Ask fellow members about Ceton's infiniTV tuners here.
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FrankAZ
- Posts: 42
- Joined: Wed Apr 04, 2012 8:16 pm
- Location: Chandler, AZ
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HTPC Specs:
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CPU: i3-540
Mobo: Intel DH57DD
RAM: 2x 2GB DDR3-1333
HDD: 80GB SSD; 1TB WD Green
GPU: Intel Integrated Graphics
Tuner: InfiniTV4 & 2250
Case: Silverstone GD05
Remote: GP-IR02BK
Display: Sony 42"
TV Provider: Cox Phoenix
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#1
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by FrankAZ » Mon Sep 10, 2012 10:22 pm
Hello,
I am beginning to suspect that my PCIe InfiniTV4 which dates from late summer 2010 is beginning to fail. The symptoms are new and don't fit the pattern of a bad cable which I've experienced before. Some channels are giving me blocking/drop-outs. Signal levels reported by each of the tuners are very variable +/- 2 dBmV, wrt the average figure, for successive diagnostic page reloads, and tuners 1 & 2 consistently report levels which average 2-3dBmV lower than tuners 3 & 4. My overall reported signals range from +2 to -12dBmV for frequencies from 150MHz to 800MHz, which never used to roll-off that much. My Cable Guy came out and checked my signal to the Ceton dongle and reported the signal good enough quality, ~+4dBmV, and almost uniform across the spectrum. The TiVo S3 on another equal output of the same drop-amp is working nicely. I've to do a few more tests and experiments using no drop amp and a fresh cable temporarily laid across the ground floor of the house, but I'm beginning to resign myself to needing a new InfiniTV4. I think something has gone wrong with the RF front-end. We have been having a lot of storms recently.
So that I can better prepare Mrs FrankAZ, is anything going to break the playback of copy-protected recordings made with the original InfiniTV4? No other system components will change and I do not propose to reinstall the Windows 7 operating system.
- Would content play back as normal even if I remove the old InfiniTV4 and replace it with a new InfiniTV4, after pairing it with the original CableCard? Does a tuner substitution affect the machine signature enough to break DRM?
- Would I need to keep the old InfiniTV4 in the system until we've watched the library of older copy-protected recordings? If I did I'd prefer to remove the CableCard because (after jumping through the hoop with my Cable Co, Cox) I'd fit it to the new card. Would not having a CableCard fitted to the original InfiniTV4 satisfy the DRM need? I'd not even have a coax brought to the old InfiniTV4 and would have no expectation of recording - I'd just be keeping it in the original PCIe slot to satisfy DRM criteria.
Has anyone had to do this yet and have first hand proven experience to share?
Frank.
i3-540 | DH57DD | 4GB DDR3-1333 | InfiniTV4 \ 2250 | Intel SSD \ WD 1TB | Silverstone GD05
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makryger
- Posts: 2132
- Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2011 2:01 pm
- Location: Illinois
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HTPC Specs:
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CPU: Core 2 Duo E7200
Mobo: Asus P5N7A mATX
RAM: G.SKILL 2x2GB DDR2
HDD: Crucial 64GB SSD, 1TB Seagate
GPU: NVidia 9300 (integrated)
Tuner: InfiniTV 4 PCIex
Case: Apex DM387
Remote: Dell Gyration RF Remote
Display: Sharp 46" LCD
Amp: Logitech Z-5450 Wifi Speakers
TV Provider: Comcast
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#2
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by makryger » Mon Sep 10, 2012 11:04 pm
I'm pretty sure copy-protection for already recorded shows is not tuner-dependent... I've moved from an ATI DCT to a Ceton InfiniTV and it didn't screw up my past recordings... this is basically the same thing.
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richard1980
- Posts: 2623
- Joined: Wed Jun 08, 2011 3:15 am
- Location:
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HTPC Specs:
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CPU: Core i3-3225 U/C'd @ 1.6 GHz
Mobo: ASUS P8H77-I
RAM: 8GB DDR3
HDD: X25-V, WD CG, WD CG A/V
GPU: Integrated HD4000
Tuner: 1x InfiniTV4; 1x HDHRP
Case: Apex MI-008 + picoPSU-160-XT
Remote: Logitech Harmony 300i
Display: Panasonic P50G20
Amp: Onkyo HTS-9100THX
TV Provider: Cox Communications
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#3
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by richard1980 » Mon Sep 10, 2012 11:25 pm
I don't have any first-hand experience, but I'm sure if changing tuners breaks DRM, we would have heard about it by now.
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FrankAZ
- Posts: 42
- Joined: Wed Apr 04, 2012 8:16 pm
- Location: Chandler, AZ
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HTPC Specs:
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CPU: i3-540
Mobo: Intel DH57DD
RAM: 2x 2GB DDR3-1333
HDD: 80GB SSD; 1TB WD Green
GPU: Intel Integrated Graphics
Tuner: InfiniTV4 & 2250
Case: Silverstone GD05
Remote: GP-IR02BK
Display: Sony 42"
TV Provider: Cox Phoenix
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#4
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by FrankAZ » Mon Sep 10, 2012 11:39 pm
Thanks for the quick replies. They both make sense. I'll approach a new tuner with less trepidation if my direct-hook to the street gives the same or similar signal variability result, as I expect.
Frank.
i3-540 | DH57DD | 4GB DDR3-1333 | InfiniTV4 \ 2250 | Intel SSD \ WD 1TB | Silverstone GD05
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WhatHappend
- Posts: 69
- Joined: Mon Jun 06, 2011 8:00 pm
- Location:
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HTPC Specs:
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CPU: Intel Core i3-530 retail
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-H55M-USB3
RAM: Mushkin Enh Silverline 8G DDR3
HDD: 2x Samsung F4 2TB,OCZ 32GB SSD
GPU: On Board Intel HD Graphics
Tuner: InfiniTV PCie, SD HDHR Prime
Case: Antec NSK2480 w/ 380 EarthWatt
Remote: Harmony One
Display: VIZIO 65” 3D LED (M3D651SV)
Amp: Yamaha RX-663
TV Provider: Mediacom Cable
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#5
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by WhatHappend » Tue Sep 11, 2012 5:00 am
I have changed InfinitTV4 tuners many times now and changing tuner has no affect on playing back a protected recording recorded with previously installed InfiniTV.
I put a script file in this thread to easily gather your levels based on frequency for you:
http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/vie ... 163#p27163
I see about 17dB of tilt from lowest to highest frequency (chart at link above), but that is constant across all tuners I have tried.
(Update: I take that back. The HDHR Prime is showing tilt of 11dB, that is a lot better than the 17dB. Not sure whether any of these tuner provided measurements mean much.)
HDHR Prime
Ch812 Freq 153MHz
SNR 37.6 dB
Level 5.3 dBmV
CH107 Freq 759MHz
SNR 34.3 dB
Level -5.4 dBmV
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erkotz
- Posts: 1378
- Joined: Mon Aug 22, 2011 9:23 pm
- Location:
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HTPC Specs:
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CPU: Intel Core2 Quad Q6600
Mobo: Gigabyte GA965P-DS3
RAM: 3GB DDR2
HDD: Hitachi 7K2000 2TB
GPU: ATI Radeon HD4550 512MB
Tuner: Ceton InfiniTV 6 PCIe
Case: Ahanix D.Vine 4 (I hate it!)
Remote: Logitech Harmony 880
Display: Sony 60" LCD RPTV
Amp: Onkyo TX-NR609
TV Provider: Time Warner Cable
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#6
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by erkotz » Tue Sep 11, 2012 2:53 pm
Changing (or removing) just an InfiniTV should not break DRM. However, the DRM calculation does give a high weight to network cards (which includes the InfiniTV), so if you change other things at the same time, you may run into difficulty.
Quality Assurance Manager, Ceton Corporation