Official Ceton Echo Extender Info Thread - Page 143

It hasn't reached beta channels yet, for most of us anyway. From the post, it added native resolution support but 1080i channels are still outputted as 1080p.

its a controlled internal\select FW push. I would expect numbers would be low.

I just got the new beta, 1080p still AWFUL, unwatchable. Someone said it is much improved? Not at all. I really don't think they can fix it. They must have known about this problem for months? What would take this long?

Because they are waiting on Freescale to fix it. I will not trust anyone's impression of 1080i fix until I see it with my own eyes. Most ppl just don't know how to test it without a pre-recorded show to check it out.

What f/w number does your echo report? I have not received Austin yet although michael sent me a pm on the beta forum asking for my MAC ID that I didn't see for a couple hours. I sent it to him but maybe he hasn't received it yet?

I think it will be fixable. Who knows? Maybe an earlier release of the drivers had it working, but had another issue...

No doubt that this product was rushed to market, but I think they will fix it.

It is close to the holidays though - if we are going to see a fix before Xmas season it will probably be in the next 5 days. After that I don't expect to see progress until January if they are relying on another company to deliver something.

xnappo

Sorry, false alarm. I have not even plugged the thing in for several days, so when I saw I was getting an update I thought it was the latest, and but it was the 1720 version.

Does anyone know how to limit which mc remote code sets the echo responds to? I guess there is an answer in the beta forums but I don't have access.

BTW, since we are all unofficial beta testers anyway, why don't they open up the beta forums to all of us?

Thanks for the clarification. I thought and hoped this was the case.

I think there's a wiki on ceton's site covering this. I'll look when I get a chance. The beta testers are still getting selected f/w pushes before others and not all of us are getting each one of them either so th beta program continues. I think ceton is doing this because if one of these bricks an echo it isn't in the wild to brick everybody's echo.

Still runing the last firmware (1206) and was supprised to find out that my FBR BD rip mkv files now play without problems.

m2ts and wmv still broken.
Edited by Foxbat121 - 12/12/12 at 8:02am

FBR?

Do you have the bit rate and audio codec information for that? I am assuming h.264 for video.

Here it is. I have not tried this and am not sure how it would work with a Harmony but it should if you have the DVD menu button programmed to your harmony as I assume everybody has the MoreInfo button and Play button as these three get pressed together according to the instructions.

Echo "Special" Remote Control Sequences¶
The below are special remote control sequences that when turned off will enable or disable certain features on Echo. This will also be available via a Settings GUI in a future update.

Assigning Remote Control addresses¶
The RC-6 Mode 6A IR Protocols support multiple remotes and multiple Windows Media Center devices in the same room. The total number of separate remote control addresses is eight. The user should be able to change the address of the remote with a few simple keystrokes.

Programming the Remote Control address your Ceton Echo listens for¶
1.Turn off your Echo
2.Using your Remote Control enter in the below number sequence corresponding to the RC address you want
3.Change the Remote Control transmitting Remote Control address
24723370 = Resets the Echo to listen to any RC address. This is the default factory setting

24723371 = Sets the Echo to only listen for RC address # 1.
24723372 = Sets the Echo to only listen for RC address # 2.
24723373 = Sets the Echo to only listen for RC address # 3.
24723374 = Sets the Echo to only listen for RC address # 4.
24723375 = Sets the Echo to only listen for RC address # 5.
24723376 = Sets the Echo to only listen for RC address # 6.
24723377 = Sets the Echo to only listen for RC address # 7.
24723378 = Sets the Echo to only listen for RC address # 8.
Note: After changing the RC address the Echo listens for you will not be able to use the Remote Control unless it is configured for the same RC address

Setting the RC Address on the supplied Echo remote control¶
On the remote control, the end user simultaneously presses the INFO button plus a numeric button [1-8] for more than three seconds to change the remote control address.

Setting the CIR Address on standard eHome remote controls¶
On the remote control, the end user simultaneously presses the DVD MENU button plus a numeric button [1-8] for more than three seconds to change the remote control address. To indicate that the remote control address was changed successfully, the LED will blink twice. It is strongly recommended that all Windows Media Center remote controls support addressability.

Alternatively, the remote control address can also be changed by pressing the DVD MENU or MORE INFO button and a transport button for longer than three seconds. The transport buttons are Stop, Record, Pause, Rewind, Play, Fast Forward, Skip Back, and Skip Forward, and these buttons map to 1 through 8 respectively.

Setting the RC Address on the Media Center PC¶
Use the following registry key to enable your Media Center to only respond to a specific RC address.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SYSTEM\\CurrentControlSet\\Services\\Hid Ir\\Remotes\\745a17a0-74d3-11d0-b6fe-00a0c90f57da]
CodeSetNum0
Set CodeSetNum0 to the correspond RC address [0-8], where 0 resets to listen to any RC address.

Delete the below registry values

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SYSTEM\\CurrentControlSet\\Services\\Hid Ir\\Remotes\\745a17a0-74d3-11d0-b6fe-00a0c90f57da]
CodeSetNum1
CodeSetNum2
CodeSetNum3
Note: You will need to reboot for the change to take effect.

Average bit rate is above 30mbps with peaks over 40mbps (AVC). It is AC3 audio. Also tried another one with similar bitrate but with DTS-HD (no audio in Echo of course). Same file converted to m2ts will still stutter like before.

I'm using DIVX MF for mkv streaming right now.

What does FBR mean? is that an abreviation for a movie title or is it Fast Bit Rate?

This is good news. I don't think I had the same results but maybe need to try again. Movies of this caliper did not play nice last time I checked and anything dts caused the echo to either re-boot or return to the main menu.

I'm using LAV with the DIVX MF box unchecked in Shark007.

Maybe post screen shots of each of your settings screens when you get a chance.

Sorry, should have said HBR. My mistake.

There is a thread here:
http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/viewtopic.php?f=69&t=3775

We are doing a lot of enhancements to this area as well and are looking to put it into the plugin.

Thanks!

That's cool. Hopefully it will such that it works with Harmony remotes too.

BTW, any changelog for the Austin beta f/w?

I am interested in getting the HDHomeRun PRIME CableCARD and am doing some research into the extenders. Is the Xbox 360 the only extender that will work without a PC? Will this centon extender (has 3 tuners) let me watch TV without a PC?

You need a PC either way.

There is no tuner in the echo. The tuner is in the Prime or InfiniTV4 from ceton. You need a PC and a reliable network to use the echo.

At the present time you need a liberal interpretation of "watch tv" (until the bugs are worked out, which hopefully will be soon).

I know complaining doesn't really do a whole lot for you guys that purchased your Echos but aren't you guys pissed that (in essence) the public beta has now really begun and you bought hardware that doesn't live up to its billing?

Man, I'd be livid at Ceton if I plunked down $179 for a device that is riddled with bugs even though it had been being tested in a beta since the end of October. Granted they don't appear to all Ceton's doing but they still released a product to market that they apparently can't fix properly. Talk about a bad taste in my mouth from just reading this thread for the past couple of months and I don't even own one.

I get that no product comes to market perfect, but the one thing a MCX should be able to do if nothing else is playback 1080p without any issues. I mean, this is basic barebones stuff we are talking about here. If this is a Freescale issue, than this should have all been taken care of in the R&D phase and not once in production. I really do hope they can get this fixed by next week or their Christmas sales will be toast.

I am fine for now with mine, we seem to be having more "lockups" on the beta firmware recently, but it doesn't stop us from watching TV. Our unit delivers to our family room and bedroom, both just for casual TV viewing, we only watch 1-2 hours a day at the most.
From what I have gathered Ceton has proven themselves in the past, it may take some time, but I truly believe this unit will one day operate without locking up and without the "jitters" it has now...I am saving ~$40/month on my TV bill by using their tuner and Echo, another $3/month in electric.....I have time, TV isn't that important to me...

I am not pissed at all.

I've been fairly vocal and even I wouldn't say I'm pissed or livid. I'm certainly disappointed. I had high hopes for the Echo- maybe unrealistically high- and the current product doesn't come close to meeting them. I don't think the Echo is ready for use, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone in its current state. But, I have a hard time being too mad at Ceton. Basically, I have to think they've gotten screwed by Freescale in this deal. Sure, Ceton compounded that problem by releasing early, but I don't blame Ceton too much for thinking Freescale would resolve the issue in a more timely manner. I mean, how hard could it be to get 1080i playback working?

It's the price of being on the bleeding edge with brand new hardware AND software you have to know going in that there is going to be lots of problems. And for the most part with each new update it is getting better so as long as we are heading in the right direction that is all that matters to me. Canceled 2 DVR $25 each not counting the cost of the box and returned 4 cable boxes $8 per basically with taxes it's putting $80 per month back into my pocket . Still have 1 box as a backup just in case till I have a better comfort level.

-RobNY

I'm quite happy with my Ceton and if it didn't improve from where we are now I'd still be happy. However, I fully expect Ceton to resolve these issues and deliver updates to solve all the pending problems. At this point, I'll be ecstatic!

I'm very happy with my Echo. It does everything I need it to do and the picture quality has been fine for me. Plus it doesn't sound like an airplane is in the room like my old xbox did. While I'm sure they will be doing updates to fix problems others are having, if they left it as is, I would be fine with it for my needs.

If you are an Echo user on the Omega update channel, you can test a new release that addresses de-interlacing performance. We apologize that it has taken this long to deliver a fix to a fundamental aspect of the product performance.