Ceton InfiniTV 4 Tuner Sharing via Network Bridging

[rekd0514]

Original Article Link

Thanks for the update! Here is what we should be looking at now, another beta. Oh no!

https://connect.microsoft.com/sbs?wa=wsignin1.0

I am guessing being business software it will be too expensive and difficult for most to use though.

[mikinho]

It works surprisingly well for a beta though =)

I only use WHS for backups, none of the Media Center integration features as I feel other tools do the job better so Aurora makes more sense for me for the Hyper-V support.

Other users may find it more beneficial to use VMware ESx but with Windows 2008 R2 SP1 and Windows 7 SP1 I’m enjoying the benefits of RemoteFx.  The hardware cost is cost prohibitive for a simple file server though if thats all you need from it.

[mikinho]

I also completely forgot to mention a limitation of Windows when bridging networks.

When you bridge two network cards, a “MAC Bridge Miniport” network device is created that is used as a single network card.  The “MAC Bridge Miniport” receives a new dynamically assigned MAC address each boot.  So if you have a Static DHCP setup for your system, you will need to use a static IP address instead since the MAC address will change.  Just something to keep in mind.  There is no way through the GUI to assign a static MAC address.

[Anonymous]

[quote=”Mikinho”]
I also completely forgot to mention a limitation of Windows when bridging networks.

When you bridge two network cards, a “MAC Bridge Miniport” network device is created that is used as a single network card.  The “MAC Bridge Miniport” receives a new dynamically assigned MAC address each boot.  So if you have a Static DHCP setup for your system, you will need to use a static IP address instead since the MAC address will change.  Just something to keep in mind.  There is no way through the GUI to assign a static MAC address.
[/quote]

Mikinho,

I don’t understand.  Can you please elaborate how this will work when setting up network bridging on the host machine (with the InfinitiTV installed) and the client machine (accesing tuner(s) of the InfiniTV on the host machine)?

I currently use static IP addresses for my machines anf would prefer to continue doing so.  The problem you describe confuses me because (1) I’ve never done network briding to begin with, so I am not sure how to even set up once Ceton releases the updated firmware, and (2) if the MAC bridge miniport has its own IP address (static or dynamic), how does that affect the separate IP addresses of the NIC in the host and/or client?

Based on what you

[Andrew Van Til]

If it’s like other network bridges you select both NICs, right click and select “Bridge Connections”.  Mikinho’s comments re. the MAC only apply to static DHCP assignments (i.e. where the MAC is used byt the DHCP server to assign the same IP address to the client each time).  If you use pure static assignments it shouldn’t apply.

[mikinho]

[quote=”tcs2tx”]
I don’t understand.  Can you please elaborate how this will work when setting up network bridging on the host machine (with the InfinitiTV installed) and the client machine (accesing tuner(s) of the InfiniTV on the host machine)?
[/quote]

I can’t discuss the implementation on the client (remote) machine, at least not yet.  Hopefully soon.  On the InfiniTV4 host machine it is an option on the beta firmware.  From there you bridge the network adapters.

[img width=650 height=196]http://www.missingremote.com/images/stories/mikinho/network-connections.jpg[/img]

Going off the above, neither the InfiniTV4-01 or Home network adapters will have any
protocols associated with them.  Instead all the TCPIP settings will be under “Network Bridge”.  The “Network Bridge” adapter will unfortunately have a dynamically assigned MAC Address so Static DHCP, for those that use it, will not work.

[quote=”tcs2tx”]
I currently use static IP addresses for my machines anf would prefer to continue doing so.  The problem you describe confuses me because (1) I’ve never done network briding to begin with, so I am not sure how to even set up once Ceton releases the updated firmware, and (2) if the MAC bridge miniport has its own IP address (static or dynamic), how does that affect the separate IP addresses of the NIC in the host and/or client?
[/quote]

If you use Static IP addresses already then you will need to reconfigure the network settings for “Network Bridge” adapter.  The “normal” network adapter will no longer have its own IP address, everything goes through the “Network Bridge”.  On the client side, no change will be needed on the network card.

[nightryder21]

How do you manage recorded tv and and shared guide data on the two HTPCs and your Aurora Server. It sounds like a great writeup. If I can get two small HTPCs two manage and share guide data it sounds like the ultimate setup. More info on your setup please.

[mikinho]

I’ll see what I can put together for a write up.

I currently have 4 HTPCs “sharing” one InfiniTV4 for Live TV duties and another (borrowed) InfiniTV4 dedicated to Recorded TV.  It really is a nice setup, I’ll need to return the borrowed InfiniTV4 soon though =/ Maybe come tax time I’ll be able to justify a second.

[Meester.Rip]

I would think it would all setup similar to the way a HDHomeRun is. You install the driver and then go into Media Center setup like you would for a local tuner. It would do a scan and see the network tuners and then you setup everything the same as you normally would.

[phoneguyinpgh]

@ Mikinho.  I was interested in Installing the card in a WHS with the hopes that that the WHS would do any recording and stream live TV to the HTPCs.  It sounds like that will not work due to recording functionality not being built into WHSv1 or Vail.
Right now I can only record OTA TV, but when I do I immediately have it transfer that recording to the WHS so that I can watch on any PC and it works very well.
Might it be worth the trouble and $$$ to build a separate small box to sit along side the WHS, that is always on, with it’s sole function being to host the tuner card, record and stream TV?? 
I was thinking of something like this  [url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856101115]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856101115[/url]  w/ W7x64, a Dual Core, 4G of ram to host the tuner.

Any thoughts??

[Anonymous]

I have an HTPC.  An ordinary PC, not a server.  This HTPC has an InfiniTV4 installed and working since mid August.  Works perfectly.

Ok, here’s the million dollar question…

Can I create a Virtual PC using some virtual software (MS Virtual PC or Oracle Virtual Box) and run Media Center in that virtual machine while bridging to the InfiniTV4?  I could effectively have Picture In Picture.  And, given enough horsepower on the PC I could have 3 virtual boxes and have 4 windows with TV screens on them watching 4 college football games at once.  Just like ESPN3.

Do you think this would work?

[mikinho]

I don’t believe it will work due to the HDCP requirements.  You can bypass the Digital Cable Advisor via registry keys but Live TV I don’t believe so.

I have some thoughts on getting essentially the same effect, let me test some things out and get back to you after this weekend.

[Anonymous]

Mikinho, you stated in the article that you’re using a virtual W7 HTPC with the Ceton…does that mean that the virtual machine passes the Digital Cable Advisor test in Media Center?

[mikinho]

No, I manually set the registry keys to bypass that.

[mikinho]

And a guide on tuner sharing and my virtual setup is coming.  Hopefully everyone will understand the delay next week.

[Author]

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