ceton infinitv 4 for HTPC build

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wtburnette

2[H]4U
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Jun 24, 2004
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I'm finally sick and tired of Comcast and their idiotic limitations for On Demand content. When shows On Demand had an occasional single commercial, I had no issues. The other night while watching something On Demand, there were 6 commercials on one of the breaks. 6! F that! Then my wife informed me that Fox shows can't even be fast forwarded. WTF are they thinking? Are they trying to drive customers away?

So anyway, I have a spare PC in my closet gathering dust. It's reasonably well equipped (Q6600 on a good Asus mobo with 4GB RAM and a 8800GTS 512MB card). I don't have a Blu-Ray drive or anything, but I still plan to use my PS3 for Blu-Ray's and DVD's. I just want to use the HTPC for viewing TV, Netflix and any other streamed movies or other content online.

My questions are, is picking up a ceton infinitv 4 the best way to go? I want the ability to record at least two shows at once while watching a show, so I'm guessing I would need at least 3 tuners. Having the 4th would just be a bonus. I don't really want to mess with this much or have to do a long PITA setup, so I was just thinking of using the built in Win7 media center to get my content. Lastly, how do I get the audio out to my receiver? I'm currently using HDMI to go from my cablebox to the receiver, which works really well. Do I have to get a new soundcard that has HDMI audio out, or what would be the best way to go with that?

Thanks in advance for any assistance! :)
 
the Ceton is a good choice. The SiliconDust cablecard tuner is coming out soon with 3 tuners for less money, but I don't know if its got a hard release date. The ceton setup is pretty straightforward using WMC, you just need a truck roll to get somebody out to pair it (idiotic requirement). To get audio out to the receiver you'd want an HDMI-equipped videocard. dunno if the 8800GTS can do that, but a 5450, 6450 or something would be your best bet if it can't and all you want to do is play TV on it (aka no gaming). those GPU's will also do DTS-HD and TrueHD bitstreaming and they're cheap. Of course, HDTV is just encoded in DD anyway, you could use SPDIF-out on your motherboard if you have it

But if you really wanted to stick it to Comcast you'd cut the cord completely..
 
I agree, cutting the cable would be nice, but it's not an option. There are still things I want to watch easily without hoping Hulu or someplace will have the episodes I want to watch.

So an HDMI video card or SPDIF-out from my mobo are the only ways to get sound out to my receiver with good quality? Aren't there any soundcards that will take the signal out with HDMI? It just seems odd to me that there isn't.

Any other options I'm missing?
 
Well, I just finished reading some of the info in this thread about HDMI audio, so I understand a little better about using it out from the video card. Makes sense and it's pretty obvious. I'm a little disheartened that the state of HDMI audio out seems to be so bad though. I see that article was 4 years ago, so I'm guessing it's no longer the case? Also, I would like to do at least some light gaming on this rig. That's why I was hoping to use my 8800GTS video card as it still plays a lot of games very well. Are there any decent cards in the $200 range that give good HDMI out and can handle games decently?
 
Most cards nowadays have no problems with HDMI audio. Even my Radeon 5450 has no issues.
 
Keep in mind, you won't be able to watch On Demand with the Ceton or Prime.

Personally, I find that a small sacrifice for the much higher usability factor.
 
For around $150 with rebate, you can get a Radeon HD 6850. For about $20-25 more, you can get the 6870. Both will do HD audio via HDMI just fine, and will beat the 8800 in gaming. It's about the same price point that the 8800 was 2 years ago. So if you are looking to spend $200, those are some recommendations just under that goal. If you want to go NVIDIA again, in the same range is the GeForce GTX 460 1 GB. It also does HD audio, so no worries there.

In home theatre, HD audio situations, sound cards are obsolete in situations where the receiver is doing the digital to analog converting. Sure you can get a sound card and connect to your receiver via analog jacks (assuming your receiver has those types of inputs), but there really isn't the need. You can just send audio over HDMI, giving the untouched digital signal to your AV receiver for processing. Bitstreaming.
 
I don't think HDMI sound is a big deal. Okay its important if you are running blu-ray - but if you are just doing broadcast TV the best they send out is dolby digital - and that can be handled by the coax that comes on your motherboard.

I wouldn't upgrade to a new video card just for one less cable..
 
Well, I already did the upgrade. Newegg had a 460GTX 1GB card on sale for $110 after MIR. Considering that seemed like a good price and the HDMI out seemed like a simple solution, I went with it. Even should I decide to not build the HTPC and just use the video card to upgrade that system for gaming, either way it'll get put to good use... ;)
 
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wtburnette said:
So anyway, I have a spare PC in my closet gathering dust. It's reasonably well equipped (Q6600 on a good Asus mobo with 4GB RAM and a 8800GTS 512MB card). I don't have a Blu-Ray drive or anything, but I still plan to use my PS3 for Blu-Ray's and DVD's. I just want to use the HTPC for viewing TV, Netflix and any other streamed movies or other content online.
Click to expand...

This is pretty close to what I am using for an HTPC. I use a Q6600 with 4GB of RAM, though I use an Asus MicroATX motherboard with onboard HDMI video. I also use the Ceton Tuner. I have nothing but good things to say about it. I've been running mine for about 10 Months now. My Motherboard and Processor Combo handles Multiple HD streams without a problem.

My HTPC doubles as the Kitchen PC and is constantly used there to watch TV throughout the day while it streams recorded and Live TV to 360's being used as extenders.

My first Media Center PC was back in 2005, and I used Hauppauge Analog Tuners. And it just worked and was wonderful. Not long after, however, the whole HTPC media Center stuff became extremely problematic for me. Comcast blocked all "non-local" stations over Analog leaving me without 80% of the TV stations I like to watch. There was no easy way to get the full functionality I had previously due to the locking down of content and the inability to get a CableCard tuner without buying a fully certified (and expensive) PC.

Along came Ceton with this card and once the cable guy came and paired it with my CableCard, It was even better than my original set up. Every Channel was accessible but this time in HD.

Actually.... My Ceton tuner setup has worked so well, and trouble free, I haven't even bothered keeping up with changes.

I just saw Ceton released a Network Tuner wizard. You can dedicate a tuner(s) to be shared on your network and configure host windows machines with the shared tuner(s) as if they were local.

I'm going to have to try this out. Keep 3 tuners dedicated to the Media Center and network one so I can watch Live TV on my laptop in addition to any Extenders I have.
 
I'm seriously considering going this route myself.

HTPC with 4 tuners + Xbox360 as a media center extender to ditch my Comcast DVR & recievers. Need to get them to do the CableCard install & loose the On Demand stuff, but I think it will be for the better.
 
Good to hear so much good feedback on this card. I went ahead and pulled the trigger yesterday, so I'm hoping to have the card here before the weekend. I'm really looking forward to getting this thing setup!
 
Side-jack:
Will the S.dust work on T100 or is GigE mandatory?
 
Oh, I do have a couple of additional questions. First of all, what do I need for a remote? I have a logitech Harmony One (not sure what the exact model is). Will that work? Also, what is good for a wireless keyboard and mouse? I'm going to try doing some light gaming, but it'll mostly be for TV/Movies...
 
So the best I can make out from that thread is that my Harmony One should work, I guess? Not much in the way of an answer about my wireless keyboard and mouse question. Any particularly good for light gaming?
 
a harmony will work if you get an IR receiver for the htpc. it's fairly limited on what you can program it to do, though.

as far as a wireless kb/mouse, i don't like them. maybe someone else can make a suggestion.
 
Alright, I just got the cable guy out yesterday and got the cablecard setup in my computer. Holy cow is this thing sweet! :D

Thanks to everyone for helpful suggestions. I ended up with the Logitech DiNovo Mini and it works great. I need to get used to it a little more, but so far it's exceeding expectations. I have already gone in and setup several season recordings and it was quite easy (just using Media Center). I have a lot of playing around to see what works best and what all I can do, but I'm very happy for now.
 
If you ever plan on keeping your shows for later, you might run into the problem of the programs being marked 'copy once'. If they are, you will only ever be able to watch the show on the computer it was recorded on, assuming that computer is never altered (i.e., no upgrading the CPU).

However, all network channels, their subchannels, PBS, and any other local channels (i.e., anything you could conceivable get with an antenna) should never have a copy flag set to 'copy once'.

Luckily, I switched to Verizon FiOS when I got my InfiniTV 4. I've only encountered one show with a 'copy once' flag. I'm recording shows left and right, stripping out the commercials with VideoReDo, and compressing them with HandBrake.
 
Well, been using this system for over a week now and I'm really enjoying it. Looking forward to finding out more on what this system can do :)
 
I have mine installed, cable guy coming out tomorrow with M-card. Luckily they dont use SDV here, so no tuning adapter needed.
 
I've been very happy with this device so far. For the price I paid, it's remarkable. I was on vacation all last week and I had it set to record about 20 shows, all of which were taped without any issues. It's a bit of a pain getting used to the Dinovo Mini instead of just a remote, but I'm getting there.
 
Well, no joy so far. It recognizes the cable card, but they are having trouble pairing it. They tried to convince me it didnt need to be paired, but finally relented. I am going to send a help request to Ceton in the morning and see what they say. Media Center also failed installing Play Ready, not sure if that is because the cable card is not paired.
 
That remove will probably do everything you need it to. I bought a harmony one for both my 360 extenders - though I have a slight delay when pressing buttons only in the MCE interface.

I'd be curious if you have any delays with the official xbox remote.

FYI - I also got a Logitech DiNovo Mini for the HTPC when I need to do light maintenance work; all other times I use RDC. For general tv/media viewing on the HTPC, I plan to use the harmony there as well.
 
I'll try it and let you know how it goes. Do I need to buy a usb IR receiver for the xbox remote to control windows media center on my htpc?
 
Is the remote IR? Do you have any form of IR receiver already? If not, then yes, you need some sort of IR receiver.
 
I had two of these from purchasing two Hauppauge WinTV bundles many years ago..

[ame="http://cgi.ebay.com/OEM-Microsoft-Windows-Media-Center-Remote-Control-Kit-/290571901172?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43a76f58f4#ht_807wt_1139"]OEM Microsoft Windows Media Center Remote Control Kit | eBay[/ame]

I also have two Harmony remotes that I prefer to use, but the wifey much prefers the Microsoft remotes for ease of use. They are extremely responsive, and work perfectly as a DVR replacement remote. My only gripes are that you can't turn on the TV with it, and the guide/livetv buttons are not right next to the directional buttons.

If I was needing to purchase another remote, I would certainly consider the HP Media Center remotes as the positioning of the guide button seems much more appropriate. I should also note that I own the 360 version of the Harmony as well as the Harmony One. They both have a slight delay when sending commands to the Media PC's whereas the Microsoft remotes do not.
 
Fleat said:
If I was needing to purchase another remote, I would certainly consider the HP Media Center remotes as the positioning of the guide button seems much more appropriate. I should also note that I own the 360 version of the Harmony as well as the Harmony One. They both have a slight delay when sending commands to the Media PC's whereas the Microsoft remotes do not.
Click to expand...

How do you use the Harmony One with the PC? Curious as I have one and if it works with MCE that would be fantastic...
 
I think all harmony remotes use the same driver. What you do is add device, type computer->Media Center PC., manufacture-> microsoft, device->"WMC 2nd Edition". Then you can go in and tweak the buttons to your liking or learn new commands from an existing MCE remote (but that shouldn't be needed as all the commands should be listed in your options).
 
wtburnette said:
How do you use the Harmony One with the PC? Curious as I have one and if it works with MCE that would be fantastic...
Click to expand...

If you have an IR receiver its pretty much idiot proof. I bought an MCE remote with IR receiver for about $15, then when programming the remote told it Windows Media Center and that was all I had to do....
 
So use the IR remote from the cheap MCE remote and program it as xrintrahx posted above? That sounds pretty simple. I'll have to get the cheap remote ordered or see if there's an inexpensive one here local and get it done. My Dinovo mini is great, but when controlling the TV it would be nice to have an actual remote to use. Since I love my Harmony One, being able to use it would be perfect!
 
You should be able to add the device in the harmony driver without needing another remote. The codes are all in the database.
 
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