Echo vs. DMA2100

[blueiedgod]

My DMA2100s all have a single blue light. It is off when the unit is off, flashes when the unit is cold booting (40-45 secs.) and remains on when the unit is on or in standby. One thing that may make a difference in "standby" is the connection type. I don't think the HDMI is active in standby, but it may still be displaying a non-MCE internal menu over the composite while in "standby."

What vintage are your DMA2100's? Mine are all from 2008, and they have blue light on when on, red light on when "off" and completely unlit when you pull the power plug.

The 2200's have a green light when on, and the dot matrix display shows some stuff, but I turned it off since it was distracting. The light is red when "off" and completely unlit when you turn the switch off on the back of it, or pull the plug.

I have upgraded the firmware from Linksys on them sometime in 2009 or 2010.

[kingwr]

My vintage is 1/2008. I have seen the red light, but I don't know what the conditions for the red light are. If I press the power button on top right of remote, the unit powers down (goes to no signal over HDMI) but the blue light stays lit. If I press the power button or green button again, the unit "Starts Up" with the initial Media Center logo and then goes to menu in about 10 seconds. If I disconnect and reconnect power, the blue flight flashes for about 30 seconds and then the unit Starts up in another 15 seconds. Both of the DMA2100s I have hooked up have the same behavior.

[kingwr]

Just an update: I downloaded the new firmware (1228) and noticed little to no difference from 1221. Responsiveness of the UI may be better, but MPEG-2 movies still have a lot of stutter, and WMV files still don't play - just black screen with audio. Also, the color in my Livetv and recorded TV seems washed out on the Echo when compared to the same channels/recorded shows on the DMA2100. Mind you, not the UI graphics and thumbnails (they seem crisper on the Echo), just the actual playback of the WTV video. Must be the decoder in the Echo. I also seen some flicker in the playback from the Echo that is not there on the DMA2100.

Again, its just astonishing that this thing is so much newer with more advanced chipsets and such, and is still worse as an extender than the DMA2100. You would have thought that worse case it would be on par with the DMA2100 out of the box.

[slowbiscuit]

I think the red light comes on with my DMA when the host WMC PC is rebooted for patches or whatever - indicates that it's disconnected in other words.

[rmalbers]

Just got my Echo a couple of days ago. One thing I've noticed right away is that the sound volume on a lot of the channels varies a lot, that does not happen with my DMA2100 or at least it varies so little that I've never noticed it.
I'm having to use the volume control all the time when after switching channels with the Echo, that seems kind of strange. Anyone else see this difference in volume?
Also, I don't like the lack of 'standby' mode.
I haven't been following all the threads too much so I'm not sure if standby mode is there or has been added, I can't find it.
I'm on the lastest 'stable' firmware.
To me, standby mode is one of the real advantables over the XBOX 360.
Oh, another thing, the Echo really seems to run HOT, I mean HOT. I wonder how long it will last running that hot.

[barnabas1969]

Standby mode is one of the feature requests that has already been submitted. I want it too.

[Sammy2]

I don't understand the need for standby mode. This thing uses 5W all the time. Standby would drop that to what, 1W? Older extenders probably push 100W when being used and overall use more power. Just turn off the TV.

[spanner]

I don't understand the need for standby mode. This thing uses 5W all the time. Standby would drop that to what, 1W? Older extenders probably push 100W when being used and overall use more power. Just turn off the TV.

Not sure about my echo, but with linksys 2100, I liked standby mode because it would save on the boot up time, yet assure me that no background network usage was going on, building libraries and such, this used to be a problem for me. Also it would free up a tunner.I had trouble getting family members to hit stop when they were done, but they seemed to remember Close.

[rmalbers]

I don't understand the need for standby mode. This thing uses 5W all the time. Standby would drop that to what, 1W? Older extenders probably push 100W when being used and overall use more power. Just turn off the TV.

Not sure about my echo, but with linksys 2100, I liked standby mode because it would save on the boot up time, yet assure me that no background network usage was going on, building libraries and such, this used to be a problem for me. Also it would free up a tunner.I had trouble getting family members to hit stop when they were done, but they seemed to remember Close.

Yes, exactly! Basically, standby mode turns the extender into more like a cable box, always ready but not using host/PC resources.
What about the volume thing, anyone else seeing this?
What about the heat, I can't believe how hot this thing runs?

[spanner]

Mine is warm, but has never been to hot, as for the volume i haven't noticed it changing, but i have recently moved the echo into the bedroom where it doesn't get as much use as when during the beta test it was in the main room

[Sammy2]

If the echo is causing issues with your network with some sort of background processes going on then something is wrong with your network. I don't even know it is there as it slows down nothing on my network.

Mine is not hot and it is hardly even warm.

[spanner]

If the echo is causing issues with your network with some sort of background processes going on then something is wrong with your network. I don't even know it is there as it slows down nothing on my network.

Mine is not hot and it is hardly even warm.

I didn't mean to say i was having network problems with the echo, Just that i got into the habit of using standby with my linksys. a few years back some including me were having trouble with extenders constantly rebuilding libraries when not in use, which put a load on my network and maxed out the CPU on my HTpc. I dont remember the details But it was fixed with a Microsoft patch and some network card settings. Anyway the habit was started and i still go to standby to make sure the tunner is freed up

[Haba]

Yes, exactly! Basically, standby mode turns the extender into more like a cable box, always ready but not using host/PC resources.
What about the volume thing, anyone else seeing this?
What about the heat, I can't believe how hot this thing runs?

I have never seen the heat issue posted before, sounds very dangerous. I would shut it down, contact Ceton and open a ticket for hardware replacement.

[Sammy2]

If the echo is causing issues with your network with some sort of background processes going on then something is wrong with your network. I don't even know it is there as it slows down nothing on my network.

Mine is not hot and it is hardly even warm.

I didn't mean to say i was having network problems with the echo, Just that i got into the habit of using standby with my linksys. a few years back some including me were having trouble with extenders constantly rebuilding libraries when not in use, which put a load on my network and maxed out the CPU on my HTpc. I dont remember the details But it was fixed with a Microsoft patch and some network card settings. Anyway the habit was started and i still go to standby to make sure the tunner is freed up

Okay so this is a phantom problem based on issues with another product then. I don't see the echo doing this. It builds the library and then is done with it.

[Sammy2]

Yes, exactly! Basically, standby mode turns the extender into more like a cable box, always ready but not using host/PC resources.
What about the volume thing, anyone else seeing this?
What about the heat, I can't believe how hot this thing runs?

I have never seen the heat issue posted before, sounds very dangerous. I would shut it down, contact Ceton and open a ticket for hardware replacement.

In beta mine ran much hotter than now. IDK if ceton did anything specific or if it was my imagination or if better f/w has cooled it down, but now it is barely above ambient.

[spanner]

Okay so this is a phantom problem based on issues with another product then. I don't see the echo doing this. It builds the library and then is done with it.

I agree not a problem with the echo. but we were talking about standby mode and the original topic is echo vs DMA 2100

[Sammy2]

Okay but there's no need to do something on the echo to fix a problem that exists on the DMA 2100. The echo uses 5W all the time and there is no need to put it into standby mode.

[foxwood]

There was no problem with the DMA2100. Extenders don't build libraries, Windows build libraries. Windows doesn't care whether the MCX user account that it is building the library for is associated with a Linksys Extender, as HP Extender, an XBox or an Echo. There is no network traffic between the extender and the PC during this library building process.

And the DMA2100 only takes 5 to 7 watts when running.

[Sammy2]

There was no problem with the DMA2100. Extenders don't build libraries, Windows build libraries. Windows doesn't care whether the MCX user account that it is building the library for is associated with a Linksys Extender, as HP Extender, an XBox or an Echo. There is no network traffic between the extender and the PC during this library building process.

And the DMA2100 only takes 5 to 7 watts when running.

Oh, so we're talking about fixing a problem that doesn't even exist.

[spanner]

Oh, so we're talking about fixing a problem that doesn't even exist.

I didn't not mean to suggest that there is a problem, it was asked why some use standby or the linksys menu screen. Correct, libraries do not build on the extender but there was a time for some when a linksys when first setup would never complete the library building on the HTPC, and would continue to try , causing CPU to max Causing some streaming issues. Stand by helped me make it usable during this time. Granted not network related, Granted not a problem today

I apologize if i took this off topic it was not my intent