Ceton InfiniTV 6 ETH - 6-channel Cable TV Ethernet Tuner for CableCARD

I purchased this to replace my original Ceton I4 tuner. I pulled my old Ceton tuner out of my Windows 8 HTPC today and then re-paired my Time Warner cablecard to the new InfiniTV 6 ETH. The call took about 10 minutes. I also updated the Ceton software to the latest version. Make sure you uninstall the Ceton software before you install the new version. I didn't uninstall the old version before installing the new version. This caused a few issues for me when I tried to update the firmware on the I6. After uninstalling the ceton software, rebooting and reinstalling it, I had no further issues. I'm now watching live TV on my Xbox 360. This product paired with Windows Mediacenter is amazing.

This tuner is simple to setup and for people new to MCE should be a breeze to setup as the PC doesn't need to be opened. The packaging is perfect with a very comprehensive quick start guide follow this and you will have it working in no time. Just be clear to use the phrasing on the quick start when you ring your cable provider to activate the device.

Only downsides were it didn't come with the latest firmware updating could be confusing for anyone new to firmwares.

Bottom line, I have 3 PCs on my network all able to show live HD TV and record in HD just what I wanted.

Alex (Scyto)

Don't forget if you need help to use the forums http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/viewforum.php?f=68

Buy Ceton InfiniTV 6 ETH - 6-channel Cable TV Ethernet Tuner for CableCARD Now

This is the CableCard tuner the Windows Media Center enthusiast like myself have been waiting for. Especially those of us whose cable companies went to switched Digital that require the bulky tuning adaptors. Finally it's possible to ditch the cable companies crappy DVRs (and the monthly fees that come with it).

The beauty of the InfityTV6 is that this device is entirely self-contained and gigabit Ethernet based and supports dynamic tuner pooling. This eliminated the requirement to have a host PC which the tuner and Coax would be tethered to. Now households that only have Windows laptops or tablets like the Surface Pro can use those devices to watch and or record their digital cable channels and roam freely without being tethered to the Coax. You could also use virtualization and consolidate hardware by installing Windows 7 or 8 Media Center in a VM and run it on the same box as you Windows Home server, or Windows 2008R2/2012 using HyperV, or of course Virtual Box or VMware.

The previous Ceton USB and PCIe tuners, did support network sharing of the tuners... But it required an always on Windows 7, Windows 2008 R2, or Home Server 2011 server and the tuners would have to be permanently assigned to any portable device wanting access to the tuners. This static tuner assignment is no longer required with this model.

My prior setup consisted of dual quad InfinitiTV tuners that required a cable splitter, 2 cable cards, and 2 tuning adaptors all tethered off the main recording PC. With the InfinitiTV6 I was able to return one cable card and tuning adaptor back to the cable company and hide the new device (and the remaining tuning adapter) behind my living room couch where I have an unused coax outlet and access to our lan removing the clutter from around our computer desk. Since I no longer have to statically assign tuners dropping from 8 to 6 tuners was not a problem as we never really required more than 6 simultaneous tuners anyways.

There is one major con that I encountered. Ceton's drivers do not support Windows 8 32 bit... So a Windows 7 32 bit computer that is upgraded to Windows 8 (or does a clean 32 bit install) will lose the ability to use their Ceton tuners on that machine unless it's rebuilt as a 64 bit machine.

Other Pros:

The Ceton drivers increase the 4 Tuner limit for both Windows 7 and Windows 8 so you can fully use all 6 tuners (or up to 12 if you have multiple InfinitiTVs).

The InfinitiTV6 comes with a mini USB port for use with a tuning adaptor where required... Ceton includes the special cable for this purpose in the box.

Note for best results... You should make sure you have a gigabit wired networking in your home in order to support the bandwidth required for 6 simultaneous HD streams. This means having good gigabit switches and CAT 5e/6 cables on the lan segments between the InfinitiTV6 and any media center PC acting as a DVR. For wireless devices it is strongly recommended they utilize Wireless A, or at a minimum be in the 5GHz band for Wireless N.

Read Best Reviews of Ceton InfiniTV 6 ETH - 6-channel Cable TV Ethernet Tuner for CableCARD Here

Great Product 5 star I first want to say that I did purchase the infitnity ceton 4 and was nothing more than trouble never found the tuners but this item ceton 6 is amazing my xbox HTPC works flowless all my recordings on point.

Cons: Price customer service is poor but with this item you don't need customer service just obtain your cable card update the drivers and done.

Want Ceton InfiniTV 6 ETH - 6-channel Cable TV Ethernet Tuner for CableCARD Discount?

I preface this review by saying that I have owned multiple Ceton products and will continue to purchase Ceton products off the strength of their customer service offerings. That said there are some flaws that one should be aware when purchasing this item.

1. I have owned several pci-e versions of the InfiniTV4 since they first came out and outside of a few flaky drivers early in it's product life the tuner was rock solid (once I learned and troubleshooted all the various wiring issues, splitters, and amplifier needs within my house). the 6ETH is no different in this aspect, if your wiring in your house runs through too many splitters or poor quality splitters or an inline amplifier provides too much signal you could easily get poor reception from this tuner. So first step is to make sure that the feed has as few splitters as necessary and that the signal strength is higher than a standard cable box but not too high.

2. Since this is a network connected piece of hardware I ran into problems that I did not have with a previously stable system that had the pci-e InfiniTV installed. I had to purchase a new gigabit switch and replace all the wires with cat6 which resulted in for a brief time period anyways, all 6 tuners working flawlessly and with no pixelation.

3. Unfortunately after several days with help of Ceton customer support helping to trouble shoot we all came to the agreement that there was some issue within my wired home network that was causing pixelation and no tv signal errors to regularly pop up once more than 4 tuners were in use. I would have continued working with Ceton to find the issue but the wife and family would have frowned upon extended downtime of their main TV source.

In short, if your network and cabling do not cause ill effects then this is an amazing piece of hardware. But I for some unknown reason was unable to fix whatever my network issues are enough to have a rock solid stable setup.

So be aware that issues in getting this item to work might be in the network itself. I ended up going back to pci-e tuner instead (InfiniTV4)