How is the live/recorded TV video quality?

[mlevy]

I'm considering re-purposing my rig and making it a DVR/HTPC. Yes, it's a little overpowered but I'm getting disenchanted with gaming and figured I'd get better use of it this way.

I plan on getting the Ceton InfiniTV4 for my tuner and keeping the GTX470 for the output card. As the subject says, I'm concerned about the quality of the TV picture, is it just like watching a signal coming directly to the TV, or through my cable company's DVR? Also, how is the channel changing, is it quick?

I plan on using WMC for my interface, unless there's something glaringly better.

Thanks.

 

[crash2009]

Ceton Infini4 pciE

I think the picture quality is better on the computer. I suppose that depends on your monitor or tv screen. I have had the Ceton Infini4 pciE for about 7 months now. It works great and the support at Ceton is fantastic. Speed of channel changing depends alot upon how well your hardware is running.

 

[mlevy]

Thanks. I actually placed the order earlier, anxious to get it rolling. If it works out, I may pick up the Ceton Clone and dump my tuner for my second TV. Phase 1 is getting the tuner card and IR receiver and testing it. If everything works out I'll pick up an actual HTPC style case so it fits in with the home theater concept.

I'll be using an actual TV as my output, a 37" LG that's about 5 years old.

I see you have the Phenom II x4 965, I have the next CPU down, the 955. If yours runs well, I expect mine will also.

 

[crash2009]

Extenders

Like you said the Phenom II x4 is overkill for an HTPC. I plan to run 3 extenders in the future, and one core for each is required.

If you don't all ready have one, consider a SSD for the O/S and record to the spinner.

 

[mlevy]

Have a 120 GB OCZ Vertex 3 already, the OS is already installed on it. If it all works out, I MAY re-install Windows before making it dedicated to the DVR, right now it's a gaming machine. That decision won't come until after I test though.

 

[crash2009]

That's the same drive I have

You are going to love the Ceton. The only real problem I had with it was cable signal related. I put in a bi-directional amp and that straightened out those issues.

 

[crash2009]

pcie X1

I was just looking at your specs. Sabertooth, nice! You weren't kidding when you said slightly overpowered. I blew up my first Ceton trying to jam it into a 16X pciE in an old board. Ceton graciously RMA'd it.

You are fortunate to have a pcie X1 slot. Hopefully, not being used.

 

[mlevy]

The PCIE X1 slot IS open.

Yeah, it's a gaming rig. I'm getting more and more frustrated with the COD series (there is ZERO work being done to ban hackers), there's not much else that's interesting me so I figured I'd save myself some cash in the long run and convert it to DVR duties. If all works out, my next goal is to find a suitable case, looking at the Lian Li PC-60 or the Silverstone GD01mx. Might lean toward the Silverstone if my video card will fit, though I like the HDD layout of the Lian Li case better the VFD on the Silverstone may earn it my money.

I'v already worked out my other issue, my printer is in a different room than where this will be. I'd rather have the machine plugged in to the router and there's no way to run a cable neatly. Set up an old router with DD-WRT and bridged it, wired-only network printer is now on my wireless network.

 

[crash2009]

Case's and temps

I've heard good things about Lian Li cases. I like the looks of the Silverstone also. Looks are important up there with the TV. Cetons get a little flakey when they get hot, so cooling is something to consider with a new case. I just have mine setup in a gaming tower right now. Ceton temps hover around 45-50.

Moneual and Thermaltake (touch screen) are on my wish list. Kinda pricy though. Deprecated Browser Error Worth a look.

 

[mlevy]

I looked again, the x1 slot is blocked by the video card. Will it really damage the card to use it in a x16 slot? I guess I need to try using the video card in one of the 3 other x16 slots to see if it will work but I'm not confident it will. I may need to find a single-slot card.

Install guide on the Ceton site says this

Install the Ceton InfiniTV 4 in any open PCIe slot. It can be PCIe x1, x4, x8 or x16

http://www.cetoncorp.com/documents/InfiniTV_4_Detailed_Installation_Procedure_v1_4.pdf

I stopped by my local office for the cable company, despite being told on a chat last night that I can just pop in to the local office and pick up the CableCard and tuning adapter the local offices do NOT carry those items, but he was able to order them for shipment (he wanted to force a home visit but I expressed my knowledge of my right to self-install). However, he DID give me a couple splitters and RG6 cables so I could hook up my modem, the PC and my DVR on one outlet.

 

[crash2009]

1X, 16X, Type M

Yea, I read that part of the manual too. I'm not saying it won't work in a 16X. Just saying that in my mb/case setup the card was sloppy in the 16, and was easily bumped out of place. (no tail hook, like agp) In my setup, it fit better, and seems more secure in the 1X. You might not experience this problem in your setup. But if you do.......

I read about a lot of CableCard nightmares and decided to save myself the headache. I paid them the 20 bucks to install the CableCard. Make sure you get the "Type M (Multistream) card" and not the Type S (Singlestream).

 

[mlevy]

I just chatted with a rep at TWC, they couldn't tell me if it's a multi or single. Guess I'll find out when it arrives, but the FCC mandate says this:

(4) Effective August 1, 2011, provide, through the use of a commonly used interface and published specifications for communications, firmware-upgradable navigation devices with the ability to tune simultaneously as many switched-digital channels as the greatest number of streams supported by any set-top box provided by the cable operator, or four simultaneous channels, whichever is greater.

That tells me they HAVE to provide a multi-stream card.

 

[crash2009]

Wonder

how many times they broke that rule since August 2011.

 

[mlevy]

FINALLY got all the parts and hooked it up today. PQ seems indistinguishable from the provider-supplied DVR. Now to decide how to tame the spaghetti of coax cables behind my TV stand. I have a feeling I'll be sticking with this setup, just need to find an appropriate case, hopefully with a front-panel display (for the time), and get my HarmonyONE set up for WMC. I'll give it a week before making my final decision, need to see how it handles recording first.

I'm also disappointed that it overscans on my TV when using applications other than WMC, though that can be rectified by just using VNC from my Mac to perform those tasks.

 

[thebudman]

For digital cable it should be just as good as on the tv, I guess no encoding has to be done if it is already digital i have a dual tuner myself evermedia duet but i use it for over the air antenna has in built splitter it just saves the stream that way no encode needed, If it is analog i could see a reduction as you have to encode it to a digital format that the computer can play.

 

[100thIdiot]

If you don't all ready have one, consider a SSD for the O/S and record to the spinner.

As it happens I just bought a cheap Crucial 30GB SSD to replace the very old and very slow 20GB disk in my media PC. The rest of the machine is decently spec'd - quad cord Intel Q6600, 8GB RAM, 1GB Powercolor 5850 GPU... Not sure how I managed to install Windows on such a crappy drive, so thought I'd better replace it.

Can I expect a bit of a performance boost from the SSD while in Media Centre? I really only expected it to speed up boot times for the odd occasion I have to do that. And to ensure the whole thing doesn't break suddenly!

 

[crash2009]

Yes

Everything gets better with an SSD, not only the boot. Check your existing hard drive using Windows Experience Index, then check same after your new drive. Mine went from low 5's to high 7's when I installed mine.

Here are some tips and tricks if you have time to do a bit of reading. View topic - How do you choose a SSD?

http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/index.php

 

[100thIdiot]

Thanks Crash, I'll have a read.

I was planning on cloning the existing drive to the SSD, but on second thoughts I'd rather do a fresh install to finally resolve a problem I've been battling for months with HomeGroup (it'll join but flat out refuses to share its folders). Since my recorded shows are on another drive, do you know if I can just point the fresh install of Media Center at them to regain my catalogue? Or will I loose everything?

 

[crash2009]

probably not

Or will I loose everything?

Not sure about the UK. Over here, we have this DRM crap. When we go fresh we lose the rights to play our "DRM protected" content. I thought I read somewhere that you guys don't have DRM, but I don't know for sure. Ask StumpyBloke or Holidayboy over at the green button.

My thought is go fresh and don't erase/format the original drive in case you want or need to go back.

 

[100thIdiot]

My thought is go fresh and don't erase/format the original drive in case you want or need to go back.

That sounds sensible, I'll do that, and if it looks like I've locked myself out of anything, I'll clone the old drive over the top. Cheers!