Looks like the HDHomeRun Prime may see a little competition later this year via Ceton’s newly revealed USB CableCARD tuner. The InfiniTV 4 USB is surely the most handsome and compact external CableCARD device to date. And given my penchant for small form factor PCs, this is a more practical solution than Ceton’s PCI CableCARD tuner (which is actually pretty hard to actually acquire from what I’ve heard). Unfortunately, Ben Drawbaugh wasn’t able to lock down a ship date or price from the Ceton folks.
Related, while the big CES splash anticipated from Microsoft didn’t happen, Windows Media Center embedded (with CableCARD!) was indeed spotted on the show floor. MC and CC will live to fight another day. Although I doubt many will pony up the estimated $500 – $700, versus rolling their own solution or taking the easy way out by renting a cable box.