Cable Card TV Decision

[jimigibbs]

After doing some research..... I think I have narrowed it down to the Ceton InfiniTV4usb or the SiliconDust HDHomeRun Prime for my HTPC (listed below). I decided to go with an external unit to keep the heat down in the small box. I'm probably going to wait a little while until they both get the Windows 8 bugs worked out..... I'm currently leaning to the Cetron because of the Echo extender. I know this is very subjective but can some of you that use these give me some of the pros and cons?

Thermaltake Element Q Chasis
Zotac H67 WiFi (H67ITX-C-E)
Intel Core i5-2400 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz
Thermaltake Slim X3 Fan CLP0534
Windows 8 Pro 64-Bit OEM
Western Digital WD Green WD20EARX 2TB SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive
SanDisk® ReadyCache™ Solid State Drive - 120GB

Thanks,
Jimi Gibbs

 

[lsd]

AFAIK the echo won't work with W8, only the xbox will work as an extender.
I'm using the pcie ceton with W8 and the experience has been so-so. It's extremely finicky with the signal level, while my cable stb works fine with all channels the ceton will struggle to pick up a few. For instance If I select Travel channel, nothing will show up and after 10 seconds it will say "subscription required". Now If I then select a channel below and then again re-select travel channel it will show up.

The good is that I can have the TV on 24x7 and it will not lock up. It been reliable in that respect.

 

[Fallen Kell]

I have been debating this myself for about the last year or so since the Prime was released. I am leaning towards the Prime as it seems to be a little more flexible in terms of troubleshooting (i.e. I can simply reboot the Prime and not the entire HTPC if there is an issue).

I personally have a very hard time recommending Win8 for a HTPC.

 

[VolunteerFireF]

I've used both the homerun and the Ceton.

The extra tuner with the Ceton is a big advantage. If you watch TV a lot with other family members, you will get a lot of conflicts as you record 4 shows at once. It's amazing how often you will get conflicts. But, at the same time, it's not a huge deal. More of a slight annoyance.

But, Ceton was a HUGE headache for me. Wasted hours and hours. I have Fios and there was major compatibility issues. Ceton customer service was incompetent. Read the reviews on the web. There are TONS of people with problems. It's very likely you will also have problems. Homerun on the other hand has been issue free for me for the past year.

 

[Aikouka]

My issues with my InfiniTV 4 (PCI-e) were just related to an improper pairing done by Comcast. What made it even worse is that you have to pretty much play technician roulette until you get one that actually knows what they're doing. They always default to, "let's send a tech!" :|