Ceton Digital Cable Quad-Tuner Card

Well, it's on the verge of being released. Is anyone getting one? If I had cable TV, I would be all over it, I think.

I decided I wanted to try using my computer as a DVR, though, so I ordered a SiliconDust HDHomeRun Dual ATSC/QAM Digital TV Tuner. I actually ordered it with Sunday delivery via Amazon.com Prime since I wanted to try that out, too. Ha ha. It should be an interesting weekend between the PS3 Slim, home theater component reorganizing, and this. I like the idea of this working over the network. I can just put this device in the same closet the rest of the main network gear is located, and the dual tuners will be convenient, I think. Fingers crossed on not hitting my head against the wall over any configuration issues. I guess I have to set up some DHCP stuff, which I apparently don't do on a regular basis. Wish me luck.

I was going to post something about this once it gets closer. I'm thinking about getting one...want to see the actual (non list) price. My biggest issue is the computer is in the office and the main TV is in the family room. I have a PS3 in there with wireless, but there is no wired connection. I should be able to use the PS3, but I think I'll need a wired connection to have good enough performance for this solution.

I'll be getting one. $399.00 list, doubt if much less out the gate. Not bad for 4 tuners.

I've built a new Rack Mount HTPC for the the Ceton. iCore5 650, SSD 40gb drive, 8 gb ram, 1.5 tb recorded tv drive, Window 7 with Media Center, TMT3/AnyDVDHD for playing BluRays. With this configuration I can have digital cable (6 tuners 2-HDHomerun OTA,4 tuners digital cable.) bitstreaming blurays (BlueRays stored on Server) All my music ?(stored on server), photo/home video viewing, NetFlix streaming, you name it, all in one box with one interface. Can't wait been working on this for years and the Ceton is the last piece of the puzzle. The only other box I will need, is a gaming box.

You can stream live and recorded tv to Windows Media Extenders which mean Xbox 360, and couple other discontinued models, from a ceton equipped htpc with windows media center.

You can share recorded TV between computers with Media Center or the proper software, but only the recorded shows marked "copy freely", varies by cable company.

Your computer must passs a Digital Cable Advisor Test included in Windows Media Center for the Ceton to work. Protected path, HDMI/DVI, minimum CPU and ram, etc.

I've had the HDHomerun for years, works great easy to setup. (I've only used it for OTA, not SD Cable though)

Also on the HDHomerun, it will only tune unscrambled digital cable signals, dependant on your cable carrier.

There is of course the cost of the cable card from your provider. They hate those things, so they don't usually come cheap.

Charter in my area charges $2.99/mth for a cable card. Much cheaper than the HD DVR for me anyway.

That's true. Looks like Comcast will give me one for free, but the second is $2.05/month. Much better than I thought it was.

Thanks for the info. Yeah, I'll only be using it for OTA, and I bought it knowing I'd probably want to replace it later on depending on how I'm doing my viewing and what newer hardware surfaces. Still, it should be fun in the meantime.

Oh, and I just realized I left out an i in digital in the subject. This is the downside to using my TV as my monitor while I save up for a proper computer monitor to replace the one I gave my sister.

Silicon Dust is also coming out with a cablecard networked tuner this year (summer?) But the protected content (cable company flagged, don't copy), is restricted to the machine it was recorded on. "Copy Freely" recordings can be played on any machine on the network. Cable provider dependant for flagging

Yeah, I saw that on their site and on EngadgetHD. I wonder what Charter does locally for flagging content, though I'm not curious enough since I don't want to pay for cable TV again.

For anyone wondering, the Sunday delivery for this item is being handled by USPS Express Mail. I was curious who was going to be delivering it.