InfiniTV 6 PCIE success story with WMC 8.1

[Falaris]

I have conducted a lot of research on this site while setting up my new InfiniTV6 card and wanted to thank everyone here for the help they provide. Without this community I would not have been successful in what I was trying to do. I also want to give a synopsis of what I accomplished in hopes to help others that might be looking for a similar setup.

A brief background: I got a new Xbox One for myself over the holidays and passed my Xbox 360 on to my nephews. I fed the cable company DVR through the Xbox and thought everything was fine. My wife on the other hand was annoyed with something else to have to control and with the fact that the Xbox would recognize her and say hello when she walked into the room. So I told her I would take care of it and move the whole thing down into the basement. I failed to mention that to do so I would be purchasing a projector and screen to setup my computer and Xbox One on. This is something I had planned for a while but not found the good reason to do so. Now I had my reason, unfortunately my reasoning held little influence with my wife and once this small oversight was revealed, she informed me of my new sleeping arrangements on the couch. In the end I do think it was worth it though!

So the next logical step was how to extend the TV to the projector setup. Superbowl is coming soon after all, so I HAD to do it. I did some research and found the Ceton InfiniTV 6 PCIE card would be a nice addition to my computer and ordered one from Amazon when I caught it at $250. Now on to the experience, what Issues I ran into, and how I solved them.

I had windows 8.1 running on my main PC in the basement and on another PC in the living room with PLEX Media Server displaying on the main TV. I added the Media Center Addon to both computers without issue. I installed the current Windows 8 ver. 13.06.03.1088 drivers for the Ceton card on both computers. I guess they are Beta but they are the only version available. So far so good...

I did have an issue with the InfiniTV card not picking up all the channels initially. After repeated activations from my cable company I decided to try a signal amplifier from Radio Shack and everything works very well now. The signal showed quite low in Ceton diagnostics but of course showed fine for the cable company when they came out to test. No matter, a 30 dollar inline amp was well worth the cost to make it all work.

Now I had to figure out how to get the Ceton Tuners to work on the TV in the living room so I can get rid of the DVR. The simple way would be to use the Xbox 360 as an extender. Of course I just gave that to the nephews as a present and to buy another one right now might be the last straw, moving me from the couch, completely into the dog house! So I did some digging here and found where the Network Bridging is not supported by Ceton in Windows 8 but it still might work if manually configured. So I tried that and setup the network settings on the Ceton card to match my network settings and bridged the connections all while crossing my fingers. I selected a couple of tuners for my main box and left 4 free for my wife to record with on the WMC in the living room.

Now it all works without an issue and I have this site to thank for helping me figure it out! I now can return the DVR box to the cable company and save $200 a year on that alone. Maybe by then I can move back to the bedroom from the couch.

Thanks for hosting an informative and helpful community!

-Fal

TL;DR
Ceton InfiniTV 6 PCIE works with WMC 8.1, all 6 tuners with current drivers. Strong cable signal is needed for the card to receive all channels. Manual configuration of the Network Bridge is needed to allow Network tuners for remote WMC installations. Though not supported by Ceton on Win 8 the Network tuner feature works as expected.

[Ixax]

Congrats!

I'm just starting to set things up and I think I may need to boost the signal. A couple of questions that would be helpful for those of us following along behind you...

Do you recall what "low" was before you installed the amp?
What does the signal read with the amp?
Which amp did you use?
How far "upstream" did you install it?

Thanks for your post and for any answers to the questions you can provide.

I'm hoping you get back in your wife's good graces soon.

[Falaris]

Do you recall what "low" was before you installed the amp?

I had a -29 dBmV signal strength and around a 22 Db snr on most channels.

What does the signal read with the amp?

Now with amp I am at -11.3 dBmV and 34.6 dB. Sweet spot is +15 to -15 for signal and 32+ for SNR.

Which amp did you use?

This is the amp I purchased: http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... d=28451546 It has a variable gain adjustment that I left turned all the way up.

How far "upstream" did you install it?

The cable comes into the house and into a 6 way splitter. The splitter checked out fine so I put it right after it entered the house and before the splitter. My internet speeds remained the same at 50 down and 5 up. If anything the internet seems more stable at speedtest.net then it did before the amp went in.

Good luck with your troubleshooting and let me know if there are any other questions I can help with.

-Fal

[Ixax]

Thanks.

The numbers are interesting. I have low signal strength with high signal to noise ratio. From memory it is something like -7 and 36. (It is definitely within the example in the Ceton knowledgebase as test results that should work. I understand that those are just guidelines, but I like to fall in the guidelines. )

http://www.cetoncorp.com/support/index. ... -explained

Despite that it seems like I get the pixelating or macro blocking on certain channels. And it doesn't seem like the same channel over a period of time. At first I thought it was due to simultaneous recording (because I would get pixelating while testing the simultaneous recording), but while checking the latest 6 simultaneous recordings last night the live channel started pixelating. (The six recordings came out fine.) The live TV channel I was on was the only channel (live or recorded).

To do the testing I have put in a splitter right before the Ceton Infinitv 6 Eth. (This lets me test the Eth while still having my set top box working. Which was a great idea given that the Eth didn't simply work out of the box.) I wonder whether that one splitter might make a big enough difference to eliminate the problem when that splitter is removed? (Once the Eth is working as expected the set top box gets disconnected and the splitter will be removed.)

[Falaris]

Your numbers do sound well within the guidelines and even better than my amped ones. Before the amp was in place my cable company DVR would occasionally pixelate and sometimes fail to record on the HD channels all together. The problem would be on various channels and seemed to follow no regularity. The cable boxes are much more sensitive it seems than the Ceton card since the channels on the box would come in fine most of the time but would not register on the card at all.

It does seem if you tried an amp inline it would not make anything worse that is for sure. Since installing it I have not had one issue with either the Ceton or the other tv that still has a cable digital tuner box. I do not know the differences between the card and ETH version sensitivity to signal but hopefully you could clear up your occasional issues with a bit more signal strength.

If you can access the Ceton webpage while the pixelation is happening you can check your signal numbers dynamically to see what the levels are during the problem. I saw that the levels varied greatly channel to channel with the numbers often bouncing all over the place with nothing changing on my side at all. With amp in place the variance does not seem to matter at all.

You could always pick up an amp and return it if it does not resolve your problem!

-Fal

[Ixax]

I'll be working on the setup this weekend. (Not too much tonight though...going to a local hockey game (not NHL).) if anyone else has thoughts, please chime in.

Just to flesh out my background... the provider's set top box (DVR) had no problems with signal strength at any time prior. It performed admirably prior to the Eth's arrival. (Which means before that splitter was introduced.) It continues to perform admirably from behind the newly installed splitter. (Otherwise, I would probably be on the couch too! lol) So the set top box works fine from line 1 out of the splitter, but the Eth is struggling from line 2 from the splitter.

I am going to:
1. Find a time to test things out with the Eth minus the splitter.
2. Pick up an amp and see if that helps. (I'll probably get the one like Fal linked to except with the four way splitter so I can just replace a splitter somewhere upstream. There seems to be one available at a Radioshack not to far away and the price difference seems insignificant.)
3. Assuming I can find a pixelating channel, I'll check the Ceton's web page during pixelation as Fal suggests. (Great suggestion, I didn't think of it last night while I was watching the problem.)

This kind of testing makes me antsy though... It requires me to have X patience in order to find the channel(s) that is pixelating. (Where X is the amount of patience it is going to take to actually find the channel.) If it was always the same channel I would feel more comfortable about it. I worry about thinking I've solved the problem only to find out the day after the return policy expires that the problem remains. It would be even better if the Ceton Diagnostic application would scan the channels and notify of signal problems, but I assume that it must be very difficult to do or they would have done it already.

Thanks again Fal! I appreciate having a sounding board out there in the intertubes.

[Paw Paw]

I would suggest you get a copy of the AllCetonSignals app from here http://experts.windows.com/frms/windows ... spx#555788
It will give you a profile of the signal strength for every frequency used on your system. You can run it before adding the amp and then after to see the difference. I run this app once a month or so just to keep track of the Comcast signals and to try to catch and report any signal drop before it becomes a problem

[Falaris]

Great tip Paw Paw going to grab it now and check it out!

-Fal

[Ixax]

I am unable to get the AllCetonSignalsApp to work. I have successfully changed the file type and opened using Windows Internet Explorer. I did this both on the windows 7 computer running wmc for tuner and on windows 8 laptop on the network. Both give "Error has occurred with script on this page." Line 370. Char: 1. Error Object required. Code 0.

This morning I was getting ready to check things out as described above and first thing I did was check to see if I can find a pixelating channel. Well, no problem, the first channel I go to wont even display, I get the blue screen announcement about low signal strength. Click to three or so other channels and same message or even the No TV Signal announcement. I did this using the extender.

Now, I try to download the AllCetonSignalsApp mentioned above and have the problem I described above. So, now I go to the actual HTPC thinking maybe I have to run the AllCetonSignalsApp on windows 7 and see that windows media center is open with a popup that it has detected my tv tuner and asking if I want to run setup. Now I go to the Ceton Diagnostics app and check the channels I have seen the announcements and they are all horrible. -20 something and 20 something.

Set top box working as expected from other branch of the splitter.

I canceled out of setup (or said setup later) and restarted the htpc. Still no tv signal.

Not a happy camper this morning.

[Paw Paw]

Go back to the location were you downloaded the app and search for 370. You will find a post by WhatHappened that describes this error and how to correct it

[Ixax]

Thanks. Got it working by editing the url for the Ceton unit.

The portion of his post that was relevant to me was:

"Also, Your Ceton has to be at the default address: http://192.168.200.1 (If it is not, modify this line in the script: const BaseCetonUrl = "http://192.168.200.1")."

I found the line that begins const BaseCetonUrl and edited the url inside the quotation marks to match where my Ceton unit is.

I am seeing more problems so I am going to start a new thread to handle them. I just wanted to make sure you knew I was able to get this app working after you pointed me to that post.

Thanks.

[JohnJ9]

This post has started beckoning to me like the Siren song to Ulysses....

My HTPC (if it can really be called that) is sitting somewhat happily on Win8 Pro. It took some real fits and starts to get it to where it's pretty happy, but there are other little things that happen with Win8 that make me want to move the whole thing to 8.1. Every time I think about doing that, I think about the weeks of pain and debugging that I went through. I'm running a FW from Ceton that I don't know whether it has been released or not, and I don't know if I'm trading a cleaner Windows for a new set of Ceton headaches.I'd all but given up on the idea until this thread here reminds me that upgrade is out there, calling....

I'm not sure if I should have myself tied to the mast of the ship.

[Falaris]

I do not think a straight upgrade from 8 to 8.1 will bother your setup at all. If you are wiping and installing a clean 8.1 then you will certainly have to set things up all over again!

I do want to give a quick update though. Today my signal failed. I thought the amp must have died but it was working fine. What I figured out was that the whip Ceton has from the card to the cable is VERY sensitive to position. I did not have it bent to any extreme but when I moved it almost straight out from the card the signal went way up. I tested and as I moved the angle around just a little it changed the signal all over the place. That would explain why the cable company tests at the cable end showed sooo much higher than the Ceton diags did. I have been very careful since my unit arrived and am sure I have not damaged the connection at all. I wonder is they are just very sensitive and if this could be causing many issues out there.

Food for thought..

-Fal

[cghirardi]

Is it possible to show what specific posts were helpful in getting this setup or list some specific steps that may help someone trying to do this? Thanks!

[mdavej]

Is it possible to show what specific posts were helpful in getting this setup or list some specific steps that may help someone trying to do this? Thanks!

What are you trying to do exactly? There's nothing special about Ceton and Win 8.x. Works exactly the same as in Win 7. Load the drivers and plug in the card, then set up WMC. Nothing to it. I think the OP was just surprised it worked in 8.1 and wanted to post about it.

[cghirardi]

I have installed my InfiniTV 6 PCIe with the latest Windows 8 drivers, given it a static ip, bridged it, selected the tuners to use in WMC and I can't get it to work. I get error messages about being unable to get the PMT and the "diabling video" when trying to view live tv.

Following the steps below the only difference between what I did and this is the driver versions, but that may make the difference. I am trying it now.
http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/vie ... =68&t=3926

[cghirardi]

Disregard all my posts here, my issue was related to poor seating, a bad ethernet cable, or a bad dongle. Everything is in fact as simple as indicated to get the InfiniTV 4 or 6 PCIe working with networking bridging in Windows 8.1

[cghirardi]

I actually want to post what was happening to me as it was quite interesting once I realized what was going on. When I first got my InifiniTV 6 PCIe I installed it into Windows 8.1 and set it up as a regular non network tuner without bridging and everything worked fine. I was able to view Live TV in WMC no problem. I reset WMC and then went through the simple steps to bridge my card and setup the tuners in WMC and all looked well until I tried to view Live TV in which WMC gave me the generic signal warning and no PMT and PCRLock in the logs.

I restarted, tried various different things including resetting and re-bridging and changing out cables. What turned out to fix it was simply turning off my computer and unplugging it and then starting it back up. Once I did that the bridged tuners would play Live TV in WMC. Seemed like an odd issue to me, but I was able to replicate it several times. Thought it might be helpful to someone.

[Crash2009]

Cold boot strikes again! I love a story with a happy ending.