Ceton Previews Multi-Room DVR!!!

[adam1991]

^^ agree. I just want a box that I can hand to people and say "This will be perfect for you" forget all the complicated extras, they want a cable box that 1. works 2. is simple to navigate and 3. Has beautiful HD menus.

and 4. doesn't generate calls from my friends to me saying "HELP! Something went wrong! You have to fix it!"

You're not kidding. That's why I refuse to EVER build a PC for a friend again. Of course, I've never charged a friend for this service before. I guess, for the right money...

That's not such a big deal, because when you build one you know exactly what you're getting into. You can make the choice.

With the Ceton, if we trust it to be a true appliance but we still end up getting those calls....well, no doubt we'd still get some of those calls, because it all depends on the home network. And every time the ten dollar router burps and needs restarted for whatever reason, it's instantly our problem because the equipment we recommended is hooked into it...

Speaking of, a short story: my wife knows an absolutely insane older woman (from a mental health group!) who had never had a computer but who was into photography and finally wanted to get a computer to go with her brand spanking new DSLR. (Yeah, a normal person would have thought out the entire thing up front, but she bought the camera first without any thought of what to do with those pictures.) I told her, get a Mac Mini--bulletproof, cheap, does everything you want it to do, hooks right into your T-W cable modem that you now have to get. She had T-W out to install broadband and went out and bought the Mac and immediately started using it, and I have never had to deal with her at all--thank God. Not so much as a single phone call. As much as I knew that would be the likely outcome, I also knew that if anyone could screw it all up it would be her. Apparently not!

I can only hope the Q is *that* bulletproof.

[adam1991]

To be honest, I'm glad some of you don't work for Ceton, because to be quite frank, you'd drive Ceton out of business with your complex ideas. You are basically trying to turn the Q into an HTPC. The Q certainly does not appear to be an HTPC to me. It looks to me like Ceton is trying to make a mainstream product. There's a reason HTPCs aren't mainstream. If you want something complex, build yourself a new HTPC. You don't need Ceton to build it for you. Let them focus on building things for the other 99% of the population that doesn't know how to build an HTPC.

Is there an echo in here?

I said that exact thing way earlier in this thread. Hmmmmmm.

[makryger]

Speaking of, a short story: my wife knows an absolutely insane older woman (from a mental health group!) who had never had a computer but who was into photography and finally wanted to get a computer to go with her brand spanking new DSLR. (Yeah, a normal person would have thought out the entire thing up front, but she bought the camera first without any thought of what to do with those pictures.) I told her, get a Mac Mini--bulletproof, cheap, does everything you want it to do, hooks right into your T-W cable modem that you now have to get. She had T-W out to install broadband and went out and bought the Mac and immediately started using it, and I have never had to deal with her at all--thank God. Not so much as a single phone call. As much as I knew that would be the likely outcome, I also knew that if anyone could screw it all up it would be her. Apparently not!

I can only hope the Q is *that* bulletproof.

Moral of the story: Apple is for crazy people!

[adam1991]

hah! I hope not (he says, eying the seven Macintosh computers in his house)!

Remember, it's all about the right tool for the job. Some Mac people go nuts trying to force a Mac into doing TV duty--but they're missing out. I bought a Mini a couple years ago solely to do Netflix/Hulu to the TV, which was fine, but when the cableco turned off analog and bricked my ReplayTVs, I already had my Ceton plan ready to go (thanks to the old TGB site and a decent amount of forethought). Didn't phase me at all to build a 7MC box and buy a couple of XBoxen. My faith was not misplaced; I turned it all on and It Just Worked, like it should.

The right tool for the job...

[richard1980]

To be honest, I'm glad some of you don't work for Ceton, because to be quite frank, you'd drive Ceton out of business with your complex ideas. You are basically trying to turn the Q into an HTPC. The Q certainly does not appear to be an HTPC to me. It looks to me like Ceton is trying to make a mainstream product. There's a reason HTPCs aren't mainstream. If you want something complex, build yourself a new HTPC. You don't need Ceton to build it for you. Let them focus on building things for the other 99% of the population that doesn't know how to build an HTPC.

Is there an echo in here?

I said that exact thing way earlier in this thread. Hmmmmmm.

I didn't know we were playing "Who said it first". If we are, I'm pretty sure you lost....carljanderson was the first person in this thread to recognize this as a mainstream device. He was also the first person to call BS on all these feature requests. With that said, I'm pretty sure I'm the first person on this website to recognize this as a mainstream device.

[MSattler]

To be honest, I'm glad some of you don't work for Ceton, because to be quite frank, you'd drive Ceton out of business with your complex ideas. You are basically trying to turn the Q into an HTPC. The Q certainly does not appear to be an HTPC to me. It looks to me like Ceton is trying to make a mainstream product. There's a reason HTPCs aren't mainstream. If you want something complex, build yourself a new HTPC. You don't need Ceton to build it for you. Let them focus on building things for the other 99% of the population that doesn't know how to build an HTPC.

Is there an echo in here?

I said that exact thing way earlier in this thread. Hmmmmmm.

I didn't know we were playing "Who said it first". If we are, I'm pretty sure you lost....carljanderson was the first person in this thread to recognize this as a mainstream device. He was also the first person to call BS on all these feature requests. With that said, I'm pretty sure I'm the first person on this website to recognize this as a mainstream device.

What are we, 12? Stop playing brothers, and let's get back on topic

[slowbiscuit]

I still don't see how it's a big deal to allow certain plugins (e.g. comskip) and USB tuners via an unsupported backdoor, or whatever you want to call it (advanced mode etc.). People that just want a DVR can run it in stock mode and it will be fine, everyone else is on their own.

[gpatlanta]

I still don't see how it's a big deal to allow certain plugins (e.g. comskip) and USB tuners via an unsupported backdoor, or whatever you want to call it (advanced mode etc.). People that just want a DVR can run it in stock mode and it will be fine, everyone else is on their own.

I agree. Many products grow significantly in consumer base once they have been unlocked due user communities embracing this as a capability. Ultimately it is down to business demand and support and Ceton have already said they are considering a "break the glass" option for advanced users that will not include support. Personally I love this idea. I do believe to do it well it should be somewhat difficult to do so the average user doesn't do by accident such as download a usb boot loader and run that way. The plus side is it may encourage great improvements and innovations or at least allow enthusiasts like us to create similar environments to our current builds. I might do this if I could and get a better extender experience with a nice small form factor device. I cannot live without my Media Browser for example unless the Q movie library blows me away.. I also believe that by embracing an unlockable system, it shows how committed Ceton is to its core user base and can only help create very loyal customers.

Its a business decision...

[adam1991]

I say, do a "Break The Glass" option and let people participate in a forum for that. In the end, Ceton wins by having community-centered development and testing of system expansions.

[newfiend]

Speaking of, a short story: my wife knows an absolutely insane older woman (from a mental health group!) who had never had a computer but who was into photography and finally wanted to get a computer to go with her brand spanking new DSLR. (Yeah, a normal person would have thought out the entire thing up front, but she bought the camera first without any thought of what to do with those pictures.) I told her, get a Mac Mini--bulletproof, cheap, does everything you want it to do, hooks right into your T-W cable modem that you now have to get. She had T-W out to install broadband and went out and bought the Mac and immediately started using it, and I have never had to deal with her at all--thank God. Not so much as a single phone call. As much as I knew that would be the likely outcome, I also knew that if anyone could screw it all up it would be her. Apparently not!

I can only hope the Q is *that* bulletproof.

Moral of the story: Apple is for crazy people!

Muahahaha....OMG...LOVE IT!..

[brennok]

I definitely want to see support for some of the addins even if you have to do a backdoor method to enable them. I don't know that I could go back to the default Record TV menu after using the TV Library plug in for so long.

[adam1991]

Remember, though, if Ceton does or enables too much they risk coming to the attention of the recording and motion picture industries. Skipping commercials and whatnot is fine as long as it's under the radar and in a small cadre of cranks like us, but let someone make a business out of it and they'll mow you down.

[epete]

Remember, though, if Ceton does or enables too much they risk coming to the attention of the recording and motion picture industries. Skipping commercials and whatnot is fine as long as it's under the radar and in a small cadre of cranks like us, but let someone make a business out of it and they'll mow you down.

Agreed. Remember what happened to Sonic|Blue. Commercial Skip was their killer App on the ReplayTV platform. Their implementation still works great today, if you don't mind SD and can still get analog ATSC. My wife still uses it.

[Oldmajor]

What I'm more concerned with is how Netflix is going to play on this thing. If they are basing this on the Atom chipset how will this thing have enough horsepower to run Netflix HD. If this is going to be a consumer device, playing back netflix is a must. I have not seen an Atom or Zacate that has been capable of playing back Netflix HD yet.

[STC]

Where does it say Atom?

[richard1980]

It is my understanding that the Q uses an Intel DH61AG board (LGA1155) and the Echo is based on the Intel CE4100 CPU. Yes, the CE4100 is an Atom, but from what I understand, the CE Atoms are more powerful than the Atoms used in computers. IIRC, the Boxee Box and the Logitech Revue both use the CE Atom processors.

[Motz]

It is my understanding that the Q uses an Intel DH61AG board (LGA1155) and the Echo is based on the Intel CE4100 CPU. Yes, the CE4100 is an Atom, but from what I understand, the CE Atoms are more powerful than the Atoms used in computers. IIRC, the Boxee Box and the Logitech Revue both use the CE Atom processors.

Boxee Box runs on the CE4100 that is correct, this is the spec sheet:
http://www.wpgholdings.com/epaper/US/ne ... 255874.pdf

[STC]

So we could assume that 'should' Netflix be available on the Q that it would be the Q performing the decoding and an Echo would display the streamed final product without breaking a sweat(?)

[Motz]

So we could assume that 'should' Netflix be available on the Q that it would be the Q performing the decoding and an Echo would display the streamed final product without breaking a sweat(?)

The CE4100 is powerful enough to do all of this. It is in blu-ray players, boxee box, etc. So the Echo can handle everything just fine no problem

This is the spec sheet on the DH61AG:
http://www.intel.com/products/desktop/m ... erview.htm

They are very different intel products.

[Motz]

If Ceton want to have success with the Q, then the final product should be one that is purchased by no more than 1% of the people posting in this thread.

I don't agree. They can have their cake and eat it too by leaving it open for developers, which they have already discussed. The original Motorola Droid wasn't a success because it was the best hardware or software. It was a success because of the very strong development community. The focus can be the general public while still making an enticing product for the enthusiast.

We want everyone to have it We will do our best to get all these great features you guys want into it.