General

Q: How much is the Ceton Digital Cable Quad-Tuner card and when will it be available for purchase?

A: The Ceton Digital Cable Quad-Tuner card is scheduled to be available for retail purchase by the end of Q1, 2010 for $399.

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Q: Can I be a beta tester? How can I sign up?

A: We appreciate your interest in testing the Ceton Digital Cable Quad-Tuner Card, however the beta program is closed at this point.

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Q: Can a PC be a Windows Media Extender?

A: Unfortunately no. The Media Center Extender functionality is built into the Xbox 360, including the entry-level system. Also, Linksys and D-Link offer dedicated Media Center Extenders.

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Q. In what configurations will the card be available?

A. Initially the Ceton Digital Cable Quad-Tuner Card will be available in a 4-tuner PCIe low profile configuration, enabling a single Media Center PC to watch and/or record up to 4 live HD channels at once.

Over time we plan to introduce an entry-level 2-tuner version as well as a premium 6-tuner version for specially pre-configured OEM PCs, as well as additional products. 

Our focus for the next several months, however, is on the quad-tuner card.

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Q: What kind of PCs can I install the Ceton Digital Cable Quad-Tuner Card in?

A: The first version of the Ceton Digital Cable Quad-Tuner Card comes in a PCI Express low-profile form factor, making it an ideal solution for desktops, towers and slim entertainment PCs. It is not a solution for laptops or most All-in-One PCs, however, as they do not have PCIe slots for expandability for cards like this. We are working on an external USB-attached version of the Quad Tuner as well as other form factors that will bring the Ceton technology to these other platforms in the future.

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Q: How much does the Ceton Digital Cable Quad-Tuner Card cost?

A: The Ceton Digital Cable Quad-Tuner Card has a Suggested Retail Price of $399.00. For reference, competitive solutions are single-tuner products that cost $200+ per unit ($800+ for 4 units needed to have the equivalent 4 tuners). In addition, each single-tuner product requires its own CableCARD, which you lease from your cable operator for $2 to $6 each per month ($96 to $288 per year for 4 CableCARDs). The Ceton DCT requires only 1 CableCARD for all 4 tuners.

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Q: What makes the Ceton Digital Cable Quad-Tuner Card special?

A: The Ceton Digital Cable Quad-Tuner Card is the world’s first multiple-tuner solution for receiving premium, encrypted digital cable TV on the PC. The only solutions for digital cable on the PC up until now have been single-tuner products. Ceton has integrated 4 digital cable tuners in a single PC card that requires only 1 CableCARD, as opposed to the alternative, which is 4 separate single-tuner cards with 4 separate CableCARDs, at a significantly higher cost.

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Q: What is the Ceton Digital Cable Quad-Tuner Card?

A: The Ceton Digital Cable Quad-Tuner Card is the world’s first multiple-tuner solution for receiving premium, encrypted digital cable TV on the PC. It enables advanced, multi-channel cable TV services natively on Media Center PCs.

• It supports playing or recording up to 4 high-definition cable TV channels simultaneously, including premium channels, without the need for any cable set-top boxes.
• It also enables secure distribution of all TV programming, including live and recorded shows as well as premium and encrypted channels, to additional TV sets in the home via Media Center extenders like the Xbox 360.

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Retail and OEM Availability

Q: I am a System Builder/Customer Installer/HTPC integrator/small retailer/reseller and would like to be able to purchase the Ceton Digital Cable Quad-Tuner Card in bulk quantities. Will that be possible?

A: We are working on a program for bulk purchases that can be made through a distributor and will announce details on the program when they are available.

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Q: Will PC OEMs offer a lower price upgrade from existing OCURs?

A: We certainly hope that PC OEMs will offer both pre-configured and upgrade options, though it is ultimately up to them to decide which options work best for their customers.

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Q: Which PC OEMs will I be able to buy it from?

A: We’re in discussion with a number of OEMs, as well as with other potential partners, and interest has been very high. We haven’t announced our partners yet but expect to soon.

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Q: Where will I be able to by the Ceton Digital Cable Quad-Tuner Card?

A: Initially the card will be available at retail from retail partners whom will we announce soon. Over time we expect it to also be available from leading OEMs, as both a pre-installed option on new PCs and as an upgrade option in OEM accessory stores.

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Q: When can I purchase the Ceton Digital Cable Quad-Tuner Card?

A: The card is expected to be available by Q1 2010.

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Q: How come the 6-tuner card will be available only from certain OEMs and not from all OEMs, or as a retail upgrade option?

A: The Ceton PC card supports 4 tuners, which is the maximum number of TV tuners that are supported in the retail versions of Windows 7 that include Windows Media Center.

Certain OEMs license the Advanced Entertainment Pack (AEP) for Windows, which enables support for more than 4 tuners on a PC. The Ceton 6-tuner PC card is a solution for those OEMs and systems.

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Q: Will the Ceton Digital Cable Quad-Tuner Card be available at retail or only bundled with PCs from certain OEMs?

A: The Ceton Digital Cable Quad-Tuner will be available for purchase at retail when it launches in Q1 2010 as well as pre-installed by PC OEMs in the future.

Note that, with the September, 2009 changes related to digital cable tuner requirements on the PC that were announced by Microsoft and CableLabs, consumers can now upgrade existing PCs running versions of Windows 7 with Windows Media Center to include a digital cable tuner like the Ceton quad-tuner. Prior to that change, digital cable tuner products were only supported on PCs designated as “cable ready”.

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Support for satellite and non-US cable systems

Q: Will the Ceton Digital Cable Quad-Tuner Card work for satellite TV?

A: Cable and satellite TV providers use different technologies and different technical standards for delivering their TV services.  In fact, even between the satellite operators in the U.S. the technologies are different.  These technologies are also different from country to country.  So it would not be feasible today to develop a product like ours that works across all the cable and satellite networks.  Our first set of products are designed specifically for cable TV systems in the U.S.

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Q: Will the Ceton Digital Cable Quad-Tuner Card work outside the US, for example in Canada or Europe (DVB-C)?

A: For Canada: since CableCARD support is not a regulatory requirement in Canada as it is in the US, some Canadian cable operators support CableCARD-based devices like the Ceton Quad-Tuner card, while others do not. You’ll have to check with your local cable operator.

For Rest of World: Cable systems outside the US and Canada use a different set of technologies and technical standards for delivering TV services, such as DVB-C in Europe. So it would require a different version of our technology to work in those other markets. It is possible we will introduce a product for international markets like Europe at some point in the future, but right now our focus is on North America.

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Windows Support & System Requirements

Q: How much power does the quad-tuner card require?

A: Power consumption will vary by the duty cycle.  As an average, the card requires approximately 14 watts when all four tuners are running.

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Q: When will I be able to build my own system and use your product?

A: Consumers will be able to purchase the standalone retail product to build their own system in Q1 2010 as long as it meets the published system requirements above.

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Q: What kind and how many PCIe slots do I need?

A: The card requires only 1 PCIe slot, which can be either an x1, x4, x8, or x16 type slot.

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Q: What are the dimensions of the Ceton Digital Cable Quad-Tuner Card?

A: The Ceton Digital Cable Quad-Tuner Card is a PCI Express (PCIe) Low Profile form-factor card with dimensions of 7.85″ (L) x 2.535″ (H) x 0.68″ (W).  It requires only 1 PCIe slot.  It should fit in most slim form-factor PCs (just make sure the PCIe slot you choose has enough space for the full length of the card) as well as in full-sized towers and desktops. The card comes with both low-profile and full-height backplates so you can swap the backplate if needed, depending on the type of case you’re installing it in.

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Q: Can I use any motherboard?

A: This is difficult to answer broadly because there are physical constraints on many motherboards for PCIe Low Profile cards. The Ceton Digital Cable Quad-Tuner Card requires 1 PCIe slot (x1, x4, x8 or x16) and enough room for the board’s length.

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Q: How powerful does a computer system need to be to run your product? Are there minimum system requirements?

A: The recommended minimum system requirements for the Ceton Digital Cable Quad-Tuner are:

• Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Enterprise, or Windows 7 Ultimate
• 2.0 GHz or faster CPU minimum, either 32 bit (x86) or 64 bit (x64) – 2.7 GHz or faster dual-core CPU is recommended
• 2 Gigabytes of RAM minimum – 3 GB or more is recommended
• HDCP compliant on-board graphics or graphics card
• HDMI out, or DVI out with separate audio out
• Multi-Stream CableCARD™ (M-Card) – available from your local cable provider
• Digital cable subscription from a U.S. cable provider

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Q: Will your product work with Vista or will I have to upgrade to Windows 7?

A: The Ceton Digital Cable Quad-Tuner Card has been designed for Windows 7 specifically and has been extensively tested with Windows 7 by both Ceton and Microsoft.

We will support the Ceton Digital Cable Quad-Tuner Card on new or upgraded PCs that meet the published system requirements (see below) and are running a version of Windows 7 with Windows Media Center (Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Enterprise, or Windows 7 Ultimate).

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Installation

Q: What home network configurations will the Ceton card support?

A: We recommend a wired Ethernet or coax (MoCA) network be used between the Media Center PC and any other devices connected by Media Center Extenders. In order to send high-definition content from the Media Center PC to other TVs in the home without degrading the quality of the picture, you will need bandwidth and quality of service that exceeds the capabilities of most WiFi networks today.

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Q: How do I connect multiple TV sets to the main Media Center PC?

A: The Ceton Digital Cable Quad-Tuner Card takes advantage of standard Media Center Extenders including the Xbox 360 to distribute live and recorded programs to multiple TV sets in the home. No special installation or configuration of the extenders is required by the Ceton card.

Depending on which versions of Windows 7 and the Ceton card you have, you will be able to distribute either 2, 4 or 6 live TV channels around the home with a single CableCARD installed and using a single RF connection.

So in a typical 4-tuner home installation, you could have 4 different TV sets in 4 different rooms, each watching or recording (or some combination of watching and recording) a different show in HD at the same time.

Of course you could have other configurations as well such as the following with the 4 tuner card:

• 1 TV set watching live TV while the Media Center DVR records 3 other shows at the same time (4 live streams total)
• Four HD channels recording on 1 TV set while other TVs in the home are playing back previously recorded shows.
• 2 TV sets each recording 2 live shows at once (4 live streams total)
• 2 TV sets watching a different live channels each, while 2 other TV sets are each recording 1 different show to the DVR (4 live streams total)

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Q: How easy is it to set up a Media Center PC with the Ceton Digital Cable Quad-Tuner Card?

A: If you purchase the card as a standalone retail product: Ceton and Microsoft have extensively tested the set-up and installation process for the Ceton Digital Cable Quad-Tuner Card to make it as easy and foolproof as possible. Once the card is physically installed in the PC, you’ll need to download and install the driver from the Ceton website and then run the standard Media Center set-up process, which will recognize the Ceton card and configure the tuners. Once you set up your Media Center PC, you will need to contact your local cable company and request a CableCARD M-Card that is compatible with the local cable system. They will either send you the card or schedule an installation date (some cable operators still require that they install CableCARDs themselves). Once the CableCARD is installed you would just go through the normal set-up procedures for a Media Center PC and, if applicable, any Media Center extenders you have.

If you purchase a new PC pre-configured with the Ceton Digital Cable Quad-Tuner Card: If your Ceton card comes bundled with a cable-ready PC from an OEM, the card itself will not require any additional installation. Once you set up your Media Center PC, you will need to contact your local cable company and request a CableCARD M-Card that is compatible with the local cable system. They will either send you the card or schedule an installation date (some cable operators still require that they install CableCARDs themselves). Once the CableCARD is installed you would just go through the normal set-up procedures for a Media Center PC and, if applicable, any Media Center extenders you have.

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TV Features, Cable Operators, CableCARD and Tru2Way

Q: Will the Ceton Quad-Tuner Card tune analog, Clear QAM and/or ATSC channels in addition to encrypted digital cable channels?

A: The Ceton Digital Cable Quad-Tuner card is a digital TV solution.  In addition to encrypted digital cable channels, it will also tune Clear QAM (e.g. unencrypted cable) and ATSC (e.g. over-the-air HD broadcast) channels.  As a digital TV solution it will not support analog channels however.  There are many low-cost analog TV tuners available on the market that you could add to a Media Center PC if you require analog TV support in addition to digital TV.

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Q: Does the Ceton Quad-Tuner card support Closed Captioning?

A: Yes.  Ceton tuners in a Windows 7 Media Center PC support closed captioning for digital channels.

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Q: Will the Ceton Quad-Tuner card support Tru2Way services from my cable operator?

A: Tru2Way is a combination of hardware and software and requires that your local cable operator offer Tru2Way services on their cable plant.   There is very limited deployment of Tru2Way services to consumer homes in the US currently.

The Ceton Digital Cable Quad-Tuner card is hardware that integrates with the Windows 7 Media Center software to enable the user experience (TV guide, live channels, DVR, search, etc.) that you see today.  A cable operator could develop a Windows 7 Media Center application that takes advantage of the Ceton technology to enable Tru2Way services on the PC, however no such applications are available currently.

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Q: How much hard drive space do DVR recordings take up?

A: DVR recording space will vary by show, especially for HD content, depending on what bit-rate the show is encoded and broadcast in.  Sports shows like a football games tend to take up more space than movies, for example, since they’re typically encoded and broadcast at higher bit rates.  As an average assume the following:

• 60 min HD show – 6 GB (500 GB hard drive = 83 hours of HD)
• 60 min SD show – 1 GB (500 GB hard drive = 500 hours of HD)

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Q: What is CableLabs?

A: Founded in 1988 by cable operating companies, Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. (CableLabs®) is a non-profit research and development consortium that is dedicated to pursuing new cable telecommunications technologies and to helping its cable operator members integrate those technical advancements into their business objectiv

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Q. What is CableLabs Certification and why does it matter?

A. The US cable industry has a required certification program that is designed to make sure products like set-top boxes, cable modems, TV tuner cards and other devices that connect to a cable network comply with the relevant cable industry specifications. Once a product has passed the certification process, it becomes CableLabs Certified and can then be sold commercially.

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Q: Does the Ceton Digital Cable Quad-Tuner Card support Tru2Way?

A: Currently, we do not support True2Way as there are very few Tru2Way services available to consumers today. If the True2Way market evolves such that there is enough demand to add that functionality, then it’s something we would certainly consider seriously.

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Q: What is Tru2Way?

A: Tru2Way is the current name for technology that has been in development by the US cable industry for several years that is designed to enable interactive (e.g. two-way/bi-directional) digital cable services to be delivered over the cable video network to a device in the home. Examples of digital cable services that require this bi-directional capability are the cable operator’s interactive program guide and Video on Demand (VOD).

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Q: Will the Ceton Digital Cable Quad-Tuner Card support Switched Digital Video? (SDV)

A: With the recent announcement by Microsoft and CableLabs that Windows 7 supports Switched Digital Video, we’re pleased to announce that the Ceton Digital Cable Quad-Tuner Card has been designed to natively support SDV via SDV Tuning Adapters available from your cable operator.

Depending on the type of headend infrastructure your cable operator uses, you will requires either one Tuning Adapter (for Motorola-based cable systems) or two Tuning Adapters (for Cisco/Scientific Atlanta-based cable systems) to support all 4 tuners on the Ceton quad-tuner card.

Please click here for a detailed explanation of how SDV works.

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Q: Will the Ceton Digital Cable Quad-Tuner Card support “copy freely”?

A: The Ceton PC card supports all digital rights associated with a cable channel, including copy freely.

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