Hey everyone I can use some guidance here
I want to make the switch from 2 TiVo boxes to 1 Media Center PC with the new 4 Tuner card from Ceton.I’m a little nervous to lay out the $400  with a few unanswered questions I can’t seem to find the answers here.To try the whole Cable Card thing out before I buy the Ceton card,
 I purchased on ebay one of the ATI TV wonder digital cable card cable card tuners USB, I figured this would be a cheaper start in case in
all doesn’t work the way i want.The computer I’m using has an ASUS P6T Deluxe Motherboard 12 gigs of Ram and 2Tb of storage Windows 7 64bit
 I checked with a software I downloaded that the motherboard is OSFR, and it says its available
so I guess I’m good there? 

Ok Here’s the questions:

This ATI USB unit should come with some kind of serial that I will need during the install right ?
Then I will use that when I run the  Setup with the cable guy here installing the card Correct?
If there a software I need to install from ATI First, before he gets here?
This is where I’m a little sketchy?
I’m not sure it’s going to come with a guide of some sort buying it from ebay, the guy said it worked for him using an MCard so I’m guessing it all there?Am I correct with the Unit will come with Software and a Key?Ok here the big question?I know I can stream the stuff I have on the pc to my other computers after I pointed them to the Dir,
But I want to put one of the Small New, Shuttle XS35 Small Form Factor Desktop PC connected to my bedroom HDTV.

Will that New Shuttle PC Work or does that also have to be OSFR Compliant?Here the Million dollar question:

My goal is to put just one PC in the house that has the 4 Tuners on it and be able to program the shows to record from any of the PCs attached on my network (gigabyte) from any room and obviously be able to see all the recorded shows from any of the Pc's in the house ?
Will that be possible or will I always have to program the recording from only the PC that has the Tuners on it?I purchased one of the Linksys Media extenders but it’s kind of painfully slow
and I don’t see anywhere to add Other PC's as extenders( Possible because the main one doesn’t have a Tuner yet) I’m Hoping?
What should I do befor the Cable guy gets to the house to prepair?Sorry I know this is all been answered 1000 times but searching around I can’t get any straight answers.I hope someone can help me out or point me in the right direction..Thanks Everyone.. 

 

First off, you don't need to worry about the OSFR stuff and keys anymore, just run the digital cable advisor under the extras gallery and that should clear your computer for cablecard use. If it doesn't, then you'll need to fix something, but it sounds like a modern setup and as long as your TV is HDCP compliant, you should be good to go.

Second, you will not be able to stream live TV to another computer, you'll have to use the Linksys extender. You MIGHT be able to watch shows you have recorded on the other computers (it depends on the copy protection set by your cable company, for me, with Time Warner Cable, I cannot watch the shows on another computer unless they were aired on a local station, no cable stations). But you will not be able to watch live TV on another computer, except with an extender.

Hey woolooloo Thanks that was very helpful, that makes me feel better about the setup!
I assumed popping another PC on the network would allow me to access the same interface that the PC with the Tuners have but that doesn’t sound like it’s the case...So the Linksys DMA 2100 extender will allow me to choose Live TV & record it back to the Main PC?Is there a better Extender that everyone is using other than an Xbox or is Linksys the only deal.
Seems weird that you can’t do it from any connected PC running MC but yet the Extender allows you to I wonder why.What is the suggested way people on here are accomplishing recording and streaming around there house to multiple TVs or do most people only use it on 1 TV?

What about this, could you have two PCs each with an M Card and be able to access all the recorded TV saved to one Location?
That way all your recorded content is in one spot that two PC's can pull from.....Thanks again you made me feel better about the install,
I was reading where you needed to Hack the Bios and all kinds of crap I didn’t want to have to play with. Thanks Again..Steve

 

Kelso

 I checked with a software I downloaded that the motherboard is OSFR, and it says its available so I guess I’m good there? 

The requirement for an OSFR motherboard was relaxed with the release of Windows 7 and the Digital Cable Adviser utility, but unfortunately, it doesn't actually work on OSFR enabled motherboards like yours, so you'll still need to get a license key. If your ATi DCT doesn't come with one, you can run the DCA on a non-OSFR board, and get the OCURPID registry key from that, or you can use the one listed here.

 

Kelso

Will that New Shuttle PC Work or does that also have to be OSFR Compliant?

OSFR is no longer relevant.

Kelso

and I don’t see anywhere to add Other PC's as extenders

You can't use a PC as an "extender". Depending on your cable company, you may or may not be able to watch stuff that was recorded on one computer on another computer (TWC is notorious for setting the "Copy Once" flag that will only allow you to watch the program on the PC that it was recorded on). The only way to watch "Copy Once" material at a different screen is to use a real Extender - a DMA2x00 or an XBox (which will draw about 3 times as much power at your PC).

If your provider is a bit more liberal with the copy flags, you'd be able to share your recorded TV between PCs, but you wouldn't have access to a shared guide, so keeping track of which machine a program is recorded on (or whether a program is already set up to record on another computer) could be a bit messy.

Kelso

My goal is to put just one PC in the house that has the 4 Tuners on it and be able to program the shows to record from any of the PCs attached on my network (gigabyte) from any room and obviously be able to see all the recorded shows from any of the Pc's in the house? Will that be possible or will I always have to program the recording from only the PC that has the Tuners on it?

Right now, you can't actually share the tuners in the Ceton between different PCs, but it is anticipated that this functionality will be added soon.

Kelso

So the Linksys DMA 2100 extender will allow me to choose Live TV & record it back to the Main PC?Is there a better Extender that everyone is using other than an Xbox or is Linksys the only deal.

The Linksys draws about 8 watts, the XBox draws about 80. Your small format PC will probably daw between 30 and 50 watts. The Linksys should be responsive enough for watching recorded TV or Live TV - it's main weakness comes with other formats, such as DVDs and downloaded video.

Kelso

What about this, could you have two PCs each with an M Card and be able to access all the recorded TV saved to one Location?
That way all your recorded content is in one spot that two PC's can pull from

With a ceton, you shouldn't need two PCs with cards, but the limiting factor in whether you can share recordings between PCs is the copy protection. Under normal circumstances, you should be able to share "ordinary" recordings, si=uch as those from the broadcast networks, the "regular" cable channels, such as USA, A&E, TNT, FX, etc, but you sghouldn't be able to share recordings from HBO or StarZ. Some cable providers are even stricter, and won't allow you to "share" anything.

Kelso

Hey woolooloo Thanks that was very helpful, that makes me feel better about the setup!
I assumed popping another PC on the network would allow me to access the same interface that the PC with the Tuners have but that doesn’t sound like it’s the case...So the Linksys DMA 2100 extender will allow me to choose Live TV & record it back to the Main PC?Is there a better Extender that everyone is using other than an Xbox or is Linksys the only deal.
Seems weird that you can’t do it from any connected PC running MC but yet the Extender allows you to I wonder why.What is the suggested way people on here are accomplishing recording and streaming around there house to multiple TVs or do most people only use it on 1 TV?

Both the Linksys and Xbox 360 will work as an extender.  The 360 will be faster and more responsive, there are things you can do to the linksys to make it more responsive like turning off animations. Also, if you are running the linksys wireless then that will effect the extender access response.

Making a PC as an extender (softsled) is probably one of the most requested features but, it hasn't happened and may never happen.  Personally if your orginal goal was have extenders throughout the house that might be the better way of going.  Just might have to look at the Xbox 360 if you are not happy with the linksys.

Kelso

What about this, could you have two PCs each with an M Card and be able to access all the recorded TV saved to one Location?
That way all your recorded content is in one spot that two PC's can pull from.....Thanks again you made me feel better about the install,
I was reading where you needed to Hack the Bios and all kinds of crap I didn’t want to have to play with. Thanks Again..Steve

Yes you could do that save all your recordings to a Windows Home Server and both PCs would see the recordings stored on the Windows Home Server as if they are local.  However, any recordings with DRM will only play on the PC they were recorded on.  So even though you could see the recordings on another PC you would not beable to play them.  Only will extenders allow you to watch recordings on the PC they are connected to that have DRM.

Kelso

What should I do befor the Cable guy gets to the house to prepair?Sorry I know this is all been answered 1000 times but searching around I can’t get any straight answers.I hope someone can help me out or point me in the right direction..Thanks Everyone.. 

First get your system up and running the way you like it make sure your system passes the Digital Cable Advisor.  Once you get the ATI make sure it is working without the Cable Card, you should beable to get some of your cable channels.  If you are using McAfee or Norton AntiVirus uninstall it and use Microsoft Security Essentials.

When the Cable guy gets there have him test the lines making sure the signal levels are good.  Be prepared to basically do all the work on the cable card install yourself don't expect the cable guy to know how to do anything other than calling in the Host ID information and the Card ID information.  There used to be a Technical Setup Guide for the ATI tuners on the ATI site it has since disappeared "Digital Cable Tuner Setup for Windows Media Center in Windows Vista (A Step-by-Step Guide for Professional Technicians)" this guide was really helpful.  Someone on this forum had a link where you could still download it but, you will have to search the forums to find it.  This link might help you with your install just ignore the OSFR stuff it isn't necessary any more and just start reading from "Setup the tuner in Windows".

Hey Guys

OK Im back to being worried again everything looks straight forward with connecting the ATI USB Unit - Letting windows Update the Firmware.
But I asked the Guy I purchased this from about that  ( Product Key For Activatiion) and he said this ATI Unit comes with no Keys.

You would be proud thow, I did hack the Machine to first runs and make Windows , OSFR  Ready, BUT like everyone said here I dont need that anymore.

So Is that (Product Key For Activation) screen still there ? it looks like that Report was written in 2009 and I know everything changed months back
but I don’t know if I’m still going to need that?

The Fios guys are great they said there just going to leave me the MCard and a Phone number for me  to activate it. There Great here in NJ!Seems like a pretty good challenge for a Hacker to change some code in windows and allow you to just open Media Center on any PC and connect directly to the PC with the Cards ?And WTF is wrong with Microsoft do they don’t see the potential of allowing a user to build 1 Media server W/ 4 tuners and access at least on their own Home network to View & Record just seems logical !It would put TiVo out of Business especially since I have 2 TiVo’s 2 Lifetime subscriptions and the dam things bombards me with a Bunch of Advertisements even when I Pause a show Now, I didn’t Pay $600 a unit for to give them the  privilege to push advertisements!
I can’t see how there isn’t a class action suit to stop that, But that for another Forum...Sorry I got a bit pissed off there ..

 

Where was I oh yea the Product Key For Activatiion Key is it still there?

Kelso

Where was I oh yea the Product Key For Activatiion Key is it still there?

Just use the one posted on Ben's article

http://hd.engadget.com/2009/05/12/how-to-install-a-cablecard-tuner-in-your-diy-media-center/

You shouldn't need an activation key, it will be pre-populated once you run the DCA. If for some reason it isn't, then use the one from the engadget article.

You guys are the Best !I will be installing this on Tue I’ll let you know how I make out Thanks again to everyone, I have a friend who is a Brilliant Programmer that’s coming to visit in a few weeks I gave him all the information I wanting to Record and Play from any PC and he’s Excited to try to beat this..I’ll keep you posted,Thanks Again Steve

 

1. Ok , I got the MCard and the ATI  Unit today.
   The Install was very stright forward the only issue is
2. It only sees 1 Tuner , I am using an MCard with 2 Tuners ?
3. Is that a Bad Cable card or a Limitation of the ATI USB Tuner?
4. any ideas?
5. Thanks

The ATI unit is only a single tuner. The M-card has the capability of mulitple streams, but the ATI card only has the capability for a single stream. If you want a mulit-stream solution Ceton is the only one on the market right now, and it's backordered.

Wow I guess the guy I got it from on ebay didnt tell me the truth !

He said he had a Mcard on Comcast when he used it!

Thats not cool!

Thanks

Steve

He might have had an M-card, but the CableCard isn't a tuner, it decrypts the stream. An M-card can decrypt up to six streams (channels), but the ATI device only has one tuner, so it can only tune to one channel at a time. Has nothing to do with the CableCard, the ATI device is the limiting device.

woolooloo

You shouldn't need an activation key, it will be pre-populated once you run the DCA. If for some reason it isn't, then use the one from the engadget article.

 

That is true IF,(and it's a big IF) you do not have an OSFR BIOS.  If you do have an OSFR BIOS, the DCA pops up a message informing you that your machine is already Cablecard ready and WILL NOT populate the generic cablecard PID.  Those of us with OSFR BIOS will need the key from Ben's article referenced above.