ZNF pal Ben Drawbaugh has taken Ceton’s pre-release InfiniTV 4 ($399) for a spin on FiOS. And comes away pleased with its performance:
The InfiniTV 4 works exactly like you’d expect; you pop open the case and drop it into a free PCI-E 1x (or higher) slot, load a simple driver, call your cable company and ask them to bring a multi-stream CableCARD and connect the coax cable. What it really comes down to is that we love the InfiniTV 4. It works as advertised and really makes Windows 7 Media Center the best DVR there is (for cable subscribers).
Many in our geeky TV demographic have been following this card for some time. The first that let’s you simultaneously tune 4 streams of digital cable via Windows Media Center. Ceton’s price of entry requires commitment, and the lack of new extenders on the market worries me. But this appears to be a solid solution. One you could probably build for not much more than a new TiVo Premiere ($300) with Lifetime service ($400).
As for me, I’m not sure what comes next… I’m really digging Moxi, especially the multi-room streaming via extenders. Yet, the sometimes cluttered, inconsistent UI and lack of VOD (Netflix or Amazon) gives me pause. The new TiVo Premiere, while packing a serious hardware punch, isn’t much different from my Series3 and HD in terms of functionality. Which remain locked down by the CCI Byte. Cox’s steampunk DVR is, of course, out of the question. So, there could very well be a Ceton solution in my future. Especially if some of the Broadband Plan suggestions come to pass, allowing SageTV to tap (legitimately, hack-free) into a CableCARD without pricey certification. After all, they’ve got the extenders.
TiVo HD XL to expensive over all and can’t connect to extenders, bah..and only 150hrs of HD via 1Tb but only 900Gb is usable. Moxi sounds great, but still costs a lot.
TiVo and Moxi require THEIR hardware to ‘share’ recorded tv or live tv.
Since Ceton is internal card, there is no TB limit! Ceton’s card can only used W7 [not linux :( ], sharing recorded shows is a snap and with the idea that cable labs could remove the ban of tuner sharing makes Ceton cards look even better. Indeed there are no V3 extenders yet… the XBOX 360’s are fairly cheap to find these days.
Sage TV software is great and its exclusive extenders only compatible with its software. It would be great and helpful if there was a standard to ‘clean up’ the extender market.
ATI had the idea, but failed to pump or developed new hardware. Ceton along with windows 7 will take over the cablecard market, until the HDhomerun and Hauppauge finish their Devlopment.
I have my money on Ceton. Already Pre-orderd.
Good points, but in the scheme of things Moxi is a decent value. One DVR and two extenders (3 rooms) for $1,000 and no service fees. Oh, and I don’t want a 360 in my bedroom. Too big, too noisy, too much power consumption. Maybe I’ll buy Ben’s extra extender if I go this route.
I’ve got a Tivo Series 3 that crashes about once a week. I’m definitely interested in replacing it with a Ceton and Win 7, but I need to do more research. Can’t wait to hear more about this thing.
When are those new Windows Media extenders coming? Oh when, oh when will they arrive?
Well you know how I feel about the new Tivo, and you couldn’t of said it better regarding the Moxi.
This is the only real viable solution if you want to break out of the Cable Co’s closed end solution.
I’m leaning towards it. Now for the bedroom, very little TV is watched in there. Perhaps I could source one of those small Linksys extenders. For the Living room, the XBOX 360 will suffice, and then the Ceton would be housed in my main PC, which I will beef up in time for the card’s release.
Were still going to have to keep one cable company set top for Video on Demand. It might have to be the DVR, because it’s included in our premium package anyway. That’s ok, because maybe I could create a task on one of those Logitech 650 remotes that’s for “On Demand”. It could switch the input on the TV and send Channel 1 to the cable box. When done, the remote would switch inputs and work the 360 in extender mode.
Any concerns about a 360 running all day long? Most likely I’ll power it on and off with the TV and the Logitech remote. I have the black elite with the newer chipset (supposedly they fixed the RRoD this time).
Hm, never thought about running the 360 all day. Given their history of hardware failure and what I perceive to be a power hungry box, I’d leave it off. You can set it to boot directly into the MC interface if I remember correctly.
The new 360s (Jasper) are not that loud. For a TV and XBox set up, the XBox Universal remote can control both and can be found for under $20.
Preordered mine. I don’t think that there will be any more extenders for MCE. However, I do think that Sage will be able to work with CableCards later this year (Fall, I think).