Russound SMC-35- Cablecard sweetness

F

FengPangzi

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 31, 2009
Messages
321
I just snagged a Russound SMC-35 off of ebay, and this thing is sweet. The Fedex man just dropped it at the house a few hours ago and I already popped the lid off of it. It has anIintel motherboard, Seasonic SS550HT psu, an e6300 core 2 duo, but most importantly two internal ATI digital cable tuners! I haven't had a chance to plug it in and fire it up yet, but as soon as I get a chance, I will see what software this bad boy has. I picked it up off of ebay, and the seller still has a few left for any of you are in the market for an HTPC.

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Thanks for the heads up. I didnt know Russound made tuner devices... my boss uses Russound as do a lot of my clients
 
The actual tuners are made by ATI (the same ones available from Cannon PC, and Dell). I used to work at a high end a/v shop, so I am bit of a home theater snob, but I must say that I am really impressed with the build quality of this unit. I will probably swap out the mobo, graphics card, and case fans, but this case is extremely solid. I think it is the same case that Lifeware uses on their $6,000+ models. With a little more poking around, I am pretty sure that the motherboard is a DG33TL. The Hard Drive looks to be a 500gb Seagate, and the graphics card is an 8500GT.
 
Buy it Now for $699 + $75 shipping. As of posting there is 8 left.
Ebay link for those interested: http://cgi.ebay.com/Russound-SMC-35...ZViewItemQQptZDesktop_PCs?hash=item1e59c9fe45

Edit: Just reading the listing description. It certainly looks like a nice rig, but with an original retail price of $6500, yes that is six thousand five hundred dollars, I can see why these are on closeout on ebay.

Edit #2: This ebay seller also has the SMC-45 for sale at $799 + shipping: http://cgi.ebay.com/Russound-Media-...ZViewItemQQptZDesktop_PCs?hash=item1e59c9fcc7
 
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that isnt a bad price..... for cable cards also... 1 or 2?

they are about $200 a piece
 
sdsdv10 said:
Buy it Now for $699 + $75 shipping. As of posting there is 8 left.
Ebay link for those interested: http://cgi.ebay.com/Russound-SMC-35...ZViewItemQQptZDesktop_PCs?hash=item1e59c9fe45

Edit: Just reading the listing description. It certainly looks like a nice rig, but with an original retail price of $6500, yes that is six thousand five hundred dollars, I can see why these are on closeout on ebay.
Click to expand...

Cheap compared to what some of the other custom ones are like the ones direct from lifeware...sick isn't it?
 
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Adidas4275 said:
that isnt a bad price..... for cable cards also... 1 or 2?

they are about $200 a piece
Click to expand...

Yeah, it wasn't exactly clear. It appears from the description that the cablecards are included, but I thought you were supposed to get them through your service provider. If they are included, that makes a great deal even better.
 
Arnt cablecards pointless unless your cable company provisions them though? They claim to be "new" and exactly at $200 ($250 sometimes) a piece, thats $400 in cable cards plus a 500GB Drive (lets say $55-$65) yer at $460 now, plus a motherboard, ohh another $75 for that, now we're at $535 say $50 for memory if its cheap, thats $585, case is about $100 with PS thats $685... yeah thats about right for that build
 
Adam said:
Arnt cablecards pointless unless your cable company provisions them though?
Click to expand...

It was my understanding the FCC regulations require the cable companies to support cablecard. However, I have read of many reports on forums of ranging for cables complete lack of knowledge/understanding to open hostilities against the technology. Oh well, just another example of cable operators monopoly screwing over the customer. What else is new... :rolleyes:

Adam said:
They claim to be "new" and exactly at $200 ($250 sometimes) a piece, thats $400 in cable cards plus a 500GB Drive (lets say $55-$65) yer at $460 now, plus a motherboard, ohh another $75 for that, now we're at $535 say $50 for memory if its cheap, thats $585, case is about $100 with PS thats $685... yeah thats about right for that build
Click to expand...

Sounds about right to me, you just forgot the CPU, that should add another $30-50 to the cost
 
Well what I meant was the cable companies provide the cards. For example... optimum will (for $35 and $2/month) send a tech out to install and provision a cablecard for me. They wont just send me a card and i dont know if they will let me use my own, i didnt actually ask. Maybe i can ask and they can download the data to it??? Not sure how they work.
 
Comcast came out to install two cablecards for my dad's Tivo3. Took the guy an hour. Not exactly what I'd call user friendly. :rolleyes:
 
Don't forget optical drive, card reader, RS232/12V triggers, infrared jacks in the back, gpu, vista ultimate license, remote, and rf keyboard. Also, there is no way one could find a case this nice with a Seasonic PSU for $100. The PSU alone would cost about that much. This is not like one of the antec, or nmedia cases. This things is heavy gauge steel throughout.

And oh yea, cablecards are pretty easy to use once they are up and running, but they are far from installer friendly. I used to have a Tivo HD, and I still have the cablecards lying around, but I am not looking forward to when Verizon sends someone out to install them. It took them like 2 hours just for the Tivo.
 
i have just built a htpc for my sister... i only spent about $500, but i just could plop down that $250 for the ati tuner. its old technology, those damn ocur tuners are ancient now... and there MUST be some new cable cards coming out someday.... tru2way or whatever would be nice, but either way im not buying into digital encrypted tuners unless i can get them under $200.
 
I didn't know support was an fcc mandate. Is there a similar rule for satellite?
 
i hope the place i move to has digital cable, i would love to dump my satellite and tell dish network exactly why (their failure to produce an add-in card for win7mc so i can get rid of their crappy stb and my hdpvr)
 
yeah and we will have much better multicast cable card tuners..... sometime in Q1 2010


hopefully
 
well they do plan on making a 2-tuner version as well... just at a later time. my fear is this 4 tuner card will cost $350 and the 'affordable' dual tuner will come out around next christmas for $229 or something.

or, if the world is proper, the 4 tuner card will hit market with an msrp of $150, but FAT CHANCE:(
 
$350 aint bad for a quad tuner. I mean, your paying $200-$300 for a dual tuner now... so bring it on.

I wanna see how they handle cablecards on a 6 tuner card... cause its like 2 tuners per card right?
 
if it sells for anything more then ~$200 im not buying it. we set the prices, not them ;)
 
krupted said:
if it sells for anything more then ~$200 im not buying it. we set the prices, not them ;)
Click to expand...

They set the prices, and I'll pay it. Seriously, if it's less than $500 for a quad tuner, I'll buy it. If it lives up to the feature list it's supposed to have, it's going to be worth it.

OP, how's the picture quality? Specifically, how does it compare to a normal STB? I've never seen any place talk about the picture quality, and I'm very curious about that.
 
I will wait for reviews, but if it does a good job, I'd pay <$400 for a 4-tuner. If it doesn't work better than the ATI, I'll wait.
 
Here is the breakdown for the Russound SMC 45:
(If you have any questions about the Russound SMC's please let me know)

SMC -45 Part Breakdown
Motherboard: Intel Desktop Board DG33TL
Form Factor ATX (9.60 inches by 9.60 inches [243.84 millimeters by 243.84 millimeters])
Processor Support for the following:
&#8226; Intel® Core&#8482;2 Quad processor in an LGA775 socket with a 1066 MHz
system bus
&#8226; Intel® Core&#8482;2 Duo processor in an LGA775 socket with a 1333 or 1066 or 800
MHz system bus
&#8226; Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core processor in an LGA775 socket with an 800 MHz
system bus
&#8226; Intel® Celeron® processor in an LGA775 socket with an 800 MHz system bus
Memory &#8226; Four 240-pin DDR2 SDRAM Dual Inline Memory Module (DIMM) sockets
&#8226; Support for DDR2 800 or DDR2 667 MHz DIMMs
&#8226; Support for up to 8 GB of system memory using DDR2 800 or DDR2
667 DIMMs
Chipset Intel® G33 Express Chipset, consisting of:
&#8226; Intel® 82G33 Graphics and Memory Controller Hub (GMCH)
&#8226; Intel® 82801IR I/O Controller Hub (ICH9R)
Audio 8-channel (7.1) audio subsystem using the IDT* STAC9271D audio codec and
Dolby* Home Theater certification
Video Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator (Intel® GMA) 3100 onboard graphics
subsystem.
Legacy I/O Control Legacy I/O controller for serial port header and Consumer Infrared (CIR)
Peripheral
Interfaces
&#8226; 12 USB 2.0 ports
&#8226; Two IEEE-1394a interfaces: one back panel connector and one front-panel
header
&#8226; Six Serial ATA (3 Gbps) interfaces, including one red-colored external Serial
ATA (eSATA) interface
&#8226; One Parallel ATA IDE interface with UDMA 33, ATA-66/100 support
&#8226; One serial port header (may require specialized chassis or cable for use)
LAN Support Gigabit (10/100/1000 Mbits/sec) LAN subsystem using the Intel® 82566DC
Gigabit Ethernet Controller
BIOS &#8226; Intel® BIOS (resident in the SPI Flash device)
&#8226; Support for Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI), Plug and Play,
and SMBIOS
Instantly Available
PC Technology
&#8226; Support for PCI* Local Bus Specification Revision 2.3
&#8226; Support for PCI Express* Revision 1.0a
&#8226; Suspend to RAM support
&#8226; Wake on PCI, RS-232, front panel, PS/2 devices, USB ports, LAN, and CIR
Expansion
Capabilities
&#8226; One PCI Express x16 bus add-in card connector
&#8226; Two PCI Express x1 bus add-in card connectors
&#8226; One PCI Conventional bus connector
Hardware Monitor
Subsystem
&#8226; Intel® Quiet System Technology implemented through the Intel® Management
Engine in ICH9R
&#8226; Voltage sense to detect out of range power supply voltages
&#8226; Thermal sense to detect out of range thermal values
&#8226; Three fan headers
&#8226; Three fan sense inputs used to monitor fan activity

Memory (4 Ea): CT6464AA80E.8FD Crucial Technology 512MB PC2-6400 DDR2-800MHz non-ECC Unbuffered CL5-5-5-18240-Pin DIMM Original Memory Module Mfr P/N CT6464AA80E.8FD
Hard Drives (2 Ea): Seagate
&#8226; Seagate DB35.3 ST3500830SCE Hard Drive
&#8226; General Features:
&#8226; 500 GB storage capacity
&#8226; Serial ATA/300 interface
&#8226; 7200 RPM spindle speed
&#8226; 8 MB buffer
&#8226; 1030 Mbits/sec maximum internal data transfer rate
&#8226; 72 Mbytes/sec maximum sustained data transfer rate
&#8226; 300 Mbytes/sec I/O maximum data-transfer rate
&#8226; 4.16 ms average latency
&#8226; 16 sec maximum power-on to ready
&#8226; 16 sec maximum standby to ready
&#8226; <0.8 msec typical track-to-track read seek time
&#8226; <1.0 msec typical track-to-track write seek time
&#8226; <11.0 msec average seek, read
&#8226; <12.0 msec average seek, write
&#8226; 0.68% Annualized Failure Rate
&#8226; 50,000 contact start-stop cycles
&#8226; 63 Gs maximum operational shock at 2 ms
&#8226; 300 Gs maximum non-operational shock at 2 ms
&#8226; Up to 500 hours of storage for standard television or 93 hours for high-definition content
&#8226; Multiple stream recording capability - up to 10 television streams at once
&#8226; Operating acoustics as low as 2.8 bels for near silent operation
&#8226; Power Specifications:
&#8226; +5V, 0.72A
&#8226; +12V, 0.52A
&#8226; Dimensions
&#8226; 1.028 x 4 x 5.787-inches (H x W x D, approximate)

Card Reader: Atech 28-in-1 External / Internal Card Reader
&#8226; Internal use installed into 3.5" drive bay
&#8226; Hi-speed USB 2.0 data transferring between flash media cards for Mac/PC, Notebooks, Digital cameras, PDAs, and MP3 players
&#8226; 4 card slots allow you to access 28 media formats
&#8226; No adapters required for mini-SD, RS-MMC and MS-Duo
&#8226; Compatible with the latest Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC) memory cards
&#8226; Custom Icons for each media slot. (Windows)
Dimension (W x H x D):

4.02 in x 1 in x 4.92 in
102 mm x 25 mm x 125 mm

Power Requirements: 5V DC +/- 5% (USB powered)
Supported Media Cards:
1. CompactFlash&#8482; Type-I
2. CompactFlash&#8482; Type-II
3. CompactFlash Ultra Speed (133x)&#8482;
4. Microdrive&#8482;
5. SmartMedia&#8482;
6. Magicstor&#8482;
7. MultiMediaCard&#8482;
8. MultiMediaCard&#8482; Mobile
9. MultiMediaCard&#8482; High Speed v4.0
10. xD-Picture Card&#8482;*
11. xD-Picture Card&#8482;* Type M / Type M+
12. xD-Picture Card&#8482;* Type H
13. Secure Digital&#8482; (true 4-bit)
14. miniSecure Digital&#8482;
15. Secure Digital&#8482; (SDHC)
16. Secure Digital&#8482; v1.1 (133x)
17. RS-MultiMediaCard&#8482;
18. RS-MultiMediaCard&#8482; High Speed v4.0
19. Memory Stick&#8482;
20. Memory Stick PRO&#8482; Duo
21. Memory Stick&#8482; Duo
22. Memory Stick&#8482; Select
23. Memory Stick Rom&#8482;
24. Memory Stick PRO&#8482; (true 4-bit)
25. Memory Stick &#8482; MagicGate*
26. Memory Stick Duo&#8482; MagicGate*
27. Memory Stick PRO&#8482; MagicGate*
28. Memory Stick&#8482; High Speed (133x)
Transfer rate:
Up to 480 Mb/sec via USB 2.0
Up to 12 Mb/sec via USB 1.1
System Requirement:
Mac OS X and later
Windows 2000/XP/Vista
USB 2.0 port

DVD/CD Rewritable Drive: Lite-On LH-20A1L
SATA Half-Height internal DVD+R / DVD+RW / DVD-R / DVD-RW / DVD+R9 / DVD-R9 / DVD-RAM / DVD-ROM / CD-R / CD-RW / CD-ROM combination drive.
Support Double Layer DVD+ / - R9 Recording Function.
SMART-BURN avoiding Buffer UnderRun Error, Automatically adjusting writing strategy & running OPC to provide the best burning quality.
SMART-X function adjusts CD-DA / VCD / DVD data extraction to a fastest allowable speed according to both data request rate from host and disk quality.
ABS® system reduce vibration and noise during recording and reading.
Support Fixed Packet, Variable Packet, TAO, SAO, DAO, Raw Mode Burning & Over-Burn.
DVD read compliant : DVD single / dual layer ( PTP / OTP ), DVD-R ( 3.9 GB / 4.7 GB ), DVD-R multi-borders, DVD+R, DVD+R multi-sessions, DVD-RW, and DVD+RW.
CD read compliant : CD-DA, CD-ROM, CD-ROM / XA, Photo-CD, Multi-session, Karaoke-CD, Video-CD, CD-I FMV, CD Extra, CD Plus, CD-R, and CD-RW.
Support both 8 cm and 12 cm disc of CD and DVD family.
Conform to Orange Book : Part 2 CD-R Volume 1, Part 2 CD-R Volume 2 Multi Speed, Part 3 CD-RW Volume 1 ( 1x, 2x, and 4x ), Part 3 CD-RW Volume 2 : High Speed, Part 3 CD-RW Volume 3 : Ultra Speed.
Supported transfer mode : PIO mode 4, DMA mode 2 and Ultra DMA mode 4.
Support Lightscribe direct disk labeling to Lightscribe media.
DVD Family Write
DVD+R 20X maximum
DVD-R 20X maximum
DVD+R9 8X maximum
DVD-R9 8X maximum
DVD-RAM 12X maximum
ReWrite
DVD+RW 8X maximum
DVD-RW 6X maximum
Read 16X maximum
Access time 160ms
CD Family Write
CD-R 48X maximum
ReWrite
CD-RW 24X maximum
Read 48X maximum
Access time 160ms
DVD-RAM 5X PCAV

Lightscribe labeling CDR Media 1.6X
DVD+R Media 1.6X
Buffer Size 2MB (MAX)
PC Required Pentium 4 1.3GHz or higher CPU and 128MB or higher RAM are
required.
HDD must have access time < 20ms; with a minimum of 650MB free
space.
9GB free space for creating a DVD image file (9GB for double layer;
5GB for single layer).
Compatibility Microsoft Windows XP / 2000 SP4
MTBF (Life) 70000POH
S/N Ration > 75dB
General Environment
Operating 5°C to 50°C; Relative Humidity: 15% to 80%
Non-Operating -40°C to 65°C; Relative Humidity: 15% to 95%
Dimension 145(W) x 41.3(H) x 170(D) mm
Weight < 0.9Kg
Voltage Requirements
+5V +/-5% and less than 100 mVp-p ripple voltage
+12V +/-10% and less than 200 mVp-p ripple voltage


CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo Desktop Processor E6750



Power Supply: SeaSonic S12 Energy Plus SS-550HT 550W ATX12V V2.3 / EPS12V V2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC
Model
Brand SeaSonic
Model SS-550HT
Series S12 Energy Plus
Spec
Type ATX12V V2.3 / EPS12V V2.91
Maximum Power 550W
Fans 1 x 12cm Double Ball Bearing Cooling Fan
PFC Active
Main Connector 20+4Pin
+12V Rails 4
PCI-Express Connector 2 x 6-Pin
SATA Power Connector 6
SLI Certified
CrossFire Ready
Modular No
Efficiency up to 88%
Energy-Efficient 80 PLUS Certified
Input Voltage 100 - 240 V
Input Frequency Range 50/60 Hz
Output +3.3V@24A, +5V@30A, +12V1@18A, +12V2@18A, +12V3@18A, +12V4@18A, [email protected], [email protected]
MTBF 100,000 hours at 25°C under full load
Approvals UL, CE, CB, TUV, FCC
Features
Connectors 1 x Main connector (20+4Pin)
1 x 12V(P4)
1 x 12V(8Pin)
9 x peripheral
6 x SATA
2 x Floppy
2 x PCI-E
Features Dual Magnetic Amplifiers [MagAmp]
Double Forward Converter Design
High Reliable Aluminum Electrolytic Capacitors
Smart and Silent Fan Control [S2FC]
Soft-Mounting Rubber Cushions
Ultra Ventilation [Honey Comb Structure]
All in One DC Cabling Design
Patented Easy Swap Connector


Video Card: MSI 8500GT NX8500GT-MTD256EH 256MB 450MHz nVidia GeForce PCI-Express X16 Video Card with SLi,DVI, VGA, HDTV, TV-Out, DirectX 10.0, Shader Model 4.0: NX8500GT-MTD256EH
Features:
Support nVidia SLI Technology
HDMI - High Definition Multimedia Interface Support
Support Microsoft DirectX 10.0, Shader Model 4.0 and OpenGL 2.0
Product Specification:
Video Memory 256MB DDR2
Memory Clock 450 MHz
Memory Interface 128-bit
Bus PCI-Express x16
RAMDAC 400 MHz
Stream Processing Units 120
Max. Resolution 2048 x 1536 @ 85Hz
Connectors Dual DVI-I (Support Dual VGA), TV-out (HDTV ready)

Cable Card TV Tuner (2 Ea) : ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner &#8211; Internal

A Windows Vista&#8482; Media Center PC supports up to two TV Wonder&#8482; Digital Cable Tuners in one of five configurations: single external USB 2.0 device, single internal USB 2.0 card, two external USB 2.0 devices, two internal cards, or one external device with one internal card.

System Requirements

The ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner is designed to work with Windows Vista Ultimate and Windows Vista Home Premium based Digital Cable Compatible PCs from leading PC manufacturers. The tuner connects to an available USB 2.0 port (for external OCUR); USB 2.0 motherboard header and internal power connector (for internal OCUR).

TV Tuner and Digital Cable Requirements

Cable TV jack and subscription for Cable and Digital Cable channels
CableCARD&#8482; from your local cable provider for Premium Digital Cable services (one CableCARD&#8482; per device)
Antenna for over-the-air ATSC and NTSC signals
Internet Connection for weekly television Program Guide updates and Windows Media Center updates
Operating Systems

Windows Vista&#8482; Ultimate
Windows Vista&#8482; Home Premium
 
What type of case is it? I almost positive that they didn't create the case just for their htpc.
 
I'm confused. Why are the TV Tuners referred to as Cable Card TV Tuners? Is it any different than my HVR-2250 TV Tuner from Hauppauge or something?
 
If I am wrong pls feel free to correct me. Just trying to be helpful.

I would gather from doing a quick google on your card that, your card is a tuner card for use with STB or if you want to tune your channels directly if your tv doesn't have a tuner. The Cable Card TV Tuners are essentially cards that will replace the STB and allow those how have them to record the HD Content.
 
Ok, but my from my understanding, CableCARDs can only be received from your cable provider, since they decode there signals. Each cable provider is different, and probably each region is different. Didn't think you could purchase them, and I definitely didn't think ATI made them.
 
then you definitely didnt do your google research :D

OCUR tuners should work on any digital cable service (should!) if you have digital cable service then the ati tuner can get those channels (minus payperview and on demand stuff). the difference comes into satellite companies, they use a totally different standard and there is or probably will never be an addin card for them. for that reason, digital cable service is by far the best for htpc users. and if your cable company tries to tell you cablecard is not for you, tell them to suck your big one and just do it, or else ;)
 
Ok, so I need a OCUR Tuner (like this ATI one) and a cablecard from my digital cable service provider to watch cable. Correct?
 
The SMC case was specially made just for the SMC line, one cool feature of the case is the power switch, to power on/off the SMC you have to touch the Russound logo that is on the front left of the case.

The SMC 30 and 40 model comes with a Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1800 and a WinTv-HVR-1600, the 35 and 45 come with 2 ATI Digital Card Tuners. With the DCT's you do not have to have the cablecards installed to be able to get your basic cable and some clearQAM channels. The cablecards give you access to your digital channels (same as having a cable box, except for the on demand will not work). You are not charged for the first cablecard and the second is anywhere from $5-$10 a month.
 
yeah i keep forgetting they dont want us to say OCUR anymore... its DCT.
 
The device is an Open Cable Unidirectional Receiver. The product is a Digital Cable Tuner.
 
I just slapped one of the cablecard tuners in another pc that I have hoping to get my local channels. It has a cablecard in it, but it was previously paired to my tivo. It seems like I am getting all my channels. I am kind of surprised. It did ask for the PID, so I just entered the one from the Russound case.
Cablecards are basically encryption keys that allow the cable company to confirm you are authorized to view the channels that you try to tune.
 
I actually tore down the whole case. I took it apart to put a new mobo and cpu in, and I got a little carried away.
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Hi to all,
Because of the expense of the Russound SMC's there has not been much information on the forums, but now the SMC's are finding their way to Ebay at very good prices, I'm seeing more forum activity. My SMC-45 was purchased on Ebay for $800. I can't build a HTPC with the SMC-45 features for less. Would like to upgrade my SMC-45 to quieter fans, Blu ray drive and a video card that supports sound too. I live not far from the company in Newmarket NH, wonder if that is anyone there friendly to hobbyists? I see good info on this thread and will keep an eye here for more.
Dana
XDS4ME
 
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