Ceton InfiniTV 6 PCIe Now Available

[barnabas1969]

The use-case here is for multiple HTPCs. You have your main HTPC record all your non-CCI protected content, and both HTPCs require CCI protected content.

This is actually the only reason I would want more tuners.

xnappo

What?!?!?!?!

I have 10 tuners. one HTPC. Five extenders. The "use-case" for six (or more) tuners is one PC to do all the recording/tuning, and extenders to watch that live/recorded content.

Sure... you can use multiple PC's which share several tuners (in a pool), but why would you want to do that? The best scenario is when all TV's in the house share the same recorded TV schedule, and the same pool of recordings. If you use separate PC's... then only the PC which made the recording can watch the recording. This is WHY extenders exist.

[foxwood]

Sure... you can use multiple PC's which share several tuners (in a pool), but why would you want to do that?

Because Extenders don't do a particularly good job with content that bareley existed when the Extender model was invented - ripped movies and online streaming.

If all your content comes from TV, then a single HTPC with Extenders works nicely. If your content comes from other sources than TV, then an XBox360 can deliver some other sources (Netflix and some Cable OnDemand sources, for an additional fee, some ripped content, no Amazon streaming, spotty support of other streaming sources), but the extenders that use less power than the HTPC itself (echo, linksys, HP), aren't even in the game.

[barnabas1969]

Sure... you can use multiple PC's which share several tuners (in a pool), but why would you want to do that?

Because Extenders don't do a particularly good job with content that bareley existed when the Extender model was invented - ripped movies and online streaming.

If all your content comes from TV, then a single HTPC with Extenders works nicely. If your content comes from other sources than TV, then an XBox360 can deliver some other sources (Netflix and some Cable OnDemand sources, for an additional fee, some ripped content, no Amazon streaming, spotty support of other streaming sources), but the extenders that use less power than the HTPC itself (echo, linksys, HP), aren't even in the game.

Duh. I understand that ripped movies don't work well on the extenders. But he/she was talking about sharing the TUNER (aka TV). If you have copy-protected TV like most cable subscribers in the USA, then extenders are the way to go for recorded/live TV.

[staknhalo]

I have a usage case that would kinda fit that - most of my viewing is done at my main HTPC - but I also game from there via Steam Big Screen and my 360 controller sometimes. I don't want extenders connecting and taking up CPU usage/other resources when I'm gaming; so I have a secondary HTPC that the extenders all connect to. In my case I just have PCIe tuners in each and the recordings shared between both machines (QAM) - but that's another scenario that would warrant that type of setup (multiple HTPCs) barnabas.

[foxwood]

Sure... you can use multiple PC's which share several tuners (in a pool), but why would you want to do that?

Because Extenders don't do a particularly good job with content that bareley existed when the Extender model was invented - ripped movies and online streaming.

If all your content comes from TV, then a single HTPC with Extenders works nicely. If your content comes from other sources than TV, then an XBox360 can deliver some other sources (Netflix and some Cable OnDemand sources, for an additional fee, some ripped content, no Amazon streaming, spotty support of other streaming sources), but the extenders that use less power than the HTPC itself (echo, linksys, HP), aren't even in the game.

Duh. I understand that ripped movies don't work well on the extenders. But he/she was talking about sharing the TUNER (aka TV). If you have copy-protected TV like most cable subscribers in the USA, then extenders are the way to go for recorded/live TV.

Because some people have decided that 21st century content is more important, so they get the hardware that solves that problem and then deal with whatever hassle is involved in managing their less important 20th century content.

You and I might be perfectly happy with 20th century content, but other people have different priorities.

[barnabas1969]

@staknhalo: How about one PC to do your gaming, and a separate PC for the recording/live TV stuff, both connected to the same TV? Then, you can still have extenders in the other rooms for live/recorded TV. I recommend not using your HTPC as a general-purpose/gaming PC anyway.

@foxwood: In the USA, ATSC and CableCARD are here to stay for at least the next decade. It may have been invented in the 20th century, but it isn't going away anytime soon. To replace it would mean huge hurdles... technical, regulatory, financial, etc. There is a HUGE infrastructure in the USA that is devoted to ATSC and CableCARD. I don't expect the players to wholesale swap their infrastructure for "21st century technology" anytime in the near future.

If you want cool new "21st century" features then go buy a cheap Roku box (or whatever the flavor of the month is) for the rest of your TV's. It's not that difficult to switch HDMI inputs to the Roku/whatever box. For the rest of your programming, you can use your Media Center PC and/or extender.

[staknhalo]

@staknhalo: How about one PC to do your gaming, and a separate PC for the recording/live TV stuff, both connected to the same TV? Then, you can still have extenders in the other rooms for live/recorded TV. I recommend not using your HTPC as a general-purpose/gaming PC anyway.

I don't do any 'general purpose PC stuff' on the HTPC aside from gaming, if you wanna call it that. Steam Big Screen launches from WMC and when you exit WMC re-launches. It's like an Xbox, but better. I've been using it for years and haven't had any issues with Steam/games messing up HTPC stuff. A lot of people actually game from their HTPCs.

I already have 2 gaming machines - the main HTPC and the rig in my office/rec room that I use for FPS games/stuff I can't use a 360 controller for (and need a m&kb). You know from your son's gaming PC I can't just use any old rig as a gaming machine - it's gotta be capable. I don't want to spend the money on another machine used for solely gaming; and I already have 4 comps in this house as is. I don't need another to manage/fix/break/screw with. The GF already has enough to bitch at me about.

Plus I would have to switch inputs,find a nice place in the living room for the 'gaming' only machine, and worry about the heat/noise/ect of having 2 computers running at the same time in the same room.

Long story short - not as elegant as what I have now and more trouble than it's worth.

[barnabas1969]

Yeah, I know what you mean about my son's PC. That thing is a beast. Even though it had what I thought was plenty of air flow, we recently bought a new case for it with a giant fan on the side, two 120mm fans on top, a 120mm fan on the front, and a 92mm on the rear, with a separate input for the PSU on the bottom... because he was running into problems with the CPU being throttled due to heat (even though the CPU had a giant cooler already)!

Now, the thing is just a perforated metal box with fans all over it. He says that he's getting better FPS now. It has so many LED's in the fans, that it lights up the whole room in the dark. So, I bought him an RGB LED controller so he could add even more LED's and control the color too. He's happy, but I wouldn't want a glow-in-the-dark PC in my bedroom!

[xnappo]

The use-case here is for multiple HTPCs. You have your main HTPC record all your non-CCI protected content, and both HTPCs require CCI protected content.

This is actually the ONLY reason I would want more tuners.

xnappo

What?!?!?!?!

I will try not to be annoyed by that because I did not fully describe my needs.

I have two locations. I want a single box at each that can play anything I throw at it. For my use case extenders, as we have seen recently, are DOA.

The second location (Home Theatre) is MOSTLY used for movies(which extenders can not play), but also for the occasional Game Of Thrones(etc) viewing, where it is desirable to record a few CCI protected shows in two places.

I am using an extender and a Intel NUC OpenElec box right now, but it annoys me.

xnappo

[barnabas1969]

I will try not to be annoyed...

Annoyed? Me? Annoying?

[barnabas1969]

Obviously, many of you don't understand that I sometimes TRY to rub you the wrong way. Call me the devil's advocate.

[xnappo]

Obviously, many of you don't understand that I sometimes TRY to rub you the wrong way. Call me the devil's advocate.

Well consider your job done then I guess.

I actually usually lean your way in these things. I know in your deep dark heart that you agree the damn thing should be able to tune the same channel on more than one tuner without macroblocking though, so it is all good

xnappo

[barnabas1969]

I know in your deep dark heart that you agree the damn thing should be able to tune the same channel on more than one tuner without macroblocking though, so it is all good

Yes, I agree. I suppose the only "dark" part of my heart is the part where my feelings about Ceton reside. Well... except the part that holds my feelings about the ex-wife... but that's a subject for a different forum.

[The Mac]

Yeah, I know what you mean about my son's PC. That thing is a beast. Even though it had what I thought was plenty of air flow, we recently bought a new case for it with a giant fan on the side, two 120mm fans on top, a 120mm fan on the front, and a 92mm on the rear, with a separate input for the PSU on the bottom... because he was running into problems with the CPU being throttled due to heat (even though the CPU had a giant cooler already)!

Now, the thing is just a perforated metal box with fans all over it. He says that he's getting better FPS now. It has so many LED's in the fans, that it lights up the whole room in the dark. So, I bought him an RGB LED controller so he could add even more LED's and control the color too. He's happy, but I wouldn't want a glow-in-the-dark PC in my bedroom!

I have 4 words for you: Closed loop water cooling.

I have a Kuuler, and my CPU is OCed to 4.5ghz, with only a single fan. No wind tunnels/leaf blowers required.

[blueiedgod]

Sure... you can use multiple PC's which share several tuners (in a pool), but why would you want to do that?

Because Extenders don't do a particularly good job with content that bareley existed when the Extender model was invented - ripped movies and online streaming.

Au contraire. If anything, extenders were ahead of the masses in terms of what they can do, manufacturers, however, didn't feel like waiting for the masses to catch up to the technology.

Extenders work extremely well with ripped movies, which existed a good decade before extenders were invented. They support the latest formats that existed when these extenders were still in production, or manufacturer provided support for them.

They fully support DIVX and XVID, and they all supported online content at one point. They fully supported internet radio when appropriate software was installed on the host PC. It is just the manufacturers cut the cord on the support.

I remember using radio360 or whatever it was called on the extenders to tune internet radio.

I was ripping VHS (yes, the cassette) in the 90's, and loading it up on Napster over ISDN connection at a "blazing" 128 kbps! And Netflix came in the mail, you would rip DVD overnight, and send the DVD back to get another in 3 days. And if you had "3 at a time" plan, you had a busy night.

[blueiedgod]

Yeah, I know what you mean about my son's PC. That thing is a beast. Even though it had what I thought was plenty of air flow, we recently bought a new case for it with a giant fan on the side, two 120mm fans on top, a 120mm fan on the front, and a 92mm on the rear, with a separate input for the PSU on the bottom... because he was running into problems with the CPU being throttled due to heat (even though the CPU had a giant cooler already)!

Now, the thing is just a perforated metal box with fans all over it. He says that he's getting better FPS now. It has so many LED's in the fans, that it lights up the whole room in the dark. So, I bought him an RGB LED controller so he could add even more LED's and control the color too. He's happy, but I wouldn't want a glow-in-the-dark PC in my bedroom!

I have 4 words for you: Closed loop water cooling.

I have a Kuuler, and my CPU is OCed to 4.5ghz, with only a single fan. No wind tunnels/leaf blowers required.

Didn't think poeple were still using water cooling, or overclocking. Just had to look up Kuuler. NEat. Sure beats home made copper block, fountain pump and chevy chevette heater core set up.

[foxwood]

Sure... you can use multiple PC's which share several tuners (in a pool), but why would you want to do that?

Because Extenders don't do a particularly good job with content that bareley existed when the Extender model was invented - ripped movies and online streaming.

Au contraire. If anything, extenders were ahead of the masses in terms of what they can do, manufacturers, however, didn't feel like waiting for the masses to catch up to the technology.

Extenders work extremely well with ripped movies, which existed a good decade before extenders were invented. They support the latest formats that existed when these extenders were still in production, or manufacturer provided support for them.

Sigh. Are you just trying to be contrary?

The things that Extenders don't do a great job on are streaming video and what passes for ripped movies today, in 2013 - BluRay rips. Sure, your DVD rips work fine, but they aren't "content that barely existed when the Extender model was invented".

Nobody is saying that Extenders weren't the bee's knees in 2005-2008 when they were first released. But for someone wanting to build a media library today, in 2013, they suck, unless access to protected TV content is at the top of your priority list. That is the only thing that Extenders do a better job of than the alternatives.

The extender model isn't broken - there's no technical reason you can't have an extender with all of the streaming clients you get with a Roku or a cheap Blu_Ray player, and also be able to handle higher bit-rate local content. You just can't buy that extender today.

[staknhalo]

The problem isn't the physical Echo or 360 devices - it's the WMC extender OS that is holding streaming Blu-ray rips back. The WMCX OS was never coded to/intended to stream bitrates that high when it was developed. Maybe MS could have updated it/rewrote it to do so, but they didn't; so we are stuck with what we have.

[The Mac]

Yeah, I know what you mean about my son's PC. That thing is a beast. Even though it had what I thought was plenty of air flow, we recently bought a new case for it with a giant fan on the side, two 120mm fans on top, a 120mm fan on the front, and a 92mm on the rear, with a separate input for the PSU on the bottom... because he was running into problems with the CPU being throttled due to heat (even though the CPU had a giant cooler already)!

Now, the thing is just a perforated metal box with fans all over it. He says that he's getting better FPS now. It has so many LED's in the fans, that it lights up the whole room in the dark. So, I bought him an RGB LED controller so he could add even more LED's and control the color too. He's happy, but I wouldn't want a glow-in-the-dark PC in my bedroom!

I have 4 words for you: Closed loop water cooling.

I have a Kuuler, and my CPU is OCed to 4.5ghz, with only a single fan. No wind tunnels/leaf blowers required.

Didn't think poeple were still using water cooling, or overclocking. Just had to look up Kuuler. NEat. Sure beats home made copper block, fountain pump and chevy chevette heater core set up.

Just realized i misspeled it..lol

s/b Kuhler...by Antec...i have the 620. Quiet as hell, and keeps my cpu frosty cool

Its on my gaming rig not my HTPC, but he was complaining about a zillion fans so i thought id mention it.

[werds]

Just realized i misspeled it..lol

s/b Kuhler...by Antec...i have the 620. Quiet as heck, and keeps my cpu frosty cool

Its on my gaming rig not my HTPC, but he was complaining about a zillion fans so i thought id mention it.

I have a water cooling loop in my gaming PC, along with 24 gentle typhoons with rpm turned down, the thing never breaks a sweat and is deadly silent even when folding during Chimp Challenge =) (and at that point last year I was still running a pair of watercooled gtx480's talk about a heat dump!)