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Ceton Dilemma

Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2011 12:13 am
by Wolfshadw
So the Birthday Gods have smiled on me (received my present early and ordered my Ceton card). So now I have a query:

My HTPC sits beneath my HDTV in an enclosed wooden entertainment system. It's housed in an NMediaPC 200BA case (system specs to the left). While the case does fine at keeping my components cool, I'm a bit worried about adding the Ceton card (and a large storage drive) to it. Right now, my media is stored on my "all-purpose" system which gets used daily. There's no problem running movies, stored on the all-purpose system, from my HTPC through my projector. The HTPC is connected to both my HDTV, my projector and my HTIB Onkyo HT-S3200. The all-purpose system is connected to my monitor, occasionally, my projector (via S-Video) and to a set of Logitech X-530 speakers. All my systems (I also have a server - Intel Q8400/8GB RAM - in the bedroom; not being used 24/7 due to noise levels) are connected via a 10/100Gb Network.

My all-purpose system is housed in a Mid-Tower case. This system is based on an Intel Core I5 760, 4GB of RAM (2x2GB) and an NVidia Geforce 8800GTS-640 (I also use this system for some occasional gaming). There's plenty of room and cooling for adding both the Ceton card and two or three hard drives for storage. One of the Ceton card tuners would be dedicated to the HTPC for live viewing and, to be honest, I doubt I'd ever use all three of the remaining tuners simultaneously.

Can anyone post a reason to NOT install the Ceton card in the all-purpose system?

-Wolf sends

Re: Ceton Dilemma

Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2011 1:25 am
by makryger
Just remember that if you're going to be distributing live tv from the ceton to other machines, then you'll want that pc to be on 24/7. I don't think any Wake-On-Lan software exists for the networking stuff. Although you could probably figure it out using Media Center Standby Tool, and a script for WOL.

Re: Ceton Dilemma

Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2011 1:57 am
by Tracer
One thing to consider, copy protected recording will require your system to be HDCP compliant. Using the projector via S-Video will fail.

Make sure you run the digital cable advisor before installing the Ceton tuner.

Re: Ceton Dilemma

Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2011 3:05 am
by Wolfshadw
@Makryger (Ma-Cry-Ger - How hard is that to pronounce?) - The all purpose system is on 24/7. Normally, so is the HTPC (It's off now due to the 90+ degree heat here in Minnesota).

@ Tracer - Thanks for the reminder. I forgot about that. The projector is not HDCP compliant, but the HDTV (connected to my HTPC via HDMI) and my monitor (connected to my all-purpose system via DVI --> HDMI) are. Upgrading the projector to 1080p is probably the next task in a couple months.

-Wolf sends

Re: Ceton Dilemma

Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2011 3:44 am
by richard1980
Wolfshadw wrote:@Makryger (Ma-Cry-Ger - How hard is that to pronounce?)
I thought it was Mac-ruh-guy-er. Wait, my name isn't Josh. :lol: (OK, I'm done poking fun at Josh now :P ).

Re: Ceton Dilemma

Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2011 5:07 pm
by blueiedgod
I actually ended up drilling a 5" hole in the back of the entertaintment center with a hole saw (1" MDF cabinet) and mounted a 120 mm fan exhausting warm air out of the entertainment center.

The case it self has a good air flow, but when enclosed in a poorly ventilated space it can only do so much, since it ends up sucking the warm exhaust air back into the case making it warmer and warmer on each pass.