Review: Ceton InfiniTV 4 Quad CableCARD Tuner – Part I

[mikinho]

Well if the review wasn’t enough, the newsletter has been sent out and it is official–The Ceton InfiniTV 4 has begun shipping.

For those eager to get your hands on the drivers, it looks like that is live too.  I would personally still recommend waiting until get the your InfiniTV or at the very least check for an update prior to installing.

Thanks Ceton!

[quote=”The Ceton Team”]
Dear Michael,

We have some great news! The Ceton [url=http://www.cetoncorp.com/products.php]InfiniTV 4[/url] has begun shipping!

The first batch of production units have landed in the US and are en-route to the [url=http://www.cetoncorp.com/buy.php]Pre-Order[/url] Program retailers (Zones, Cannon PC and Fluid Digital). As we mentioned previously, they will ship to consumers on a first ordered/first shipped basis. We expect this first batch of units will start arriving at consumer homes starting next week, depending on the shipment method chosen when the pre-order was placed. As we also mentioned previously, your credit card will be charged when your unit(s) ship and some people will start seeing credit card pre-authorizations and charges starting this week. The production units are being produced in waves, which means the next batch is currently being manufactured, and will follow this same process until all the Pre-Order Program units have been delivered to your doors. We will continue to manufacture and ship all Pre-Order Program units as fast as we can but it will take some weeks for the entire backlog of orders to arrive at their end destination. Thank you for your continued support and patience.

We also want to let you know that we have posted the InfiniTV 4 Installer application, detailed installation instructions, an installation video (courtesy of Cannon PC) and warranty information on a new [url=http://www.cetoncorp.com/infinitv/support]InfiniTV 4 support page[/url] on our web site.

Important note for FiOS customers: due to recent changes related to encrypting content on some FiOS networks, we will be posting a firmware update on the support site above for FiOS customers only. Non-FiOS customers can install the update but there will be no benefit.

Cheers,
[url=http://www.cetoncorp.com/company_about.php]The Ceton Team[/url][/quote]

[Anonymous]

I plan on using fancast.com on my home theater computer to get comcast on demand stuff.  (true blood etc)  I’d never use Pay Per View so no loss.

[Meester.Rip]

About the Copy Freely issue. That only affects copying a file off the system right? Protected recordings will play on extenders?

[mikinho]

[quote=”Meester.Rip”]
About the Copy Freely issue. That only affects copying a file off the system right? Protected recordings will play on extenders?
[/quote]

Correct, the CC protection flags will not affect Media Center Extenders as they are considered an extension of the computer.

And Copy Freely (0x00) can be copied and watched from any computer.  Anything above it can not.

[quote]
0x00 – Copy freely – Content is not copy protected.
0x01 – Copy No More – Essentially the same as 0x02
0x02 – Copy Once – A recording can be made, but that is it.
0x03 – Copy Never – the content can be recorded and viewed for 90 minutes after transmission, and is not transferable.
0x04 – Content is Copy Once for digital output, but would have Macrovision 7 Day Unlimited restriction applied on the analog outputs. This affects content viewed either on an HDTV with component cabling or on a standard definition TV. It also affects content saved to VCR or DVD when the recorder is connected to an analog output on the DVR.
0x07 – Content is Copy Never for digital content (deleted after 90 minutes) and Macrovision 7 day/24 hour for content recorded from analog channels. Content cannot be transferred via TiVoToGo transfers or MRV, and cannot be saved to VCR or DVD.
[/quote]
via [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copy_Control_Information]Wikipedia[/url]

[phoneguyinpgh]

@ Mikinho…
I am VERY interested in how that card perfroms in WHS.  If it is not functional in V1, oh well, I was planning to upgrade to V2 “Vail” when it goes to release.  I want to be able to share the tuners between computers.  I only have 2 dedicated HTPCs though all my computers including my laptop and desktop are running W7 Home Premium x64.

So….
My ideal set up:  To have the tuners centrally located in my network (1Gb wired), either hosted on my WHS or the Silicon Dust unit and my HTPCs would access them as needed.  I have already set up my HTPCs so that they record OTA shows and once finished transfer them to a central directory on the WHS so that any computer can watch recorded TV (something I can’t do now with FIOS’s DVR).  This would also would give me virtually unlimited recording and archival space (something the FIOS DVRs 160GB HD can’t do and it’s not upgradeable).

Buying 2 Centon cards (1 for each HTPC) would be over kill for my purposes.  I know the Centon was planning on producing 2 tuner unit, but since 3 or 4 tuners would meet my needs, why rent 2 or more cable cards when 1 for 1 tuner card would be ideal.

So I am very very very interested in info on possible tuner sharing from a central system.

[mikinho]

I’ll have WHS v2 cover in Part 3.  In the current firmware network bridging does NOT work out of box but with a little networking voodoo it is possible.

With a little luck the lobbying Ceton and other companies have been doing with CableLabs will also allows us to split the tuners among different computers.  I’m optimistic for a relatively quick change.

[mikinho]

For those concerned by the reports of Zone tracking numbers being sent out.  I wouldn’t be alarmed if you have not received yours, most likely these are Microsoft employees ordering through a special employee program.

[DBayPlaya2k3]

Mikinho,

Like you I also reside in Texas about 40 mins from Houston (League City) and also have Comcast with 2 ATI DCT. I have a few questions for you regarding the process.

1. Which prompt in the phone menu did you pick
A. Technical Support for Cable TV
B. Technical Support for Internet

2. Was it a noticeable difference in the HD picture quality going from your ATI DCT to your Ceton DCT. I used to have the Comcast DVR and when I gor the ATI DCT i noticed that the on the Comcast DVR the Picture Quality seemed a little better than the ATI units.

Oh and please thank your Wife for the editorial she wrote and the SAF. My Girlfriend and I experience the exact same problems that your wife spoke of with the ATI DCT. I showed the article to my Girlfriend yesterday and needless to say she was very pleased. I guess it meant a lot more for her since she saw someone else’s perspective on this.

Thanks alot for the great article.

[mikinho]

[quote=”DBayPlaya2k3″]
Mikinho,

Like you I also reside in Texas about 40 mins from Houston (League City) and also have Comcast with 2 ATI DCT. I have a few questions for you reguarding the process.

1. Which prompt in the phone menu did you pick
[/quote]

When you install the card you’ll receive a phone number for your provider and region.  That will take you directly to cable television customer support.

The cable television customer support is able to activate and update CableCARD pairing.  I would recommend asking them to send the authorization signal a few times too.

Note: The Comcast cable television customer support does NOT have the ability to remove pairing.  So if you have an activated CableCARD at home and need to unpair it you will need to speak with cable television Technion support.

Also, if you are having issues receiving the authorization code but have received the staging request (I”ll post screenshots to help explain) try switching out cables andor removing any op-amps if you have them.

[DBayPlaya2k3]

Sorry I accidentally only posted part of my post. By the time I had finished editing you had already replied.

I have updated my first post.  🙂

[mikinho]

[quote=”DBayPlaya2k3″]
A. Technical Support for Cable TV
[/quote]

[quote=”DBayPlaya2k3″]
2. Was it a noticeable difference in the HD picture quality going from your ATI DCT to your Ceton DCT. I used to have the Comcast DVR and when I gor the ATI DCT i noticed that the on the Comcast DVR the Picture Quality seemed a little better than the ATI units. [/quote]

I’ll be going into the picture quality (PQ) and tuner comparison in Part 2 but yes, the Ceton does seem to have a better PQ.  It was on par with my Comcast STB.  My wife swears that Discovery HD has never looked so good.

[quote=”DBayPlaya2k3″]
Oh and please thank your Wife for the editorial she wrote and the SAF. My Girlfriend and I experience the exact same problems that your wife spoke of with the ATI DCT. I showed the article to my Girlfriend yesterday and needless to say she was very pleased. I guess it meant a lot more for her since she saw someone else’s perspective on this.
[/quote]

She will be to very happy that it helped!

[Aaron Ledger]

Mikinho, In your part II review, would you mind posting some close-up shots detailing the boards and how they are put together?

[mikinho]

I should have a photo gallery up in 30 minutes with that.

[mikinho]

And I completely forgot to include in the review two extra hints when installing:

1- When installing the CableCARD for the first time please be aware that it is a tight fit so you’ll need to give it a little force when installing.  More so than I expected or than on the ATI DCTs I have had.

2- The full sized PCI bracket is fairly malleable so when installing the CableCARD take care to not push in too far as it can bend the bracket slightly.  It is easy to bend back but you won’t want to do that often =)

[JohnCz]

The channel changing performance is promising.  I’ve never used multiple tuners before in Media Center.  I’m looking to give my wife nearly instanteous channel flip between two channels.  Can that be achieved if we mark one channel for recording and tune another channel?  Essentially forcing a 2nd tuner to be used.  In this case, when she switches back to the show being recorded, Media Center is smart enough to just use the tuner/buffering already in use…without 2-3 sec delay.

[Author]

Posts