The Ceton InfiniTV4

Getting Up and Running

So the Comcast truck-roll was scheduled for last Thursday, but as expected, that did not end with success. The Comcast tech verified that the card was authenticated, but while the Media Center was scanning for channels, he left. After the scan was complete, I noticed that I did not have any HD cable channels- only SD cable channels and HD local channels. I called comcast twice and tried to have them send the signal to allow my CableCARD to permission more channels. Still no luck. So I opened up a ticket with Ceton thinking maybe there was something wrong, but more likely that they might be able to interface between Comcast and myself to suggest something that might prove successful. After I opened the ticket online at about 11:43pm CST, I received a response from Ceton 19 minutes later! In fact, during the troubleshooting part, all the responses I received from Ceton came within 25 minutes. I am very impressed by the customer service I received from Ceton, even though they were not able to directly resolve my issue (as the issue was with Comcast).

My new truck-roll from Comcast was scheduled for Tuesday, and on Monday, they called me to confirm my appointment. While on the phone, the tech asked me if I could go in front of my Media Center and see if we could get it done over the phone. He asked if I could check to see if it was working, and it still wasn’t. Then after 15 seconds or so, he asked if I could check again, and…huzzah! Success! Amazing how much of a difference it makes when you are able to talk to a competent Comcast tech!

Putting It Through Its Paces

So over the course of the last few days, I have been putting the InfiniTV4 through it’s paces and am thankful to say so far, so good. Not just taking my word for it, you probably want numbers and proof, so here we go:

All tests were done on my custom-built PC

• Case: LIAN LI PC-V1200B plus II
• Processor: Intel Core i7-920 (not overclocked)
• RAM: 12GB (6 x 2GB) OCZ DDR3 1600 (not overclocked)
• Motherboard: ASUS P6T Deluxe V2
• Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 5750 1GB
• Operating System Hard Drive: WD VelociRaptor 150GB 10k RPM
• Recording Hard Drives: 4x WD RE3 1TB (RAID 0+1, 2TB Total storage)
• Power Supply: OCZ ModXStream Pro 700W
• Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
• MOCUR Tuners: Ceton InfiniTV4
• ATSC/Clear QAM Tuners: 2x Hauppauge HVR-2250 (4 tuners)

Here is a video showing how snappy the channel changing is, with most coming in the 2-3 second range. Some changes go in between the Hauppauge cards and the InfiniTV4, and you can see which is which by the name listed in the top left corner.

The InfiniTV4 does a good job of offloading most of the processing of the cable streams, and thus doesn’t  cause CPU usage to increase dramatically. In the following scenario, all shows recorded were HD streams, the first four being done on the InfiniTV4, and the second four being done on the Hauppauge tuners. CPU usage did initially spike higher (no higher than 20%) but the samples were taken from a 30-second sample after the usage stabilized.

• Recording 0 shows: .206% CPU Usage
• Recording 1 show: .797% CPU Usage
• Recording 2 shows: 1.651% CPU Usage
• Recording 3 shows: 1.965% CPU Usage
• Recording 4 shows: 2.489% CPU Usage
• Recording 8 shows: 3.920% CPU Usage

Even more impressive is the fact that the stock speed on the i7-920 is 2.6GHz but the whole time shows were recording, the CPU was stepped down to 1.6GHz. Memory usage did not appreciably rise or drop while recording.

For those who will be using their Media Center with Media Center Extenders, the following numbers may be of use. All extenders used were Xbox360s with the first four connected watching HD shows from the InfiniTV4, and the last watching an HD show from a Hauppague tuner.

• 0 extenders connected: .303% CPU Usage
• 1 extender connected: 5.729% CPU Usage
• 2 extenders connected: 7.818% CPU Usage
• 3 extenders connected: 11.502% CPU Usage
• 4 extenders connected: 5.989% CPU Usage
• 5 extenders connected: 9.740% CPU Usage

As you can see, the numbers fluctuated a little bit, with some additional processing possibly being done in the background at the time. The bottom line is that you don’t need a beefy CPU to run as a Media Center feeding extenders. Even with five Media Center Extenders connected while recording eight shows concurrently, the CPU initially spiked to 50%, then settled back down to average 11.125% CPU usage (at 1.6GHz). It may be wise to have a healthy amount of RAM to avoid a lot of page file usage, however. With five extenders connected, memory usage jumped from 2.65GB to 5.36GB- a jump of 2.71GB or about 542MB for each extender.

While recording eight HD shows simultaneously, disk writes were around 15.5MB/s.  While recording four HD shows from the InfiniTV4, the tuners kept their cool, with temps at 43.3C, 45.5C, 49.4C, and 51.4C respectively. Ceton claims that we shouldn’t worry until the temps start approaching 80C.

Other Impressions

Image quality is solid, definitely comparable, if not better than the old Motorola DVRs I previously used. Channel changing speed is slightly slower than the ATSC/ClearQAM tuners, but still acceptable, even on the extenders. As long as you are not an avid channel-flipper, you will probably find the delay acceptable also.

Conclusions

At $399, the Ceton InfiniTV4 isn’t exactly cheap, but when broken down to $100/tuner, it doesn’t seem so bad. Also, when you take into consideration the additional flexibility Windows Media Center gives, and fact that you can ditch your current DVR (Comcast’s DVR is currently at $15.95 each), in some circumstances, you might be able to save money in the long run. The wait for this device seemingly took forever, but boy was it worth it.