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InfiniTV 4 CableCARD tuner prices are dropping, down to $256 shipped from $399 previously

admin — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 20:14:00 +0000

Whether it's due to pressure from SiliconDust's HDHomeRun Prime or as a result of simplified hardware is unclear, but Ceton's InfiniTV 4 CableCARD tuner is now available for as little as $256 shipped. Forum posters at Missing Remote noticed a $282 fire sale for the HTPC cable TV adapters going on eBay Friday, before prices dropped precipitously at Buy.com ($264), and an Amazon third party ($265). Lesser known Erwin Computers currently claims the lowest price, while Ceton's official Amazon listing and those of other resellers like Cannon PC and Fluid Digital remain at the $399 MSRP -- for now. The choice is yours -- wait for official word and to see if prices drop any lower or click the buy button now and get some (network sharable) cable TV reception for your computer in time for the second episode of Teen Wolf on MTV.

InfiniTV 4 CableCARD tuner prices are dropping, down to $256 shipped from $399 previously originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 05 Jun 2011 16:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HDHomeRun Prime TV tuner officially available for preorders for $249, six tuner version next week

admin — Sat, 14 May 2011 13:40:00 +0000

After a false start when it passed certification earlier this month, SiliconDust's three CableCARD tuner HDHomeRun Prime is finally available for preorder from Newegg for $249. The release date is scheduled for June 29th but those interested in getting it hooked up to their HTPC as quickly as possible may want to wait until next week when the six-tuner 6CC version goes up for preorder, as those are expected to begin shipping first. There's no volume discount on the tuners at $499, but at $83 per tuner you might be able to justify it as a better value than the four-tuner and also network-sharable InfiniTV 4. Either way, if you just need a bit more information before purchasing, you'll find it on the sales page, on the linked PDF below or in the video trailer embedded after the break.

[Thanks Justin & @TheReal_PeterF]

Continue reading HDHomeRun Prime TV tuner officially available for preorders for $249, six tuner version next week

HDHomeRun Prime TV tuner officially available for preorders for $249, six tuner version next week originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 14 May 2011 09:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HDHomeRun Prime TV tuner passes CableLabs tests – Update: Preorder pulled, 6-tuner ships first

admin — Mon, 02 May 2011 05:26:00 +0000

We've been waiting for SiliconDust's CableCARD-compatible HDHomeRun Prime for a little over a year and it seems finally ready to bring its triple tuner TV magic home, having gained CableLabs certification as of April 28th and subsequently showing up for preorder on Amazon. While this is mostly big news for Windows Media Center fans who need a new way to get premium channels on their box it also supports other DVR software like MythTV on Copy Freely-marked content. HTPC builders don't have to choose between this HDHR3-CC and the (suddenly in abundant supply and still $399) Ceton InfiniTV 4 just yet, since the listing has no shipping date and the last we'd heard from SiliconDust was that preorders would ship around 30 days after it completed certification. Check out our hands-on impressions from CES a few months ago if you're on the fence, but right now all that's standing between you and that grey box is a little bit of time... and $207.

Update: According to a post on its forum, SiliconDust confirmed the HDHomeRun Prime has been certified and an email announcement will follow shortly, however it expects to deliver a 6-tuner Theater version first with the three tuner box appearing afterwards. The post also notes sites are "incorrectly listing" the HDHomeRun Prime for preorder and "will not be first in line for delivering product" so you may want to wait for the official word on which "major retailer" has the go-ahead to make sure you're first in line. The option to preorder disappeared from Amazon this morning, we'll let you know when and where the option to purchase pops up next. [Thanks, robniep]

Gallery: Hands-on with the HDHomeRun Prime

[Thanks, Neil]

HDHomeRun Prime TV tuner passes CableLabs tests - Update: Preorder pulled, 6-tuner ships first originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 May 2011 01:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Windows 7 Media Center embedded TV hands-on

admin — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 22:59:00 +0000

We didn't think much of Haier's mention in Microsoft's Windows 7 Media Center embedded press release, but on the show floor today we ran across this HDTV which was actually a full-blown Media Center including tuners and a harddrive. The details were very skimpy beyond that, with no mention of specific specs, prices or if the product would really make it to market. But the idea of an all-in-one TV and DVR running our favorite software certainly is something to get us excited about. What we didn't like ws the motion remote used for the demo which was almost impossible to navigate and had us seriously longing for our favorite Green Button.

Windows 7 Media Center embedded TV hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 18:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hauppauge officially announces HD PVR support in Windows Media Center

admin — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 19:39:00 +0000

If you're thinking about going the Media Center DVR route but can't or won't get hooked up with a CableCARD don't forget there's another option available to pull in those premium channels now that the $199 Hauppauge HD PVR is supported as a TV recorder in Windows 7. There's been a few updates since the feature was added in beta back in June, which lets users select programs via the Media Center guide to be captured and encoded in MPEG-4 over the device's component video inputs (HDTV resolutions up to 1080i and 5.1 surround sound are supported) while the PC controls connected satellite or cable TV set-top boxes with an included IR blaster. There's still a limit of one tuner per PC and a thread over on TheGreenButton reveals the experience can still be a bit glitchy, but if you've just got to have Windows Media Center and NFL Sunday Ticket then some compromises will be necessary.

Continue reading Hauppauge officially announces HD PVR support in Windows Media Center

Hauppauge officially announces HD PVR support in Windows Media Center originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Aug 2010 15:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TiVo Premiere vs Windows 7 Media Center

admin — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 16:02:00 +0000

Although TiVo and ReplayTV were the first DVRs on the market, Microsoft's software actually powered the DISHPlayer Satellite DVR in late 1999. So here we are over 10 years later and while TiVo and Microsoft took different approaches to the same space, of the three original DVR software companies, they're the only two left. Which is the bigger success depends on your perspective, because while TiVo has the mind share (and sold more consumer branded products) Microsoft's technology is present in many other brand DVRs, like Verizon's FiOS DVR, and AT&T's U-Verse (which is built on Microsoft's Mediaroom platform). But our perspective of success is based on the user interface experience, so while we previously reviewed both the TiVo Premiere and Windows 7 Media Center, we wanted to also tackled the task of directly comparing the two. Of course there are some obvious differences that might sway someone in one way or another, like TiVo's simpler out of the box setup or Media Center's 3rd party plug-in architecture, there are many other points of distinction to discover if you click on through and read about the less obvious user interface differences as well as a few other baked-in non-DVR features.

Gallery: TiVo Premier vs Windows 7 Media Center

Continue reading TiVo Premiere vs Windows 7 Media Center

TiVo Premiere vs Windows 7 Media Center originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Aug 2010 12:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HDHomeRun CableCARD will feature three tuners in time for the holidays

admin — Tue, 11 May 2010 21:02:00 +0000

What you're looking at here is a picture of the board that makes the new HDHomeRun CableCARD tuner work. You might notice the four squares on the right, those are the tuners, yes there are four -- don't get too excited -- but one of 'em is for the out of band data and can't actually be used to record HD. But that's still one more usable tuner than initially announced at CES and the best news is that the price remains the same at $249. There isn't a hard release data yet, but the goal is to release the beta details in the coming weeks, then submit it to CableLabs for certification and then finally have it in your HTPC in time for the holidays -- when exactly do holidays start again? The actual case isn't done yet, but there won't be a hump like the classic HDHomeRun and as you can see the gigabit network tuner's connections are all on the back including one coax, one USB, power, and a single CableCARD slot for all three tuners -- the USB doesn't do what you're thinking, it's for the Tuning Adapter. Contrary to some reports -- a USB version isn't on the table and we can't say we're surprised as that wouldn't be Silicon Dust's style. A picture of the connections on the prototype after the jump.

Continue reading HDHomeRun CableCARD will feature three tuners in time for the holidays

HDHomeRun CableCARD will feature three tuners in time for the holidays originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 May 2010 16:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Windows 7 Media Center coming to embedded devices

admin — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 20:59:00 +0000

We love Windows 7 Media Center, but at the end of the day we'd never give one to our mom and expect it to just work the way an embedded DVR like a TiVo or a Moxi would. But dependability isn't the only concern about using a PC as a DVR, there is noise and how it looks in the living room to consider as well. The compromise before us might just be a thing of the past as Microsoft has announced that Windows 7 Embedded has been released to manufactures and includes many of the great features of the regular Windows 7 family, like Windows Media Center. At this point there aren't any announcements from manufactures leveraging these new found features, but in the press release Microsoft is certainly bolstering the broadcast TV and other media features in a set-top box. AOpen is the only manufacturer mention by name that we're familiar with, which also makes good small-form-factor PCs, but that won't stop us from dreaming of the best, easy to use and dependable whole house DVR ever.

Update: Video of Media Center on an embedded device in action after the jump.

Continue reading Windows 7 Media Center coming to embedded devices

Windows 7 Media Center coming to embedded devices originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Apr 2010 15:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ceton’s quad CableCARD tuner for Media Center available for pre-order

admin — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 15:23:00 +0000

That's right, you can now reserve your place in line to be the first to record four HD cable shows at once on your Windows 7 Media Center. The bad news is that ship date for the InfiniTV 4 is now May 31st. Ceton wasn't willing to share a specific reason for the 60 day delay, but we suspect CableLabs is to blame -- Ceton refuted this and insisted CableLabs has been very helpful, but we don't buy it. The other big news -- for those that were concerned with noise or fitment options -- is that the latest version of the PCI-E card pictured above no longer includes a fan. The InfiniTV name was the result of over 1000 submissions to Ceton's naming contest, of which Gary Petro came up with winner -- the name is not to be confused with Comcast's XFINITY. Future tuners in the line will share a variation of the name, so the dual external tuner would be the InfiniTV ex2 -- for example. But Gary isn't the only one receiving a free tuner, as two more submitters were deemed worthy. Rus Sanchez submitted 94 different product names, while Charles Fraser earned his free card with the funniest submission; Wicked Super, Super Duper, and Super Duper Alleyoopder. The last bit of news out of the Kirkland startup is a littler clarification in regards to the network capabilities of the card. Although you can share the tuners with a small form factor PC on the network, the bad news is that it gets paired per CableCARD, so all four tuners have to go to the same PC. Oh we almost forgot, the best news of all is that we received our review sample, so stay tuned for a full run down.

Ceton's quad CableCARD tuner for Media Center available for pre-order originally appeared on Engadget HD on Sat, 13 Mar 2010 10:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Windows 7 Media Center gets Mediaroom support

admin — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 04:55:00 +0000

During the Microsoft keynote, Ballmer mentioned that customers of IPTV providers like AT&T U-Verse will be able to watch TV on Windows 7 PCs, but he glazed over the how. The how is Windows 7 Media Center -- according to the press release that is available after the jump -- and there's no special hardware like a tuner required. The when wasn't mentioned because it is dependent on the provider, but when they do upgrade to Mediaroom 2.0, Media Center fans will have access to all the same content as a set-top like HD and on-demand, which is something pretty cool.

Continue reading Windows 7 Media Center gets Mediaroom support

Windows 7 Media Center gets Mediaroom support originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 23:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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