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Official Ceton Echo Extender Info Thread - Page 158

post #4711 of 7632
12/30/12 at 8:41am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ShoutingMan View Post

Thanks all for the explanations. I'm learning I can't get what I want from an HTPC: whole house DVR with 4+ tuners, and whole house ripped disc playback. My goal was an HTPC in the basement media room, connected with extenders in the living room and bedroom. I could watch TV (live and recorded) in the living room and bedroom. I could watch movies in the basement, and ripped TV DVDs in the bedroom -- including the fantastic commentaries on Futurama.
If I want give up whole house DVR,, I can stay with my Tivos. Maybe upgrade to the Premiere to get 4 or more tuners in the house.
If I give up Blu-ray quality and bonus features, I can do streaming ripped/compressed movies.
I want ripped disc playback, with menus and special features, first because my wife and I watch the bonus materials. Second because its fast and easy. Hard drive space is cheap. I'd rather buy more drives than spend the time necessary to pick the right set of fussy transcode parameters to maximize quality, minimize space, make it play right on the Xbox, pick the right title to transcode, wonder if sub titles are there for foreign films...and then spend the year of weekends getting all the transcodes done.

Yes you can. Right now you'll need 2 boxes at the other locations.. the echo or an Xbox and a streamer for the HBR mkv's. I hope that in the near future ceton can whittle that down to one box.. The echo. I think that they want to do that too.
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post #4712 of 7632
12/30/12 at 10:05am
You can already do compressed 1080p h.264 mp4's with the Xbox 360s as an extenders. I've been using a central HTPC with the 6 tuner HDHomeRun Prime for over a year and compressed my entire collection to 1080p h.264 AC-3 mp4s. Works and looks great with Media Browser on the Xbox 360. I want to replace the Xbox 360s because of noise and power. The current state of the Echo is almost there. It appears you can play some 1080p h.264 mp4s as long as the b-frame/ref. are less than 8 and the frame rate is set to constant. The Variable Frame Rate flag seems to be the biggest issue with playback on the Echo. This also works for MKV's.
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post #4713 of 7632
12/30/12 at 11:27am
Quote:
Originally Posted by slowbiscuit View Post

A so-called 'whole home' DVR from Comcast that only has two tuners and limited storage is really not worth discussing here, go over to dslreports' Comcast Cable forum and have fun. What a joke.

A "joke"? It's not ideal but it isn't perfect either. Last time I checked the Echo was far from perfect too. It has been released for public sale for a month now and they are just now getting 1080p figured out. You guys hopeing it will be able to play back HBR .mkv's in the future should start looking for swamp land in Arizona too!

I like that my Comast "joke" just works right out of the box. Have fun tinkering with your DVR solution!
Edited by Biggen_PCB - 12/30/12 at 11:33am
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post #4714 of 7632
12/30/12 at 11:39am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sammy2 View Post

Quote:
Originally Posted by ShoutingMan View Post

I want ripped disc playback, with menus and special features, first because my wife and I watch the bonus materials. Second because its fast and easy. Hard drive space is cheap. I'd rather buy more drives than spend the time necessary to pick the right set of fussy transcode parameters to maximize quality, minimize space, make it play right on the Xbox, pick the right title to transcode, wonder if sub titles are there for foreign films...and then spend the year of weekends getting all the transcodes done.



Yes you can. Right now you'll need 2 boxes at the other locations.. the echo or an Xbox and a streamer for the HBR mkv's. I hope that in the near future ceton can whittle that down to one box.. The echo. I think that they want to do that too.

I think you need htpc at each location for blu-ray with all the original features including menu's etc.Correct?
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post #4715 of 7632
12/30/12 at 11:53am
Has anyone else had trouble with the beta firmware version 2012.1221.1618? My Echo has been occasionally freezing up during live tv with this one. When it freezes up it doesn't respond to any remote commands except for the power button. If I wait long enough it sometimes starts to respond again but it sometimes just reboots itself. I didn't have this problem with the previous version (2012.1219.1030).
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post #4716 of 7632
12/30/12 at 1:01pm
I've had nothing but trouble with that beta f/w.
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post #4717 of 7632
12/30/12 at 1:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by t-c View Post

I think you need htpc at each location for blu-ray with all the original features including menu's etc.Correct?

IDK. All I watch is the movie, not the menu as I don't have time for all that other stuff. I wasn't thinking of that at all. Sorry.
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post #4718 of 7632
12/30/12 at 5:28pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Biggen_PCB View Post

It's not ideal but it isn't perfect either.
As the great Yogi Berra might say, "there's a lot of truth to the validity of that statement." biggrin.gif
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post #4719 of 7632
12/30/12 at 5:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Haba View Post

Good to know, thanks. Ceton currently has an End of Year-Save Up to $50 sale going on for those interested.
I'd order the Echo / InifiniTv combo if I knew the Echo was going to do do what I need.
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post #4720 of 7632
12/30/12 at 6:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken.F View Post

Has anyone else had trouble with the beta firmware version 2012.1221.1618? My Echo has been occasionally freezing up during live tv with this one. When it freezes up it doesn't respond to any remote commands except for the power button. If I wait long enough it sometimes starts to respond again but it sometimes just reboots itself. I didn't have this problem with the previous version (2012.1219.1030).

Yes, I opened a ticket in the bug tracker for beta participants. For me, the freezes only happen in Native. 720p is very stable. Unfortunately, for good quality playback you need to be in Native until 1080p can upscale 720p without stuttering.
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post #4721 of 7632
12/30/12 at 10:29pm
Hey guys, I don't want to hijack this thread on an off topic question. But many of you here are WMC experts, so I wondered if you'd take a look at a thread I've started.

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1448385/add-a-cctv-security-system-as-a-channel-in-windows-media-center

I'm looking at wanting to add a channel to WMC to view the output of a CCTV security system.

I just wanted to mention it here to reach out to the WMC expert community. Thanks!
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post #4722 of 7632
12/31/12 at 9:05am
Can you guys give me a rough estimate for the latest F/W how long it takes from cold off to live TV? We use a 10/100/1000 switch + cat6 if that matters.

WAF could be better with the 30-45 second boot for the 360... she ends up leaving it on all the time so she doesn't have to boot up again. That's $$$.
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post #4723 of 7632
12/31/12 at 9:10am
That's about how long it takes but at 5W it is more like ¢ as opposed to $$$ to leave it on.
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post #4724 of 7632
12/31/12 at 9:18am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sammy2 View Post

That's about how long it takes but at 5W it is more like ¢ as opposed to $$$ to leave it on.
good point. I could just program the Harmony to not turn off the Echo and she'll never know the difference. Thanks for the input!
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post #4725 of 7632
12/31/12 at 9:20am
Don't forget your PC side of power consumption. Your PC won't go into sleep mode when extender session is on.
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post #4726 of 7632
12/31/12 at 9:21am
Quote:
Originally Posted by t-c View Post

I think you need htpc at each location for blu-ray with all the original features including menu's etc.Correct?

I was reading the thread on the Raspberry Pi in the Linux-HTPC sub forum. They've made some great strides with OpenELEC and the Pi. Seems like they have full DVD playback with menus and playback of Blu-Ray without the default menus, though the AnyDVD 'Speedmenus' apparently work. I really think this may be the way too go not far off.
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post #4727 of 7632
12/31/12 at 9:30am
When they support CopyProtected LiveTV that will be the gemstone but for the two box solution it might be good. The Pi and the echo are really two different things..
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post #4728 of 7632
12/31/12 at 9:31am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Foxbat121 View Post

Don't forget your PC side of power consumption. Your PC won't go into sleep mode when extender session is on.

My PC's are always on anyways so I didn't consider that but yes if you are sleeping your HTPC (which I plan to maybe do one day) then that needs to be in the power consumption total.
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post #4729 of 7632
12/31/12 at 11:29am

RE: Official Ceton Echo Extender Info Thread

Also don't forget the constant live tv buffering that will put a huge burden on your hdd when echo is left on.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sammy2 View Post

Quote:
Originally Posted by Foxbat121 View Post

Don't forget your PC side of power consumption. Your PC won't go into sleep mode when extender session is on.

My PC's are always on anyways so I didn't consider that but yes if you are sleeping your HTPC (which I plan to maybe do one day) then that needs to be in the power consumption total.


Sent from my RM-820_nam_canada_246 using Board Express
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post #4730 of 7632
12/31/12 at 11:44am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Foxbat121 View Post

Also don't forget the constant live tv buffering that will put a huge burden on your hdd when echo is left on.

HDDs can last a long time. The 160GB Seagate in the Motorola DVR we still have has been recording (buffering) two channels continuously for the last four years. cool.gif My RMA rate has been 1 drive every 1-2 years, and I use maybe 10 drives across my systems and backups.
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post #4731 of 7632
12/31/12 at 11:52am
I've been buffering on my WD "green" 500g drive since 2010 almost 24/7. Gotta love WD.
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post #4732 of 7632
12/31/12 at 12:11pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Foxbat121 View Post

Also don't forget the constant live tv buffering that will put a huge burden on your hdd when echo is left on.

The constant live tv buffering is only active when the extender is tuned to a channel, at least that is the way it works for my HTPC and Xbox 360 extenders. Unless there is something different about the Echo, surely one can teach the family when turning off the t.v. to hit the stop button and go back to the main menu on the extender before turning off the t.v.. Besides saving wear and tear on the HD of the HTPC, you will also free up a tuner for recording.
Edited by Haba - 12/31/12 at 12:19pm
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post #4733 of 7632
12/31/12 at 12:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Haba View Post

surely one can teach the family when turning off the t.v. to hit the stop button and go back to the main menu on the extender before turning off the t.v..

If you have a Harmony you can add a Stop command to the shutdown macro (I do, just to be sure).
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post #4734 of 7632
12/31/12 at 1:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tima94930 View Post

HDDs can last a long time. The 160GB Seagate in the Motorola DVR we still have has been recording (buffering) two channels continuously for the last four years. cool.gif My RMA rate has been 1 drive every 1-2 years, and I use maybe 10 drives across my systems and backups.

My RMA rate per drive is about 2 to 3 years on normal PC recently. I can't imagine what it will be with constant live buffering. Newer drives are less dependable than the old drives (160GB or 500GB) due to the increased density and race to produce the cheapest HDD per TB.
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post #4735 of 7632
12/31/12 at 2:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ncarty97 View Post

Quote:
Originally Posted by t-c View Post

I think you need htpc at each location for blu-ray with all the original features including menu's etc.Correct?

I was reading the thread on the Raspberry Pi in the Linux-HTPC sub forum. They've made some great strides with OpenELEC and the Pi. Seems like they have full DVD playback with menus and playback of Blu-Ray without the default menus, though the AnyDVD 'Speedmenus' apparently work. I really think this may be the way too go not far off.

Thanks, I'll definately read that thread.
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post #4736 of 7632
12/31/12 at 2:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Foxbat121 View Post

My RMA rate per drive is about 2 to 3 years on normal PC recently. I can't imagine what it will be with constant live buffering. Newer drives are less dependable than the old drives (160GB or 500GB) due to the increased density and race to produce the cheapest HDD per TB.

Go with a WD Black Edition. They have 5 year warranties. However, they are not the quietest. I am probably going to go with a 2TB Green Edition for efficiency and see how it holds up.
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post #4737 of 7632
12/31/12 at 3:05pm
Is it necessary to stop live TV before shutting off the Echo? I always do but I wonder if it really matters.
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post #4738 of 7632
12/31/12 at 3:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by BenJF3 View Post

Go with a WD Black Edition. They have 5 year warranties. However, they are not the quietest. I am probably going to go with a 2TB Green Edition for efficiency and see how it holds up.

I'd suggest one of the 'AV' drives as they are designed to be in DVR's.
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post #4739 of 7632
12/31/12 at 3:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by almostinsane View Post

I'd suggest one of the 'AV' drives as they are designed to be in DVR's.
when you say "designed to be in DVR", does that mean they are simply built to last longer? Or their firmware different than normal drives?
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post #4740 of 7632
12/31/12 at 3:54pm
The warranty is only as good as the piece of paper it is printed on. It doesn't cover lost data only the drive so IMHO it is cheaper in the long run to go with less expensive drives as their performance is the same.
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