Reliability? - Ceton InfiniTV vs HDHomeRun Prime

[Rafisher79]

Love, love, love my ceton pic-e, but i'm hating the USB ceton right now since its randomly rebooting on my parents htpc. I hope ceton fixes this issue ASAP or I'll have to go with the SD 3 tuner.

[Blamey]

Love, love, love my ceton pic-e, but i'm hating the USB ceton right now since its randomly rebooting on my parents htpc. I hope ceton fixes this issue ASAP or I'll have to go with the SD 3 tuner.

I am having similar issues and unfortunately my 30 day return date from New Egg is approaching and support seem to be closed for the holidays. if I don't get it working by the end of next week I'm gonna send it back and try the Pci-e version. If that doesn't work I'll switch back to the Hapaggue 2650 which I had but returned to swap for the ceton because I wanted 4 tuners. I guess two that work is better than 4 that don't.

[erkotz]

Love, love, love my ceton pic-e, but i'm hating the USB ceton right now since its randomly rebooting on my parents htpc. I hope ceton fixes this issue ASAP or I'll have to go with the SD 3 tuner.

I am having similar issues and unfortunately my 30 day return date from New Egg is approaching and support seem to be closed for the holidays. if I don't get it working by the end of next week I'm gonna send it back and try the Pci-e version. If that doesn't work I'll switch back to the Hapaggue 2650 which I had but returned to swap for the ceton because I wanted 4 tuners. I guess two that work is better than 4 that don't.

Our support is open today (though I believe it it closed Sunday and Monday this coming week). If you haven't head back from us, please PM me your ticket #

[Blamey]

Love, love, love my ceton pic-e, but i'm hating the USB ceton right now since its randomly rebooting on my parents htpc. I hope ceton fixes this issue ASAP or I'll have to go with the SD 3 tuner.

I am having similar issues and unfortunately my 30 day return date from New Egg is approaching and support seem to be closed for the holidays. if I don't get it working by the end of next week I'm gonna send it back and try the Pci-e version. If that doesn't work I'll switch back to the Hapaggue 2650 which I had but returned to swap for the ceton because I wanted 4 tuners. I guess two that work is better than 4 that don't.

Switched from a wireless USB to a wired connection and have had no issues since then. Planning on installing an MoCA connection.

[irklit]

So I haver a question to decide what is best for me. The Ceton is a usb connection and its tuners can be shared to extenders which means the host pc must always be up and running. The SD 3 tuner is a network connected device from what I understand. That is its connected to one of my jacks on the wireless router. Now once the SD 3 tuner unit is configured, is it directly accessed thru the network by the extender without being hosted by any other i.e. PC say that was used to set it up. I am a little confused still if there is an ongoing host PC that must remain up when the 3 tuners are accessed by say an extender. The SD with 1 less tuner is not a big deal vs the 4 tuner Ceton. I have a cable card already and want to buy one of the 2 soon.

[grinchy]

So I haver a question to decide what is best for me. The Ceton is a usb connection and its tuners can be shared to extenders which means the host pc must always be up and running. The SD 3 tuner is a network connected device from what I understand. That is its connected to one of my jacks on the wireless router. Now once the SD 3 tuner unit is configured, is it directly accessed thru the network by the extender without being hosted by any other i.e. PC say that was used to set it up. I am a little confused still if there is an ongoing host PC that must remain up when the 3 tuners are accessed by say an extender. The SD with 1 less tuner is not a big deal vs the 4 tuner Ceton. I have a cable card already and want to buy one of the 2 soon.

The SD Prime is also going to need a host PC for the extender to connect to - the extender needs a host pc to connect to WMC and that PC will connect to the tuners on the SD.

[shoffert]

I have the pci-e infinitv 4. My only insight is it seems the majority of my issues result from the sleep/wake process on my HTPC. The actual Ceton card seems to handle it pretty well. There's just a minute or so when the tuners are booting, or whatever they're doing, that they are unavailable. I generally have more issues with the Tuning Adapter not re-connection right, or the CableCard losing it's channels while the computer sleeps. I wonder if an always on device like the SD Prime would avoid some of these issues.

It's only happened a couple times, and has been much better lately. But it has been enough to discourage my wife from adopting it.

[ckensto]

I'm running two HDHRs (one 2 tuner and one 3 tuner Prime) on Verizon Fios. Very stable and more responsive with the latest firmware update. Also works surprisingly well on my MacPro VM running parallels and WMC. No experience with Ceton but I am very happy with the SD units, particularly after tweaking my network. The SD Forums are pretty helpful as well.

[maximus4]

My ceton infinitv4 has been an absolute nightmare, 50% of the time losing signal, missing recordings, and causing so many error messages from having no signal even Netflix is unwatchable. Initial set up took 10+ hours and has never been right in almost a year. Tech support is surprisingly helpful but has not yet found any solution. I vote no ceton.

[adam1991]

ummm.....how is the Ceton InfiniTV4 related to "even Netflix is unwatchable"?

Send me your hardware; I'll get it set up, won't take but a few minutes, and I'll send it back to you.

Seriously, you have something wrong that has nothing to do with the InfiniTV4. Your problems are way deeper and are system related. Something's horribly wrong with your computer.

[richard1980]

I'm betting Adam is correct. It sounds like there are some other issues with the system, and you can't fault the tuner for that. I would suggest starting a thread and posting your problems (be detailed) so we can help you resolve them.

[STC]

I have to agree with richard. The Ceton InfiniTV has been rock solid for me. This is a great resource for assistance. Explain your issues in a separate post new member and I'm sure we could help resolve them.

I can't speak for the HD product. We naturally have enthusiasts on both sides.

[captain_video]

I got my first InfiniTV 4 back in August 2010 as part of the very first shipment. I have had zero problems with it. I liked it so much that I picked up a 2nd one when the price dropped below $300 last year and a third when it went on sale for $220 at Newegg. I almost sprung for a fourth one this weekend when Amazon had them for $199, but I fought off the temptation. I only had the first two cards installed in my primary HTPC. The third card was installed in another build I was putting together.

My original plan was to use the tuner sharing wizard and assign a couple of the tuners from the 2nd card to one or two PCs I have connected to other TVs in the house. I was skeptical about having all TVs dependent on one HTPC so I held off on setting them up. When the HDHR Prime went on sale at J&R Music World about a week and a half ago for $169 I jumped on it. I uninstalled the 2nd Ceton and set up the cablecard in the HDHR. I still have extra tuners that can be used in the main HTPC but now I have the added flexibility of also having them available to other PCs without the worry of anyone getting cut off from TV if the main HTPC decides to take a dump. This had a habit of happening far too often when I was trying to get the family accustomed to using extenders with WMC, causing the experiment to fail miserably. The PC issues have long since been resolved and the HTPC is now extremely stable. The reliability of the Ceton has never been a factor.

My recommendation is to use the Ceton InfiniTV 4 for a PC that will handle most, if not all, of the recording chores. If you have multiple PCs that need access to a cablecard tuner then consider using the HDHR Prime. Reliability should be a non-factor for either unit as stated by others. Ceton's tuner has been on the market long enough to mature and SiliconDust has a good track record with their products. Just pick the one that suits your needs and don't worry about it.

[maximus4]

Lol my ceton issues are causing so many error pop ups that any use of media center is hopeless. I've tried 2 computers, 2 tuning adapters, reinstalled win on both boxes, swapped ram/hds/video cards/power supplies/cable cards. Both computers run everything perfectly, and both have intermittent lost tv signals. The only constant is the ceton. I will gladly accept any help (which I never even asked for) I'm just offering my review of the product. Would you like to critique my political opinions next? lol

[captain_video]

It could be that you have a defective card (it happens). Ceton is pretty good about trying to resolve such issues with their customers.

[maximus4]

dont get me wrong, ceton support has been very timely and has exceeded every expectation except for one, and that expectation was me sitting on my couch with a remote in my hand. overall, my experience with the card has been a negative one. every day on my way home from work i get to ask myself 'i wonder if ill be able to watch cable television tonight?" and more often then not the answer is no. ive started a new thread in a last attempt to get this thing going correctly and didnt mean to threadjack a reliability review thread, just wanted to pass my ceton experience along to someone asking about how reliable they are.

[adam1991]

Have you engaged your cable company to check their wiring and signal strength at your computer? To check for anomalies?

Sometimes it's the darnedest thing that's tripping you up. I had broadband speed once that dropped WAY down; it took them three weeks and two replacement cable modems and a bunch of rewiring, even down the street, before someone at the NOC suggested to reflash the cable modem. And that did it. Really? Two replacements, and neither of THOSE had the updated software?

It can be anything.

[erkotz]

My ceton infinitv4 has been an absolute nightmare, 50% of the time losing signal, missing recordings, and causing so many error messages from having no signal even Netflix is unwatchable. Initial set up took 10+ hours and has never been right in almost a year. Tech support is surprisingly helpful but has not yet found any solution. I vote no ceton.

Can you please provide me your ticket number? I would like to look into this.

[maximus4]

Current ticket is #akt-978-25606
Thanks for looking into this

[TonyXL]

I've had the Ceton PCI-e for a year, it's been great. Only 1 missed recording (the recent Modern Family broadcast flag issue), and I record about 12 shows a week). And my machine is pretty old (AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ 2.2 Ghz). Verizon FiOS.