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Is it worth ditching my HDHomerun for a Ceton w/ more tuners

Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 6:20 am
by extreme_danger
Hi,

I have been using a 3-tuner HDHomerun Prime for multiple years now on what I basically call a DVR PC. I've been using it with BeyondTV but am likely to move to NextPVR soon. Overall my setup has been absolutely flawless.

The thing is though, I sometimes wish I had more tuners, which is what Ceton offers that Silicondust does not. Does the Prime have any benefits over the Infinitv, either the PCIe or ethernet 6 tuner versions? I do not watch TV live, I set recordings in my program of choice and then watch them later.

And which is better? PCIe or Ethernet? The only benefit I really see ethernet having is I can access it anywhere on my network, which I really don't do except sometimes going to a URL such as http://192.168.1.2:5004/auto/v600 in VLC player to tune into a channel from my laptop rather than my DVR PC. The PC is on 24/7/365, never sleeps.

Thanks!

Re: Is it worth ditching my HDHomerun for a Ceton w/ more tu

Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 12:25 pm
by Scallica
No, Ceton is not the way to go. The HDHomerun Prime is a superior product in terms of reliability and stability. The only advantage with the Ceton products is more tuners. Also, Ceton is dead/almost dead, and there will likely be no more firmware updates. However, there are still firmware updates released for the HDHomerun products.

While others have had success with Ceton products, there are an overwhelming amount of issues documented on this forum. For example,

--Trouble upgrading the firmware on the infiniTV due to the crappy flash memory used
--Overheating issues (ETH6)
--Tuner disappearing from WMC issues

Ethernet tuners are the way to go. You can put the tuner anywhere where there is power, coax, and an ethernet cable (in a closet, in basement, in an attic, etc). Why add more junk to your HTPC and more heat?

Re: Is it worth ditching my HDHomerun for a Ceton w/ more tu

Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 9:34 pm
by 3ton
I use Ceton's tuners and love them. I also use the SD Prime and its a much better product. Never used Beyondtv but if it was me and two bucks a month does not bother you then just add another SD Prime. So then you would have 6 tuners. I know in WMC adding an extra Prime is not a problem but with BeyondTV it might be. I agree Ceton can be a problem with initial setup, but if you get a good card then it should not be a problem. I agree that ETH is the way to go with your setup.

Re: Is it worth ditching my HDHomerun for a Ceton w/ more tu

Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2017 12:09 am
by GreenMachine
Scallica wrote:No, Ceton is not the way to go. The HDHomerun Prime is a superior product in terms of reliability and stability. The only advantage with the Ceton products is more tuners. Also, Ceton is dead/almost dead, and there will likely be no more firmware updates. However, there are still firmware updates released for the HDHomerun products.

While others have had success with Ceton products, there are an overwhelming amount of issues documented on this forum. For example,

--Trouble upgrading the firmware on the infiniTV due to the crappy flash memory used
--Overheating issues (ETH6)
--Tuner disappearing from WMC issues

Ethernet tuners are the way to go. You can put the tuner anywhere where there is power, coax, and an ethernet cable (in a closet, in basement, in an attic, etc). Why add more junk to your HTPC and more heat?
I had a similar disconnect/disappearing tuner experience with a Ceton tuner. I changed the USB cable multiple times, and even reinstalled the OS. Still kept disconnecting. So I switched to HDHR Prime and never looked back. Mainly because I also had the original HDHR for OTA, and that thing is still chugging along after more than a decade. Still runs on a shelf at the top of my office closet, connected to an antenna in the attic. I saw that others were having the same issues with Ceton, and dumped it on ebay.

BUT, I can't say enough good things about their Echo. Sure I've seen folks report connection problems, but my guess is much of that can be traced back to IGMP proxy in their routers. Must be enabled or else your Echo won't find the server consistently, if at all.

Re: Is it worth ditching my HDHomerun for a Ceton w/ more tu

Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2017 12:49 am
by Doctor Feelgood
If you're budgeting for more hardware, you could always add another HDHomerun Prime... I started with one, and quickly needed a second. It costs me $2 per month for the additional cable card, but it has been working fine for me for years now.

Re: Is it worth ditching my HDHomerun for a Ceton w/ more tu

Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2017 5:44 am
by Crash2009
I would say the newbies should probably stay away from Ceton, and go with HDHR3-CC or Connect.

Personally I use both brands and have no problems.

Re: Is it worth ditching my HDHomerun for a Ceton w/ more tu

Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2017 3:37 pm
by ruff_hi
I've been using the Ceton infiniTV tuner (6 tuner card) for years and, generally, it is fine. However, recently it has refused to show NBC and if you fiddle with anything in WMC, then the tuner craps out. I have gone through 4 cable cards in the last 4 months - verizon fios' solution to anything tuner / cable card related is to send you a new cable card.

I recently picked up a SD Prime and I am loving it. I especially like that I can use the HD app on Win10 ... I think that I will be swapping all of my HTPCs to Win10 and using that app for live TV. I haven't seen anything that can rival WMC as a DVR - so one of my HTPCs will be carrying the DVR duties. I can see myself picking up a 2nd SD Prime for more tuners (somewhere down the track).

Re: Is it worth ditching my HDHomerun for a Ceton w/ more tu

Posted: Fri May 25, 2018 4:06 am
by SciFiGeek
As a Ceton Infinitv 6 PCIe user, stay away unless you REALLY need the extra tuners.

As mentioned above Ceton likely will not be around to support. If you do definitely go with the Ethernet verson. The PCIe's use these weird cable dongles that are notorious for breaking. SD support is around and you can reasonably assume they will be for some time. I have read that the SD Prime's tune channels faster. This may be an issue if you don't want to lose extra seconds of a program due to tuning delay. In fairness I run into this recording broadcast and cable programs simultaneously, see below.

Before shelling out more money for an (under/un)supported Ceton; consider a rooftop / attic antennae and OTA tuner may free up enough cable tuners that you do not really need a tuner beyond the SD. Most cable programs air more than once and WMC is really good at picking up additional airings. You can keep your coax run short if you use a network OTA tuner although the internal Hauppauge will give you 4 tuners compared to the SD 2 at the same price point. You may have more tweaking to do on series priorities in this situation but it is cheaper than recurring cablecard charges from a second prime. I have also read that to support more than 4 tuners, you only have to install the ceton driver package. This seems to be true as I have 6 OTA tuners (2 wasn't enough for me and since I don't have an outdoor antennae, the original 2 tuner receives a few channels better). - Because of flakiness issues of cable and OTA signal, I currently record air once broadcast shows on both cable and OTA. Rarely is it helpful but an awesome save when it does. Although PlayOn stream recording is not a bad alternative to this redundancy.

Re: Is it worth ditching my HDHomerun for a Ceton w/ more tu

Posted: Sat May 26, 2018 5:44 pm
by Rickt1962
HDhomerun prime is releasing a 6 tuner this year so just wait !

Re: Is it worth ditching my HDHomerun for a Ceton w/ more tu

Posted: Tue May 29, 2018 5:15 pm
by DavidinCT
Scallica wrote:No, Ceton is not the way to go. The HDHomerun Prime is a superior product in terms of reliability and stability. The only advantage with the Ceton products is more tuners. Also, Ceton is dead/almost dead, and there will likely be no more firmware updates. However, there are still firmware updates released for the HDHomerun products.

While others have had success with Ceton products, there are an overwhelming amount of issues documented on this forum. For example,

--Trouble upgrading the firmware on the infiniTV due to the crappy flash memory used
--Overheating issues (ETH6)
--Tuner disappearing from WMC issues

Ethernet tuners are the way to go. You can put the tuner anywhere where there is power, coax, and an ethernet cable (in a closet, in basement, in an attic, etc). Why add more junk to your HTPC and more heat?
No offence, but, I am been running a Ceton PCI 6 tuner for years and I had a PCI 4 before that. Early days while WMC was still active there was issues but, I don't think I have missed a single show due to tuner issues for years now.

There is a limited support path, no question but, they are solid as a rock for me.

Re: Is it worth ditching my HDHomerun for a Ceton w/ more tu

Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2018 9:31 pm
by Sea3
DavidinCT wrote:
Scallica wrote:No, Ceton is not the way to go. The HDHomerun Prime is a superior product in terms of reliability and stability. The only advantage with the Ceton products is more tuners. Also, Ceton is dead/almost dead, and there will likely be no more firmware updates. However, there are still firmware updates released for the HDHomerun products.

While others have had success with Ceton products, there are an overwhelming amount of issues documented on this forum. For example,

--Trouble upgrading the firmware on the infiniTV due to the crappy flash memory used
--Overheating issues (ETH6)
--Tuner disappearing from WMC issues

Ethernet tuners are the way to go. You can put the tuner anywhere where there is power, coax, and an ethernet cable (in a closet, in basement, in an attic, etc). Why add more junk to your HTPC and more heat?
No offence, but, I am been running a Ceton PCI 6 tuner for years and I had a PCI 4 before that. Early days while WMC was still active there was issues but, I don't think I have missed a single show due to tuner issues for years now.

There is a limited support path, no question but, they are solid as a rock for me.
You and I must be the "others" that have had success. I placed a small fan on top of my InfiniTV 6 ETH to keep it cooler and hopefully extend its life. It has been rock solid reliable for several years and will keep using WMC until the tuner stops working. When it fails, I will probably go with cable DVR/set top box or get rid of cable.

Re: Is it worth ditching my HDHomerun for a Ceton w/ more tuners

Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2021 3:27 am
by Bob_F
To "extreme_danger" memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=9632"

I just acquired a used HDHomeRun Prime, and have had no luck getting my BeyondTV to show it in the Setup Wizard. I have had a HDHomeRun dual antenna tuner working for years. Is there any chance that you can offer any clues about what I need to do to get it to show up for BeyondTV setup? I have it working fine in SageTV, but much prefer the BeyondTV tuner access system with multiple tuners

Bob_F.