Review: Ceton InfiniTV 4 Quad CableCARD Tuner – Part I

[mikinho]

So I had two questions popup on the guide screenshot:

Q1: How did you get channel logos?

A1: [url=http://mychannellogos.com/]My Channel Logos[/url]

Excellent addition to help increase SAF.  I use it and highly recommend giving it a shot; however, if your guide is slow to load or navigate you may want to skip it.  After installing you may notice that when you open the guide, it takes a bit longer to scroll through your listings.  On my AtomIon (R.I.P.) it was noticeable but on an i3 or higher shouldn’t be a problem.

What I’ve done on my system is optimize the logos (PNGs) to help reduce the additional memory usage.

Q2: How did you color-code the TV Guide?

A2: It is a built-in feature of Windows Media Center, Tasks, Settings, TV, Guide, Guide Page Options and enable the feature.  Enjoy.

btw, If you have questions please ask here and I’ll do my best to respond.

[mikinho]

[quote=”DBayPlaya2k3″]
1. Does the Ceton Tuner have individual LED’s like the ATI DCT
2. If it does do they change color depending on signal status
[/quote]

I can confirm it has a blue LED when paired and working correctly.  I pulled the coaxial and no change but I only give it 30 seconds, didn’t want to risk my wife wrath during her show.  You’ll need to wait another 30 minutes for more info.  I’ll also ask Ceton as well.

[mikinho]

I’m not quoting directly but here is the scope.  The LEDs are a boot status indication only, it does not indicate signal strength.

During initial boot the red LED turns on and then off followed by the blue LED blinking.  When the core components have finished boot-up the blue LED will turn solid on and remain on.

If there is a problem during boot-up the red LED will continue to blink.  That is where I’d recommend Ceton’s customer support.

Thanks again Ceton.

[captain_video]

I’ve been looking over the installation instructions from the Ceton site and discovered a few things I found interesting as well as a bit confusing.  

The instructions have you installing the Ceton card and hooking everything up and inserting the cablecard and then running the Digital Cable Advisor.  It says that the Extras Gallery may not be shown and that it gets downloaded when you run the installer software.  I’m running Win 7 Pro and the Extras Gallery with the Digital Cable Advisor icon is present.  I decided to go ahead and run it since it’s just checking to make sure your system meets the minimum requirements to handle a cablecard tuner.  It seems a bit silly to install the hardware first and then run the advisor.  If your system doesn’t meet the minimum requirements you may have to uninstall everything to get it up to speed.  I’m guessing that not all versions of Win 7 Media Center include the Extras Gallery.

One thing I found interesting is that it requires 4GB of RAM as a minimum requirement.  I do have 4GB of RAM so my system passed.  The weird thing is that I’m running the 32-bit version of Win 7 Pro, which only allows 3GB of RAM to be used from what I understand.  It seems to me that in order to have 4GB of RAM available that the 64-bit version of Win 7 would also be a requirement.

I just scanned over the installation instructions again and I just realized that the product key for the tuner required during the configuration process is apparently generated when running the Digital Cable Advisor.  This is probably why they have you install the tuner card and cablecard prior to running it,  I think it took less than five minutes to run through it so I’ll just rerun it after I get my Ceton card.

[mikinho]

It is just a suggested order, like you mentioned, I highly recommend running the Digital Cable Advisor ahead of time.  You don’t want a last minute surprise if you system isn’t HDCP compliant.

[johnw248]

[quote=”captain_video”]

I just scanned over the installation instructions again and I just realized that the product key for the tuner required during the configuration process is apparently generated when running the Digital Cable Advisor.  This is probably why they have you install the tuner card and cablecard prior to running it,  I think it took less than five minutes to run through it so I’ll just rerun it after I get my Ceton card.
[/quote]

You don’t need to re-run the DCA if you passed and allowed it to update your system. That last step removes the OEM Bios requirement and adds the PID into the registry so it will show up when you install the Ceton card. It may be white on white, but it’ll be there so you just click next.

The  4meg of RAM requirement is a strange requirement. My old Compaq failed on memory since it only has 2megs of RAM since it was originally a XP machine.  and it seems a bit of a waste of money to put more memory into an old and slow machine.
John

[mikinho]

Glad to see you posting over here John.

I know you are a Tuning Adapter user (sufferer) so when you get your InfiniTV please update with any quirks hints you find.

[Anonymous]

Is there an ETA for Part II to be posted?

[mikinho]

I believe Tuesday, might be tomorrow afternoon but I still have some tests I’d like to include.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the quick reply. I cant wait because you mentioned in Part I you tested with 5 different computers. I want to see how each performed because I am waiting to build HTPC. You might actually save me $600 since the computer specs I have in mind are definitely overkill.

You cant Google InfiniTV 4 without seeing at least 100 links to this thread.

[mikinho]

Its up to 7 computers at this point but will focus mostly on the 5 I mentioned in Part I.

[Anonymous]

You are the best man. Any hints on which computer is working best spec-wise?

[mikinho]

In terms of the Ceton InfiniTV itself–all of them.  Even the Intel Atom D510.  I’m trying to get my hands on a Intel Atom D525 to test as well but unlikely.  I’m honestly amazed how little resources are used.

In terms of a HTPC as a whole, the Intel DH57DD + Core i5-670 as been awesome and my ideal setup (Ref: HTPC #1).  I have a full review of the Intel DH57DD + Core i5-670 just about complete that will be published here at Missing Remote.  But wait for that review as there are some caveats depending on the enclosure.

[Anonymous]

Will do. Thanks for everything. I see I wont be needing a Core I7-930 with 12 GB RAM for this HTPC that will double as a Camera Surveillance system (4 cameras) and Home Automation.

[Anonymous]

Great write up! 

Question for you.  You mentioned that while watching live TV on the htpc someone else was watching live tv on a media center extender in their room.  What extender were they using?  Anymore details on this?  It would be a major advantage if I could do this in my house, let alone it would eliminate splitters for analog cards in the kids machines.

Can’t wait for part 2 & 3!

[Author]

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