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.