My experience with HD HomeRun Prime vs. Ceton InfiniTV

[KScott]

@Kscott: I never had sleep issues with the InfiniTV PCIe card. I think the sleep issues are more the fault of your motherboard, but a tuner sitting on your network instead of plugged directly into your motherboard would definitely solve your problem, if your PC sleeps correctly when the InfiniTV is removed from the system.

One thing that I love now, and I think I mentioned this earlier in this thread... is that I no longer have the "spinning circle" when the PC resumes from sleep. That means that I don't have to wait to watch TV when the PC resumes. It's just as fast as turning on a cable box now.

Yeah, I'd seen your previous posts about almost instant Live TV.
That would truly be sweet!
I only have sleep issues with the Infinitv's.
The PC sleeps and resumes perfectly, no problem except the Infinitv's are not available.
Windows detects them in Device Manager every time but the Ceton software does not.
Reboot and all works.

It seems to have reached this point after the last firmware & software install.
I enjoy working on/with pc's but this has become very time consuming.
Ceton said to use Away Mode which uses almost the same wattage as normal use.
When I contacted them I expected more.

[barnabas1969]

Yeah, well, you should enable Away Mode so that it will stay on when you press the power button and a recording is in progress (or will start soon). But leaving it on all the time is no solution. Like I said, some motherboards don't sleep correctly with some expansion cards... and it's not just limited to the InfiniTV card. I guess not every manufacturer follows the standards perfectly.

But... even though the HDHR Prime didn't solve my macroblocking problem (it was caused by my video card), I like the HDHR Prime so much more that I decided to ditch the Ceton and buy another HDHR Prime. Instant-on, fast channel changing, and no drama. It just works. With two of the HDHR Primes turned on 24x7, I'm paying a little more for electricity (maybe a dollar or two a month), but that's worth the hands-off operation. The wife and kids really didn't understand the pop-ups that I would get occasionally when the Ceton was installed... and they're gone now.

[adam1991]

I keep seeing all this hate toward the Ceton, but my PCIe4 has never had any of the problems described anywhere in this forum.

[barnabas1969]

I keep seeing all this hate toward the Ceton, but my PCIe4 has never had any of the problems described anywhere in this forum.

Adam,

Have you ever tried the HD HomeRun Prime? If not, then you may not know what you're missing.

[3rob3]

I keep seeing all this hate toward the Ceton, but my PCIe4 has never had any of the problems described anywhere in this forum.

Agreed, mine has been rock solid for years. I have had a Prime as well and didn't notice any huge difference (other than the lack of 1 tuner).

[barnabas1969]

I keep seeing all this hate toward the Ceton, but my PCIe4 has never had any of the problems described anywhere in this forum.

Agreed, mine has been rock solid for years. I have had a Prime as well and didn't notice any huge difference (other than the lack of 1 tuner).

When you had the Prime, were both the Prime and the InfiniTV simultaneously configured on the same PC? In other words, were you using both at the same time on the same computer? If so, then you should have removed the InfiniTV from the system so you would see some of the improvements. The InfiniTV drivers are one of the biggest problems. If you didn't uninstall them, then you wouldn't have seen some of the Prime's advantages.

[RyC]

Well I tried the Prime when I was trying to solve a stuttering problem (it didn't). I didn't see a difference other than the spinny circle upon WMC startup.

[barnabas1969]

Well I tried the Prime when I was trying to solve a stuttering problem (it didn't). I didn't see a difference other than the spinny circle upon WMC startup.

In response to RyC: The tuner is not involved in your stuttering problem. Of course it wouldn't solve that problem. That problem is usually caused by your video card, video drivers, video settings, or a failing hard drive.

Yes, the HDHR Prime solves the spinning circle, which is an annoyance that delays your ability to do anything (including the ability to watch previously-recorded shows) after waking/booting your HTPC. The delay is anywhere from 45-60 seconds! This means that the HDHRP is immediately available after booting/waking your PC... unlike the InfiniTV, which makes you sit there watching a spinning circle for 45-60 seconds before you can even move around in the Media Center menu.

It also does the things listed in the thread above, such as speeding up tuning, eliminating "subscription required" and other erroneous messages, etc.

The HDHRP is less sensitive to problems in your coax cabling, and just plain does a better job tuning your TV channels... which is what a TV tuner should do.

[RyC]

Yeah it ended up being a network problem. The spinning circle is 10 seconds for me, but I don't sleep the computer (it's actually a VM). I haven't had any erroneous messages with the infinitv though (except the latest beta firmware-solved by reverting back). So it's just as stable as the Prime for me.

However, based on others experiences here, I still recommend trying the Prime out if you're experiencing issues. I tried it out because I was getting stuttering on multiple computers.

[adam1991]

Yes, the HDHR Prime solves the spinning circle, which is an annoyance that delays your ability to do anything (including the ability to watch previously-recorded shows) after waking/booting your HTPC. The delay is anywhere from 45-60 seconds!

I know that spinning circle well--but it's more of a 10 second delay.

The real delay after booting my system is the 5 minutes it takes to square away the 2TB of shows I have sitting there. Maybe not 5 minutes, but it sure seems like it. I'm not sure SSD for boot drive would affect that dramatically, as the system is polling the recorded TV folder.

[RyC]

Yes, the HDHR Prime solves the spinning circle, which is an annoyance that delays your ability to do anything (including the ability to watch previously-recorded shows) after waking/booting your HTPC. The delay is anywhere from 45-60 seconds!

I know that spinning circle well--but it's more of a 10 second delay.

The real delay after booting my system is the 5 minutes it takes to square away the 2TB of shows I have sitting there. Maybe not 5 minutes, but it sure seems like it. I'm not sure SSD for boot drive would affect that dramatically, as the system is polling the recorded TV folder.

Are you saying every time you boot up, every recording is repopulated in Recorded TV one by one?

[adam1991]

I'm not sure what's going on, but the system is very slow until it's sorted things out.

[barnabas1969]

I've had a 4TB HDD since day one, and it has never taken any noticeable time to index the recorded TV shows... after a boot/wake, or any other time... no matter what tuner I was using. Most of that time (more than 3 years), my HDD has been nearly full.... with hundreds of recordings.

[KScott]

I've had a 4TB HDD since day one, and it has never taken any noticeable time to index the recorded TV shows... after a boot/wake, or any other time... no matter what tuner I was using. Most of that time (more than 3 years), my HDD has been nearly full.... with hundreds of recordings.

By the way, since switching to HD Homerun Prime (3 of 'em) in 2012, I've had no issues related to them whatsoever.
Thank you for your asistance and opinions at that time!
I'm also using a 4 TB HDD for recordings and It's about 75% full most of the time.
I've not experienced any tv show indexing lag either.
They are available as soon as Media Center is running at boot up or resume from sleep.
Cold boot to Media Center recorded TV screen is about 25-30 seconds.
Resume from sleep to Media Center recorded TV screen is about 6-8 seconds and Live TV is available in an extra 2 seconds or so.

[qbanb8582]

Just to put my $.02 I started out with Ceton Infinitv4 back in early 2012. For me the infinitv would just stop working and not only that it would take forever for media center to respond to anything. I experience very slow tuning, I was under impression the problem was the tuning adapter what it was so slow. I even had to add a task for my HTPC to reboot once a day so it wouldn't fail and nothing would record. Then after about 6 months after that I bought an HDHomerun to use in conjunction with to see if there was any differences.

After about a month I found the HDHomerun prime was faster at tuning channels, alot more reliable. I only reboot a few times a year. So I sold the infinitv4 and got a second HDHomerun prime. Its working great for the past year and half. It also just works better with multiple PCs on my network, very little setting up is needed. My only complaint is that I have to two cablecards but its worth it in the end.

I also personally like having the tuners not being internal to the PC, makes my HTPC less cluttered.

[richard1980]

At this point, there is simply no comparison between Ceton and their competition. Ceton is garbage, end of story.

[Dkeyguy1]

I still have 2 InfiniTV4s pcie, 1 InfiniTV4 USB, and 1 InfiniTV6 pcie,,,
Those as well as the InfiniTV4 USB that I bought for a friend are all working flawlessly.
I update the firmware on the pcie 4s to beta to test often, but not to solve a problem.
I have purchased 4 HD Homerun Prime tuners; 2 to install for friends who had network tuner needs,
1 still on the shelf, and 1 still in service on my network.
Although I admittedly haven't personal used a Ceton network tuner, I wouldn't say I have limited experience.
I also have a 2 tuner Hauppauge USB unit in service, and 4 ATI USB on the shelf.
That sums up the CableCard units, I think.
I forgot the Samsung cable box, that I don't care much for.
My Ceton tuners aren't junk.

[STC]

For the record, my Ceton equipment is not garbage and works extremely well for me.
I do not sleep my PC nor do I have a TA.

I've had an infiniTV4 PCIe since launch.
About nine months ago I moved to an ETH6 and again, no problems what-so-ever. Six tuners all working great.
My channel changes are very snappy, a bit quicker than the PCIe I'd say up to a max of five seconds, usually 3-4.

I have not had to reboot the Ceton once due to any form of operating glitch other than due to some local power outages where I had to reset the HTPC etc.

I am reporting my own experience which has been a very good one.

[mdavej]

Anybody who wants to get rid of your Ceton junk, send it to me, and I'll dispose of it for you

[3rob3]

Agreed, my PCIe InfiniTV4 has never given me a single issue. My parents and brother have them as well and all work flawlessly. None of us have tuning adapters though.