Latest Ceton InfiniTV 4 Info Thread - Page 49

If the cable card pairing isn't complete, that certainly could be a problem, though with my limited knowledge I don't know how you could receive anything if the process is indeed incomplete.

I couldn't complete it either and received no channels at all. It finally took a visit by a Cox tech who had previously worked with Ceton cards. It turned out I had a signal strength problem. After fixing that, he tried to pair the card, using his laptop to communicate with the Cox mothership, and failed. He popped in a fresh cable card, phoned a high-tier tech, and between them they got the pairing done.

He related something interesting--there's a limited number of pairing attempts (like 3) cable cards can withstand before they're bricked. I don't know if it's true; I'm just repeating what I was told.

Anyway, do carry on with the tech visit. If that doesn't work, prevail upon the good offices of @erickotz. He has some good Cox contacts. My own direct appeals to Cox for higher-tier help have almost always fallen on deaf ears.

Never fear, the pain is temporary; you'll get it going yet.

Larry

Thanks for the encouragement!!

I'm looking forward to getting it all up and running. I'm LOVING WMC.

Okay not sure where my issue is, but just got this card setup on the 26th. Currently I have the main HTPC in the living room that has the card and a secondary mini htpc in the kitchen. I've gone ahead and did the network sharing. Current configuration is 1-3 in living room and 4 in the kitchen. When first setup it's fine (didn't check to see in diagnostics if assignment was correct).

Realized after setting up that I'm at issue if the Host HTPC goes in sleep mode, so searched and found the settings for WOL earlier in this thread and set it up on both machines (with the exception of the optional statement of running the batch file on the host as I didn't quite understand what settings to use, etc.). So clicking on the shortcut on the client (which I wish my remote could be modified to run when pressing Start) and waiting the 30 seconds the host turns on and the client goes into Media Center. At this point I can't tune anything on the client, get an error no tuner available. Go on the host pc and pull up Live TV and all is fine. Go into Diagnostics and find that tuner 3 is listed as Kitchen, but being accessed by the host. Tuner 4 is showing tuned to the channel in the Kitchen, but no picture, just error there. Also, Tuner 4 in diagnostics is showing not assigned in the assigned to.

Any ideas on getting this straight?

Lancer, if you're streaming over the network from the main HTPC and the HTPC goes to sleep while streaming, it breaks the network tuner configuration. You'll have to reboot the client (kitchen HTPC) and possibly go through the Ceton network tuner configuration again.

The host pc shouldn't sleep while streaming normally though right? Since I'm still setting everything up maybe I was in MC on the client and stopped streaming to play with configurations. Would that break the connection? Maybe I should have gone with the HD Prime.

Anyone have an update on the random usb rebooting issue yet? I just submitted a ticket with Ceton, but I was wondering if anyone else has heard anything. It's a great product when it works. Wife's starting to get irritated though...since I took her Tivo away.

I just built my first HTPC and am thinking of installing a Ceton pretty soon.
Is there any reason to get the external USB tuner if you have PCI slots available?

Also, are there any cheaper alternatives to using an xbox as an extender?

Since I need both my HTPC and xbox in the living room, I was thinking of just keeping a regular cablebox in the bedroom since my girlfriend likes to watch tv in bed. But I'd obviously rather not pay the fees for it.

Thanks!

IMO, not really (assuming you mean PCIe slots available - PCI slots are not compatible with the card)


If you hunt around on ebay, you should be able to find one of the D-Link, HP, Linksys, or other 3rd party extenders for less than a new XBOX 360 4GB (just search for "Media Center Extender"). Some advantages to these is that they're small, silent, generate pretty much no heat, and draw less power than an XBOX. A disadvantage is that the user interface tends to be a bit sluggish compared to using an XBOX as an extender. If you want to buy new at a retail store, the XBOX consoles are the only extenders currently available.

Thanks for the insight.
Yes, I meant PCIe.

Also, I'm concerned that our apartment isnt wired for ethernet, we only use wireless, except for my HTPC which is wired directly to the Fios router.

Is it pointless to use an xbox as an extender if its going to be wireless? Is an ethernet connection pretty much required to use it as an extender?

Would it be a viable option to use the HTPC with a tuner in the living room and use a cablebox in the bedroom? It would at least save money on the 1 living room cablebox rental as well as the DVR fees.

Wireless is hit and miss as you probably know.

But from my experience...it will have issues streaming HD over wireless. The guide will also be laggy when scrolling. This even occurred being 20 feet away from the AP in an open room.

In the next couple weeks I'm going to try powerline adapters as a short-term fix until I can get some cat6 ran.

The 360 is a pretty slick device for this situation. Not up on Fios support for it, but they recently begun adding the ability for it to stream stuff from a lot of different sources. For example, I have Comcast, and of course have no on-demand abilities due to cable card. But in the next month or so hopefully I'll have access to the on demand stuff via Comcast and the 360.

Not sure of the power draw of a 360 Slim. But they are very quiet.

And basically idiot proof. Set it to default to opening Media Center on bootup and it makes things more livable for the better half. If it gets disconnected, it will attempt to automatically reconnect. And of course it will do Netflix. But I think you need gold membership for that.

As WideNine says, wireless is a mixed bag at best. But there are other options, such as powerline ethernet or ethernet over a coax line if you happen to have a direct coax run between the 2 rooms (not sure how you're wiring is setup to get you a cablebox in the bedroom). If you go with one of these options, just make sure you buy from a place with a good return policy as these solutions won't work in all situations.

As to whether the cablebox is a viable option for the bedroom, that's a call only you can make. If you don't care about watching stuff recorded on the HTPC in the bedroom, it will certainly work.

Oh boy, this venture is sounding more and more expensive by the minute.
The HTPC itself cost me about $400 to build, now it'll be another $250 (or so) for the Ceton, $150 (or so) for an xbox if i can find one used, plus $50 (or so) for those powerline adapters. Yikes.

I wish I knew somebody who did this so I could test out their setup before I did my own. I'd love to save some money, but I want to make sure I'm not sacrificing much by making the switch from cablebox to cablecard.

Can anyone confirm the latest USB hardware & firmware image? I've got 4881 for hardware and 1.0.9.6 for firmware. I noticed that the PCIe version has 4884 for hardware.

Yeah, initial upfront cost is not for everyone.

Again, not familiar with Fios pricing.

But Comcast charges an arm and a leg for extra DVRs. So basically...

1) Equipment is yours. Doesn't work out, well you can recoup some of your investment. However, doesn't sound like you have several rooms that need coverage. In my case I did, and the per month charge for extra "outlets/DVR" pay for the Xboxes within a year.

Intangibles:
1) Flexibility. Throw as much storage as you want, don't have to worry about 250GB drives or recording limits on a DVR. Plenty of addins for WMC. Channel logos, guide tool, commercial skip, etc.
2) Interface. WMC blows nearly everything out of the water in regards to the UI.
3) Using a 360 as an extender, well, you have a 360. A bonus it actually can play games.
4) Centralized. Access all recordings from any extender.

I place value on convenience. If I had only 2 rooms to deal with, I probably wouldn't go this route from a cost perspective.

I'm using 2 xbox 360's as MCE's (and gaming consoles, doh!) right now too. One is a slim 250 Kinect, wired, in my living room. I went wired because it's close to the router and the PC. The other is in the master bedroom, and is one of the last Xbox 360 Elite 120gb models sold before MS went to the Slim. I'm using an MS wireless N 360 adapter with it, and it's worked great for all recording playback and gaming. It's roughly 65 feet straightline distance from the Linksys E4200 wireless N broadband router, through a single wall. My children also have xbox 360's in their rooms, both older 20GB models, both using wireless. One is using another MS wireless N 360 adapter (2 antennas), while the other is using the older non-N 360 adapter (white, 1 antenna). Both seem to work perfectly for gaming. Right now my daughter isn't using hers to watch anything from the WMC7 box, though she used to in the past, with no issues. Her console is the one using the other wireless N adapter.

As far as the cost goes, I agree with WideNine totally. You'll own the boxes, and that will pay for itself. The worst problem I have right now is actually the Ceton tuner itself- the USB version. Like others here, I have frequent reboots, resulting in some programs being cut off midway.

As far as the Xbox costs go- check out GameStop for a GameStop refurb. They're quite a bit less expensive than brand new, if you're not comfortable paying full retail.

My USB version also has 4881 for hardware and 1.0.9.6 for firmware. They haven't announced any new firmware yet either, though they did request that I collect a bunch of information from my media center pc using sysinfo a few days before Christmas. Other than a 'thanks' from them, I haven't heard anything else since. Because it's the holidays, I'm not too surprised. Hopefully we'll get more info, and maybe even some new firmware, once New Year's past and everyone's back to work.

Yes...I figured as much...it's not a holiday for my wife though! I'm losing the political battle right now on my 'better than Tivo' system... ...getting dirty looks everytime the tuners disappear...

I'm also still patiently waiting for this issue to be fixed, along with tuner crashes, and way too many failed 'partial' recordings.

Right now I consider my Ceton InfiniTV USB tuner to be a $300 novelty that I'm only using occasionally because it is not reliable. There is no way this is a DVR replacement for me yet.

Myself and many others are having problems with the USB version, that from what I've read, are not occuring in the PCIe version. Ceton knows of these problems, but when and if these problems will be fixed is unknown.

The USB unit is definitly not stable enough for me to give up my cable DVR yet. Probably 30% or more of my recordings fail as 'partial recordings'. I've had partial recordings that were less than one minute of a scheduled recording, to failing after 1 hr 50 minutes of a 2 hour program.

On a regular basis while watching live TV the tuner will crash and I will have to reboot the tuner to get it to work again. This is quite inconvienient and not really a good viewing experience when you're watching TV.

If my cable DVR was this unstable, I would have swithced cable company's by now. However, I know this is new technology with some bugs to be worked out, and I'm willing to wait a little while longer before I ask Ceton for a refund.

So you may be taking more of a risk with the USB version over the PCIe version.

[QUOTE=garnuts;21414891(Myself and many others are having problems with the USB version, that from what I've read, are not occuring in the PCIe version. Ceton knows of these problems, but when and if these problems will be fixed is unknown.)

Ceton USB Product Randomly Rebooting Flaw ?

Do any technical experts on this forum know

1) technically what the issue is causing the rebooting?, I'm thinking if Ceton has recreated this in the lab, we at least know the issue even though we don't have a solution yet.

2) has anyone come up with a work around or tempory solution that maybe results in fewer partial recordings?
3) Does anyone on this forum using the USB product have no rebooting problems or do all units have this issue/flaw?

Sounds about like my wife too. It's even worse when something she had set to record is only half there when she goes to watch..

Yep. In fact...after getting a generic response from Ceton today on my issue...asking me to :

" We're very sorry to hear that you've run into difficulties -- and thank you for the diagnostic. The "Viewing or Listening Conflict" error is a fairly generic one, and can be caused by a variety of issues; we'll need to figure out exactly what's causing it in your case so we can fix it. We see that the InfiniTV is currently bridged to your wireless card, but there are no indications that you've done a Network Tuners setup. Do you intend to share any of the InfiniTV's tuners to other computers? If not, we'll want to get rid of that bridge, as it introduces unnecessary complications.

Please follow these steps:

1. Open your Network and Sharing Center.
2. Click on Change Adapter Settings on the left panel.
3. You should see the Ceton InfiniTV card there, the computer's own networking card, and a bridge.
4. Right-click on the bridge and delete it.

Once that's done reboot the computer. You may also need to reset the InfiniTV's network settings by opening the Ceton InfiniTV diagnostic tool and going to the Devices tab, then clicking on the "Reset Network Settings" button. Once that's done, proceed through TV Setup in Windows Media Center just like you're setting it up for the first time (however, you won't need to re-pair the CableCARD). Let us know if you see any other viewing conflicts after this is done -- and if so, please capture a diagnostic as soon after it happens as possible so we can see what's happening while the card is not in a bridged state.

Thank you,
Ceton Support
"

I've RMA'd the USB device and ordered the PCIe...was hoping to avoid the heat issue, but I'd rather have it work. I was watching a blu-ray eariler and heard the USB device lost and found sound from Media Center...so I can guess it's still happening...

Yes, I have the PCIe version and am not having any of these problems. I was worried about the hear and installed a pci fan right next to it.

Quick question for you guys, how can I extend a recording? I've been recording some nba games and the game usually ends after the time it was scheduled to finish, so I miss the ending of some games. I remember back in the day when I had a normal dvr I could extend the time of when it would stop recording, any way to do that with the ceton?

When you schedule a recording in Windows Media Center, you can tell it to start early and/or end late - it's in the Recording Options for the scheduled recording. Once a recording is already in progress, I'm not sure how or if the end time can be changed. Keep in mind that this is a function of Windows Media Center, it's nothing specific to the Ceton tuners (they're just tuners). I set up all of my recordings to end 10 minutes late (NOT the "when possible" option), except for sporting events or shows that often follow sporting events (such as CSI Miami during football season). For sporting events or shows that follow sporting events, I usually schedule them to end 1 1/2 hours late and I don't think I've run into a case yet where that wasn't enough.

Note that the "10 minutes" extra setting is magic. It is the only setting that will cause WMC to do what it should really do for all settings: when there are two or more programs scheduled to record on the same channel at the same time -- write the overlapped portion of program to the appropriate file for each show. Any other setting (including "10 minutes when possible") results in one program file getting cut off and you have to look in another program file to find the lost minutes.

Even with "10 minutes" set, WMC manages it poorly. It requires two or more tuners even though each file is getting the exact same program data. What WMC should really do is use one tuner and split the data stream to go to multiple files. But Microsoft does not seem to place a high priority on WMC. I would be surprised if it is improved in Win8. If only Ceton or Silicon Dust would write a good DVR program.

Not completely true. Any setting 10 minutes or above (as long as the "when possible" options are avoided) will work as expected, while anything less than 10 minutes and any of the "when possible" settings won't - 10 minutes isn't the ONLY setting that works as expected. I was getting REALLY frustrated with WMC when I started using it until I figured this out a while back.


True, but I'd be happy enough if I could set recordings up to go 2 or 3 minutes over and have it work as expected even if the tuners still aren't used as efficiently as possible . I'd be absolutely thrilled if they made both changes. I consider one piece of this a bug, the other an implementation that's working as designed (just designed poorly...).

I tried 15 minutes and it did not work as I wanted. Of the settings I tried, only 10 minutes works.

There's something fishy there. Of the settings I've tried (and I'll readily admit that I haven't personally tried every possible setting - not sure if I've tried 15, but I have used 30, 1 hour, and 1 1/2 hours), everything 10 and above (as long as the "when possible" options are avoided) works as I would expect. This is confirmed by discussions in various WMC threads. In any event, this isn't a Ceton issue, it's a Windows Media Center issue and is best discussed elsewhere if people want to continue the discussion (there are already some threads where this is rather passionately discussed).

A couple of weeks ago, I posted here to report that I was having major troubles recording to an external USB drive, and that the WAF (wife approval factor) was tanking.

I finally solved the problem by changing the WMC settings back to having shows recorded on the internal hard drive. I did keep the USB drive as an alternative program library, but now we're using it only to move programs there for long-term storage. Even HD programming comes through great via USB 2.0, but you guys were right that this technology doesn't have enough capacity to support both recording a show AND playing another one, while keeping up with the live TV buffer.

And, what's most important, WAF has fully recovered. She's loving our WMC + Ceton card setup again.

Thanks for your help, and happy New Year.