The Windows Team Blog has the scoop on the newly released Ceton InfiniTV 4 digital cable tuner card, which Media Center enthusiasts have been waiting on for some time. Last November, changes to industry policy allowed for the installation of digital cable tuner cards to any Windows PC that supported them.

Now, thats a very real possibility with the new InfiniTV 4 card.

The card outperforms most cable companies DVRs by a longshot, allowing you to record up to four live channels of HDTV at once. It offers support for regular, HD and premium channels, too.

The card interoperates with Windows Media Center and its Extenders like the Xbox 360, allowing you to ditch the monthly DVR rental fee you pay to your cable company today. Instead, you install the card and then just stream live or recorded TV from the PC where its installed to the other PCs and TVs (via extenders) around the home.

The card is designed for desktop computers, not laptops, but will support slim entertainment PCs thanks to its PCI Express Low Profile form factor. The company says an external USB-attached version and other form factors are currently in the works for laptop users and those on other platforms.

The Ceton InfiniTV 4 card has a Suggested Retail Price of $399.00 and is available to pre-order today from Zones.com. Pre-ordered units will ship mid-2010. Over time, it will arrive in brick-and-mortar and online stores as well as in PCs built by OEMs.

To see if your PC supports the card, check out the system requirements here.

Vista Service Pack 1 fixes several items in Media Center. This Service Pack is more an incremental step in the evolution of Media Center and not the next leap in features. Besides a roll-up of hot fixes, SPI adds the following features:

• Adds support to enable new types of Windows Media Center Extenders, such as digital televisions and networked DVD players, to connect to Windows Media Center PCs.
• Enhances the MPEG-2 decoder to support content protection across a user accessible bus on Media Center systems configured with Digital Cable Tuner hardware. This also effectively enables higher levels of hardware decoder acceleration for commercial DVD playback on some hardware.

According to Microsoft’s release notes, here is a list of the over 20 items fixed by SP1:

• Fixes error message when you try to watch live TV in Windows Media Center on a Windows Vista-based computer: “Restricted Content – Display Driver”
• Windows Media Center does not correctly configure a combo TV tuner that supports both ATSC and NTSC signals on a Windows Vista-based computer
• You may not receive audio in the desired language when you use Windows Media Center to view television in Windows Vista
• On a Windows Vista-based computer, DVD movies that are contained in a Niveus Disc Changer are not displayed in Windows Media Center after you click “DVD library”
• You cannot hear the audio in Live TV or on a DVD in Windows Media Center after you wake a computer that is running Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate
• When you play a Windows Media High Definition Video DVD in Windows Media Center in Windows Vista, the video may not be synchronized with the audio
• Error message when you configure the Media Center feature or when a scheduled program guide download occurs in Windows Vista: “Windows Media Center Store Update Manager stopped working”
• The screen may be black or the menu screen may be unresponsive in Windows Media Center in Windows Vista
• Error message when you start a Windows Vista-based computer: “Windows Media Center Receiver Service stopped working and was closed”
• The screen of an external monitor is black, or it appears to be broken when the monitor is connected to a Windows Vista-based portable computer that is running Windows Media Center in full-screen mode
• You lose channel listings for some channels and the recordings that you schedule cannot run when you configure Windows Media Center to use a digital TV tuner in Windows Vista
• Error message when you start a Windows Vista-based computer that has more than one TV tuners: “Windows Media Center Receiver Service stopped working and was closed”
• Windows Media Center stops responding when you resume a Windows Vista-based computer from hibernation
• When you watch Live TV or Recorded TV in Windows Media Center on a computer that is running Windows Vista, the picture may appear distorted or pixilated
• Error message when you use Windows Media Center to play music in Windows Vista: “Audio Error: An unknown audio error has occurred”
• When you use an integrated LCD screen to watch a video that uses a 50-Hz PAL signal, the video playback quality may be poor in Windows Media Center on a computer that is running Windows Vista
• When you try to watch live TV on the LA7 channel in Windows Media Center, you hear audio, but you do not see video on a computer that is running Windows Vista
• When you use Windows Media Center to play live TV or a DVD on a Windows Vista-based computer, you cannot hear the audio after you wake the computer from sleep
• The TV screen appears as solid green or as blocky pixels when you use Windows Media Center to watch HDTV content on a Windows Vista-based computer
• After you are prompted to upgrade the DRM components on a Windows Vista-based computer, Windows Media Center cannot perform a security upgrade
• The Manage Discs feature in Windows Media Center stops responding after you resume a Windows Vista-based computer from sleep or hibernation

Extremetech has an article on how to turn your Xbox 360 into a media extender. As I have mentioned before, the Xbox 360 is the only version 2 media extender to work with Vista’s Media Center.

From the article:

Once you’ve configured the Xbox 360 and your PC, you can share almost any media on your computer right through the usually-superior speakers, video equipment, and other gear that comprises your entertainment system. It’s a great way to show photos to friends, watch digital video that you’ve uploaded from a camcorder, or listen to your favorite tunes. The 360 even ports over playlists from your PC, and you can create your own on the fly.

The article is a good step-by-step of how to setup the Xbox 360. Pretty basic stuff but worth reading nonetheless.

Microsoft has announced details on the new Xbox 360 Arcade, the replacement to the initial Xbox 360 Core. The Arcade will retail for $279.99, which will be cheaper than the announced price of several stand alone media center extenders. It makes you wonder how media center extenders are going to differentiate themselves in the marketplace.

Microsoft has positioned the Xbox 360 as a media center extender for Vista. This means you can control your Vista PC through your Xbox 360, accessing your content wherever there is a 360. The Arcade has no hard drive, but that does not impact its functions as an extender. Most importantly, it still has a a HDMI port.

If you are looking to pair a 360 with your Vista Media Center, look no further than the Arcade.