Thread: Centon InfiniTV 4

So I am more than 3 months in and I have to say there is no going back to a set top box from your provider. The control I get with the Ceton is absolutely amazing. One source provides HD cable content to 3 rooms. The Media Center interface is very slick and I don't think I will ever go back.

The only reason to have a set top box is if you make use of any of the On-Demand/PPV functions since the Cable Card solution doesn't provide for bi-directional authorization. I've been using Cable Card based TiVos now for several years and it just works.

I so loved my tivos... started with a sony tivo s2000 box and went on to regular Tivos... think it was gen2 when I build my own htpc though. Even then I never let go of my tivo dogbone remote and used that on the htpc for years.

Now I just use a WDTV Live Hub. But I have some seriously fond memories of that little tivo dude.

I love my TiVos... I really want to prune down. Instead of having 3 TiVos... get a single 4-tuner version and then an extender box (that is pending release) for each room.

Digging this thread out of the trash...

But I updated the firmware on my CETON card, and now it works like a dream. I had issues before that required a reboot every day, or the tuners would crap out. Now it is faster getting through channels, and I haven't had it crash in a week. Very happy!

There is a better CETON card out there now. The CETON InfiniTV 6, but it costs $299. This would allow me to steam to a couple different rooms in the house. Not a priority right now, but if the price comes down I may consider it. CETON makes some great shit.

I can't imagine using anything but Tivos. We have a Premiere XL (4 tuner) and a Tivo HD. No software I have tried with my happague card has ever come close to the accuracy and ease of use of my Tivos.


Rumble
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Originally Posted by Rumble

I can't imagine using anything but Tivos. We have a Premiere XL (4 tuner) and a Tivo HD. No software I have tried with my happague card has ever come close to the accuracy and ease of use of my Tivos.


Rumble
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

The CETON is way better than the Happague stuff. You install the cable card directly into the CETON device, which is installed directly into my PC. I watch my live TV through Windows Media Center. This is also where I interface with the cable guide, DVR, Netflix, etc. Not to mention, being in an HTPC give me basically unlimited storage space (Currently 6 TB for media), and I have a powerful enough system for gaming via Steam Big Picture mode.

The CETON card is the heart of it all. Without it, it would just be a PC with 6 TB of storage drives in it. And the quality of the video is just as good as the original Verizon cable box.

How many programs can you record simultaneously?

On the card I have, I have 4 active tuners, so I can record up to 4, but obviously less if tuners are being used elsewhere. The new CETON card has 6.

The cool thing is you can stream to any computer on your network through "Network tuning", so I can watch live TV in my office on my gaming PC. It takes up one of the available tuners for the living room. It pretty much eliminates the need for cable boxes (or cards) in the individual rooms in the house, just as long as I have enough tuners available.

They really are cool cards, but they are a bit expensive. When the current card I have was first released, it was $300. I waited for the price to come down to $200 before buying into it. I have since built a few boxes for some friends using an AMD FM2 A8 APU, and the entire cost of the box was less than $700, including the CETON card, an SSD, a storage HDD for the DVR stuff, Optical drive, case and internal IR/USB receiver. But he then got to send the cable box back to Brighthouse, saving him $25/month.