Ceton InfiniTV ETH 6 requirements

[merleau79]

What are the possible problems if a HTPC only has 4GB of RAM. I have recorded 6 programs (while watching two of them) and I didn't any problems (although I do have some lagging at times. My laptop rarely goes over 3GB of RAM. So why is 6GB required and 8GB recommended?

[Woland]

My HTPC has 4 GB of RAM and I have had zero issues with my ETH 6. All it does is run Windows Media Center.

[smassey22180]

4 gb works fine. Especially if you have a separate video card. Also, check usage with you on demand player before you make your final decision. Xfinity's web based on demand player can use just as many resources as WMC so if both are running you may need more.

[merleau79]

My HTPC has 4 GB of RAM and I have had zero issues with my ETH 6. All it does is run Windows Media Center.

I was thinking of doing the same thing. I just don't like how Microsoft, with Windows 8, forces you to buy the $10 add-on for WMC. The only decent Windows 7 towers with decent processors are around $570.

How many processes are running in your background for your basic computing? I'm not sure if that is slowing things down for me (albeit, things run pretty smoothly for the entire day. I may get a few hiccups in a day, but sometimes I get an error "Weak TV Signal").

4 gb works fine. Especially if you have a separate video card. Also, check usage with you on demand player before you make your final decision. Xfinity's web based on demand player can use just as many resources as WMC so if both are running you may need more.

I don't have an on demand player. My HTPC replaces it. I already have the Ceton, but I was wondering if the RAM could be a possible reason to why I have a few lags and freezing. I use my Roku for on demand content.

[mdavej]

I paid $150 for my 4GB PC with onboard graphics and my ETH 6 and other sources are smooth as silk. No need for a $600 PC or more RAM, but an SSD makes a big difference.

[merleau79]

I paid $150 for my 4GB PC with onboard graphics and my ETH 6 and other sources are smooth as silk. No need for a $600 PC or more RAM, but an SSD makes a big difference.

Ceton just responded to my ticket and said that my 4GB of RAM is the problem. I don't see how this is the problem when my RAM doesn't even come close to 4. It is usually around 2.8GB to 3GB.

[tzr916]

Do you use extenders? If so, you need more RAM. Each extender takes a chunk of RAM.
What are the other hardware specs of the WMC machine? mobo? cpu? OS on ssd? Recording on separate HDD? OS version?
What are the actual symptoms you are having? What does "lagging" mean?

[merleau79]

Do you use extenders? If so, you need more RAM. Each extender takes a chunk of RAM.
What are the other hardware specs of the WMC machine? mobo? cpu? OS on ssd? Recording on separate HDD? OS version?
What are the actual symptoms you are having? What does "lagging" mean?

I use one Xbox 360 that is wired into my router. My laptop is also wired. I'm not sure how to determine the motherboard. I'm not that savy when it comes to the particulars. But my laptop is an Inspiron 15R N5110 I5-2410M 2.30GHz (boosts up to 2.70); 4GB RAM; Windows 7 64 bit. As for the SSD all I know is that it is a 5400RPM.

When I say 'lagging' I mean that it will pause and then the live buffer will speed up to the current time. Other times the screen will freeze and then jump to the current live TV. I also have 'weak TV signal' and, also,'Service Unvailable: There is no TV signal detected for this channel'. These errors seem to happen more often on my laptop than on my TV that uses the Xbox.

[tzr916]

Oh laptop as WMC... something I would not attempt. To get best performance from WMC and ETH:
Put WMC operating System on SSD, put recordings on separate physical drive (harder to do with a laptop).
WMC machine needs Gigabit LAN port (your model only has 10/100).
Plug WMC machine, ETH, and extenders all into the same Gigabit network switch (using a router is not as good because it busy is doing "internet duty").
All house network wiring needs to be Cat5E.
Add RAM to WMC machine for every extender in use.

You are fighting an un-winnable battle since your laptop only has 10/100 Ethernet.

[merleau79]

Oh laptop as WMC... something I would not attempt. To get best performance from WMC and ETH:
Put WMC operating System on SSD, put recordings on separate physical drive (harder to do with a laptop).
WMC machine needs Gigabit LAN port.
Plug WMC machine, ETH, and extenders all into the same Gigabit network switch (using a router is not as good because it busy is doing "internet duty").
All house network wiring needs to be Cat5E.
Add RAM to WMC machine for every extender in use.

So, do you mean put recordings on an external hard drive? I was going to get one as well as a switch. I just need to wait until the start of next month. I don't need to worry about house wiring since my network is just in my bedroom.

What I'm confused about is the RAM. If my laptop doesn't use all of the RAM is the extra RAM necessary or does the computer automatically not use it all since it doesn't want to go to capacity. This, in turn, slows everything down. I was thinking about this basic machine and then add RAM (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/dell-inspir ... 2600050008).

However, since Windows 8 doesn't have WMC unless you get the $100 add-on. Then purchasing the extra RAM will bring the costs close to this machine: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/dell-inspir ... &cp=1&lp=1

So, I'm guessing the latter machine will be suitable. I just don't understand how some people say they have machines below the recommended specs whereas others say you need machines with the recommended specs. Am I missing something?

[tzr916]

Not sure how else I can explain it. Your laptop does not have Gigabit LAN port, does not have SSD for the OS, does not have separate drive for recording, does not meet RAM recommendations.... No wonder you are getting symptoms. Even if you get more RAM, you still have very far to go on all the other points.

[merleau79]

Not sure how else I can explain it. Your laptop does not have Gigabit LAN port, does not have SSD for the OS, does not have separate drive for recording, does not meet RAM recommendations.... No wonder you are getting symptoms. Even if you get more RAM, you still have very far to go on all the other points.

Ok. I just wasn't sure if RAM was the most important factor since that is all that Ceton mentioned when they responded to my ticket and and that is what most people talk about. Also, don't get me wrong. I don't get symptoms all of the time. It is only once or twice a day. So I wasn't sure if my system was all that bad since the problems aren't that often. I have just been on the fence about getting a tower or not. Thanks for your help.

[mdavej]

Ceton support is usually pretty good. They must have seen something in the diagnostics point to a RAM issue. Normally, 4GB is plenty for what you're doing. But you may have a lot of other stuff going on that consumes all your RAM. In any case, if RAM is one of your issues, it's only the tip of the iceberg. That cheap PC you linked earlier plus a SSD would be a nice improvement, although the J1800 is marginal. A J1900 would be better. The $150 PC I have is a J1900 (10W max power consumption). It's a great little HTPC.

[JohnW248]

Not sure how else I can explain it. Your laptop does not have Gigabit LAN port, does not have SSD for the OS, does not have separate drive for recording, does not meet RAM recommendations.... No wonder you are getting symptoms. Even if you get more RAM, you still have very far to go on all the other points.

Ok. I just wasn't sure if RAM was the most important factor since that is all that Ceton mentioned when they responded to my ticket and and that is what most people talk about. Also, don't get me wrong. I don't get symptoms all of the time. It is only once or twice a day. So I wasn't sure if my system was all that bad since the problems aren't that often. I have just been on the fence about getting a tower or not. Thanks for your help.

In order to install a cableCARD tuner you have to pass the Digital Cable Advisor in Media Center. This checks your video card AND requires 4GB ram no matter what you see the system use. There are (or were) ways around this and there was a program to by-pass the DCA which was over on Missing Remote dot com.

But the problem you're going to run into eventually is likely to be a network issue with the 10/100 on the lap top and having stuff wired into your router. At the very least you need to see if you can pass the DCA, if not and you elect to by-pass it then you might have problems down the road. Also get an unmanaged switch and just run a jumper from your router to the switch (which should be 10/100/1000) and plug the tuner, the extender and your lap top into it. Don't be tempted by WiFi which might be a little faster since you'll eventually run into problems with packet loss when you get other neighbors jumping on the WiFi bandwagon. I had it working for almost a year on Win8 and suddenly started getting pixilation. Dropped back to wired and it all cleared up--just others in the neighborhood running WiFi and taking up channels. If everything could run on 5G instead of 2.4 you might do better but I haven't found many devices that have 5G radios in them.

You would really get better performance getting a little desktop with i3 processor and 8G memory and a second internal HD for recordedtv storage and live tv buffer.

I have one laptop which I use just for live tv and a couple of extenders and I put an external 4TB drive on it and the first tune of the day everything has to "wake-up" and it takes 40-60 seconds before I get video. After that as long as nothing "sleeps" tunes are fast but that first tune has to turn on the drive and then get a live tv buffer and load it and then send out the stream and it takes time.

[merleau79]

Ceton support is usually pretty good. They must have seen something in the diagnostics point to a RAM issue. Normally, 4GB is plenty for what you're doing. But you may have a lot of other stuff going on that consumes all your RAM. In any case, if RAM is one of your issues, it's only the tip of the iceberg. That cheap PC you linked earlier plus a SSD would be a nice improvement, although the J1800 is marginal. A J1900 would be better. The $150 PC I have is a J1900 (10W max power consumption). It's a great little HTPC.

Ya, they are pretty quick with their responses. This is what they sent to me:

We do see that you've got some Media Center crashing going on in your event logs. You are missing a critical hotfixes that reduces these specific crashes. Please
install http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2746119

Also, you've got just our base system requirements we really recommend 6-8 gigs of RAM and if you're having instability like this the first thing you should do is
move to our recommended specs.

I just kept hearing people have been getting good results with systems similar to mine whereas some people are having more troubles than me that have better systems. So I'm trying to figure out why this is happening. But I wasn't having any troubles today so I thought the hotfixes helped some. But once I tried recording 4 shows while watching two others problems occurred. I'll just order a tower tomorrow.

In order to install a cableCARD tuner you have to pass the Digital Cable Advisor in Media Center. This checks your video card AND requires 4GB ram no matter what you see the system use. There are (or were) ways around this and there was a program to by-pass the DCA which was over on Missing Remote dot com.

I went through the DCA. I didn't know that you could bypass it. My laptop has at least the minimum requirements.[/quote]

But the problem you're going to run into eventually is likely to be a network issue with the 10/100 on the lap top and having stuff wired into your router. At the very least you need to see if you can pass the DCA, if not and you elect to by-pass it then you might have problems down the road. Also get an unmanaged switch and just run a jumper from your router to the switch (which should be 10/100/1000) and plug the tuner, the extender and your lap top into it.

I'm going to do this next week. A few times I have had a network error, but that has only bee about 3 times in 3 weeks.

Don't be tempted by WiFi which might be a little faster since you'll eventually run into problems with packet loss when you get other neighbors jumping on the WiFi bandwagon. I had it working for almost a year on Win8 and suddenly started getting pixilation. Dropped back to wired and it all cleared up--just others in the neighborhood running WiFi and taking up channels. If everything could run on 5G instead of 2.4 you might do better but I haven't found many devices that have 5G radios in them.

I tried WiFi with the HDHomerun Prime and it was horrible. Also, for some reason, when my laptop is unplugged from the power adapter everything stops.

You would really get better performance getting a little desktop with i3 processor and 8G memory and a second internal HD for recordedtv storage and live tv buffer.

What I'll probably do is buy a tower tomorrow since it'll take a week to ship to me. I'm not hooking up my whole house. Just my bedroom to watch two football games at once. Money is just tight right now due to medical problems so I'm don't want to go overboard. Unfortunately I don't know how to customize everything so I'll just buy a tower. The one that I'm looking at is a i5 8Gb RAM.

I have one laptop which I use just for live tv and a couple of extenders and I put an external 4TB drive on it and the first tune of the day everything has to "wake-up" and it takes 40-60 seconds before I get video. After that as long as nothing "sleeps" tunes are fast but that first tune has to turn on the drive and then get a live tv buffer and load it and then send out the stream and it takes time.

I'll be picking up a 5TB drive tomorrow. My laptop used to do the same thing. I just enabled the 'Windows Away Mode' so the slow tuning is with my extender.