Recently picked up the Ceton tuner card in hopes of resurrecting the defunct HTPC after two years (thanks to Comcast going all digital making old tuners useless).
Set up went really smooth using Win7 MC and the Ceton drivers and utilities. Activated the cable card in a matter of minutes over the phone with a Comcast representative. Was watching TV on the HTPC and recording in less than 2.5 hours from a fresh pc build and Win7 install.
I currently have the HTPC in a closet and access from my main tv using the Xbox which worked pretty well even over the wireless connection.
One thing I discovered that I was not aware of was that you couldnt use a second Win7 PC as an extender to watch live TV.
I did figure a slight workaround (assuming the program is not DRM protected, such as HBO), if you are sharing your recorded files between PC's, you can start a recording of the live program you want to watch on the main HTPC and then stream playback to the other PC.... technically not live, but about a 2 minute delay.
However, the other WONDERFUL piece of technology that is the Ceton card, is the support for "networked" tuners. You can assign one or more tuners to other Win 7 PC's that will use the dedicated tuner to watch and record live TV, so technically you could have one Ceton card and record/watch live TV on up to three more computers as well. You lose access to the assigned tuner on the HTPC, but a small price to pay to essentially add extra TVs capable of pausing live TV anywhere in the home. I technically only have one real TV, but now have the option to watch TV in 3 different rooms.
Love the Ceton.
Set up went really smooth using Win7 MC and the Ceton drivers and utilities. Activated the cable card in a matter of minutes over the phone with a Comcast representative. Was watching TV on the HTPC and recording in less than 2.5 hours from a fresh pc build and Win7 install.
I currently have the HTPC in a closet and access from my main tv using the Xbox which worked pretty well even over the wireless connection.
One thing I discovered that I was not aware of was that you couldnt use a second Win7 PC as an extender to watch live TV.
I did figure a slight workaround (assuming the program is not DRM protected, such as HBO), if you are sharing your recorded files between PC's, you can start a recording of the live program you want to watch on the main HTPC and then stream playback to the other PC.... technically not live, but about a 2 minute delay.
However, the other WONDERFUL piece of technology that is the Ceton card, is the support for "networked" tuners. You can assign one or more tuners to other Win 7 PC's that will use the dedicated tuner to watch and record live TV, so technically you could have one Ceton card and record/watch live TV on up to three more computers as well. You lose access to the assigned tuner on the HTPC, but a small price to pay to essentially add extra TVs capable of pausing live TV anywhere in the home. I technically only have one real TV, but now have the option to watch TV in 3 different rooms.
Love the Ceton.