Ceton InfiniTV 4 PCIe as a ClearQAM Tuner

[hayesmd]

I've been trying to get my Ceton setup as a ClearQAM tuner. I tried the trick of pairing it with my CableCard that is in my TiVo but within 10 minutes of pulling the card my Ceton can't tune anything. I know the Channel Map downloaded and it is still showing up on the card under the 'CableCard' tab, but now I cannot get WMC to play any video through the card. Any suggestions, honestly I'm getting tired of calling Comcast to work on the pairings because they then have to turn around and re-pair the card to my TiVo.

I had an issue with the OS and had to shutdown the system to do some upgrades, then when I brought it back online the Ceton card was not seated correctly in the slot and didn't know it until I had already cleared everything. Previously, it had pulled all my QAM channels and I could map what wasn't encrypted. Anyway to get that functionality back and NO I do not have a backup of the system, I lost those during the OS upgrades. I upgraded my C drive to an SSD but to shrink the original C I had to clear some stuff (system restores, hibernation files, etc)

The only time the card has displayed video since coming back online was while it was paired and the card was inserted. I am running the latest beta firmware and hardware drivers.

Thanks

[erkotz]

You can't do what you're trying to do. You need to approach this one of two ways:
1. Set it up as a ClearQAM tuner
In this case, do not put a CableCARD in at all, and run through TV setup. WMC will need to scan for channels

2. Set up with a CableCARD
Pair a CableCARD with the InfiniTV and leave it inserted

Is there a reason you do not want to use a CableCARD?

[hayesmd]

1. I'd love to just set it up as a ClearQAM, but when I step through setup on WMC the only option I get is for (CableCard). Windows isn't seeing the tuner as a QAM tuner. What you are describing is exactly what I used to have, but it's not anymore. I tried to set it up manually with every option and let it scan channels multiple times, but it never displayed any video or finds any channels. I tried to manually add channels that I know exist and it would not tune them.

2. The reason I don't want a CableCard in it is because my local Comcast charges $6.95/mo for the card and the only channels we watch are available QAM.

Do you have any suggestions on how to completely clear EVERYTHING Ceton related so I can try the setup again. I just had a Support ticket with Ceton because my Ceton wasn't showing up in Windows and they said they do not SUPPORT the tuner being used as a ClearQAM tuner, but we did get the tuner visible and working. It even worked nicely paired to my CableCard from my TiVo.

[hayesmd]

Thank you, your confirmation that it should work made me look deeper and instead of completely removing everything Ceton I think I just needed to reset WMC. This post http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/wind ... 215a1e62b2 was ultimately want got me going again.

I think it was a combination of needing to delete my old tuner setup and needing to re-setup PlayReady since my boot C: drive was just upgraded to a SSD. Here are the steps I followed to get working again:

1. Under Control Panel; Programs; Turn Windows features on or off: turn off Windows Media Center in the Media Features folder
2. Restart
3. Delete C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\eHome\mcepg2-0.db and C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\eHome\mcepg2-1.db (I have two tuners) (In my case I had 4 tuners to delete)
4. Delete the folders C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\eHome\mcepg2-0 and C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\eHome\mcepg2-1 (again, two tuners) (Again, I had 4)
5. Restart (probably not necessary, but I did it anyway to be on the safe side)
6. Turn on Windows Media Center again in Control Panel
7. Restart (again probably not necessary, but it felt best that way)
8. WMC TV Scan

In my case also the first TV Scan couldn't find a tuner, but after reinstalling the Ceton drivers the next scan went perfectly. While going through the setup it also made me re run the Cable Ready test and setup PlayReady. Others need to keep in mind that doing these steps will break your existing .wtv files since they are tied to PlayReady. This did not bother me because I had already converted everything I wanted to keep to MP4 thanks to MCEBuddy2 https://mcebuddy2x.codeplex.com.

I hope this helps other in the future. I was a fraction away from dismantling my HTPC, but it is now alive and kicking on ClearQAM with the Ceton InfiniTV 4 and I also have a Hauppauge WinTV 885 that is connected up to MediaPortal's TV Server to feed up a live stream to XMBC if I need it.

[werds]

You can't do what you're trying to do. You need to approach this one of two ways:
1. Set it up as a ClearQAM tuner
In this case, do not put a CableCARD in at all, and run through TV setup. WMC will need to scan for channels

2. Set up with a CableCARD
Pair a CableCARD with the InfiniTV and leave it inserted

Is there a reason you do not want to use a CableCARD?

So, me being the dummy I am... what you are saying is...

1. If you have two infinTV4's installed they must both be configured as either Cable Card OR both configured as ClearQAM.
2. You cannot mix and match (one being configured CableCard and one ClearQAM) due to the manner in which WMC runs the setup for TV signals...

Is this correct?

[erkotz]

You can't do what you're trying to do. You need to approach this one of two ways:
1. Set it up as a ClearQAM tuner
In this case, do not put a CableCARD in at all, and run through TV setup. WMC will need to scan for channels

2. Set up with a CableCARD
Pair a CableCARD with the InfiniTV and leave it inserted

Is there a reason you do not want to use a CableCARD?

So, me being the dummy I am... what you are saying is...

1. If you have two infinTV4's installed they must both be configured as either Cable Card OR both configured as ClearQAM.
2. You cannot mix and match (one being configured CableCard and one ClearQAM) due to the manner in which WMC runs the setup for TV signals...

Is this correct?

Correct. This is a WMC limitation.