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Looking To Replace All Cable Boxes With Ceton

H

hennessy1

Golden Member
http://cetoncorp.com/products/ceton_q/

I saw this product at CES this year and is suppose to be released this year as well. I currently have comcast with 2 HD dvr boxes and 2 standard cable boxes. I was looking to replace all of those with this particular item. Is there anything I should need to implement this or do I just plug it into one location then use this product

http://cetoncorp.com/products/echo/

at the locations where the other cable boxes were? I would also need one cable card from comcast correct they had this one line that I wanted to know if it was applicable to me or if I could find out if it was
"A Tuning Adapter from your cable operator might be required if your cable TV provider uses Switched Digital Video technology."

I appreciate any direction and suggestions thank you.
 
hennessy1 said:
http://cetoncorp.com/products/ceton_q/

I saw this product at CES this year and is suppose to be released this year as well. I currently have comcast with 2 HD dvr boxes and 2 standard cable boxes. I was looking to replace all of those with this particular item. Is there anything I should need to implement this or do I just plug it into one location then use this product

http://cetoncorp.com/products/echo/

at the locations where the other cable boxes were? I would also need one cable card from comcast correct they had this one line that I wanted to know if it was applicable to me or if I could find out if it was
"A Tuning Adapter from your cable operator might be required if your cable TV provider uses Switched Digital Video technology."

I appreciate any direction and suggestions thank you.
Click to expand...

The Q acts like the cablecard distribution center. The Echo units DO NOT need a card individually. They use the tuners that the Q box has (up to six tuners i think) that are shared through the network. The Echo boxes are essentially just extenders (like the xbox 360). All of these are built on Windows Media Center that has been developed by Ceton.

The Q has a 2TB HD and can store recordings that can be streamed to the echos to create a single source of content. The echos don't have actual storage because they are just a front end to the Q. Does that make sense? They could also be used as front ends to your media servers or file servers that store local media. I'm going to assume the Q can also be setup to pull media from a home server and everything streamed through the Echo boxes.

EDIT: The Q would need 2 cablecards because each cablecard can only support 4 streams at a time. So you'd need two cards for the entire setup if you wanted 6 tuners.

I personally have the Ceton InfiniTV 4 for the past year and half. I have it setup in a server with 12TB of space that supplies 1 tuner to my living room TV, 1 to the bedroom TV and 1 to my office. It's been great and stable after I got around the original cablecard install problems with freaking comcast...but that's another story and nothing to do with Ceton 🙂
 
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Yes that makes sense. Thank you. So I assume the Q has a network connection available correct? I can't really see any detailed pics on their site. Ok even 2 cablecards would be cheaper then 4 boxes with 2 hd dvr ones. esp since they only have 120 or 160GB available. So in theory this should work to replace all those boxes right?
 
hennessy1 said:
Yes that makes sense. Thank you. So I assume the Q has a network connection available correct? I can't really see any detailed pics on their site. Ok even 2 cablecards would be cheaper then 4 boxes with 2 hd dvr ones. esp since they only have 120 or 160GB available. So in theory this should work to replace all those boxes right?
Click to expand...

Correct, It uses your home network to send the TV signal to each Echo box. One tuner = one stream. You will need TWO tuners for each TV where you want to "watch and record" at the same time. Everywhere there is a TV, you will need a network connection.

I may be wrong about something. Their page now says "6 digital cable TV tuners (require one CableCARD". So apparently you CAN get 6 streams from one cable card; not two as I original stated.

1 or even 2 cablecards would certainly be cheaper over the long run vs. renting 4 boxes. I got my single cable card for free from Comcast, so I just pay for a digital starter package.

Keep in mind the cost of purchasing the Q and how many ever Echo boxes. They haven't announced pricing as far as I know, but it could be expensive buying all of the equipment. The reason why it makes sense for me is because I have a media server and can stream blu-rays, DVD, music, home movies and cableTV all from one unit. So the upfront cost was worth it to me. I simply built small HTPC for each TV and I run WMC and XBMC as my front end.
 
It would probably be a bigger initial investment but I would take that over waiting for comcast to update their boxes. I also have a server that streams pretty much everything for us here so that is why I'd rather do it this way it removes the crappy boxes is the biggest seller for me.

I also see that there is USB3 and Esata expansion possible as well looks like this will be a worthwhile project.
 
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Yes, Q will only require a single cablecard as an M-card can support up to 6 streams. This has been verified by Eric, the Ceton rep that posts regularly over at AVS Forum.

As far as requiring 2 tuners to watch and record for each TV, that is only true assuming that every TV would be in constant use. Since the Echos function as extenders no dedicated tuners are required. Individual tuners are assigned to each Echo as required, all recording is handled by the Q and any recording can be accessed by all of the Echos. With the Q and 4 Echos you could have 4 TV viewing live TV and still be recording another 2 shows, all at the same time.

The only downside is that with Comcast you will need to use a tuning adapter with the Q. Hopefully with the Q, Ceton will address some of the issues that are common between tuning adapters and the InfiniTV4.
 
TastesLikeChicken said:
Yes, Q will only require a single cablecard as an M-card can support up to 6 streams. This has been verified by Eric, the Ceton rep that posts regularly over at AVS Forum.

As far as requiring 2 tuners to watch and record for each TV, that is only true assuming that every TV would be in constant use. Since the Echos function as extenders no dedicated tuners are required. Individual tuners are assigned to each Echo as required, all recording is handled by the Q and any recording can be accessed by all of the Echos. With the Q and 4 Echos you could have 4 TV viewing live TV and still be recording another 2 shows, all at the same time.

The only downside is that with Comcast you will need to use a tuning adapter with the Q. Hopefully with the Q, Ceton will address some of the issues that are common between tuning adapters and the InfiniTV4.
Click to expand...

My comcast M card does not use a tuning adapter?

Sorry, I did not realize that the Q will be able to assign the tuners based upon need. Their other products require you to assign a dedicated tuner and it cannot be used by another box unless you change the assignment. I really wish they would pass that down to the infiniTV products. It appears the Q has to dedicate tuners to PCs, but not to Echo. I guess that's the difference between the two is because it's an extender. Interesting.
 
hennessy1 said:
It seems like a very interesting product and with the cable card price as getting one free that is even better.
Click to expand...

It does indeed. It seems like Ceton as a whole is a good company and cares about what the customers want. I got a bad card the first time and they were super easy to work with, even to the point they called comcast with me to get to the bottom of it. So I think it's pretty cool what they are doing.

The downside to all of this is WMC. I like WMC, don't get me wrong, but It's such a shame that it's the only software out there that can utilize the cablecard. I know it's because of the DRM license cost and all that is involved in that, but I really wish XBMC or someone else could come up with a complete solution that looks/functions better than WMC. I only use WMC for DVR/LiveTV and XBMC for everything else, but it would be so nice to have all of that functionality built into one app. I was hoping the whole Google/SageTV would turn into something, but that hasn't been the case. Oh well.
 
Maybe with cetons mods it would be slightly better then the stock wmc because I know I read somewhere that they are not using a stock wmc software but more of they own design of it.
 
hennessy1 said:
Maybe with cetons mods it would be slightly better then the stock wmc because I know I read somewhere that they are not using a stock wmc software but more of they own design of it.
Click to expand...

It's certainly a developed version that Ceton has, but my biggest concern is how it handles movie flows, backgrounds, covers, info and various things. Im also interested in what codecs it supports. WMC out of the box is limited and i want to see what Ceton is doing to fix that. I have faith in them, but I still want to see what they do.
 
It looks to be an interesting set-up. I've been using a Ceton Infinitv for 6 months and love it. Yes, the upfront costs can be steep but when your saving $40+/month it recoups fast. Not to mention a better/faster interface.(at least compared to TW but I imagine Comcast isn't great.) As mentioned M cards can now support 6 streams, but I'm not sure the TA's can. Mine will only support 4, but that's all the tuners I have so it works out. I am really looking forward to the Echo so I can replace the noisy 360 as an extender. If I was starting out I would wait for the Q though. Ceton is a very CS centered company, they are very very good about taking care of problem.
 
LikeLinus said:
My comcast M card does not use a tuning adapter?

Sorry, I did not realize that the Q will be able to assign the tuners based upon need. Their other products require you to assign a dedicated tuner and it cannot be used by another box unless you change the assignment. I really wish they would pass that down to the infiniTV products. It appears the Q has to dedicate tuners to PCs, but not to Echo. I guess that's the difference between the two is because it's an extender. Interesting.
Click to expand...

I missed this one. That's just plain wrong. The Infinitv cards are not assigned to any device unless you do it yourself. They are given out when needed by an extender. I believe SD products work the other way where they are assigned to a device. The only time a tuner is assigned to something is if you use it with a second PC, then it is assigned a tuner as it's not part of the same "family" as it's not considered an extender and can't play recordings. It will take up that tuner whether being actively used or not.
 
The only thing you may miss is "On Demand", hopefully a plugin for "streampix" is released so you would basically have it through that.

Comcast gives you 1 box(free) no matter what per digital subscription, and the $8 HD fee covers the whole account. So, you could have 1 HD box and you will be paying the same, but have access to OnDemand on that box.

So, only $8 for HD and $1.50 for the extra cable card. As far as equipment/upgrade fees go.
 
LikeLinus said:
My comcast M card does not use a tuning adapter?

Sorry, I did not realize that the Q will be able to assign the tuners based upon need. Their other products require you to assign a dedicated tuner and it cannot be used by another box unless you change the assignment. I really wish they would pass that down to the infiniTV products. It appears the Q has to dedicate tuners to PCs, but not to Echo. I guess that's the difference between the two is because it's an extender. Interesting.
Click to expand...
Whether or not a TA is required with Comcast appears to be location specific and whether or not your area has been updated to SDV. If it hasn't, count your blessings for now, but eventually your area will be updated.

The Q doesn't actually assign tuners. Tuners are dynamically allocated in the same way they are now between 7MC and Media Center extenders. The only time dedicated tuners are required is when a 7MC system is used with another 7MC system. It's ridiculous that MS doesn't allow a 7MC system to function just like an extender does. It would resolve a lot of problems.
 
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All these great devices to cut the cable bill.. gotta love it. I'm getting the Roku XDS.. cant wait for this to come out.
 
Comcast has 550 plants, in this area they went all digital about a year ago because they had to.

I'm in a 860 area and we are cutting off analog totally this year. We certified DOCSIS 3.0 this year, although were bonded about a year ago, just starting to bond upstream now.
 
TastesLikeChicken said:
Whether or not a TA is required with Comcast appears to be location specific and whether or not your area has been updated to SDV. If it hasn't, count your blessings for now, but eventually your area will be updated.

The Q doesn't actually assign tuners. Tuners are dynamically allocated in the same way they are now between 7MC and Media Center extenders. The only time dedicated tuners are required is when a 7MC system is used with another 7MC system. It's ridiculous that MS doesn't allow a 7MC system to function just like an extender does. It would resolve a lot of problems.
Click to expand...

Remote Potato gets you most of the way there (it lets you schedule recordings and stream stuff from other PCs), but I don't think it works with LiveTV yet, unfortunately.
 
A5 said:
Remote Potato gets you most of the way there (it lets you schedule recordings and stream stuff from other PCs), but I don't think it works with LiveTV yet, unfortunately.
Click to expand...

It works with a delay, just tell it to record a show and within 3 minutes it shows up in your recordings. You can then play in a few minutes behind.
 
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