Ceton Ethernet 6 Running Extremely Hot

[joelkirzner]

This may have been discussed in other posts, but I'm starting a new thread specific to the External Ethernet 6 overheating.

As many of you have discovered, the unit heats up considerably, especially with all tuners in use. The 4 little rubber feet on the bottom of the device actually shifted a bit from the adhesive melting... not good.

I've noticed significant pixelation/macroblocking, presumably because of this issue. I've done a few things that seem to have helped.

First off, my setup:
4 PCs networked to the ETH6; 3 pcs each have one tuner assigned, 1 pc has 3 tuners assigned. Gigabit router/switches.
On several occasions, with all tuners in use, the pc with 3 tuners can not tune more than 1 tuner. The overall picture quality also is degraded, either with occasional stuttering, or macroblocking... sometimes half the screen has grey garbled blocking. Very annoying.

What I've done recently that seemed to help is to stop live tv playback on any pc not in use. I used to just shut off the tv while media center was still running-- I liked being able to just turn on the tv and immediately watch live tv. However, for the sake of not always having potentially 6 tuners in use, I can live with a couple extra remote clicks.
I also turned the Ceton device on its side. Intuitively, this seems to allow better air flow. The Ceton is out on a tv stand not enclosed in any cabinet, so this really is the best case scenario, without adding an additional cooling fan.

Anyone else have any thoughts, concerns?

[JohnW248]

If you think heat is an issue, then you should start recording the temps of the tuners at various times. I've posted a little html in the past that you can modify for the IP for your tuner that will return all that data. Others have gone further and collect and chart the data over time.

I have additional cooling (lap top fans) for my Ceton USB devices as well as a couple of SD Primes. If you have SDV, then that TA (at least the Cisco) is a coffee warmer and shouldn't be in the "stack". Cisco STB run hot as well (actually had one on top of a Sony DVD recorder at one time and the heat from the STB would cause errors on the Sony).

Personally I'd also be looking at the network, adding devices to the network that start putting a "floor" on traffic can be impacted when file transfers are taking place etc.

You can pick up a laptop cooler unit on sale at various electronics/computer stores for just a few dollars and makes for a quiet and quick test to lower the heat issue. The temps on my USB tuners dropped 10 degrees C with the additional cooling. Ceton says that temps up to 65 degrees C should be OK, but you'll probably find you will prefer much lower temps.

Remember that live tv is always running a record/play on the HD of the host machine so shutting off the machine could cause other issues as well. This ain't your Daddy's NTSC anymore.

[joelkirzner]

Thanks for the info.
I know I've read elsewhere on this topic that as end users, we should not be expected to modify the device. It should just work as advertised, i.e., 6 tuners working simultaneously, in a "Can't We All Just Get Along" kind of way...

With that said, I don't mind tinkering, so I may take your advice with additional cooling.

I also agree about network traffic. I know that if I have large file transfers taking place on the network, my live tv quality will suffer. I've confirmed that. What I can't tolerate is having picture quality degradation with just live tv being piped around the house. As I've read before, 6 tuners @ 10-11mbs bitrate should be just fine, even on a 100mbs network.

[barnabas1969]

I have two HD HomeRun Primes, and two TA's. When I first bought them, I stacked them all (with the TA's on the bottom). They are in a closed closet. The air temp in the closet is usually between 80-85F, because of all the equipment in there (router, modem, UPS, security system, etc). Boy, did the tuners get hot! They never gave me any problems when they were hot, no macroblocking or anything.

But, it just didn't seem like a good thing for them to be so hot. So, I stood the tuners and the TA's on their sides, just like the OP did with his InfiniTV6. It makes a big difference in the temp of the tuners and TA's.

[tzr916]

My ETH6 was sitting flat on the top glass shelf of my equipment rack. Temps have always been 63C or higher.

I just set it vertical, same location, and my temps went to 59C instantly. No fan.

Thanks to this thread it's down by a full 4 degrees

[shortcut3d]

Maybe Ceton should provide a free sideways stand/base for the ETH. This seems like a design flaw.

[joelkirzner]

Maybe Ceton should provide a free sideways stand/base for the ETH. This seems like a design flaw.

Agreed.

Many external hard drive enclosures have this two way design. Both my Vantec enclosure and hitachi 3tb external are designed to go both ways.

[barnabas1969]

It actually makes sense. Inside the device, there is a printed circuit board (PCB). When the PCB is oriented horizontally, air can't flow to the components. When it is oriented vertically, the warm components on the board will cause a current of air to flow upward across the entire PCB.

I have actually wondered, in the past, if the InfiniTV PCIe users who had problems with temps had installed them in a tower case, so that the board was oriented horizontally. To make things worse, ATX cases/motherboards have all the expansion cards installed with the components on the bottom... so that heat rises up into the components, instead of rising up and away like they would if using a BTX case/motherboard.

[cybrsage]

I had my InfiniTV4 sitting in the tower case, but had the case on its side so the card was sitting vertically and I had heat problems. I also had a first edition of the card (was on the wait list for it and got mine after the Microsoft guys got theirs). I simply set a fan ontop of both the Ceton card and the video card, blowing down onto both of them; fixed my temp problems immediately.

I now use the Ceton Eth tuner and have it sitting ontop of a laptop cooler. My temps are staying below 50C even with multiple tuners in use.

[lornaevo]

I went to staples and bought a laptop cooling pad and placed it under to infinitv 6. Now it's cool to the touch.

[tzr916]

My ETH6 was sitting flat on the top glass shelf of my equipment rack. Temps have always been 63C or higher.

I just set it vertical, same location, and my temps went to 59C instantly. No fan.

Thanks to this thread it's down by a full 4 degrees

Just raped a small silent 5v fan from a laptop cooler and set it up next to my ETH6. Temps are now 35C

[barnabas1969]