After a
very long and wait since the
pre-orders began, we just got the official word that the long sought after quad CableCARD tuner, the
InfiniTV 4, is on US shores and has cleared customs. The bad news is that
the manufacturing troubles aren't completely over yet and there aren't enough to fill all the pre-orders. If you had enough insight to be the first to get your order in though, you'll be receiving yours next week. In the meantime you can get started on the installation instructions on Ceton's site by first running the
Digital Cable Adviser and then running the driver installer (coming soon) while you wait. You may also want to go ahead and schedule your truck roll as this toy isn't very useful without a CableCARD, and most cable companies won't let you install the CableCARD yourself. This is certainly the best news for HTPC fans since
Microsoft announced the end of the OEM PC CableCARD requirement and although $400 is not the cheapest way to get a DVR, it is one of the only ways to record four HD premium channels at once.
posted August 4th 2010 5:42PM
Finally!
@PBB "GOOD NEWS EVERYBODY!"
Took frickin long enough. I've been waiting since intial announcement day to get one of these suckers. Comcast encrypted all of channels and I've been missing out on FUTURAMA!
@PBB
+1, pre-ordered this the 1st day... Already have truck roll scheduled for next week. I can't wait!
@MrFluffyThing " Comcast encrypted all of channels and I've been missing out on FUTURAMA!"
thats why god invented Usenet
@MisterWarmth Yeah but that means I have to put effort into looking for it instead of just setting my DVR to record it while I'm away and watch it later. The whole point in buying something like this is to DVR everything you ever wanted to watch on your media center without much effort (thus the price tag)
@MisterWarmth
Does usenet actually work???
and if so, how and what types of things can you find on it?
Ive been thinking about it, but not sure if its worth the money.
@abedinthehouse
Yes. You need a program to download sabnzb is free and a premium provider such as Astraweb who I use.
@MisterWarmth
720p TV shows commercial free. Usenet IS my DVR.
@MrFluffyThing
Why didn't you at least buy an ATI tuner? I haven't missed one episode of the new Futuramas. :)
@Brian
I have two ATI tuners on my i5 machine and my brother has two ATI tuners on an XPS 420. Those pieces of garbage glitch like crazy and miss all the important recordings. I had to go to usenet to get the first airing of the new Futurama but I was able to watch reruns of The Daily Show. I'm waiting to see which one is better, the Ceton or HDhomerun. If either of them are like the ATI tuner, I'm dumping coax and sticking with usenet. And don't get me started on "truck rolls" here on the Cox network. Not one single tech that has come out here knew how to install them. I actually showed the tech how to do it and printed out the wiring diagram from MS. Then I got billed for the visit. Encrypting TV signals that customers are paying for isn't a viable solution any longer.
@MrFluffyThing
Not really, but we can understand your need to justify the expense of a $400 card, and a HTPC to put into to watch a show that is SO readily available elsewhere, (with the commercials already removed, I might add).
Despite my paying over $100/month to evil direct satellite company, I still have to revert to nefarious means to watch Mad Men in HD, which is truly pathetic in this day and age.
@sandman1
SHHHHH!
Don't mention the "U word" directly!
@ToeCutter
Who needs to work to justify avoiding doing things that are illegal and possibly could get you sued for all you will ever be worth in your entire lfe?
Not everyone is a leech.
@MrFluffyThing That's what modern usenet and torrent clients are for: Reading RSS feeds and automagically grabbing anything matching a set of filters. Just subscribe to a few feeds and filter for Futurama!
Fun times with tuning adapters await ...
I'm 12 and wat is 4Cables
@rmbrown09 Liek 4 Cocmasts at ocne!
@rmbrown09 COCMAST!
I knew I should of preordered this, ugh
@chanceusc
"should of"? Seriously?
@fsX I live in the south. It is often hard to overcome local patterns of speech. For the most part, I've managed to evade adopting many of them, but "of" in substitute for "have" seems to be one that manages to seep in.
Having said that, being an ass is even harder to overcome. You should probably start working on that immediately before you find yourself lashing out or belittling people on the internet to promote your own self worth.... oh right.
@chanceusc
The giant squid (genus: Architeuthis) is a deep-ocean dwelling squid in the family Architeuthidae, represented by as many as eight species.
Having said that, your grammar was incorrect.
@fsX
"Should have" -> "Should've" -> "Should of"
Sadly, this is a more common mistake than I'd like to think.
W A N T
As soon as it drops 2 Benjamen's, I'm completely in.
are you trying to talk 'street'? lol. you are, aren't you.
@MisterWarmth The only thing 'street' about what he said was his spelling...
Now if I can only get the thing to work with my MythTV box......
@mrgeekguy Good luck on that one ... somehow I doubt MythTV is going to be CableLabs certified.
I think the HDHomeRun cablecard tuner will offer better functionality for a better price when it comes out.
http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/11/hdhomerun-cablecard-will-feature-three-tuners-in-time-for-the-ho/
@fett327 Yeah, but most people don't expect that to hit until next year. And the "better functionality" is questionable, with one less receiver, and the fact that CableLABS isn't allowing companies to split up receivers between different devices over a network - only one computer at a time can access all receviers on the card (it can still play back on multiple computers at once, and other devices can tell the main device what to record, but only one computer is allowed to control the actual recording).
@Dreamwriter
I was wondering about that too. Network or not, CableCARD can only be accessed by one machine at a time, so not sure what the point is?
@PBB
The benefit is you can locate the network tuner anywhere and not have to have the computer next to a cable line. I have my HDHRs in the attic right next to the switches for my LAN and my cable modem.
@Dreamwriter
Oh wow. I didnt know about the limitation of having to have one main computer controlling the card. Still, if I can play live broadcasts from the 3 tuners on multiple computers, then that is still pretty good. Especially considering it would be an extra $150 for the 4th tuner that the Ceton card gives you.
@Bob912873 If you're using WMC and you have MCEs around the house like I do it's not a big deal breaker for this device (me and my friends play a lot of Xbox 360 LAN games so I have 4 360s then you don't really have to worry about something like this.) You can get a jump on the InfiniTV and use what you got instead of waiting and paying later. For me it's perfect, for many it may not be.
I have a strong feeling that the cable companies have a hand in the price being stratospheric.
This is ultimately not much different hardware than a TV tuner, which sell for next to nothing.
@Ducman69
They do in so much that this is a more complicated product than an unencrypted QAM tuner. It also must meet a rigorous CableLabs certification process unlike cheaper unencrypted QAM tuners.
@Ducman69
They do in so much that this is a more complicated product than an unencrypted QAM tuner. It also must meet a rigorous CableLabs certification process unlike cheaper unencrypted QAM tuners.
@(Unverified)
You can say that again.
@Ducman69
Standalone hardware tuner = TiVO, unless you are referring to the POS boxes the CableCo rents to you. TiVO certainly doesn't cost "next to nothing."
How I wish my country had anything that could at least ressemble CableCard.
Or the cable companies itself had a little more vision.
Well, too much to ask from both I guess.......
@joboehl You give the cable companies too much credit. The FCC regulation body forced the cable companies to offer cable cards. Otherwise, the cable companies are more than happy to collect your rental fees on set top boxes.
man tis niceee!
We need more of this. A lot more of this.
ah $399 is such a difficult price to swallow. good on them for getting it out though
@knewman
Actually $399 is a steal for a 4 tuner cablecard device! Remember the only game in town prior to this was the ATI digital cable tuner and that was over $200 PER tuner.
@knewman
And even getting one on ebay will run you a couple hundred for a single channel tuner. I like this and will think about it depending on the word from Silicondust on the HDHomerun schedule.
@knewman yea i get the whole price per tuner argument, but if it really was that simple i'd much rather pay 199 for only two tuners (which i doubt will be the case when the two tuner model arrives). i'd love to replace the two awful moto dct boxes comcast gave us. it would be 3+ years before the ceton begins to pay for itself with the quad tuner model.
I will wait for the external version.
Finally!!! I declared this product dead last week. Wow, I actually have some faith in the HDHomerun CableCARD product shipping now