[elmattarino]

First off , a big shout out to Eskro for the great guides! Now down to my dilemma...

I am in the process of upgrading my current setup to two dedicated htpc's. I haven't seen a whole lot of discussion around a ceton build which is where I'm a little unsure. Details and desired outcome are below.

Current setup:
x2 boxee box
FreeNAS 8.0X server @ 5TB (expandable to 16TB) on ion build running 24/7

Future setup:
Bedroom (BR) - Mini/Micro AMD A6-3500 / 4GB ddr3 / 32GB SSD / win7 / XBMC / harmony 650
Living room (LR) - Micro/ATX AMD A6-3500 / 8GB ddr3 / 32GB SSD / 500GB hd / ceton infiniTV 4 / win7 / XBMC / harmony 650
Server - New case to fit in media cabinet, same hardware.

My goals are:
1. Future proof systems so I don't have to upgrade anything for 5+ years. It will take about 3.5 to recoup my $$$ from no STB rentals.
2. Quick enough so wife will never complain (long shot).
3. Similar components so wife can pick up remote and only requires minimal training for her.
4. Replace all STB equipment.

My concerns:
1. I want to make sure that the LR htpc would be powerful enough to record 3 shows on dedicated tuners, have BR access 4th tuner and run XBMC on LR with no noticeable lag. It wouldn't happen much, if ever, but I want to make sure it can do it. I read somewhere that a good rule of thumb for the ceton was 1 core per tuner but can't find any builds or reference on full load tests.
2. Make sure I'm not overdoing it. I want both to run seamlessly on Aeon/MCE but if I can downgrade some of the BR or LR, I'm all for it.
3. Try to keep the wife's complaining to a minimum (again, long shot).

Budget:
$1300 - I have to buy everything, including OS.

Thanks in advance for any help! I'm in the process of selling my house right now so the build will start April/May and will post pics/vids once complete.

[Kirky99]

If I'm not mistaken, you are limited to ClearQAM channels only with the cablecard tuners. It's a DRM issue that probably won't be worked out. Yes, they work with Mindows Media Center, but they have a chosen to get the necessary license/certification to descramble the encrypted channels in the centon and HD Homerun Prime devices.

If you've read otherwise, please point me there, I'm instearest in digital cable distribution as well, but haven't found anything that allows it without going Microsoft, which won't work for me.

[FSU_Fletch]

If I'm not mistaken, you are limited to ClearQAM channels only with the cablecard tuners. It's a DRM issue that probably won't be worked out. Yes, they work with Mindows Media Center, but they have a chosen to get the necessary license/certification to descramble the encrypted channels in the centon and HD Homerun Prime devices.

If you've read otherwise, please point me there, I'm instearest in digital cable distribution as well, but haven't found anything that allows it without going Microsoft, which won't work for me.

Bad Intelligence. With the CableCard you receive every channel from CableCo except no On Demand.

[Kirky99]

Please provide links to your sources, I (and many others) have been looking for a real way to get our digital cable lineups on their HTPC setups. If there has been a breakthrough, I have not seen it. I'd love to get this working in Team Mediaportal or Myth or even TVHeadend. Everything I see points to MCE only and that's no backend for XBMC.

[wsume99]

If I'm not mistaken, you are limited to ClearQAM channels only with the cablecard tuners. It's a DRM issue that probably won't be worked out. Yes, they work with Mindows Media Center, but they have a chosen to get the necessary license/certification to descramble the encrypted channels in the centon and HD Homerun Prime devices.

If you've read otherwise, please point me there, I'm instearest in digital cable distribution as well, but haven't found anything that allows it without going Microsoft, which won't work for me.

Bad Intelligence. With the CableCard you receive every channel from CableCo except no On Demand.

If you want to get the copy protected channels then your only choice is to use Windows Media Center. CableCARD tuners do work with other backends but you can't record any protected content because WMC is the only s/w that has received Cable Labs certification. Now depending on your provider this may not be that big of a deal. Some providers only apply copy protection to the premium channels (HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, etc.) and leave everything else flagged as copy freely. If the show is flagged as copy freely then you don't need WMC. However other providers (like Time Warner Cable) will copy protect all digital channels so in that case you'd have to get WMC or else you would only get the OTA channels.

[teaguecl]

If I'm not mistaken, you are limited to ClearQAM channels only with the cablecard tuners. It's a DRM issue that probably won't be worked out. Yes, they work with Mindows Media Center, but they have a chosen to get the necessary license/certification to descramble the encrypted channels in the centon and HD Homerun Prime devices.

If you've read otherwise, please point me there, I'm instearest in digital cable distribution as well, but haven't found anything that allows it without going Microsoft, which won't work for me.

Bad Intelligence. With the CableCard you receive every channel from CableCo except no On Demand.

Sorry, but this is incorrect - at least partially
The cable company can choose three setting for each channel:
- Copy Freely: the CableCard will allow you to do pretty much anything with the video
- Copy Once: the CableCard will let you record it (DVR functionality), but not make additional copies
- Copy Never: self explanatory, used for Pay-per-view

The first "gotcha" here is that some cable companies tend to put everything in "Copy Freely" category, while others put everything in the "Copy Once" category. So, your experience will vary based on what cable company you use. The second "gotcha" is that a CableCard on a non-authorized platform (meaning everything except Win MCE) will ONLY decode content in the "Copy Freely" category.
In other words, a CableCard is next to useless without Windows MCE. If you don't have MCE, and your cable company puts everything in "Copy Once" - then you see nothing. CableCard is a disaster - it works great for some people, and is worthless to others. It has had the opposite effect the FCC wanted.

[romasi]

elmattarino - did you ever build your machines?

I'm working towards a similar objective, but using HD Homerun. I am interested in any feedback on the machine your built. I'm looking at a A6 build for a bedroom Windows 7 MCE and XBMC machine to replace our comcast box.