Any advantage when STB rental isn't expensive?

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fleggett

Gawd
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Nov 30, 2004
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As I understand it, the primary reason to pursue a Ceton or HD Homerun-based cable "experience" is to eliminate the need for expensive, company-provided STBs. Another motivation would be to consolidate said "experience" to an HTPC and also to replace the frequently horrible company-provided channel interface with something much more informative, speedy, and pretty.

But what if you're not really paying all that much for the STBs? In my case, the three cornerstones of our online living - cable, internet, and phone - are bundled into one package and, as such, eliminating our STBs would only decrease our bill by about $10/month. Renting a CableCard costs about $5/month, so it's almost a wash. Are these alternative setups still worth pursuing?

I've already got a pretty mean HTPC setup (Norco-based), but have yet to feed cable through it.
 
It's all a matter of [H]ardness. If I could use CableCard I'd be all over it. We have no such privilege in this cold dark country to the north :(
 
Well really the Centon or HD Homerun aren't just to replace your standard STB, but the DVR units you local cable company may offer. Which can be $15+ like from Comcast in my area.

Whereas the first CableCard from Comcast is free, and the second is only $1.50/month

That's a pretty big difference on your bill
 
The guide experience is much better IMO as well. I absolutely loathe having to use STB's any more.
 
Also the ability to have up to 12 tuners via tuner salad is a huge improvement, over 2 that are normally in most CableCo dvrs.
 
The extra tuners are nice. I've found many, many times since I installed my Ceton where I've been recording more than two shows at a time.

Using your own computer as the recorder is nice as there is vastly more space available to record shows.

But what I like most is that FiOS puts copy flags on (almost) nothing. A few shows are always copy protected and a few random episodes of other shows get copy protected as well.

What this means is I can record piles of shows at a time and store them all on my hard drives. Then, because they aren't copy protected, I can manipulate them - remove commercials (VideoReDo) and compress them (HandBrake). The monetary savings over a DVR are just an added bonus.

Also, i find the interface in Media Center better. It's easier to control and works well with a mouse or remote. Plus, I find it more customizable. With FiOS, i have an insane amount of channels and it was easy enough to remove the ones I don't want from the channel guide. I also got My Channel Logos to add nice logos to my channel guide (and even donated the recommended $3. It's pretty nice)
 
Bighitter said:
Also the ability to have up to 12 tuners via tuner salad is a huge improvement, over 2 that are normally in most CableCo dvrs.
Click to expand...

But I was under the impression that every tuner required it's own Cablecard. Is this incorrect?

If it is correct, then the cost can skyrocket fairly quickly to have that level of flexibility.
 
Each tuner card not tuner so 3 InfiniTV4 would mean 3 CableCARDs.

CableCARDs support up to 6 tuners at once.
 
brennok said:
Each tuner card not tuner so 3 InfiniTV4 would mean 3 CableCARDs.

CableCARDs support up to 6 tuners at once.
Click to expand...

Sorry, the last time I paid attention S-Card was your only choice. Now that I've read-up on it, I'm glad they released M-Card, it was a feature that needed to happen BADLY.
 
fleggett said:
As I understand it, the primary reason to pursue a Ceton or HD Homerun-based cable "experience" is to eliminate the need for expensive, company-provided STBs. Another motivation would be to consolidate said "experience" to an HTPC and also to replace the frequently horrible company-provided channel interface with something much more informative, speedy, and pretty.

But what if you're not really paying all that much for the STBs? In my case, the three cornerstones of our online living - cable, internet, and phone - are bundled into one package and, as such, eliminating our STBs would only decrease our bill by about $10/month. Renting a CableCard costs about $5/month, so it's almost a wash. Are these alternative setups still worth pursuing?

I've already got a pretty mean HTPC setup (Norco-based), but have yet to feed cable through it.
Click to expand...

Windows Media Center blows the doors off of every cable STB out there. It's not even close. Integrating all your media into 1 place is just a plus.
 
I've had mixed experiences with HTPC's , when they are done right they are much better than STB's. But it can be a pain (and quite expensive) to really get there. Ceton tuners are great but expensive and if you want to record a bunch of channels at once you'll be paying for it. Most providers offer god awful STB's but now that I have FiOS I don't really have problem with mine and it works fine for the most part. I suppose the cost benefit works out in the end because most HD DVR's are around $15 a month and if you want more than one then you'll be dumping a lot over a year and versus paying a small fee for a cable card ..

The amount of customization however for your own HTPC will always give it the lead. If you use Cable Card's then by all means do the work and build a HTPC , you'll be glad you did.
 
Godmachine said:
I've had mixed experiences with HTPC's , when they are done right they are much better than STB's. But it can be a pain (and quite expensive) to really get there. Ceton tuners are great but expensive and if you want to record a bunch of channels at once you'll be paying for it. Most providers offer god awful STB's but now that I have FiOS I don't really have problem with mine and it works fine for the most part. I suppose the cost benefit works out in the end because most HD DVR's are around $15 a month and if you want more than one then you'll be dumping a lot over a year and versus paying a small fee for a cable card ..

The amount of customization however for your own HTPC will always give it the lead. If you use Cable Card's then by all means do the work and build a HTPC , you'll be glad you did.
Click to expand...

Without a doubt it is a LOT more work to get working smoothly. There can be incredibly frustrating MC bugs or issues with video card drivers or codecs that will leave you ripping your hair out. However, once you figure it all out it is really awesome.
 
Have any of you installed an HD antenna and done the wire drop? If so, did you install it inside (e.g., attic) or outside? How does it interface with the Ceton or Homerun? Is it even needed?

I'm about ready to pull the gun on either a Ceton or Homerun and want to cover all my bases. If an antenna is required, that could complicate things.
 
The interface on the provided boxes is usually far inferior to what you can do with an HTPC, or even a Tivo.

The *HEAT* is poorly managed with a lot of the provided STBs too. I had a motorola box overheat an entire cabinet and I lost an amp.
 
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