I have a family member who's cable co is now encrypting channels, rendering the HDHomerun useless for them.
they have one of those dual-core atom mini-pc's; i can't remember exactly which one.
anyhow, which tuner would be better for a low-power PC? the infinitv USB or HDHomerun Prime?
Need Suggestion for CableCard Tuner!
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brantmacga
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newfiend
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From Ceton's site...
InfiniTV 4 USB: can connect to any qualified PC with a USB 2.0 port, making it an ideal solution for notebook/laptop, All-in-One and Tablet PCs as well as well as desktop, tower and slimline entertainment PCs.
The recommended minimum system requirements for running one or two InfiniTV 4 devices in a single PC are:
•Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Ultimate, or Windows 7 Enterprise
•2.0 GHz or faster dual-core or quad-core processor minimum -- either 32 bit (x86) or 64 bit (x64). A 2.7 GHz or faster dual-core CPU is recommended
•3 GB of RAM minimum. 4 GB or more is recommended
•350 GB of available hard disk drive space recommended for 50 hours of HDTV recordings
•HDCP compliant graphics
•HDMI out, or DVI out with separate audio out
•Multi-Stream CableCARD™ (M-Card) – available from your local cable provider
•A Tuning Adapter from your cable operator might be required if your cable TV provider uses Switched Digital Video technology. Please check with your cable operator.
•Digital cable subscription from a U.S. cable provider
•For InfiniTV 4 PCIe: 1 PCIe slot, which can be either an x1, x4, x8, or x16 type slot
•For InfiniTV 4 USB: 1 USB 2.0 or higher port (we do not recommend connecting through a USB hub)
Since the HDHRP is a Network Tuner I am not sure what the minimum system requirements have to be for that to work... The HDHRP has one less Tuner..3 instead of 4 on the InfiniTV units.
Either option should work for you. They are both solid units with good support. I have a Ceton USB and PCIe.. they both have been pretty good. There are some reports of a macroblocking issue with the Ceton Cards, but at this time I am not sure if that may actually be a Graphics card issue.. Barnabas1969 has had both the Ceton and HDHRP units and has had macroblocking on both.. So he's in the middle of trying a few different things including changing out video cards from a nvidia gt430 to a AMD/ATI solution to see if the macroblocking goes away. Ceton is also looking into this issue.
I personally have seen the macroblocking issue but its rare for me.. others see it more frequently. I believe this will get sorted in time so I wouldn't base your purchase of either unit HDHRP or Ceton based on that issue. If you have other PC's in the home that would like to take advantage of the network tuners the HDHRP may be a little easier to configure.. The Ceton can also share tuners but takes a bit more configuration I believe. (never done it so I actually have no idea) From reading online it looks like a bit more work..
Either one should work for you.. Since I have had good luck with the Ceton card/USB unit I am a little biased to their products. But I have never had a HDHRP either..
newfiend~
InfiniTV 4 USB: can connect to any qualified PC with a USB 2.0 port, making it an ideal solution for notebook/laptop, All-in-One and Tablet PCs as well as well as desktop, tower and slimline entertainment PCs.
The recommended minimum system requirements for running one or two InfiniTV 4 devices in a single PC are:
•Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Ultimate, or Windows 7 Enterprise
•2.0 GHz or faster dual-core or quad-core processor minimum -- either 32 bit (x86) or 64 bit (x64). A 2.7 GHz or faster dual-core CPU is recommended
•3 GB of RAM minimum. 4 GB or more is recommended
•350 GB of available hard disk drive space recommended for 50 hours of HDTV recordings
•HDCP compliant graphics
•HDMI out, or DVI out with separate audio out
•Multi-Stream CableCARD™ (M-Card) – available from your local cable provider
•A Tuning Adapter from your cable operator might be required if your cable TV provider uses Switched Digital Video technology. Please check with your cable operator.
•Digital cable subscription from a U.S. cable provider
•For InfiniTV 4 PCIe: 1 PCIe slot, which can be either an x1, x4, x8, or x16 type slot
•For InfiniTV 4 USB: 1 USB 2.0 or higher port (we do not recommend connecting through a USB hub)
Since the HDHRP is a Network Tuner I am not sure what the minimum system requirements have to be for that to work... The HDHRP has one less Tuner..3 instead of 4 on the InfiniTV units.
Either option should work for you. They are both solid units with good support. I have a Ceton USB and PCIe.. they both have been pretty good. There are some reports of a macroblocking issue with the Ceton Cards, but at this time I am not sure if that may actually be a Graphics card issue.. Barnabas1969 has had both the Ceton and HDHRP units and has had macroblocking on both.. So he's in the middle of trying a few different things including changing out video cards from a nvidia gt430 to a AMD/ATI solution to see if the macroblocking goes away. Ceton is also looking into this issue.
I personally have seen the macroblocking issue but its rare for me.. others see it more frequently. I believe this will get sorted in time so I wouldn't base your purchase of either unit HDHRP or Ceton based on that issue. If you have other PC's in the home that would like to take advantage of the network tuners the HDHRP may be a little easier to configure.. The Ceton can also share tuners but takes a bit more configuration I believe. (never done it so I actually have no idea) From reading online it looks like a bit more work..
Either one should work for you.. Since I have had good luck with the Ceton card/USB unit I am a little biased to their products. But I have never had a HDHRP either..
newfiend~
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brantmacga
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thanks for the response.
the silicondust website only says "dual-core PC" for the HDHR Prime requirements.
I'm going to recommend that and see how it goes. the HDHR dual has been working great for them.
the silicondust website only says "dual-core PC" for the HDHR Prime requirements.
I'm going to recommend that and see how it goes. the HDHR dual has been working great for them.
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soccerdad
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Their system will have to pass the cable advisor for WMC to configure it (unless they hack it). It has to meet a minimum Windows experience factor I think. They might want to run the test before they get the tuners.
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brantmacga
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great point. thankssoccerdad wrote:Their system will have to pass the cable advisor for WMC to configure it (unless they hack it). It has to meet a minimum Windows experience factor I think. They might want to run the test before they get the tuners.
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richard1980
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It doesn't matter which of the devices you get becuase either a PC is going to work with both devices or it isn't going to work with either device. It really comes down to which form factor works the best and how many tuners are wanted. Obviously you are giong to be facing some challenges anyway because it's an Atom based system.