I give up on Ceton Echo

[wanabefree]

Today I listed my Ceton Echo on Ebay because I no longer have any faith in them. To be fair the Echo worked for the most part but never delivered on what I feel was promised to include media player and streaming capabilities. It is an extender and nothing more. WMC is nearing its end of life as far as I am concerned. I will be shutting it down soon and switching to TIVO Roamio & Minis. This was not my first choice but given the options For me I feel its my best for now.

[mdavej]

If you're unhappy with just your Echo, it would be a lot cheaper to just get an Xbox. Tivo Minis don't really excel at file streaming either. And the hardware and subscription fees are going to cost a fortune. I understand the desire for boxes that just work and can stream everything. I think we'd all prefer that to a PC/extender. But they're hugely expensive. I guess if money is no object then Tivo does make the most sense.

[barnabas1969]

I really don't understand the objection to having an extender, plus a "smart" BluRay player and/or a Roku connected to the TV. Programmable remotes make it easy for anyone, even small children, to operate.

[adam1991]

I don't either, but for some reason this is the year of "look at this I can do, it keeps me from having to switch inputs! NEED THIS NOW!"

I never knew switching inputs was SUCH a burden.

[Jimmersd]

I really don't understand the objection to having an extender, plus a "smart" BluRay player and/or a Roku connected to the TV. Programmable remotes make it easy for anyone, even small children, to operate.

I agree. The Roku with Roksbox work just fine for streaming h.264 content. And Roku has put together an agreement with TWC to allow streaming of their SD content. I expect more cable providers to fall in line. I think the endgame for Roku is to become a cheap alternative to the subscription cable boxes.

[wanabefree]

I really don't understand the objection to having an extender, plus a "smart" BluRay player and/or a Roku connected to the TV. Programmable remotes make it easy for anyone, even small children, to operate.

It is not that simple. At least for me MCE has never been a simple plug and play experience. The Ceton was just part of the equation albeit the straw that broke the camels back so to speak.
I am just tired of endless rebooting and no available tuner error messages. I do not like paying any DVR fees any more than the next guy but I want a trouble free experience that I do not have to support or constantly explain to my less than technical wife how to use.
I came to MCE from SageTV and it has never lived up to my expectations. I thought The Ceton Echo would bridge that gap but its just not what I wanted or expected.
I know I will not get much sympathy here on this forum as it is mostly about the loyal base of MCE.

[Jimmersd]

I am just tired of endless rebooting and no available tuner error messages. I do not like paying any DVR fees any more than the next guy but I want a trouble free experience that I do not have to support or constantly explain to my less than technical wife how to use.
I came to MCE from SageTV and it has never lived up to my expectations. I thought The Ceton Echo would bridge that gap but its just not what I wanted or expected.
I know I will not get much sympathy here on this forum as it is mostly about the loyal base of MCE.

Just curious. What have you done to fine tune your network to help to prioritize the HTPC, tuners and echos? It's possible the problem has more to do with network configuration.

I use a managed switch and router with STP active to reduce packet storms, as well as other tweaks. I never have problems with tuner availability and Echo freezing is at a minimum.

[mdavej]

I completely understand your frustration. WMC technical problems have had me at my wits end at times. I agree the Echo should handle network issues more gracefully. But if your network is solid, they are essentially trouble-free. My 4 Echoes work perfectly, aside from the zoom bug. No freezes or reboots or any of the issues you've described.

[slowbiscuit]

I really don't understand the objection to having an extender, plus a "smart" BluRay player and/or a Roku connected to the TV. Programmable remotes make it easy for anyone, even small children, to operate.

Or with the network tuners we have now, just slap a cheap HTPC in front of each set and do anything you want. The last-gen Intel NUCs are going out the door for less than $200 now, just add OS/RAM/SSD. OS could be completely free if you're lucky and don't have much copy-protection and don't mind running Myth. I'd run a full Myth setup in my house if I didn't also use my main HTPC as a gaming PC.

[barnabas1969]

I really don't understand the objection to having an extender, plus a "smart" BluRay player and/or a Roku connected to the TV. Programmable remotes make it easy for anyone, even small children, to operate.

It is not that simple. At least for me WMC has never been a simple plug and play experience. The Ceton was just part of the equation albeit the straw that broke the camels back so to speak.
I am just tired of endless rebooting and no available tuner error messages. I do not like paying any DVR fees any more than the next guy but I want a trouble free experience that I do not have to support or constantly explain to my less than technical wife how to use.
I came to WMC from SageTV and it has never lived up to my expectations. I thought The Ceton Echo would bridge that gap but its just not what I wanted or expected.
I know I will not get much sympathy here on this forum as it is mostly about the loyal base of WMC.

I'll be more blunt than others have been. I hated the Echo. I was part of the "beta". I shipped it back at the end of the extended warrantee period that was offered to beta testers. It was a piece of crap. An expensive paper weight.

I liked the InfiniTV OK... until I bought a Silicondust HD HomeRun PRIME. It was leaps and bounds more stable than the InfiniTV.

However, as others have alluded... your cable signal strength/quality need to be nearly perfect, and your network needs to be up to snuff. Although, even if your network is up to snuff, the Echo can/will still have problems... that's one of the reasons why I sent it packing.

I've been reasonably happy with my Linksys and HP extenders... much better than the Echo. Now, I've finally tried the XBox 360S. It's better than the others. I like the idea of an "all-in-one" box, as the TiVo Roamio/Mini combo promises to be, but it's really not that difficult to switch HDMI inputs.

[tootal2]

I might give up on echo soon. I would like to install windows 8 but I cant because of the echo. I been using a roku 3 and plex. It works very good. but no live tv and tv guide.

[tootal2]

I like my roku3 If I had unlimited internet I would get rid of cable. But I wish shows on amazon and Netflix would look better. They do look better then cable but blu-rays and dvds look a lot better. also I went over my 250 gig cap last month

I really don't understand the objection to having an extender, plus a "smart" BluRay player and/or a Roku connected to the TV. Programmable remotes make it easy for anyone, even small children, to operate.

I agree. The Roku with Roksbox work just fine for streaming h.264 content. And Roku has put together an agreement with TWC to allow streaming of their SD content. I expect more cable providers to fall in line. I think the endgame for Roku is to become a cheap alternative to the subscription cable boxes.

[Madcodger]

I'm sending mine back in the next few days, after previously thinking I had a solution. They've locked up TWICE tonight alone! And I didn't think I had any real network issues, frankly. I think these things are just unreliable little toys. My Verizon Fios STB would just run for weeks and weeks without problems, and that's all I really want - a solution that doesn't have me halfway through a show and then getting up to reboot, finding my spot in the show again, and hoping it doesn't crash yet again. My time is much too valuable to be fiddling with these little hobby toys. Just junk, really.

[fiteclub]

My Echo works just fine and has been for months. Just yesterday I fired up the bedroom plasma to watch several Breaking Bad episodes that I have in MKV format. Had not used the Echo for over a week and it was still connected to WMC and started (and finished) playing my shows with nary a hiccup. Maybe I am the exception (I doubt it) but the Echo is a stable extender for me. With the Xbox I would have had to wait for boot up, put up with fan noise (yeah Barnabas I KNOW the new Xboxes are supposedly quiet but I don't have a new Xbox), and hope the MKV played correctly.

No special network setup either. I have one cheap Dlink router (not Gigabit), and a 4 port switch in my setup.

[KFish]

My Echo works just fine and has been for months. Just yesterday I fired up the bedroom plasma to watch several Breaking Bad episodes that I have in MKV format. Had not used the Echo for over a week and it was still connected to WMC and started (and finished) playing my shows with nary a hiccup. Maybe I am the exception (I doubt it) but the Echo is a stable extender for me. With the Xbox I would have had to wait for boot up, put up with fan noise (yeah Barnabas I KNOW the new Xboxes are supposedly quiet but I don't have a new Xbox), and hope the MKV played correctly.

No special network setup either. I have one cheap Dlink router (not Gigabit), and a 4 port switch in my setup.

You're not the exception. We have two Echos and four Xbox 360s (from the original to the slim), and the Echos work just fine for extending media center for us. We watch live or recorded programs from media center. No fancy setup and no rips. A htpc, Gigabit router, Cat5e cable, and a 8 port Gigabit switch.

[r8002007]

My Echo works just fine and has been for months. Just yesterday I fired up the bedroom plasma to watch several Breaking Bad episodes that I have in MKV format. Had not used the Echo for over a week and it was still connected to WMC and started (and finished) playing my shows with nary a hiccup. Maybe I am the exception (I doubt it) but the Echo is a stable extender for me. With the Xbox I would have had to wait for boot up, put up with fan noise (yeah Barnabas I KNOW the new Xboxes are supposedly quiet but I don't have a new Xbox), and hope the MKV played correctly.

No special network setup either. I have one cheap Dlink router (not Gigabit), and a 4 port switch in my setup.

You're not the exception. We have two Echos and four Xbox 360s (from the original to the slim), and the Echos work just fine for extending media center for us. We watch live or recorded programs from media center. No fancy setup and no rips. A HTPC, Gigabit router, Cat5e cable, and a 8 port Gigabit switch.

Concur on all.

[Jay]

My Echo works just fine and has been for months. Just yesterday I fired up the bedroom plasma to watch several Breaking Bad episodes that I have in MKV format. Had not used the Echo for over a week and it was still connected to WMC and started (and finished) playing my shows with nary a hiccup. Maybe I am the exception (I doubt it) but the Echo is a stable extender for me. With the Xbox I would have had to wait for boot up, put up with fan noise (yeah Barnabas I KNOW the new Xboxes are supposedly quiet but I don't have a new Xbox), and hope the MKV played correctly.

No special network setup either. I have one cheap Dlink router (not Gigabit), and a 4 port switch in my setup.

You're not the exception. We have two Echos and four Xbox 360s (from the original to the slim), and the Echos work just fine for extending media center for us. We watch live or recorded programs from media center. No fancy setup and no rips. A HTPC, Gigabit router, Cat5e cable, and a 8 port Gigabit switch.

Concur on all.

+1

[slowbiscuit]

Such a divergence of experiences with the Echo here, makes you wonder if some or all of this stuff is hardware-related. Sure seems to be a crapshoot with them no matter what the issue(s) are.

[RyC]

That's why I wanted to try one of the Echos that had all these problems, but the guy sold it before I could

[Polen]

I've been using SageTV for 7 years, but now my cable company is adding the copy once bit to some of my channels so I'm moving to WMC for the DRM CableCard ability. The echo does the job of an extender for CableCard TV, but falls short for ripped video. I'm still working on this. What I have noticed is if you throw a file at the Echo that it doesn't like and it restart, it will come back on and work fine, but you might see problems with the audio on CableCard channels with the copy once bit. Sometimes no audio, and sometimes the audio would go out after skipping back and forth. Unplugging power and plugging back in returns the Echo to normal operation. So if the Echo has an issue with a ripped file, it is best to unplug it, don't just turn it off and on.

I'm also, thinking that WMC and the Echo should be for TV only and then I will continue using SageTV for rips and home movies, since I can throw just about any file at it.