Official Ceton Echo Extender Info Thread - Page 222

From what I gather, Ceton has already provided at least some amount of assistance in getting InfiniTV support added to J River. There could possibly be some collaboration on getting support for protected content added, but I suspect that would be more a financial collaboration than anything else.

As far as the PVR functionality itself goes, I think J River's developers are more than qualified to do what needs to be done - it's more a matter of prioritizing it and putting the time in. They've got the basic PVR framework in place already, most of what needs to be done is polish (the guide really needs a facelift, IMHO) and improving things like series recording functionality as that's definitely not at the level of WMC at this time.

If you want a whole home DVR with a master/slave PC architecture and don't mind running Linux, look into MythTV. Ceton and SD tuners have been supported for a while now (non-protected content only). I believe you can use Windows PCs and Mac Minis as frontends too.

Blows away any DVR/media center solution out there, at the cost of increased complexity.

Copy Once is all over Charter in my area so I'm sort of stuck..

Mythbuntu makes it a little less complex.

I think this relevant discussion because it would seem to me to be easier for Ceton to implement a software solution for PC extension rather than a hardware tool. Might even be less costly but if the Ceton representative does think so then who am I to argue - good luck with your continued hardware pursuits. The Infinitv4 is a fine product. It would seem that rather than destroying the good name that you have made with it on the hopes of Echo would be counterproductive and easier handled through a software implementation (whether only perceived or not). Just wishful thinking that someone would take up the cause of Softsled again. I think would be a much better solution than hardware extenders - my 2cts
Edited by edyohome - 3/21/13 at 12:08pm

Microsoft will pretty much never license a PC-based solution, is my bet. Beyond that, they're way too far down the path of the Echo to abandon that.

In addition to what McTurkey said, the WMC ecosystem is the only thing out there that supports WMDRM in a complete pacakage, so it made sense to capitalize on that and license that model.

Additionally, having their own device gives them the opportunity to build out their own ecosystem for future plans to replace WMC with (hopefully) something of their own creation that properly implements a DRM scheme. And, of course, there are a lot of folks that don't want PC's at every tv of their home...

So I have had to switch the family back to the XBOX360 - at least for now.

The file incompatibility is just to random and bad.

That said - now that I am back on the XBOX I remember what I hate about it:

It is noticeably slower in a 'complex' MediaBrowser theme and the remote response is horrible.

Really, really hoping Ceton gives us something to play with this weekend.

xnappo

The Echo is quicker in MediaBrowser, but I find it has graphical glitches every so often. In addition, the remote response is more of a function of the Xbox 360s limited IR angle. The Echo just plain and simple has weird IR response, but a wider IR angle.

I'm ready to try a new BETA today as well.

When I first looked at Media Browser and saw all the complex themes offered, I thought to myself that while it was looked fancy, it was also distracting and could cause issues. We tend to focus on the movies and not a distracting, complex theme to present the movies. The standard theme works fine without performance issues.

Diamond theme works very well in the echo.

Even in the standard theme, backdrop/poster/cover loading is noticeably slower on XBOX vs. Echo. Not horrible, but noticeable(it is not my NIC driver). That said, yeah there are some weird graphics glitches in MB on the Echo that I haven't bothered complaining about given the other problems.

Just try to say something nice about the Echo and justify to myself not returning it while I could

xnappo

NICE!

Well I just setup my return of them to Amazon and have to ship them out NLT tomorrow so I'm also hoping something drops today, or I'm out as well. Any hints or insider knowledge?

I'd be surprised if the blog post doesn't come out today, considering they first mentioned it late last week. But at the same time, I've learnt not to hold my breath with things Echo related.

So what are we holding about breath for exactly? I like turing blue in the face.

By this do you mean f/w? I'm thinking that there may not be any more f/w until the android release as it has been a couple weeks since new beta f/w rolled out but who knows. Maybe a new State of the Echo will be published to indicate what is going on but when that would be is anybody's best guess.


You should have the "stamina" to do that.

I was specifically referring to the blog post.

I know. I was wondering what Dave Harper was referring to..

I'm referring to the new fw w/ Android and windows 8 support which hopefully will fix the horrible picture and menu transitions on the echo as compared to an Xbox 360.

P.S. - yes I upgraded my NIC drivers!

I think that will be a while still.

I don't think the android f/w will mimic WMC though for menu transitions, etc because it is being written from scratch.

Have you talked to ceton on your issues? I have 5 of these on TVs ranging from 32" to 50", and my picture quality and menu transitions are perfect.

I'm still excited for the android FW so I can finally tap into the rest of my media library, but my main need of watching and recording live TV works without an issue.

Yes I've opened tickets but my version of "horrible" may be different than most people's. Have you used an Xbox and seen how fluid the menus can be? The host PC is fluid as well. The ceton menus are NOT.

Look I don't completely hate the echo. I just ran into my return windows's wall and have to make a decision, that's all.

Yeah with that ISF Calibrator tag under your name I think that is a safe bet.

Still - I agree - there is a long way to go to even catch up to the XBOX. My expectations were it would come out the door being at XBOX level and get better from there.

xnappo

I know, it doesn't have to clone WMC, just be as nice an experience or better with at least as good functionality as an older Xbox or other extenders. I liked what they threw out there in state of the echo 3 and was holding off hoping it would release before my window closed so I could evaluate it and see how the image quality and menus improved, if at all.

Yeah my family hates me cuz I change all the time and throw them for a loop constantly hahaha!

I currently have a full DirecTV Genie, HR24 and 2 C31s, a full blown 2 HDHR Prime setup with 2 echos and an Xbox 360 and now just installed the TiVo Premiere 4 with 2 minis to compare them all and do my evaluations. All I'm going to say is, I've seen them all except the Hopper/Joey (well I've "seen" it a few times as my wife's aunt and uncle have it) and there are many PQ differences that seem to me to be easy to spot between them.

I wonder if the announcement was the March Madness special.

A lot of us were expecting that. I went through two Echoes and neither one impressed me enough to keep it. The first unit was completely unwatchable. The 2nd one was a vast improvement, but still fell way short of what I hoped the Echo would be. Having owned just about every previous model of WMC extender, except the D-Link, the Echo was only about as good as some of the older models. I've never been a huge fan of extenders so I got into the beta program somewhat reluctantly. I was really hoping the Echo would be something special. Like Dave Harper, I ran into the return deadline and had to make a decision. I was hoping Ceton would fix the bugs and convince me to keep my Echo. Unfortunately, the decision to return it turned out to be a no-brainer for me. The Echo was clearly a product that was rushed to market well before it was mature enough. I think that move is going to hurt sales in the long run for the Echo, but only time will tell. I'm still anxious to see what transpires after they get the Android update released.

I have a feeling a lot of us had to pay to Beta test these things for Ceton after they had been "released". It wasn't a lot, but $8 return shipping to Amazon was pretty annoying after so many promises and such a poor delivery. And now they offer this March Madness discount without the new blog post to offer any incentive to buy? I really don't know what is going on over there...