Need Help Selecting a Tuner

[red518irish]

This is my first post. I have been searching the internet and this board for some help, but have either been unsuccessful or I just don't understand what I am reading. I am building my first pc and am specifically building it to be an HTPC.

My question is about the tuners available. I am trying to decide between the Ceton and the HDHomerun Prime. The extra tuner the Ceton provides is nice but not necessary. From reading on here I am confident that they are both stable, great products. My question lies more in how they work.
I know the HDHP hooks up to the modem and not the PC directly, while the Ceton hooks up to the PC.

Can someone in plain English explain how the two differ in how they operate? Are they both easily expandable? Do they both communicate easily with extenders?
I see that the HDHP works with any computer on the network allowing you to watch live or pre-recorded tv, does the Ceton do the same?
Sorry if this has all been talked about or If I am asking a question from years ago, but like I said I am a newbie and need some insight.
Thanks

[foxwood]

The HD Home Run Prime plugs into your ethernet network, so it can be located at a location that's convenient to a cable hookup - you don't need to have cable access near the PC that you will be using.

The Ceton InfiniTV is available as an internal card, or as a USB connected device - that means that you need to have cable access near the PC.

As far as Windows Media Center is concerned, there is very little difference - both the HDHRP and the Ceton devices present to WMC as networked TV tuners (the Ceton creates a "virtual network" on your PC). Sharing the available tuners with more than one PC is a little bit more straightforward with the HDHRP, but that's not a major use-case for most people.

Are they both easily expandable?

Not sure what you have in mind - you don't expand your tuners. Once it's installed, there isn't anything to add on.

Do they both communicate easily with extenders?

Tuners don't communicate with Extenders. Extenders only talk to Windows Media Center, and Windows Media Center will provide the Extender with access to whatever resources are available to Windows Media Center. If you're watching Live TV on an Extender, the signal goes from your Tuner to WMC, and then from WMC to the Extender - it doesn't go from the Tuner to the Extender.

[newfiend]

Both are good tuners, I prefer the internal Ceton as it is less of a mess around my entertainment center with yet another External Box, Cables and Power Brick. Plus you get an added tuner.. If you are going to use extenders you will find that you may end up needing more than 4 tuners depending on how many recordings you have going as well as extenders running at that same time.. I had 1 Ceton PCIe and ended up adding another after adding extenders.. all of a sudden the kids wanted to record stuff and watch TV while I was recording 4 shows at one time (monday nights at my house give my Ceton's a workout) Lots of shows record that night and I typically have 4 shows recording at the same time that night.. without the added Ceton tuner I would have been out of tuners for the extenders and the kids would have complained they couldn't watch TV. Do some planning on how many Extenders you plan on using. I have 3 in use at home along with the HTPC and I have 8 tuners. Never thought I would ever need that many, boy was I wrong..
newfiend~

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[red518irish]

Thanks you for the information. Very helpful.

What I meant by expand was is it easy to run more than one of the boxes.

[foxwood]

Thanks you for the information. Very helpful.

What I meant by expand was is it easy to run more than one of the boxes.

Natively, Media Center only supports 4 of any given type of tuner. The InfiniTV drivers lift that restriction, and there are tools that will lift the restriction for the HDHRP too.

[choliscott]

Another program to look at is called "Tuner Salad", which sets MC to allow for 12 tuners. While I have 2 Infinitv4 cards, most of the time it will only allow for me to set up 4 tuners, so I just run Tuner salad, while setting up MC

Thanks you for the information. Very helpful.

What I meant by expand was is it easy to run more than one of the boxes.

[red518irish]

Thank you for the responses. I am leaning towards the HDHRP. It is cheaper and for now that is helpful with my budget. If I end up needing more tuners I will add another HDHRP later.

Thanks again.

[barnabas1969]

I had a Ceton InfiniTV and I sold it. I now have two HDHRP's. I love, love, love them.

[red518irish]

I had a Ceton InfiniTV and I sold it. I now have two HDHRP's. I love, love, love them.

May I ask what made you make the swith? And what you like better about the HDHRP

[barnabas1969]

I was having the infamous "macroblocking" problem with the InfiniTV, so I bought an HDHRP to test. It turns out that the macroblocking problem was caused by my video card, so it wasn't the InfiniTV's fault. However, after I started using the HDHRP, I found several things that I really, really liked about it.

1) The HDHRP tunes channels MUCH FASTER.

2) The HDHRP does not cause a delay at startup. The InfiniTV caused about a 1 minute delay after booting the PC. Media Center would just sit there with a spinning circle in the middle of the screen. Ceton blamed Microsoft for the delay. With the HDHRP, I no longer see the spinning circle.

3) The HDHRP can run for months on end without a single hiccup. Some might say that it's a good thing that Ceton provides software/driver/firmware updates very frequently. But, they are updating them because they are fixing bugs. The latest software/drivers/firmware for the HDHRP is from April 2012. It just works. No need for an update.

4) My cable provider uses Switched Digital Video (SDV). This requires the use of a Tuning Adapter (TA). The TA's are about the size of a cable set-top box. With the Ceton, the TA must be plugged into your PC. With the HDHRP, the TA is plugged into the HDHRP. This means that the HDHRP and the TA can both be hidden in a closet somewhere... as long as there is an Ethernet cable in the closet. I have my router, switch, HDHRP's, and TA's all in one closet. Out of sight, out of mind. This makes for a much cleaner setup in the living room. I have a TV, a PC, and an AVR in the living room. No other boxes in sight.

[red518irish]

I will be using Verizon Fios so I don't think I will need the tuning adapter. I am going to order an HDHRP today or tomorrow I think.
Thanks for the input.