Official Ceton Echo Extender Info Thread - Page 200

In my case it may have just been the luck of the draw. The main reason I'm returning it is because of the lack of playback for ripped Blu-Rays in mkv containers. I was hoping that the Echo would not only serve as a media extender but also as a media player. This would have set it apart from any extender previously sold. Perhaps this will still be implemented at a later date, but since the return window is rapidly closing I thought it best to return it now and wait and see what transpires down the road. I'd much rather have a box that only draws a couple of watts vs. a SFF PC that runs up my electric bill. I'm still open to owning an Echo if the features I want make their way into the firmware. My Echo was just sitting on the shelf collecting dust so I figured I'd rather get my money back while I could.

There are a ton of permutations of HDMI devices to connect to and wired and wireless setups that it's no surprise that it's working well for some and not for others.

There's a little bit of lag with the remote but you need to remember that it is contolling the host machine through your network so it is dependent on the quality as well as the speed of your network infrastructure.

I think that proper mkv playback is just around the corner BTW, so those of you that are returning it may miss out on that but maybe you'll buy another when that happens.

What makes you think mkv playback is just around the corner? Is that just wishful thinking or do you know something I dont know?

Each f/w has brought improvements such as there really isn't much else to do with it besides improve mkv playback. I'm just speculating that at the asking price of the echo, ceton realizes they need to deliver more than the Xbox in terms of content delivery because it isn't a gaming console. I'm just guessing here but I still have faith in the echo, though.

They need Windows 8 support. For the price they are asking for and the fact it is a new Extender, they must support Windows 8 for it to have a chance to survive.

mkv support is ok now. But lack of M2TS (>10mbps) and WMV support is inexcusable.

I'm fairly happy with my Echo. It's from a small company making a product for a niche market. So I didn't expect it to be perfect out of the gate, although it's common knowledge that it was rushed to market too quickly. At this point though, I'm happy with it for an extender. For me the pq is not quite there but it's very close. Mkv support would be icing and will result in me buying 1-2 more.

The silence of late from Ceton and lack of omegas/betas is interesting. It can mean one of two things- (1) they have either run into some roadblocks and/or are slowing efforts or (2) they are working on a large update. I have no special knowledge of anything but I've rationalized that the 2nd scenario is more likely. Not a business guy but I think they still want to maximize their ROI, even despite the W8 issue. Ideally for them they get a big update out before the beta return window but personally I'm not worried about whether they make that.

I've said it before, so I'll say it again. I've got 5 echos running in my house, on tv's ranging from 32 inches to 60 inches. It's flawless for TV playback. Couldn't be happier.

I too anxiously await fixes for mkv playback, but ultimately that's not why I bought these units. I bought this to eliminate settop box fees and have whole home DVR. It definitely does that without issue for me.

What are the spec's of your host HTPC?

I'm looking forward to picking up several of these beta units that get returned. I don't care about streaming mkv's or disc rips or making waffles. All I want is a small, quiet WMC 7 extender for live and recorded TV. Sounds like the Echo handles that fine. Whoever sees these refurbs hit the market first, please post.

Yes. I'm right there with you on that.

Seriously how can you keep saying and believing that same song and dance? What has Ceton posted EVER since the Echo release that alludes to the fact that proper HBR .mkv playback is around the corner?

I mean, it is good to have faith in a company but how long can you keep that up? Ceton keeping quite about the state of the Echo is speaking volumes. Now that people are starting to "see the light" the returns are starting to filter back to Ceton by even some that would be called "fanbois" at one time in the past.

Athena Power RM-2U2022S47 2U chassis with 470 Watt PowerSupply
ASUS P8Z77-M Pro Mother Board
Intel Core i5-3570K
2 Western Digital Red 3TB Drives
LG Blu-Ray Drive
16 GB Crucial RAM
Intel Gigabit NIC
2 Ceton Infini TV 4 Pci-E cards

Oh, that will do it.

I'm only going to be using a couple echos (maybe three) but in my situation they won't all be used at the same time so I hope my i3-550 running Win7x86 with ~4GB RAM will work because I really don't want to do all that is required to update to Win7x64.

The thing is that it does what I need it to do now and it does everything and more than was initially specified in the beta acceptance email. They never said it would do mkv but it does for files up to about 10~12Mbps so it already does more than ceton said it would in the specs released at the time the beta started, BTW. Anything else is icing on the cake so to speak.

I'm not sure but it seems that some people are just whiners in this thread. Return your echo if you don't like it but kwitcherbichin. I am not a fan boy. My echo does more than initially promised. The acceptance email even stated don't buy it if what the specs say right now are not going to work for you. So why whine about it when it doesn't do more than was even indicated in the specs? I just do not understand this mentality.

That said I am still positive that it will do even more but if it doesn't then that is fine too because it does what it is supposed to do.

LoL welcome to the internet, man. But everyone's got a set of priorities and I can understand that some feel the product right now is not what they want.

If your priorities or expectations for a product are outside what the specs say it will do you have no room to whine about it, IMHO.

While I agree that complaining about functionality that wasn't promised has no place here, there are a number of people complaining that it still isn't serving the primary purposes of an extender properly. Reading through the thread, it's clear that those people aren't all doing something wrong and there are still issues that Ceton needs to figure out and fix. Those people have every right to be complaining at this point - they spent their money and deserve to have a product that works at least as well as advertised or get their money back.

Ceton also promised that Android support was coming "soon" and haven't delivered that yet.

Has the Echo ever gotten the HTML5 Web Browsing? I don't think I remember reading if it did or did not yet?
Plus Ceton stated Windows 8 support with the retail launch of the Echo....

Is there a limit to the number of extenders that can be connected to an HTPC?

I think I read 5, so if that is the case, what happens when I turn on and try to pair number 6?

IIRC, you can have up to 5 active at a time, but can have more than that number paired. I don't recall hearing a limit on how many can be paired. I've never tried more than a couple, so I don't know what happens if you try to turn on one more beyond the limit, but I would assume that one would get an error message.

You can pair it, but it will kick off one other extender, or it will ask you to turn one of them off. I had paired 8 extenders once (for testing purposes), but only 5 could be stay on at a time.

From what I read, you can pair more than 5 extenders but only max 5 extender sessions at the same time are supported. So, you can have 6 extenders paired but only 5 can be turned on at the same time. If you turn on #6, it just won't be able to connect.

I've read thru as much of the thread as I can, but it's a lot to catch up on. does the device work properly, as an extender, for watching tv and dvr functions? I'm not worried about file access or streaming content, just live tv and dvr.

Some say "no". I state otherwise. It works quite well as an extender for Live/Recorded TV and PVR funtions for me every day as well as playing back some, but not all, of my mkv's.

When I plunked down my cash this was not part of the specifications nor is it now but as ceton has stated this would happen I expect that it will by Christmas 2013...

I don't remember ceton saying that it would do this. Not that they didn't say it just that I don't recall it. Their specifications don't list it though.

Again, I don't remember ceton saying that it would run under Win8. Not that they didn't say it just that I don't recall it because using it in a Win8 environment is not very important to me.

Well, I am out. My echo is sitting here next to me ready to go back to Amazon. Call me a whiner, call me whatever you want...this post is for Ceton's benefit if they are monitoring this thread.

After more computers running MCE than I care to remember buying parts for, building, configuring, and tweaking...
After more tuners than I care to remember buying...
After listening to my XBox 360 screaming (yeah, I know the new ones supposedly don't)...
After buying and selling more tivos with lifetime subscriptions than I care to remember...
I found the echo.

All I wanted was something that I could use to watch live tv on with PVR functionality PLUS play my networked media...

I would be willing to rework my media library if I could just find one device that could do these two things (not well...not kinda...just DO them)...

Unfortunately, after spending a day with my amazingly tiny Echo, I am sending it back.

The Echo is the perfect size, the remote is an absolute joke (seriously Ceton?).

The Echo updated itself with a few FW upgrades without hassle.

The poor little fella kept locking up.

But, more than anything, I don't understand what the purpose of this device is in Ceton's eyes...

We already have extenders that do what it does. So, is it all about power savings?

Don't get me wrong, I dig on not paying for power...seriously, I do. But, not at the expense of something not working...all of the time.

It doesn't do a good job at playing media than things that have been around a lot longer.

My $35 raspberry pi's running xbmc do a far better job (sans live tv) than the Echo.

I think we have all become too complacent with products not doing what the sales copy says it can do. We seem to think it is ok to say that it will be addressed "soon" in an "update."

Eff it. This is likely the breaking of the camel's back. I still remember how excited I was after hearing that the ATI tuner could be used on a home-built HTPC...I thought that it was finally "going to happen." I am fortunate enough to have a cable company that has tivo boxes...and I am tired of fighting them. Cable wins. Out.

Cool, thanks for that info!

So if I were driving 5 TVs at the same time w/ 5 Echo's, any reason to think they would collectively suffer, or so long as the htpc has enough juice and network, I should be OK?

I'm done some antidotal perfmon on the HTPC when watching on my 1 echo and haven't noticed much load, but wondering if I should expect diminishing returns as I add more. I would hope no transcoding is needed on the htpc, so in theory it should work fine.

I'm sure this is a media center deal, but it would be cool if when turning on number 6 it could preset a notice with a dialog of currently connected echo's and let you choose one to disconnect to open up a connection.

But it in fact does what it's specifications say it does, so what's the beef?

And what at all does this have to do with any issues your are having with an ATI tuner. Enjoy paying the CableCo all those fees. For me it would be $30/month more and I'd have to look at adds on the guide so I'm good.
Edited by Sammy2 - 2/20/13 at 11:31am