11:45 AM -- Ceton Corp. confirmed Engadet's report that its first batch of InfiniTV 4 CableCARD tuners for Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) Windows Media Center PCs has reached the US and should soon be in customer hands. (See Ceton Pitches Cable Set-Top Alternative and Ceton Ready to Fire Live Bullets.)

However, not every customer who pre-ordered the product, which allows PCs to share most of the functions found in a digital cable set-top, will get one in this round.

The InifniTV 4, whose debut has been delayed due to parts shortages, is on its way to Ceton's pre-order retailers, which include Zones Inc., Cannon PC, and Fluid Digital.

"Units will ship out on a first ordered/first shipped basis and the first customers will be receiving their Ceton InfiniTV 4 starting next week (depending on the shipping method they chose)," Ceton chief marketing officer Ed Graczyk noted via email. "We’re manufacturing, testing and shipping as fast as we can but I can’t give you a date yet for when we think all pre-order units will be shipped and in people’s hands."

Ceton hasn't said how many pre-orders it has received for the product, which retails for $399 and can share content (including premium channels like HBO) on home networks akin to the way that a more traditonal multi-room DVR works. But a number of customers have been waiting anxiously, as Ceton had at one point expected to start shipments in the first quarter of 2010. (See Ceton Delays CableCARD PC-TV Tuner.)

Depending on how many units Ceton ends up moving, the InfinTV 4 could give a boost to a flagging retail market for one-way CableCARD-ready video devices.

— Jeff Baumgartner, Site Editor, Light Reading Cable