infiniTV 6 & Cablevision results?

[gyrene2083]

Hello All, I have been an avid HTPC owner for over a decade. I have built many HTPC's, but never have I used my HTPC as my DVR. Cablevision, has just gotten ridiculous with pricing, and from what I have seen they aren't the only ones....So with that being said I am trying to find a way to save some money, and convince the wife to maybe upgrade, the internet package to boost . We have 3 DVRs and 2 HD boxes. I'm am so thinking of taking the plunge and just buying 2 Ceton InfiniTV 6's. I have two InfiniTV's in my Amazon Cart right now. I know sounds crazy 12 tuners, but the worst thing is to be watching the NBA playoffs, and having it change because your wife has 2 shows recording......

Now enough of the rambling, I'd appreciate if some of you Cablevision users can help this Old Marine out. How has it been working with your InfiniTV 6? I appreciate any and all feedback, and I'm sure you could understand the question.

[mdavej]

What is the max number of tuners that you ever expect to use simultaneously? In my 4 person, 6 TV household, that number has never broken 4, much less 12.

Also consider that you are about to spend $600 on tuners, and probably $500 on a new PC, and $180 on each of 4 additional extenders, for a grand total of nearly $2000. That's a really long payback period.

So I highly recommend you start small and work your way up, especially since your primary reason is saving money.

[gyrene2083]

I should have stated I already have 3 HTPC's, and 4 xboxes.....I have the wife with her shows, and I have my two kids with their shows, and then I may pick a sports recording here and there...So at present I have 3 DVRs from cablevision, that's 6 tuners, right there. Then there is the 2 regular HD boxes which would bring total tuners in the house to 8....That is why I figured 12 tuners would be the right way to go.

As, far as extenders, and HTPCs I already have those built, and I have Cat6 laid out throughout the house with a gig switch...If you want to know more I have a two 4u Rackmounts. One with 16tb's of media, running UnRaid, and the other runing WHS with 6tb's....

[adam1991]

Gyrene,

Good to have you here, and welcome. (A buddy of mine is a former Marine; when/where did you serve?)

I would be *shocked* if you ever exceeded 6 simultaneous tuners in use. With my wife and me, plus our two kids, we never exceed four. I would like the flexibility of having a couple more, and am contemplating the new six tuner PCI unit, but nothing is pushing me there.

Remember, the entire family will be watching from one single pool of recorded TV. That'll change the dynamic drastically. You're not stuck with "well, that's recorded upstairs..." Plus you'll be watching ripped movies, and Netflix, and...

You could start with one six tuner unit, and see how it goes. It's easy to add another. Of course, you could start with two six tuner units, and then sell one when you realize it's never in use.

One strategy would be to let the "family" 7MC box use five out of the six available tuners, tuning/recording stuff for the family, and reserve one for yourself and your sports. Dedicate it to you. Route it to a separate HTPC that's yours and yours alone.

I do truly think you'll be wasting $300 for a second six tuner unit.

[gyrene2083]

adam1991, thank you so much. I suppose mdavej, and yourself are right. I suppose maybe I need a better understanding on how the entire process works...and actually when I think about it....The DVR in one of the rooms are rarely used. So, I will just do the one unit, and as you said do the other if need be. Now if I could, just get some input on how it's been working with CableVision that would be awesome.

I'm trying to get the wife convinced on this idea, because the rental fees from CableVision is really starting to add up. I'm sure she'll keep a DVR from the company in the bedroom for her soaps and stuff, but I could get rid of the others maybe if it works well enough....

My last duty station was, Camp Lejeune, NC I was with H&SBn, H&SCo, G-2, 2nd FSSG. 89-93

[adam1991]

As quickly as my wife took to the xbox, I've no doubt yours would similarly have no problem.

In my case, the xboxen are dedicated to extender duty. YMMV.

Anyway, my reasoning is that once you've used 7MC as your dvr, you'll throw that cableco junk in the trash very quickly.

Want some magic? Comskip. Commercials are a thing of the past. Try that on the cableco box.

[gyrene2083]

adam1991, I'm sold, Just made the jump. Got one 6 tuner unit. I have 4 xboxes, so that fixes my sons room, and my daughters room. I'm guessing 7MC is Win7 Media Center right? (Been a lonng day) I've used XMBC when it came out on the original XBOX, actually still have that box. So, she's used to me having stuff around. I just need everything to just work. I need the PAR (Partner Approved Rating) to be high on this one.....

[adam1991]

adam1991, I'm sold, Just made the jump. Got one 6 tuner unit. I have 4 xboxes, so that fixes my sons room, and my daughters room. I'm guessing 7MC is Win7 Media Center right? (Been a lonng day) I've used XMBC when it came out on the original XBOX, actually still have that box. So, she's used to me having stuff around. I just need everything to just work. I need the PAR (Partner Approved Rating) to be high on this one.....

WAF will be high. The key: KISS. Start slow, one thing at a time. You have the solid infrastructure in place, that's good.

I wrestled with a few things at startup, but it was all behind the scenes from the family. I'm a mac guy, this is the only Win box in the house, I built it myself, and am on month 26 with it. It's that solid.

Do you have any idea what you'll do for remote control?

[werds]

Gyrene,

Good to have you here, and welcome. (A buddy of mine is a former Marine; when/where did you serve?)

I would be *shocked* if you ever exceeded 6 simultaneous tuners in use. With my wife and me, plus our two kids, we never exceed four. I would like the flexibility of having a couple more, and am contemplating the new six tuner PCI unit, but nothing is pushing me there.

Remember, the entire family will be watching from one single pool of recorded TV. That'll change the dynamic drastically. You're not stuck with "well, that's recorded upstairs..." Plus you'll be watching ripped movies, and Netflix, and...

You could start with one six tuner unit, and see how it goes. It's easy to add another. Of course, you could start with two six tuner units, and then sell one when you realize it's never in use.

One strategy would be to let the "family" 7MC box use five out of the six available tuners, tuning/recording stuff for the family, and reserve one for yourself and your sports. Dedicate it to you. Route it to a separate HTPC that's yours and yours alone.

I do truly think you'll be wasting $300 for a second six tuner unit.

Adam has nailed all the high notes and is correct KISS. Once you have a rock solid setup that you are happy with introduce one change at a time and make sure they are bullet proof as well. The only thing I say that contradicts his comments is that 6 tuners is enough at the start. But it will NOT be in the future. 10 or 12 is a good number to have honestly. Why? Well the default behavior for Windows Media Center is that with a tuner, as soon as a show ends in the guide and you have a different show on that same channel recording, it will abruptly end recording one and then move to recording the other on the same tuner. This can occasionally cause clipped endings or beginnings. The only way I have found to combat this is to FORCE recordings to stop at 5 minutes after (not when possible). This instead forces WMC to find the NEXT available tuner to start a recording. In this manner I rarely get clipped endings or beginnings. But in order to do this you do need MORE tuners.

But to start I say get it going as adam stated, and with 5 xboxen extenders you should only need the one HTPC with 6 tuners.

BTW - for remotes, I use Logitech 700's on ALL the tv's and xbox extenders (as they mainly act as TV boxes) this way in any room people just grab the remote for that room and the commands and button layouts are almost identical for each (with minor differences for xbox's and any special commands for speakers or tv differences). I like this particular model because the button layout for me was nice and had a similar layout to our old Cable remote (when I was trying to move the wife to using WMC with greatest ease) I also liked that the buttons were all backlit, the programming is fairly customizable, and with the remotes having rechargeable AA batteries keeping them charged is fairly easy...

[adam1991]

I went with Logitech 300s--and it *is* very nice that all remotes in the house use the same keystrokes.

My daughter prefers another style of remote, and the odd times I use it I can't find anything easily...

[gyrene2083]

Well like i said before I have the following already in place and have had it running for a very long time now....

Cat6 Cable throughout the entire apartment.
1Gig Switch
2 - 4u RackServers (1 Unraid 16 TBs, 1 WHS)
3- HTPCs (My main one is in the living room with the following specs)

CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1100T
Mobo: MSI 890GXM-G65 (MS-7642)
RAM: DDR3 4096
HDD: WDC WD10 EACS-00D6B0 1TB
GPU: Radeon HD 6850
Case: LUXA 2
Remote: LOGITECH diNovo Mini
TV Provider: Cablevision
Display: 65 inch Panasonic
Amp: Yamaha RX-A3000
Extender: XBox360

Everything is setup running XBMC, so it's going to be a first running WMC.

[blueiedgod]

Pelham Parkway representing Well, former Pelham Parkway...

I would start with just 1x InfiniTV6 and see if you outgrow it. I would use only extenders, for WAF and simplicity. Multiple HTPC's will require you to maintain multiple schedules and libraries, which can be shared, but may not share all of the recorded content since some of it is copyright protected (i.e. can only be played back on the machine it was recorded on).

Also, depending on what actually you watch/record, you can add a bunch of ATSC tuners, and get most of your OTA programming that way too. OTA tuners are much cheaper than cablecard tuner. WMC allows you to merge them nicely for a very transparent end user experience (WAF again).

This is exactly what we have, InifniTV4 and 2x SiliconDust HomeRun Duals = 8 tuners, and we have 6 TV's!

Having moved out of the Bronx well before the digital TV conversion, I can't say for sure what the OTA reception is now. But, back then, sticking a coat hanger into the antenna input of the TV allowed us to pick up all of the OTA channels. If you have a decent, or semi-decent antenna, even the youtube kind, you should be able to pick up most of the channles, since they are broadcast from the top of the Empire state building, and Bronx is well within the 75 mile "straight shot" radius.

[gyrene2083]

blueiedgod, I'm not to far from Pelham, CoOp City... and as far as the OTA not a chance. I've tried. So, I just bought the one ceton 6, and am going to centralize the recording to my HTPC, in the livingroom. Then after the recordings are done, maybe use MCEBuddy, to convert them and move them to my RackServers after a month. I have the 4 xboxes, moved two to the kids room already. Going to do the rest of the stuff tomorrow. I am so praying CableVision, works without a hitch.

[blueiedgod]

blueiedgod, I'm not to far from Pelham, CoOp City... and as far as the OTA not a chance. I've tried. So, I just bought the one ceton 6, and am going to centralize the recording to my HTPC, in the livingroom. Then after the recordings are done, maybe use MCEBuddy, to convert them and move them to my RackServers after a month. I have the 4 xboxes, moved two to the kids room already. Going to do the rest of the stuff tomorrow. I am so praying CableVision, works without a hitch.

Too bad OTA doesn't work anymore.

MCE Buddy won't handle copyright protected content. Large hard drive arrays are the answer We are up to 17 Tb now! But that is because we record more than we have time to watch... ha ha ha....