HDTC4-2US Available for Preorder

[hmmurdock]

I just noticed this over on the SD Forums.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6815345014

Hopefully the 4 Tuner transcoding Cablecard models will bee soon to follow.

[richard1980]

I'd settle for a 4-tuner non-transcoding version....with a CableCARD slot of course. The 4th tuner is really the only thing keeping me from trading my InfiniTV4 for an HDHRP.

[hmmurdock]

Yeah, 4 Tuner Cablecard is my main priority. But I figure if I'm going to the trouble of replacing my InfiniTV4s, I might as well, get some new features out of the deal. I may not ever use the transcoding (especially if I stick with WMC) but I'd rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it. (assuming it isn't significantly more expensive, or delayed for an eternity)

[barnabas1969]

I'd settle for a 4-tuner non-transcoding version....with a CableCARD slot of course. The 4th tuner is really the only thing keeping me from trading my InfiniTV4 for an HDHRP.

Ah, so you're a convert now. Can you get good OTA reception in your area? If so, you could add a 2-tuner HDHR3-US and set all your local channels to use them first.

[blueiedgod]

I'd settle for a 4-tuner non-transcoding version....with a CableCARD slot of course. The 4th tuner is really the only thing keeping me from trading my InfiniTV4 for an HDHRP.

InifniTV6 ETH cheaper for a 6 tuner set up than this tuner would be for 4 tuner set up (2 of $150 units). I got ETH for $250 shipped from Newegg around Labor day.

Just need to sell InfiniTV4 for $100 to make ETH "appear" $150 for the boss.

[barnabas1969]

I'd settle for a 4-tuner non-transcoding version....with a CableCARD slot of course. The 4th tuner is really the only thing keeping me from trading my InfiniTV4 for an HDHRP.

InifniTV6 ETH cheaper for a 6 tuner set up than this tuner would be for 4 tuner set up (2 of $150 units). I got ETH for $250 shipped from Newegg around Labor day.

cheaper <> better

[richard1980]

Agreed. The HDHRP that I have is superior to the InfiniTV4 that I have in every aspect except the number of tuners, and from what I've read, the same appears to be true for the InfiniTV6. I'm just hoping the rumored 4-tuner HDHRP is on par with the 3-tuner version.

[blueiedgod]

I'd settle for a 4-tuner non-transcoding version....with a CableCARD slot of course. The 4th tuner is really the only thing keeping me from trading my InfiniTV4 for an HDHRP.

InifniTV6 ETH cheaper for a 6 tuner set up than this tuner would be for 4 tuner set up (2 of $150 units). I got ETH for $250 shipped from Newegg around Labor day.

cheaper <> better

Never had an issue with InifiniTV4 in over 3 years (original design, not newer slicker unit). Haven't had a single issue with InifniTV6 since I updated the firmware on the installation.

[barnabas1969]

Never had an issue with InifiniTV4 in over 3 years (original design, not newer slicker unit). Haven't had a single issue with InifniTV6 since I updated the firmware on the installation.

I think some people have a higher tolerance for what they consider an "issue" than others. To me, even the wait time when waking the PC from standby was an issue. So was the spinning circle after starting Media Center. There were other things too. The HDHRP made most of them go away. Then, getting my cable signal cleaned up solved a few remaining ones.

To be honest, I didn't consider most of the things that the InfiniTV did to be an "issue" until I bought the HDHRP. Prior to owning an HDHRP, I assumed that the "issues" were "normal".

[richard1980]

I haven't had any real "issues" to speak of, but there are a few things that the HDHRP does better:

1. HDHRP tuners are available about 8 seconds after boot/wake, whereas InfiniTV tuners require waiting 30+ seconds.
2. Each time I start WMC with the InfiniTV driver installed, I am greeted with a spinning donut. This does not happen with the HDHRP.
3. The InfiniTV randomly results in a single line of pixelation. The HDHRP does not do this.
4. I have had a few cases where something has gone wrong with the InfiniTV and I had to reboot to get the device working again. So far the HDHRP has worked perfectly.

I'm also running the original design (IIRC, I was in the 2nd or 3rd wave of shipments).

[hmmurdock]

My experience with the InfiniTV4 pretty much mirrors Richard's, which is why I'm planning on upgrading to a pair of SD tuners when they are released (assuming the reviews are favorable)

[jziggity]

Maybe those more in the know can help me out - why would I want the newer hardware transcoding version of the HDHR? I finally switched to a Prime from an InfiniTV 4 PCI card, for all of the aforementioned reasons in this thread, and couldn't be happier. It just works. I was about to grab a 2nd Prime during the last sale, but figured I would wait to see what the newest generation of SD products would offer. If my current HTPC setup between the PC itself and XBox extenders works great, is there any advantage to upgrading to hardware transcoding? I don't have a need to convert WTV files to anything else at this point.

The only benefit I can see thus far is better streaming capability to mobile devices, but this is not something I do now or care about - none of my mobile equipment can handle it anyway. And I have yet to see some confirmation in writing from SD's side that the cablecard version of their gen 4 hardware will have 4 tuners - I think people are assuming/hoping for that...? Any other reason to hold out for the new hardware versus just picking up the current one?

[hmmurdock]

Maybe those more in the know can help me out - why would I want the newer hardware transcoding version of the HDHR? I finally switched to a Prime from an InfiniTV 4 PCI card, for all of the aforementioned reasons in this thread, and couldn't be happier. It just works. I was about to grab a 2nd Prime during the last sale, but figured I would wait to see what the newest generation of SD products would offer. If my current HTPC setup between the PC itself and XBox extenders works great, is there any advantage to upgrading to hardware transcoding? I don't have a need to convert WTV files to anything else at this point.

The only benefit I can see thus far is better streaming capability to mobile devices, but this is not something I do now or care about - none of my mobile equipment can handle it anyway. And I have yet to see some confirmation in writing from SD's side that the cablecard version of their gen 4 hardware will have 4 tuners - I think people are assuming/hoping for that...? Any other reason to hold out for the new hardware versus just picking up the current one?

You're pretty much on target. The H.264 transcoding can be useful if you want to stream to mobile devices, and possibly some Roku-like devices as well. I seem to recall a thread over on the SD forums about it being easier to develop apps for some Set Top devices since they all generally support H.264, but few support MPEG-2.

So if I already had SD tuners already, I wouldn't really be interested in getting the transcoding ones, but since I'm already waiting to upgrade to SD hardware anyway, I figure I might as well hold off until the next gen is here. (even if it is 3 tuner instead of 4) But if you already have current gen SD hardware, or if you need a tuner right now, I don't see much reason to hold off.

[crawfish]

I'm curious about the quality vs. file size trade-off. For example, a WMC 720p one hour recording of "Once Upon A Time" is right at 3 GB, but converting it to H.264 with HandBrake at CRF 20 cuts the size in half, and it's excellent quality. It took my i5-4670 about 1:20 hours though, with all four cores going full tilt. I've experimented with QuickSync, and while it reduces the CPU usage greatly, the quality is much less for a given file size. To get close to the same quality as software transcoding, the files end up a lot bigger. If possible, I would even convert 1080i to 720p, which still looks great on my 50" plasma from 7-8 feet at HandBrake's CRF 20 software transcoding. It would be worth it to be able to store even more seasons of shows I'll never watch.

[JazJon]

I'm looking forward to favorable reviews as well. I'm ready to trade one 6-tuner Ceton ETH 6, for two HDTC4's with H.264 hardware encoding.

[slowbiscuit]

If you like live TV I'm sure mpeg4 native transcoding would be nice on mobiles, but outside of college football pretty much everything we watch is recorded. Does the new Prime offer the ability to transcode in realtime to WMC for recordings, and if so, will it work with the Xboxes used as extenders (I assume so)? I know the Linksys DMAs will be problematic with mpeg4 from my experience with that.

[foltster]

If you like live TV I'm sure mpeg4 native transcoding would be nice on mobiles, but outside of college football pretty much everything we watch is recorded. Does the new Prime offer the ability to transcode in realtime to WMC for recordings, and if so, will it work with the Xboxes used as extenders (I assume so)? I know the Linksys DMAs will be problematic with mpeg4 from my experience with that.

Does anyone know if the transcoded recordings do play on xbox extenders?

[Chillout]

These models are gimmicks intended to penetrate the mainstream consumer market.

Transcoding requires a lot of CPU power, at this price these will not be up for the task of transcoding one signal let alone 4. If they work, at best they will probably burn themselves up just after the warranty expires.
If you run your HTPC 24/7 my opinion is to off load the transcoding duties to the HTPC and run LAN/WAN sharing software to stream to the extenders. Its not as clean of a solution as having everything off a single device but the technology just isn't there yet.

[richard1980]

These models are gimmicks intended to penetrate the mainstream consumer market.

In what world are PC TV tuners considered "mainstream"?

Transcoding requires a lot of CPU power

No it doesn't...especially when you only need to transcode in real-time.

at this price these will not be up for the task of transcoding one signal let alone 4

You must not be aware that there is a fully-functional transcoding model that has been on the market for quite some time (the HDTC-2US).

[mike_ekim]

Transcoding requires a lot of CPU power, at this price these will not be up for the task of transcoding one signal let alone 4. If they work, at best they will probably burn themselves up just after the warranty expires.

You don't seem to grasp the concept of dedicated hardware.