Official Ceton Echo Extender Info Thread - Page 16

Please don't take what I'm saying below as me attempting to spread FUD - that is not my intent. I'm trying to write down my thought process and share it with others.
http://cablelabs.org/opencable/udcp/...ads/OC_PNP.pdf does not show any new certified CableCARD devices. It is possible they have something still in the process, but I would think that's unlikely as the company is only about a year old, and to design a CableCARD tuner + this product in only a year, especially for a new company, is unlikely just due to the amount of engineering required. Keep in mind it took Ceton about 4 years to launch a CableCARD tuner alone. It also took SiliconDust, who had an existing ClearQAM tuner to start with, 2+ years to do the same thing.
I'm not aware of any partnership between Ceton and them (though I suppose there could be some sort of deal going on I'm not aware of) which leaves me two possible conclusions:
1. They are using the SiliconDust platform (likely USB based, but with 3 tuners) and have basically 2 three-tuner (this change should likely take almost no engineering effort from SD) DCR-2650s inside of it.
2. They do not have a tuner yet, and are betting on purchasing InfiniTV 6 units when they are available.

Not to nitpick, but the Xbox runs a version of Windows underneath. It may be WinCE or a varient of Windows Embedded, but it's definitely not Linux

I am just waiting for the beta!!!

I had put windows in and I must have deleted it. Yeah, Microsoft is not a fan of Linux. The only exception I know is Hotmail. If I remember hotmail is (or at one time) on linux. If I remember though they moved it off.

more about Whiteman Technology's Delta DVR

This is getting more interesting

Wouldn't this DVR talk be more appropriate in the Q thread? Or it's own thread? Since it's not an extender solution?

It's amazing that it's taken so many years to finally get WMC set top boxes that work with cable providers. Better late than never!

One of the major drawbacks of using the Xbox 360 as a WMC extender besides the noise and power usage, is the fact that there is no direct volume control. Because I use external speakers, my TV disables the ability to adjust volume level directly. I'm crossing my fingers that Ceton has included this functionality into these products, as I suspect there are others with a similar configuration...

I think it was just last year that Microsoft announced windows embedded would support the media center. Prior to that companies would haver to build a windows machine to do an appliance like device. But had microsoft been a little more agressive on this, they could have been far ahead by now.

I wholeheartedly agree. I have just been researching this issue myself. I was given a 360 with drive read errors and have been testing. I do NOT understand why Microsoft choose to not allow volume adjustment via the extender's WMC volume control.

My wife and I would both love to see a volume amplifier to raise volume levels up to 200% like they have in Media Player Classic. The sound levels on some movies are very, very low.

Nope. Extenders *could* be based on Linux. They all were not. The 360 does not run any Linux.

Am I remembering correctly? The Ceton Echo page today says "coming in 2012". Didn't it say "coming soon" before? Thoughts on significance?

Well damn it better be 2012.

Would this device be the first extender for both Movies and TV? I find it odd that the Xbox can serve as an extender for TV but not Movie rips. And that Media center PC's can stream movies but not TV. Great to have a device coming out that can extend both. Will it work with My Movies? Can it work in conjunction with Autonomic's Media Control System?

I share your concern--a change like that usually is significant. I'm very interested to see what they say at the Cable Show (Boston, May21-23).

My xbox plays all my moves with ff/rwd intact - I just convert to wtv 1080p

That would be about a 5-10 minute walk from my office (well, at least for the days I don't work from home), but too expensive to even consider attending given what I'd get out of it.

I also convert rip movies using handbrake and they play fine in WMC using Xbox as extender.

But you lose HBR audio and Chapters right? And I thought the 360 couldn't handle (in extender mode) full BD bitrates.

There may be DIY workarounds, but as an integrator, we cannot really implement this kind of solution that involves extra hurdles. This Ceton hopefully can provide just the simplified solution we have been looking for.

Here's to hoping we'll hear something this week.

Looks like it is close......

http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/30/c...eta/#continued

Sounds like we have quite a wait left. At the end of the video on Engadget the Echo beta doesn't start until July 15th, so I would assume it won't be released to retail for a couple of months after that. Dang.

That video

http://cetoncorp.com/ceton-beta-registration/

Go go go!

I signed up for both betas: apps & extender

Did you guys get any sort of confirmation when you signed up? I just got a blank screen after hitting submit. Maybe their servers are overloaded?

I got the same thing a couple of hours ago. Was expecting some sort of confirmation, be it web page or e-mail based.

If you scroll back to the top the confirmation is there. For some reason it doesn't bring you to the top of the page after it refreshes.