Official Ceton Echo Extender Info Thread - Page 192

That's no different than Verizon FiOS.

It basically means, as I understand it, that they're going to take over your existing wiring in your house when they install Google Fiber TV.

Or not. If I'm getting there service they should re-wire my house too. What good it fiber to the house and then 40 or 50 y.o. wiring inside? I'd make them re-wire it as part of the installation. If that is the issue then just say that not that you cannot have another service. If I have another service I don't want the wires crossed either because that obviously won't work.

I guess you'll have to excuse me for not being 100% up to speed on SageTV version numbers. I think when most of us think of SageTV, we're thinking pre-Google acquisition. And as others have pointed out, we're talking about solutions that are reasonably available to just about anyone rather than a relatively closed system available only to a small number of people.

New update is out...

beta 2013.206.1558
* Improved deinterlace performance.
* Improved audio performance.

That one seems to work pretty good for me.

Just unhooked the XBox and hooked up the Echo to try the new beta. The Echo is still vastly subpar compared to the XBox on my test recordings.

The Echo's native mode still plays my Malta clip with heavy combing. It seems to play ok at 720p.

Last night's Simpson opening has a constant stutter in the opening. On the XBox it plays smoothly, although it's a bit blurrier -- perhaps indicating it's averaging the frames to deinterlace? The Echo seems to simply throw out a frame every half second or so.

Result? XBox hooked up again.

I have to wonder how much money Ceton has to continue bug fixing this product.

I tested that clip. No combing at all. It looks fantastic. I'm connected to a totally different TV now. My 19" Toshiba in the kitchen. No AVR i/p scaler or processing in the TV as this is a cheap TV. I'm not sure but maybe you need to do a Recovery on your echo? Open a ticket with ceton for sure.

Sammy have you even found a simple something wrong picture wise with anything Ceton has put out? It's starting to sound like every single release is awesome..I have to believe the back to back interlace related FW did something so it can't all be roses as you tell it

How would anyone see interlacing on a 19" TV?

If you really want me to I'll plug it back into my 40" and look real real close but I already did that with the "Malta" clip on the 129 f/w and there was no combing then and there is none now on the 19" TV either.

BTW, I have had a lot of problems with this little thing.. Green screens, Lack of audio, chipmunk audio, Terrible picture. But while I have not had problems with the latest f/w releases I still can only get a limited number of mkv's to play.

I still have video stutter issues with this one, on certain channels like EncoreHD. Have been sending in diagnostics files to Ceton, but I think they're a bit overwhelmed as they don't seem to care too much (I got an acknowledgment of receipt and they closed the ticket).

Honestly, the Echo performs 'pretty well' for me right now, but is still far inferior to the 360 in this mode as an extender. I don't think anyone other than Sammy would disagree with this. I am concerned that Ceton has run out of gas and the improvements we're seeing are becoming less and less significant, and that they may not ever cross the finish line. I hope I'm wrong, but this thing is just not anywhere near where it should be.

I am still on the fence as to what I am going to do. I must say that the Ceton is faster at navigating in MediaBrowser with backdrops etc than my XBOX. However even MediaBrowser is abandoning extenders in their next version.

Really seems to me like our last best hope for multi-room HTPC is DTCP-IP. Even then though I don't see a recorded content solution on the horizon.

xnappo

This is more/less my sentiments as well. I think it works well for occasional bedroom TV watching in its current state (not my master bedroom, but my other ones). For primary tv watching locations, I still use 360s. I fully intend to replace the 360s with Echos if/when the remaining issues get worked out (TV and various extender quirks) and when we get some better mkv file playback (fingers crossed). I also really hope we see some HDMI-CEC functionality come through soon... I really just want to use one remote (yes, I know I can use other WMC remotes... it's principle at this point).

I'm using mine in my main viewing area and for my needs it works great. The latest firmware has fixed the slight stutter on panning scenes on the Smithsonian channel that I was experiencing on previous firmware. The picture and sound quality has been great on the last few updates.
I'm sitting about 12 ft from my 52 inch Sony and everything is crystal clear without combing or any other anomalies. The only thing I'm waiting for is native dvd rip support and i (and the wifey) will be content.

I wonder if they'll continue to try to force WMX changes outside normal TV viewing?

If they're set on the Android side, one should be able to run XBMC with little difficulty and get what we're all clamoring for. I haven't seen XBMC on an Android device though - does the Echo have enough muscle to decode Blu-Ray rips/isos?

Does extender mode have to run exclusively? Could it run in an App (I'm thinking no, as that sounds like what 'Softsled' was supposed to be)

See, I'm not the only one!

In beta testing (which we are currently in really), a product test run that runs normal is not as important as it fails in certain conditions. Just because you and a few others didn't see the problem, doesn't mean the Echo is bug free or problem free. Although currently I don't see significant issues yet (but I don't really use Echo that much either), I'd keep my mouth shut and let others who do experience problems to speak up. But that's just me.

I honestly don't intend this to sound snarky, but I suspect Sammy isn't particularly picky when it comes to vide playback quality. He didn't seem to mind the deinterlacing problems back in November when they were really bad.

My Echo has been boxed up for a while, but last time I tried it (a few weeks ago) I wasn't particularly happy. It was OK- good enough that I wouldn't return it for that reason- but it still didn't quite look right. But a lack of decent media playback support is really a dealbreaker for me. I'm holding out another week to see if they can get the Android update out the door. But its really looking like they aren't going to get that out. Even if they do manage to release it, its not going to be out long enough to really test. Plus I expect once it is released it will be pretty rough around the edges.

PIVOS for one, but htere are others, I have a noname which came with XBMC installed on it.

As for the Echo playing BD rips? Who knows, I would be ok with 1080i playback working perfectly, even resonably well. But on a 70" Sharp, not a 19" what ever ...

That explains why I spent an entire weekend calibrating the TV in my HT and got a discrete card for my HTPC and spent time with that set up.

This is disappointing at best, i did not know this.


Totally agree with you on this one. 7MC is only a holdover untill this kicks in, if it kicks in...

I guess MB 2.6.2 is the end of the line for me but I'm over it.

I don't know but DTCP-IP doesn't seem to have the PVR part.

Why cant somebody understand what is needed and fulfill that need?

There will be a work around I a sure.

That seems to be the only way to truly enjoy 7MC, is with a nicely calibrated HTPC. It is a true shame no one can come up with an equally nice extender modle.

Well don't tell them I said 'abandoning' But from the architecture it is pretty clear to me MB 3.0 will not be able to support extenders.

xnappo

I don't know but I'm not seeing much difference between the echo and my HTPC.

Not yet for live TV content with copy once flags or DRM.

Sadly, the market is just small enough that there isn't a strong enough incentive to create workarounds for this. Thus, if you actually want some freedom to control your media, there is no legal way to do so. DRM just pushes folks into.. ahem.. piracy. Honestly, there is a large part of me that would prefer to cut cable TV entirely and rely on other methods of obtaining the shows I want to watch, simply because it's much more enjoyable to be able to store them for a later time without having to worry about what happens if the hardware in my HTPC has a problem. Current DRM schemes are designed entirely to lock people out of doing things on their own, and to lock everyone into low quality media company-controlled boxes. Given the way that WMC has been abandoned, I'm waiting for a miracle DTCP-IP option to show up. If it doesn't, I'm probably moving away from giving the cable company any more money for TV content before much longer. I hope for Ceton's sake that the Echo can be made to have a DTCP-IP client--otherwise, they'll be lucky just to break even on this thing in the long run.

Why? They can do LiveTV now. What they need to do is proper mkv playback now and web apps for netlix and amazon for the masses that enjoy that highly compressed stuff.

WMC is irrelevant. It will never give you what you want in a unified interface. DTCP-IP is essential to make that happen, or you're switching between two different interfaces.