BEST CABLE CARD TUNER ?? HD PRIME? CETON ??? - Page 2

Excellent advice Bryan. Getting down to a single uplink to my router will make a world of difference. Somehow I had the idea all traffic was going through my router, which really isn't the case. I may even be able to make this work with my existing 1GB switches. Thanks.

Sorry to threadjack.

The router routes and they usually have a built-in four port switch. Routing doesn't require gigabit speeds so you can have a massive gigabit network running on an old 10mbps router if you wanted.

Although I have a few less devices, my network is wired almost exactly as Bryan's is.. I have no wireless access point becuase everything but my phone is wired ethernet. It works great for me.

My Buffalo Gig N-300 Router was less than half that and it has DD-WRT f/w out of the box to boot.

Continued thread-jacking...

I only have the WiFi G access point for my IP cam that is in an owl box in the back yard. It is too far away from my primary router for a decent signal. I use my primary router in N-only mode and the access point is for G devices. It also doubles as a switch at my HT for devices that are only 100mbps and hardly used so I didn't need to run more than the three Ethernet drops to that location*. Plus the access point is my old router running tomato and configured to an AP.

*One of the three drops I converted to an IR signal to the server closet. I cut an Ethernet cable in half and on each end I soldered a 3.5" female connection. Now I can plug in that cable to a network jack and connect my RF to IR emitter to it using a male/male cable on one end and a flasher on the other. I recently hooked the female connection into stereo mode and got a male 3.5" stereo to 2x female 3.5" mono splitter for each end. Now I can send and receive IR using the same plug. In reality you could probably make 7 unique connections using that one outlet if they all shared ground.

We're pretty good at that around here.

I only have one (active) drop to my HT and have a 8-port gig switch in that location fed from the 8-port gig switch in my office that has one ethernet patch cable to the 4-port gig switch on my router. There's another 8-port gig switch in the loft where my kid's computer and an old Patriot Box Office is connected to a TV. Some day an echo or maybe a DLNA device for the prime is going there.

And somebody said HTPC is dead. Really? I am only seeing more options coming to light.

Back to the OP. I say get both tuners and have some fun with them while cutting your cable bill! Take matters into your own control. I love having my own equipment. I even own my DOCSIS 3 modem although charter doesn't "allow" that any more.

Once you connect the LAN port from the router to a powered switch, all local sharing of the devices connected to the switch is performed at the rated speed of the switch.

Also, unless the existing ones are powered over Ethernet then feel free to daisy chain. Even if they are PoE, you could probably get away with daisy chaining one extra. Cheaper than purchasing new if you've already got a few gig switches

I think the most tangible benefit is that it's a low-power standalone device. If you turned all the PCs in your house off you could still access live TV through the Elgato app on an ipad2. I serve from my main HTPC, so it's nice that the wife can watch TV even when that one is down for "maintenance." If this was PCI or even USB that wouldn't be as easy of a feat

FWIW, my wife's laptop is a su4100 intel pentium acer timeline running W7, an it plays live TV fine through WMC with it's built-in n-wireless. She uses this in the kitchen occasionally (Rarely )

Since the thread was already hijacked, I'll add my own 2 cents regarding network setups. My network setup is a lot more simple than Bryan's, but it's probably got just as many devices, if not more. I just built a homebrew router using pfSense, which is a Linux distro with the router software included. I built it using spare parts left over from my recent unRAID server upgrade. It's basically a barebones PC with a small hard drive and an Intel dual-port NIC for the WAN and LAN connections. The only parts I needed to purchase were the dual-port NIC and a micro-tower case. You can use separate NICs but I'm using a micro-ATX board with a limited number of slots so I figured I'd go with the dual-port card to save a slot. I bought the NIC used on ebay for less than $25 and the case was only about $20 on sale from Newegg with free shipping.

I'm on FIOS so the router is connected directly to the ONT via ethernet cable and not the coax that normally feeds their Actiontek router (I had to get a Verizon tech to activate the RJ-45 port on the ONT as it is not normally enabled). You can go through the basic setup with a monitor connected to the router's graphics port and then tweak it via a web browser from any PC connected on the network. The ui and feature set of the router software is quite extensive and well beyond my meager knowledge of networking. I'm going to have to read quite a bit just to understand all the things it can do.

The LAN side connects to a 24-port gigabit switch. Every device on my network has a direct connection to the switch. The pfSense router assigns IP addresses via DHCP, just like a standard router. One of the main benefits is that it allows more simultaneous internet connections than most off-the-shelf commercial routers. I can also set it up for wireless use if I choose. I still have the Actiontek router connected to the ethernet switch via the WAN port of the router so it can get guide data for the Verizon STB in the master bedroom. It's connected via coax to distribute the data. I currently use it as a wireless access point for a laptop but will probably turn off the wireless function so I can set it up on the pfSense box. I just got it working on the internet yesterday and so far it appears to be functioning quite well.

I mentioned this for the benefit of mfusick since we all know how much he likes to tinker.

I didn't think mine was too complex until I starting documenting all the parts. About the only non-typical items are the Obi free VoIP, IP cam, and the IR lighting control. At least most of the stuff is now in a closet instead of taking over my AV stand.

Actually, pfSense is FreeBSD based, not linux.

Mfusick, Did you order the Prime yet??

We want to know!

I stand corrected. I saw something about Linux on the pfSense website and assumed it was a Linux distro. FreeBSD is Unix-based, if I'm not mistaken. The commands are basically the same, which is why I thought it was a Linux program.
I've got mine setup where I have wall plates in every room that house at least one phone jack, RJ-45 jack, and two coax cable connections. I used to have DirecTV so I ran dual coax hookups to use a dual-tuner DirecTivo in every room. Now I only use a single coax for FIOS, but some rooms have multiple ethernet jacks for PC connections, extenders, gaming consoles, or whatever needs to connect to the network. I've got multiple cables run to each room so I can easily reconfigure the wall plate by popping out the keystone jacks and inserting the ones I need. The unused cables just reside in the wall where they can be easily accessed.

I've numbered all of the CAT6 cables to correspond to the jack they're connected to on a 24-port patch panel that's mounted above the 24-port switch. I use 1.5-foot CAT6 jumpers to go from the patch panel to the switch, although some items, like the routers, connect directly to the switch. I've got a small wiring closet on the 2nd floor (it's actually a large cavity behind the wall used as the return air duct) with another 16-port patch panel that allows me to redirect cables coming from the main switch to whatever bedroom I like. I have eight cables running up from the basement to the patch panel on one side and eight cables coming from the four bedrooms that get connected to the other side of the patch panel with jumpers in between. I put in an auxiliary patch panel with extra ethernet cables that had been run to my son's bedroom when he had multiple devices being networked. I just redirected the jumpers from the input side of the main patch panel to the auxiliary patch panel.
Edited by captain_video - 1/23/13 at 11:53am

I used my Ceton as a Clear QAM tuner for a few days before I picked up my cablecard. Other than locals I only received WGN.

It all depends on what stations you can get in the clear. If you just want local channels why not just get an ATSC tuner and an antenna? It's much cheaper. You have lots more options for ATSC tuners, including the SD HDHR Dual. Even though I get my locals via FIOS, I use ATSC tuners to get them via a rooftop antenna. Of course, if you're in a fringe area with poor reception then getting them via cable may be your only option.

If you already have cable internet you may be able to pick up Clear QAM for "free".

Most are only dual tuners and are not networked. The HDHR Dual is networked, though. It goes for under $100 on sale.

Not sure how much longer those will be "free" as the FCC has changed the rules governing clear QAM and a CableCARD tuner will be required just for the purpose of not providing these for free with an internet connection.

I can speak to 'Clear QAM' in michigan... on Xfinity/Comcast there are no free 'Clear QAM' stations left. I did attempt that before I got my cable card working. I think clearQAM was done away with about a year or more ago. ... so I'm told.

About the Tuner: I can speak well of a Hauppauge DCR-2650 dual tuner.

Now THIS is a router...


PS: ComCast tells me the Clear QAM sunset is April around these parts...

Derived at UCLA..

Why do we not want to fund our universities anymore?

Youi can find all sorts of PCI or PCI-e single tuner cards for as little as $20. The new HDHR Dual was on sale recently for about $60. You can find older dual-tuner HDHR's on ebay for about $35-40.

Holy crap, that's 14 tuners. How much TV do you watch?!?

I have the infiniTV4. It's been great though I never got the networking part to work consistently well (My tuners kept losing their bindings and I'd have to reset it up). I'm probably going to add an HDHomeRun Prime in the future so I can have TV on my other two PC's without messing with the main DVR.

I'm catching up. I just received my Ceton to add to my 2 HDHomerun Duals, 1 Vistaview Saber, 1 HVR-2250 and 1 ATI DCT. I can record up to 8 or 10 programs using a single tuner on my HDHRs, Saber or 2250 though depending on the channels.

Re: OP: I use the USB connected DCR-2650. Only dual tuner, and not networked, but cheaper at 100 bucks, perhaps less on sale.

Re: threadjack
Is anyone upgrading their routers to IvP6?