Ever opened up the Echo?

[tad]

Has anyone ever opened up the echo and pulled it out of the case?

I'm considering mounting 2 of them INSIDE my rackmount HTPC case to get rid of some rack clutter. It may be preferable to run them without their cases for cooling reasons.

Has anyone ever opened one up? Any pictures of the internals?

[kingwr]

I am curious as to why you would want two Echos to be located within your HTPC case. Is the HTPC still in the case as well?

[tad]

I am curious as to why you would want two Echos to be located within your HTPC case. Is the HTPC still in the case as well?

Yes, the HTPC is in there. All of my gear is rack-mounted in a central location and distributed throughout the house from there. Right now, the echos, their power supplies, and the digital to analog converters i use with them take up a full rack shelf and add 4 power plugs to my system. Everything runs off 5volts, so I plan to put it all inside the 3u case for my HTPC to simplify cabling and reduce clutter.

[kingwr]

So there's coax from the rack to the actual display. Do you tune the tv to a specific channel to watch each Echo? What is PQ like in this setup? Does it support HD?

[tad]

So there's coax from the rack to the actual display. Do you tune the tv to a specific channel to watch each Echo? What is PQ like in this setup? Does it support HD?

This is getting a bit off topic, but there is HDMI over HDBaseT from the rack to the TVs. All of the sources are in the rack, connected to a HDMI matrix switch that feeds all of the displays over HDBaseT extenders.

[STC]

Has anyone ever opened up the echo and pulled it out of the case?

http://missingremote.com/review/ceton-e ... a-extender

[jeonunh]

Interesting idea. I would love to see how that works out. Would you located them in the case so that the IR sensor would have a line of sight outside the case, or would you run the IR emitters from the HDbaseT into the case?

My main concern would be how often I need to reset my Echo to either get the connection back, or to fix a glitch with the video mode.

Post pictures if you go forward with it. My rack is a mess too, and that could be a good idea since I also have a matrix with HDbaseT.

[kingwr]

This is getting a bit off topic...

I agree. It just touches a nerve with me, like the new Coke fountain machines or the Segway.

[IownFIVEechos]

So there's coax from the rack to the actual display. Do you tune the tv to a specific channel to watch each Echo? What is PQ like in this setup? Does it support HD?

This is getting a bit off topic, but there is HDMI over HDBaseT from the rack to the TVs. All of the sources are in the rack, connected to a HDMI matrix switch that feeds all of the displays over HDBaseT extenders.

Can you post pictures? Especially curious how you connect the power etc.. Seems like a really cool idea. Also anyone know why Ceton seems to always use 'red' circuit boards? I remember seeing the first TV tuner card and the red stood out since I never see companies using it (keep in mind I am no electric engineer). But seems cool. I am just going to rack my stuff in a 38U rack that I have with shelves.

[IownFIVEechos]

So there's coax from the rack to the actual display. Do you tune the tv to a specific channel to watch each Echo? What is PQ like in this setup? Does it support HD?

This is getting a bit off topic, but there is HDMI over HDBaseT from the rack to the TVs. All of the sources are in the rack, connected to a HDMI matrix switch that feeds all of the displays over HDBaseT extenders.

Can you tell us the model matrix you have had success with? I am sure you mentioned it somewhere else but to save time etc..

[aeblank]

So there's coax from the rack to the actual display. Do you tune the tv to a specific channel to watch each Echo? What is PQ like in this setup? Does it support HD?

This is getting a bit off topic, but there is HDMI over HDBaseT from the rack to the TVs. All of the sources are in the rack, connected to a HDMI matrix switch that feeds all of the displays over HDBaseT extenders.

Can you post pictures? Especially curious how you connect the power etc.. Seems like a really cool idea. Also anyone know why Ceton seems to always use 'red' circuit boards? I remember seeing the first TV tuner card and the red stood out since I never see companies using it (keep in mind I am no electric engineer). But seems cool. I am just going to rack my stuff in a 38U rack that I have with shelves.

Different colors can help or hurt optical inspections. We used colors to designate versions/variations of very similar products.

[tad]

Has anyone ever opened up the echo and pulled it out of the case?

http://missingremote.com/review/ceton-e ... a-extender

echo.png

Awesome, thanks! I checked things out yesterday evening and it looks like there's plenty of room to mount two of them in the 5.25" bays, so I may decide just to keep them in their cases for simplicity.
Edit: It's probably even more likely that I'll leave the case on now, given the description of removing the case as "requiring destructive force"...

So there's coax from the rack to the actual display. Do you tune the tv to a specific channel to watch each Echo? What is PQ like in this setup? Does it support HD?

This is getting a bit off topic, but there is HDMI over HDBaseT from the rack to the TVs. All of the sources are in the rack, connected to a HDMI matrix switch that feeds all of the displays over HDBaseT extenders.

Can you tell us the model matrix you have had success with? I am sure you mentioned it somewhere else but to save time etc..

I use a Gefen 8x8 Toolbox (GTB-HDFST-848). I picked it up for around 1200 on eBay a year or so ago. I use Monoprice HDBaseT extenders for 2 displays, regular HDMI for a third display, and a long redmere cable for the 4th display (only 4 displays and 5 sources setup so far).

As for pictures -- I'll take some of the build if I end up doing it. The rack is too messy to be worth taking a picture of just yet.

[STC]

/off topic some more:

Did anyone notice the wad of missing IC's and accompanying electronics on the board?
I wonder what was planned in the design process aside from dev boards?

[Jimmersd]

/off topic some more:

Did anyone notice the wad of missing IC's and accompanying electronics on the board?
I wonder what was planned in the design process aside from dev boards?

It looks like the board was originally designed to accommodate Wi-fi radio support. I guess Ceton decided against adding that functionality. The squiggle of copper on the Upper left side of the board is an embedded radio antenna. It appears to be connected to a 48 pin chip pad (chip missing) that I would guess is a transceiver chip and what looks like a an 8 pin buffer (also missing) between it and the processor.

Might also be circuitry for an RF remote.

Other stuff looks like maybe signal processing and filtering .

[ajhieb]

I know for certain I've seen that pin patter on the missing connector right above/behind the SPDIF connector, but I'm drawing a blank. I was thinking eSata at first, but the only card I could find with eSata on it, looked different.

Nevermind... it is a sata connector of some description.

Almost makes me wonder if that isn't just a modified reference design.

[Jimmersd]

I know for certain I've seen that pin patter on the missing connector right above/behind the SPDIF connector, but I'm drawing a blank. I was thinking eSata at first, but the only card I could find with eSata on it, looked different.

Nevermind... it is a sata connector of some description.

Almost makes me wonder if that isn't just a modified reference design.

I guess that SW4 on the upper right might be for a power switch.

[blueiedgod]

I know for certain I've seen that pin patter on the missing connector right above/behind the SPDIF connector, but I'm drawing a blank. I was thinking eSata at first, but the only card I could find with eSata on it, looked different.

Nevermind... it is a sata connector of some description.

Almost makes me wonder if that isn't just a modified reference design.

It may have been the RF/Coax connector for the promised MoCA built in.

[ajhieb]

It may have been the RF/Coax connector for the promised MoCA built in.

No, it's definitely a sata. The first few I looked at were surface mount which is why I didn't think that was it.

As far as MoCa, the word I got from Ceton was:

Includes MoCa
Optional Moca
Optional add-in Moca Board
Optional MoCa adapter
Works with MoCa!

[barnabas1969]

It may have been the RF/Coax connector for the promised MoCA built in.

No, it's definitely a sata. The first few I looked at were surface mount which is why I didn't think that was it.

As far as MoCa, the word I got from Ceton was:

Includes MoCa
Optional Moca
Optional add-in Moca Board
Optional MoCa adapter
Works with MoCa!

Mmmmm. I loves me some MoCA and Java! (Just kidding, I don't like coffee).

[barnabas1969]

No, it's definitely a sata.

Well, since it's labeled "R175", I doubt that it is SATA or any other kind of jack (which would be labeled starting with a "J"). It must be some kind of resistor pack or some other type of resistor that was not needed.