phone... now that I'm home, I moved it, but thanks amigo

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