I just saw this write-up on Engadget and I want one. It's a
review of an upcoming HTPC cable card adapter that allows you to record up to 4 channels of HD programming from your cable provider at the same time.
I love FIOS service but I've become very frustrated with my Verizon FIOS supplied DVR and it's tiny 20 hours (160GB) of recording capacity and problems with the menu locking up. I'd been just about to pull the trigger on a $500 TIVO HD Premiere XL (150 hours) when I started reading
reports that they shipped the Premiere before it was ready. Reports that the software is not ready for primetime, that it's unfinished and they had to disable the 2nd CPU core for the time being leaving it painfully slow. So far I haven't seen a solid ETA for the finished/fully functional software and I'm not about to spend $800 (with subscription) for a TIVO that may or may not ever work right - especially when the company isn't all that financially solid. That leaves me waiting until the first of the year for a 40 hour FIOS DVR - or maybe not...
I have a dedicated HTPC sitting out in my storage shed that I could put back to work if/when this tuner hits the market and lives up to expectations. It has a Core 2 Duo CPU, 2 GB of RAM so horsepower shouldn't be an issue. I suspect that 4 data streams would be too much for an Atom CPU but who knows. Drop in a 2TB HD for 200+ hours of recording and maybe a small 30GB SSD for the OS. The card is expensive but cheaper than a TIVO Premiere XL and half the price of a Premiere XL with life of the box service, and I already have the HTPC and a Windows 7 license for it.
Oh well until the Ceton InfiniTV4 actually hits the market I'm just thinking out loud.
Hi,
You sound like you have a lot more experience in this area than I do, but I'm thinking along the same lines as you. I first heard about the Ceton InfiniTV 4 on a Twit podcast on home theaters. A very high-end systems integrator, Paul Heitlinger, CTO of S1 Digital, was using these cards (or planning to use them) to build very expensive home media servers.
Link to podcast
After hearing about these and finding out that S1 Digital products were WAY out of my budget, I've been poking around to find out more about these. At this point, my understanding is that they ARE in production and they are WILDLY in demand--there's a long line of pre-orders to fill. I haven't gone so far as to order one yet, as I have a lot to learn about putting together an HTPC before I start ordering components.
I'm not quite a complete newbie at this, having put together my first and very modest home theater system a couple of years ago. When I started on that project, I explored using an HTPC but at that time the learning curve and the capabilities available just didn't seem to make enough sense. So I ended up with a Yamaha receiver, a PS3 (now an LG BD player and a Roku box). Speakers are a pretty nice set of Def Techs: BP30, CLR 2000 and BPVX's that I accumulated on the used market. It's not top-of-the line by any means, but it suits my ears and my budget OK. (Oh, I did have a pair of Magnepan QR 1.6's that I found and bought intending to use as my front speakers powered by an old Halfer Transnova 9505, but when we moved from California to New Mexico, I put the Def Techs and the Maggies up for sale and the Maggies sold. When I demo'd them for the buyer I knew I would wish I had never let them go--I LOVE the sound of the magneplanar speakers....but I digress.)
What's really gotten me thinking that it might be time to go back to the HTPC concept at this time are:
a) the availability of the Ceton card
b) an EXTREME dislike of relying on and paying Comcast every month for two crappy set top boxes/DVR's.
c) the appearance that we are reaching "critical mass" in the TV/Internet convergence that has been being predicted for so many years.
Comcast charges me $16/month EACH for two boxes/DVR's. An HTPC with a Ceton card would lower that to $8 for a single cable card.
Of course, there's the cost of buying/building a PC and at least one media extender box to stream recordings from Windows Media Center to my second (bedroom) TV/audio setup (another Yamaha, Roku and some cheap Yamaha speakers). Not insignificant with the Ceton card going for $400.00 by itself.
Technically, I need to understand the interconnection between a HTPC/Media center and the rest of the equipment better. I'm not quite grokking (yes, I'm that old... ;-)), how all these components fit together. Obviously the Ceton goes into the HTPC and the cable connection is made directly to that. Windows Media Center then takes care of recording and playback on any/all of the 4 channels available.
But from there, I'm a bit in the dark. How is the hookup to the AV receiver made? How do I get the audio/video from Comcast's broadcasts into the AV receiver and out to the TV and the speakers? Or does the HTPC REPLACE the receiver? And is that a good idea?
I've been looking around the net for advice and picking up tidbits here and there, but I'm running into this kind of fundamental lack of understanding of how the pieces fit together. Maybe someone here can chime in.
If I can figure out a way to get this working, I would be able to drop Comcast back down to the lowest possible TV package and not rely on them for anything in the way of equipment. Or maybe even hook up an OTA antenna and get local HD broadcasts and stream anything else I want via content providers on the web....if I can only get Lakers games
.
Anyway, maybe I can get some feedback from this forum and get a better handle on all of this.
