CableCARDs freed from OEM Requirment

i think you guys are getting priorities confused with.. well i dont know. i dont think microsoft is competing with itself, trying to decide if they want windows MC or xbox MC to beat one or the other. rather, they want them both to do well, and xbox is the hot-seller so they naturally will develop for that first. so many more people use the xbox as an HTPC rather then a windows pc its not funny...
 
So does anyone now if ATI will still be releasing a new up to date cable card tv tuner?
 
BX_TECH_GOD said:
So does anyone now if ATI will still be releasing a new up to date cable card tv tuner?
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One of the press releases that I read about this said that ATi will be releasing a firmware update for the existing tuners to support SDV (switched digital video). I have not yet seen any other product announcements from ATi, though, I"m not sure howmuch they'd focus on the 4 tuner market - they've never made an effort to do so before, and given that their current tuner was basically designed by the Vole and handed to them with minimal R&D effort on their part, I personally don't expect anything more than a firmware update pretty late in the game.
 
ATI sold their TV tuner business. They are not releasing any new tuners or driver updates to existing cards. Every card they have made is EOL.
 
nitrobass24 said:
Any release information on the Ceton cards?
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There's a thread on thegreenbutton.com where a guy has been testing the 6 tuner Ceton card for the past few months and is answering questions about them. There is even a Ceton rep commenting in the thread as well.
 
I now rent a DVR from TWC. It does a fine job but the interface is God Awful and that is why I hate it so much. I used to use Media Center as a DVR and an Xbox as an extender. Works well except the fact that you can't record digital cable and that sucks 80% of the value out of it.

I always get excited about the day that PCs would have digital cable tuners however as what the prices are imagined to be, I think I will probably just stick with the TWC box.
 
Don't forget though that is for a 4 tuner card versus the cable companies 2 tuner DVR. They do plan to offer a 2 tuner model eventually which should be cheaper.
 
brennok said:
Don't forget though that is for a 4 tuner card versus the cable companies 2 tuner DVR. They do plan to offer a 2 tuner model eventually which should be cheaper.
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Also, given the glacial pace at which cable companies switch standards, this equipment should be good for at least 10 years. I'd say it would be worth it if you plan on using it a lot. Hell, I only have digital cable for football season and I'm planning on buying a 4 tuner card when they come out, even though football season will almost be over.
 
I will be keeping one Digital STB so that if my HTPC isnt working right or if I need to work on the HTPC my wife can still watch TV in the house.....

forsure I will be buying a cable card tuner..... I will be very happy in Jan-Feb when I can buy one.
 
Wow, are you guys optimistic. I don't think there is any way in hell these Cetons will start shipping in time for the Super Bowl. People who pre-order might get them in time for March Madness, but even that's a stretch. I think May or June is much more likely time frame for these things to become readily available online.
 
DDR4040 said:
Wow, are you guys optimistic. I don't think there is any way in hell these Cetons will start shipping in time for the Super Bowl. People who pre-order might get them in time for March Madness, but even that's a stretch. I think May or June is much more likely time frame for these things to become readily available online.
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Do you have anything to confirm this?
 
BX_TECH_GOD said:
Do you have anything to confirm this?
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Nope, no inside information here. It's just a guess based on past announcements of CableCard products. Cable Labs really drags its' feet with their certification process. While everyone hopes Cetons' annoucement of "early 2010" means january or february, I just think Cable Labs will screw those plans up. I hope I am wrong.
 
DDR4040 said:
Nope, no inside information here. It's just a guess based on past announcements of CableCard products. Cable Labs really drags its' feet with their certification process. While everyone hopes Cetons' annoucement of "early 2010" means january or february, I just think Cable Labs will screw those plans up. I hope I am wrong.
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Well, I have to say you're probably right. How long were the SDV tuning adapters in "certification"? Seemed like 3 years.

I'll just stick with the Ceton estimate for now. It's not a huge deal for me personally, but I would like to see them out.
 
thats true, but theyve also been talking about the ceton tuners since late 2007 IIRC. Which would be about 3 years for 2010...
 
Does anyone know a list of other manufacturers besides Hauppauge who are planning on releasing Cable Card tuners?
 
Any news about these 4-tuner cards? I'd love to just replace my TiVo HD with a 4-tuner setup to go in my PC alongside Windows 7's media center... one nice, giant setup I can just add space to at will :).
 
I believe I read they have been submitted for Cable Labs certification and they are currently waiting for that process. I believe it is still estimated Q1 2010 since Cable Labs isn't known for being quick.
 
Thanks for the quick reply... planning on a Win7 upgrade for the SSD gains like TRIM that my drive now has firmware for, as well as an easy CableCARD quad-tuner setup with these new cards :). I figure I'll sell my TiVo HD to help finance the quad-card, and since I was planning on getting Win7 anyway all I'll need are a few extra hard drives to finish off the setup. I'm very excited to see these cards coming to market considering how long it's been... this company seems to be moving quickly and well toward getting them into the channel :).
 
its good news for the few of use who can afford/actually want a 4 tuner card... the news will be WAY better when a 2-tuner model comes out for half the price.
 
krupted said:
its good news for the few of use who can afford/actually want a 4 tuner card... the news will be WAY better when a 2-tuner model comes out for half the price.
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Hopefully before college football season! I don't plan on getting the crap TWC box this year.....

Now, I could be wrong, but that pic looks like the card will fit in a "short" pc, right? I thought they said that was not going to happen.
 
mastercheeze said:
Hopefully before college football season! I don't plan on getting the crap TWC box this year.....

Now, I could be wrong, but that pic looks like the card will fit in a "short" pc, right? I thought they said that was not going to happen.
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They half said all along that this will fit in a half height expansion slot, and the pic should confirm that.
 
rumor has it now that these tuners (or even the HDHomeRun CC tuner) will not be able to be shared... this takes a lot of buzz out of these tuners for me.
 
thelead said:
rumor has it now that these tuners (or even the HDHomeRun CC tuner) will not be able to be shared... this takes a lot of buzz out of these tuners for me.
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While its technologically possible to share the tuners, the CableCard OCUR specs only allow the tuner device to be attached to one machine - so based on what the Ceton guys are saying, youc an have the tuner in one box, and all 4 can record on another box, but you can't split them up 2 and 2. This is not a fault of the tuners or company making them, its Cable Labs.
 
Schro said:
While its technologically possible to share the tuners, the CableCard OCUR specs only allow the tuner device to be attached to one machine - so based on what the Ceton guys are saying, youc an have the tuner in one box, and all 4 can record on another box, but you can't split them up 2 and 2. This is not a fault of the tuners or company making them, its Cable Labs.
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Yeah, I know its not their faults but, 1. they hinted that it was going to be possible (or at least lead people to believe this) 2. It still sucks lol :p
 
Schro said:
While its technologically possible to share the tuners, the CableCard OCUR specs only allow the tuner device to be attached to one machine - so based on what the Ceton guys are saying, youc an have the tuner in one box, and all 4 can record on another box, but you can't split them up 2 and 2. This is not a fault of the tuners or company making them, its Cable Labs.
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I'm not exactly sure what you're talking about since Silicon Dust has said that their tuner is a networked/shared tuner.
http://hd.engadget.com/2010/01/07/hdhomeruns-cablecard-implementation-lives-up-to-the-brand/
The best news is that you'll be able to share a tuner with multiple Media Center PCs, which is really cool. Now obviously only one PC can use a tuner at a time and if the content is marked Copy Once, you can only watch it on the PC where it was recorded, but it is still cool.
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I don't know where you're getting your info from what I haven't seen anything from an official source that contradicts what they've already said.

Same deal with Ceton.
http://hd.engadget.com/2010/02/02/cetons-cablecard-tuner-to-work-over-the-network-too/
Ceton's MOCUR should work as a networked tuner, according to a post by VP Jeremy Hammer on The Green Button forums. His post indicates that, like the HDHomeRun CableCARD, Ceton's product will be available to other PCs by bridging it with the host computer's Ethernet card, and not blocked as it was with ATI's product.
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ATI's tuner was capable of working like that too but it was locked out in firmware since, at the time, CableLabs was trying it's damnedest to strangle openness and CableCard to death... Now that the government has finally taken notice they're eased up a little on the mad grip they had.

But again, what info do you have that contradicts what each company has publicly stated about it's product?
thelead said:
Yeah, I know its not their faults but, 1. they hinted that it was going to be possible (or at least lead people to believe this) 2. It still sucks lol :p
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See quotes above. There's nothing "hinted at," they've said that's how their product works.
 
http://www.silicondust.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8523

basically, the rumor is that a 1 cablecard can only be used on 1 pc at a time, regardless of the amount of signals (tuners) the centon/HDHomeRun can send. So its all or nothing to 1 pc at a time. Centon has confirmed it, but SiliconDust seems to be looking into it though.

From the Ceton letter to customers:
http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/p/86998/438719.aspx#438719

Quote:
Can you clarify the issue with tuner sharing?
We’ve seen some confusion and incorrect information online about network tuning and tuner sharing and we want to set the record straight so there’s no confusion. The Ceton InfiniTV 4 can utilize the network bridging capabilities in Windows 7 to expose the tuners to other PCs on your network. However, tuner sharing is actually not an allowed feature per the OCUR specification, which is required in order to be CableCARD-compatible. InfiniTV 4 can be used over a network with network bridging but in order to be compliant with the OCUR specification, all 4 tuners must be connected to the same PC. So, for example, you cannot use 2 of the InfiniTV 4 tuners on System A and the other 2 tuners on System B. By the way, this applies to any OCUR product and not just InfiniTV 4, regardless of whether or not network bridging is used or the device has Ethernet integrated.
 
Yea I know a lot people have balked at the price but a good regular tuner cost almost 100 so having 4 on one card is going to be awesome.

My pre order is in!
 
Being a SageTV user I guess I will have to wait for the "cold day in hell" when CableLabs pulls their heads out of their butts and opens these things up to more. Or when SageTV decides to realize this is where things are going and figure out a way to make use of CableCards (either paying license fees, including DRM, whatever)...

I guess there is the option of the "hack" method of using a Windows 7 PC to record and send the files to SageTV. Unfortunately, that would require getting it to work in a virtual environment (I'm not running another PC 24/7 for this, and my SageTV server is a WHS box), hoping that Comcast has enough channels flagged for "copy freely" to make it worth it, hoping that Comcast does't change the flags at a later date, etc. A little too much reliance on Comcast for my taste :p

Unfortunately HD-PVRs are still too expensive to handle my needs (3-4 recordings going at the same time), not to mention the need for additional STB with their associated fees.
 
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