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cltguy
join:2002-01-12
Pineville, NC

cltguy

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[TV] Cable card and TWC

I'm considering ditching my DVR and going to a cable card. I'm considering using the Ceton Windows media extender with 6 tuners, and adding an extender to the other tv's in the house ( 1 has cable, no box, other has no cable). Anyone have experience with this and can share?

Have 30/5 internet, asus rt AC66r router, sufficient network infrastructure

Suit Up
join:2003-07-21
Los Angeles, CA
Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X
TP-Link Archer C7

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I use WMC with a HDHomeRun, so not exactly the same, but I'd say go for it. If you have an Xbox 360 that can also act as an extender. I would recommend running ethernet to all the extenders if possible (it'll be more reliable and the interface will be more responsive).
jpatton1979
join:2011-08-10
Louisville, KY
Pace 5268AC
Ubiquiti Unifi Security Gateway Pro
Ubiquiti UniFi UAP-AC-PRO

jpatton1979 to cltguy

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to cltguy
I currently run a HTPC with a Ceton InfiniTV4 & WMC. I don't have any extenders and just run DTAs on the bedroom TVs.

Be aware that if you want to use the Ceton Echo as an extender your HTPC will have to be Windows 7. The only extenders that work with Windows 8/8.1 are the Xbox 360 and the Xbox One.
crooked
join:2000-07-29
Durham, NC

crooked to cltguy

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to cltguy
I use a cable card (and a tuning adapter) with my TiVo Roamio. Works quite well usually although sometimes I have trouble getting the English DD tracks on some of the HBO channels -- not sure if it's a TWC problem, a tuning adapter problem, a cable card problem, or a TiVo problem. I don't dare call to try and figure it out because if you mention the words "cable card" to most of the reps, they have a conniption.

MeInDallas
join:2001-08-17
Dallas, TX

MeInDallas to cltguy

Member

to cltguy
I have the Ceton InfiniTV6 PCIe card in WMC and it works so well. I dont have any extenders connected to mine, so I cant really help you on those. I had the 4 tuner and liked it so well that I upgraded to the 6 tuner when it was released. You might check out The Green Button website to see what others are using, and the issues they are having. Also I've never used the USB version of the Ceton, but from what I've read it seems the PCIe version works better than the USB version.
tourbound129
join:2014-06-03
USA

tourbound129 to jpatton1979

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to jpatton1979
said by jpatton1979:

The only extenders that work with Windows 8/8.1 are the Xbox 360 and the Xbox One.

I thought media extender functionality with the Xbox One was still a missing feature?

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join:2003-07-21
Los Angeles, CA
Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X
TP-Link Archer C7

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said by tourbound129:

I thought media extender functionality with the Xbox One was still a missing feature?

That's what I'd heard too.

Vertigo
@70.197.79.x

Vertigo

Anon

We have an HDHomeRun Prime with CableCard, and tuning adapter for SDV channels. The system works very well for the most part. The Windows Media Center guide is way more advanced than Time Warner's and even lets you customize channel numbers. That said, it took a lot of trial and error, research to get the system working smoothly. Some notes:

1. Using more than one media extender (such as an Xbox 360 or ceton echo) will tie up additional resources on the computer. For a 6 tuner box, you may need 6-8 GB of ram to smoothly use all of them at once. We run 4 GB of ram and when using all three tuners amongst 3 TV's, the computer would occasionally hit 100% CPU usage and lose tuners momentarily. Reducing usage to just the main computer and one Xbox 360 extender (2 TV's) has solved the issue.

2. If running new Ethernet cables to additional media extenders is not an option, look into MOCA adapters.

3. To minimize tuner conflicts, its best to set shows to start recording and end recording on time. If there is a show from 6-7:00 and one from 7-8:00, having a 3 minute padding by default will cause 2 tuners to be used from 6:57-7:03 and possibly reduce performance.

4. When using an extender, you must make sure the computer is set to prevent idling to sleep. Many sleep modes will make it extremely difficult for the extender to wake the computer back up.

5. The TV tuner should be connected to its own leg of the splitter. Tuning adapters provided by TWC will also require a separate leg of the splitter. The TV out port on the tuning adapter, especially Motorola's, causes significant signal loss and is not recommended to feed the TV tuner.
schroff
join:2003-08-28
San Antonio, TX

schroff to cltguy

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to cltguy
I have had the Ceton PCIE 4 with Cisco CableCard and Cisco Tuning Adapter with three XBox360's for about 18-months. I would add to Vertigo's good comments that best results have been gotten with a dedicated Win-7 Media Center PC after a fresh clean install.

Start simple, avoiding any unnecessary applications, codecs and any other add-ins until after getting it running in a stable fashion.

Great help can be found here: »www.thegreenbutton.tv/fo ··· ndex.php
jpatton1979
join:2011-08-10
Louisville, KY

jpatton1979 to tourbound129

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to tourbound129
Yeah, I was mistaken about that. It's just the Xbox 360 (sorry about that). The last I used an Xbox was in 2010 and decided to not replace it after suffering from multiple RRoDs (was sent in for warranty repair once).
tourbound129
join:2014-06-03
USA

tourbound129

Member

No worries. I was hoping I missed something and it was actually being rolled out.

I love my Xbox One and it keeps getting better with updates but the lack of working as an extender is something that is a big miss. MS is definitely aware that consumers want this feature they just need to make it happen.

On another note, this thread came up at a good time for me. I think some of my Directv promotion discounts will be expiring soon so I"m thinking about going cable card to save some money each month.
smcallah
join:2004-08-05
Home

smcallah to crooked

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to crooked
said by crooked:

I don't dare call to try and figure it out because if you mention the words "cable card" to most of the reps, they have a conniption.

I had a CableCard problem that I called about and the person on the phone could not help me at all, I forget what they even told me to try now.

But I went right to the timewarnercable.com live online help and told the person I was having a CableCard problem, they sent a hit to my card and it started working.

The next time I had a CableCard problem, I went straight to the live online help and got it resolved. They seem better equipped for some reason.

Also, the tuning adapter would not cause an audio problem, the only thing it is doing is the 2-way communication to tune SDV channels, it doesn't affect the signal or the audio, it's just a pass through, it's only on the coax so it can communicate to the head end. And it wouldn't be a CableCard problem either, all the CableCard is doing is assigning channel numbers to the channels and authorizing encrypted channels, audio and video do not pass through the CableCard.

If you are having audio track problems, it's either the TiVo, TWC's problem, or HBO's problem.
crooked
join:2000-07-29
Durham, NC

crooked

Member

said by smcallah:

Also, the tuning adapter would not cause an audio problem, the only thing it is doing is the 2-way communication to tune SDV channels, it doesn't affect the signal or the audio, it's just a pass through, it's only on the coax so it can communicate to the head end. And it wouldn't be a CableCard problem either, all the CableCard is doing is assigning channel numbers to the channels and authorizing encrypted channels, audio and video do not pass through the CableCard.

If you are having audio track problems, it's either the TiVo, TWC's problem, or HBO's problem.

The only weird part is that the Spanish track comes through just fine, but yeah, it's probably a TiVo, TWC, or HBO problem. I usually just go to HBOGo and stream it on the AppleTV if it's something I really wanted to watch instead of trying to diagnose an intermittent problem :/