Official Ceton Echo Extender Info Thread - Page 4

They have already stated that it will be priced lower than the Xbox 360.

Exactly people need to watch the video they clearly state that, and that is GREAT news. I will be curious as to how they price the Q though.

That must be a new video. The original video listed on page 1 had NO pricing information and did not mention any other companies or products. It was soley a Look what we have coming and how pretty it is video..

That said I was very glad to hear about the pricing!!

Here's the link to the Engadget HD Podcast

http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/12/t...at-11-00pm-et/

In case ceton is watching this thread, It would be great if the extender allows for IP control. The extender WILL be installed where av control systems will be used to control it, so allowing for IP control would make the integration easier and tighter. Microsoft would NEVER implement such a feature, but such a feature is one of the reasons DUNE is considered by many, the best media player!

Also some status feedback over the ip control would be nice. As far as I know there is no reliable method to get status for extenders, there are bugs in the existing media center front panel support that makes the status unreliable for extenders, and microsoft has indicated they have no interest in fixing the bugs.

Q competes directly against TiVo. So I'd expect $500 or more. Echo competes against Xbox 360. Since you can routinely get Xbox 360 4GB for $150 or less, the Q needs to be priced around $100. Otherwise, its fate will be just like all other non-Xbox MCE Extenders.

dheiskel,
They stated in the video I linked above that it will have IP control.

Foxbat121,
If the Echo can play more file formats than the 360 then I think it's worth at least as much. They say it will also have access to streaming services (I'm guessing things like Netflix and Amazon Prime). If that's true then you could access them without having a gold membership and without having to drop out of the media center interface. That alone is worth an extra $50 to me. Finally it'll be a low power instant on small fanless device.

List of features I'm hoping this has (in order of personal importance). This is all, of course, assuming it acts as a full media center extender (IE, just like XB360; live TV, MediaBrowser interface, etc)

1) Media compatibility as good as MPC-HC (basically, can play anything you throw at it). Including full res MKVs with HD audio (BD rips)!
2) Instant boot (<5 sec from on button until MCE interface is up, this may require a constant connection to the host box, that's fine by me).
3) No fans
4) RF and IR capable (I hate IR remotes, but, for legacy sake, it should have both)
5) Ability to use standard commercial skipping applications

If it has all these features, I'd pay 500/ea and take 4 of them tomorrow.

MediaCenter+Ceton+MediaBrowser is the most drool worthy setup that money can buy today (well, maybe some of the custom CE stuff is on par, but it's 100X the cost and not nearly as flexible). Everyone (and I really mean that) who sees my setup has their jaw hit the floor; "how can I get this", "how much does this cost".. The answer is "you can't, because you need a full time tech support guy" and "not very much". Not too answers that customers like to hear put together in one sentence.

This will go a LONG way to making 7MC a real "consumer" application. If this thing can play any content and all you really have to do it setup 7MC and point it at files, almost anybody could do it. The disaster with HTPCs is always codecs. Same with XB360s. PCH media compatibility with 7MC would be a really, really big deal.

I really want clarification on what exactly will be supported and not with the Q vs a WMC machine.

To most, the ability to play Xbox games in addition to be used as extender is a plus for XBox.

As for Netflix, not a draw anymore because in a typical Home Theatre setup, you will have HDTV that already has Netflix player and BD player that has Netflix player as well. Last thing I want is another Netflix player. Certainly not worth $50 more.

If Echo sells for $199 like you said, it will fail. Mark my word. Not sure if it is even possible to sell for $100 because of the license fee paid to Microsoft.

It's still an Extender...and tied down by what Microsoft tells it. Don't expect too much, it probably won't do anything different from the Xbox as far as the Extender experience goes.

Possible...

Possible...

While nice to have....not really critical. If it has either/or, it should be fine.

On an "Extender"???

Eric from Ceton said it they expect it to play more than the Xbox can.

I saw that, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. We don't know enough about the device yet, but if it's not just an extender and is a streamer as well (outside the Extender experience), that's a whole another story. If it's just an Extender....I fail to see how they can add anything that Microsoft's licensing does not allow.

"Just" an extender that can play the popular file formats(mkv, mp4, etc) alone will make it a real winner when added ontop of the std extender experience of streaming live TV and recorded TV thru 7mc/MB

So I'm assuming this will work with any cablecard device and not just a ceton. That would be a real bummer lol.

This. I'm confused on what a media center extender can/can not do by its native design. In other words, outside of adding additional file type support, could it be possible that these extenders actually support streaming services (like Netflix) within the same MCE interface WITH a Win7 machine (not the Q)?

None of the legacy extenders do this (x280n, DMA2100, 360) - I wasn't sure if this was a design limitation or if the market just didn't get a chance to fully mature before the extender market basically died. That is until the advent of the cablecard market within the past 2 years.

what is so confusing about that? I currently do that on a daily bases with my sage HDx00 extenders...


SageTV already did that... it is not anything new...

it is still unclear as to what artificial limitations will be placed upon Ceton by the 'powers that be' or if there will be any simple ways to unlock/bypass such limitations.

the only 2 new things echo seems to bring to the table are:
1) DRM support (not sure I care, but I can see how some would...)
2) Ceton hasn't been gobbled up by google (yet) (this is probably the most important point to some of us Sage users... ie Ceton still exists... and existence is good...)

you obviously have never experienced the joys of a unified UI/user experience...
most of us who have will never voluntarily go back to using X on TV, Y from HTPC, etc...




define fail?
if it does at least what the Sage HD300 did, plus adds DRM'd CC streaming $299 would be a very reasonable price...

for example Sage HD300's went for $150 new, even though sage got gobbled up by google and has been a dead product for almost a year, there hasn't been a single HD300 sold on ebay for less than $300... people are willing to pay... if the product does what they want...

It's clear from looking at the current WMC extenders the the extender protocol can support extenders with different codec capabilities (some extenders can't do H.264 for example). So that's an open question in my mind, is it the protocol that's limiting the 360 to crappy media support or is it just the 360's extender software.

Just as a matter of "logic" being an engineer type, it would make little sense for me for MS to have developed an extender protocol with artificial limitations on codecs and containers. It seem more likely that it's just that the 360's extender software sucks.

But it's wait and see at this point. I take Eric at his word that the Echo will support more formats than the 360 does. However after reading and watching the Engadget interview with Ceton, I'm somewhat lest optimistic about the Echo because it seems more likely that it will only support features beyond the 360 when used with the Q, which is a non-starter for me being a Dish subscriber.

+1 to that...


-1 for this...
"Some" just isn't good enough...
I already have complete feedback, I can ask my extenders what they are doing, what title they are playing, etc...
I can also ask the server what it is recording, what is coming up for recording, whats on the guide, etc...
I want complete full coverage feedback...

Does anyone know if the extenders will have built in wireless? I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere.

But if the Q supports USB tuners such as the HD-PVR, you can switch to it. There's a lot of stuff that is unknown at this point.

Wireless is not a good idea for live TV streaming (never work well). The added cost of dual-band wi-fi is what killed all the original extenders.

Echo comes with ethernet port and MOCA support. That's perfect combination for anyone who wants to watch TV on it.

So ceton says this product will be limited if not paired with a Q? If this holds up that seems like an issue for me. Plenty of us here already have a ceton or other device in place. If they want to force us to get the Q to have all the features on the echo I will probably pass.

So they could mean the basic 4GB 360 or the 250GB with Kinect version.

I don't know if it was this thread or the InfiniTV one, but IIRC Eric implied that the Q would not because such configuration would be too difficult, would increase the complexity beyond what they are going for.

My experience with that is that usually suck. I used whatever is the best for that particular function.



Never heard, nor saw the Sage HD300 in any stores. That's the definition of fail.


That means nothing. Ppl are still willing to pay $200+ for a used Linksys or Dlink MCE Extender on eBay. That doesn't mean those products are successful.

In order for a product to be successful, it has to attract mass audience, not just a few geeks.

From what I understood, it would only be limited in things ceton itself is developing - for example the universal search they mentioned. I'm sure the echo as a standalone will work just like every other extender(with hopefully better format support). And once XBMC/Plex/MB or whatever you use can be added to it, sign me up!

I thought there is another thread specifically for Q. But anyway, Q is an embedded device, not an open platform like HTPC. It will only work the way it is designed to be. In many ways consider it just like TiVo or DVR box from your cable co. You maybe able to swap out the hard disk but that's about all you can do with it.