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
I wanted to be able to put this in my HTPC downstairs, then have the ability to use my 360s or HTPCs(1 by each of the 3 upstairs TVs) upstairs as cable boxes (via network) so I could return the 3 cable boxes to TWC...apparently this won't work like that? I'm less interested in the DVR function and more about being able to shave some money off my cable bill and use WMC. That's what I would like to see.
@quibbs
Seems like you should be able to do what you are envisioning. What makes you think you cant?
@quibbs
You absolutely can stream it to the 360s. In fact that is what I am going to be doing with it. And you may be less interested in the DVR functionality now, but I guarantee you that once you start using MCE as your DVR you will be hooked within a day.
@quibbs Yeah, you can do that. Gotta use Xbox 360's as extenders, and those cost $200 a piece, but you can definitely do it.
@fett327
I thought I read somewhere it wasn't going to be possible for some reason. I can't remember what was the reasoning, just remember reading it somewhere. I really hope I am wrong, if so that would be fantastic.
@quibbs you most likely read that the individual tuners cannot be split among separate htpc's over the network - which indeed is the case b/c of cablelabs requirements.
Thankfully the extender model doesn't rely on networked tuners, media center grabs the signals from the tuners and then broadcasts it through the network. it's a great system, i've been using it for almost 2 years now with a dual tuner clear qam card.
I have FiOS. Is there any other option besides this card for me to use to have real DVR ability on an HTPC? I am fine with a minimum of two tuners.
@gadgetfanboy i'd even consider single-tuner options. I'm not a huge TV watcher.
@gadgetfanboy
You could also get a TiVO, but it also requires a cablecard and truck roll.
Is it possible to just yank my cablecard out of my FiOS receiver and slap it in here myself? Do I need a truck roll just for that?
If you listen closely, you can still hear Robert Heron squeal.
Well this works out great.....as I have been waiting forever and been emailed about my pre-order like 100 x.
The timing is perfect as I needed to open up my computer anyway to smack in a new Hard Drive (my 1TB Recording Drive is going kaput).
My question is....does it really matter for a 5400RPM vs 7200RPM drive for recording from Windows Media Center???
FYI....just talked to ZONES...if you did your pre-order through them....
It will not appear in your ORDER STATUS window.
I logged on to check and freaked out when it wasn't listed.
So I called them to check.
Because the pre-orders were done so long ago they had to put those orders in a HOLD Status....which makes them unviewable on the website.
If you have a question about your order....contact : 800-304-9242
Whew....scared me there. They also informed me that they will start shipping soon (and that I'm at near the top of the list....WOOHOO).
Question: Once you install and auth the Cablecard, is it tied to that PC setup? If I decided to upgrade my PC (motherboard+CPU/OS/etc) down the road will I need to get Time Warner to come re-auth? I needed to do that when I swapped a Tivo.... it was a pain. This is what is potentially more appealing about the HDHomerun cablecard adapter.
@rlay001 I believe it depends on your provider. It is my experience that Verizon (FiOS) does not lock the cablecard to a particular piece of hardware. Once authorized, I have often swapped them between equipment when upgrading (Tivo->Tivo, Tivo->WMC). Don't know about TWC though.
I have one of these coming. I'm hoping that my three Xboxen and one Linksys extender will be able to replace all of my cable boxen. So my only monthly fee will be the cablecard for the Ceton. That's if the whole family accepts it and if it works flawlessly. Fingers crossed...
Reminder:
The first rule of Usenet is don't talk about Usenet
These people have broken the cardinal rule of product introduction by teasing us with this for months, rescheduling the rollout date and then, when they're finally ready, not producing nearly enough to satisfy demand. They seem like a seat-of-the-pants operation and I honestly wonder whether they'll be able to support the product once they DO get it out the door. As for the whole "it's shipping" thing, I've spoken to all three distributors of this today, and NONE of them have received ANY of these yet. One company told me their order was due two weeks ago, they never arrived, and Ceton has never even contacted them to tell them what's going on. On top of that, this same company has pre-orders for 1500 of these, and they were only scheduled to get 40. FORTY! Good luck waiting for one of these....there will be several other companies out with competing products before Ceton satisfies their pre orders.
Ben (and Nilay)
Have you received your Ceton card yet?
As soon as you do, take a leave of absence from your day jobs and devote all your time to the blowout how to build a quad-tuner HTPC (DVR) for around $700.
Your adoring fanbase can't wait.
Don't make the article for the faint of heart. We want it long and in too much depth with lots of details, instructions, exasperations (made up word?), hopes, dreams, and magical unicorns.
I would have bought this back in March but now I'm waiting for the cablecard HDHomerun - its going to be cheaper (same price/tuner but only 3 tuners which is more than enough), networked (so I can watch tv on my pc, and hide the tuner away) and SD have a proven track record.
Its nice to see these coming out, Mediacenter is by far the best dvr experience. You can build a htpc for less than the price of tivo+service and it'll end up doing so much more.
Noticed that my credit card was charged yesterday so I hope this means it will be arriving this week. :)
Review is up - http://www.missingremote.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5075&Itemid=236