Ceton Echo app for iOS, Android and Fire TV

Talk with fellow members about Ceton's Media Center Extender.
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7up

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Ceton Echo app for iOS, Android and Fire TV

#1

Post by 7up » Sat Jan 03, 2015 7:27 pm

As Ceton was working on converting the Echo to running Android, why didn't they just release the app separately? Current My Media Center app runs well on Fire TV but lacks streaming. If Ceton released an Echo app and it was combined with a h.264 transcoding tuner, It would be a killer combo.

breakthestatic

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#2

Post by breakthestatic » Sun Jan 04, 2015 5:12 pm

Ceton wasn't working on an app. They were creating a custom OS, based on android to run on the echo itself. I imagine it was heavily hardware dependent and don't think you'd have much luck running it on another device besides the echo. It would have been nice if they released the update, maybe via a warranty release waiver, to those who really wanted it. I currently switched back to a 360, so I could use Netflix and Hulu on my secondary tv, but the interface switching between wmc and those apps is somewhat jarring. Having all that accessible from the same menu would have been really cool...

7up

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#3

Post by 7up » Sun Jan 04, 2015 5:45 pm

What you are saying makes sense but seems contradictory. If Ceton was working on a build of Android for Echo, would that not mean the actual app which performed extender functionality was an Android app? From my recollection, the new "MCE" screen shots of the failed Echo-Android project appeared to be an Android app?

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#4

Post by breakthestatic » Sun Jan 04, 2015 6:02 pm

Yes, technically it is an app, but that does not mean that it can just be run on any android system. I can't speak with certainty, but it is very likely that the app needs low level hooks into the hardware to handle its streaming. I know you mentioned using a separate device to handle transcoding, but it seems that ceton hasn't been doing anything new in the home market for over a year, so they are probably not releasing a transcoder themselves. Maybe they could recoup some of their investment in android via a paid app, but the company doesn't seem to have any android devs left to support the app really, and doesn't seem to want to hire any new talent either. I understand where you're coming from, but getting the android code out and running on the vast majority of android devices will most likely require additional development and support, something that ceton had indicated in past posts as something that they are not interested in doing.

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#5

Post by 7up » Sun Jan 04, 2015 6:13 pm

You are probably correct on most of your points. What never seemed to make much sense was that Ceton blamed the failure on a hardware issue but then abandoned the Android project altogether? I vaguely recall seeing someone post a video but unless the screen shots were a hoax, which I doubt, there had to be a lot of development hours to bring it up to the level which they demo'd. You may be correct that certain hardware was needed to function as an extender but it still seems like they should have pursued using the code as standalone app, particularly as newer hardware, ie Android TV or Fire TV both seem like ideal hardware and have DRM.

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#6

Post by Ed  » Sun Jan 04, 2015 6:40 pm

No, there was no 'WMC Extender app' for Android on the Echo.

The Echo was running Android OS and the WMCX OS concurrently. Selecting WMC would throw you into the WMCX OS; exiting would throw you back into Android OS. Both operating systems were always running in the foreground/background. That's how they did it.

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#7

Post by 7up » Sun Jan 04, 2015 10:51 pm

@Ed - Thank you, that helps explain a lot.

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Motz

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#8

Post by Motz » Tue Oct 06, 2015 6:00 am

Would be correct, but that is not exactly how we did it. I am not going to explain how it worked, but it wasn't that straight forward.
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#9

Post by tobycth3 » Wed Oct 07, 2015 8:51 pm

Motz wrote:Would be correct, but that is not exactly how we did it. I am not going to explain how it worked, but it wasn't that straight forward.
Any reason why not? We've been kept in the dark about anything/everything Ceton related so any insight would be amazing.

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#10

Post by Scallica » Wed Oct 07, 2015 8:53 pm

tobycth3 wrote:
Motz wrote:Would be correct, but that is not exactly how we did it. I am not going to explain how it worked, but it wasn't that straight forward.
Any reason why not? We've been kept in the dark about anything/everything Ceton related so any insight would be amazing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-disclosure_agreement
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Motz

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#11

Post by Motz » Thu Oct 08, 2015 1:05 am

Also, I don't work for Ceton anymore, but I did work on the project though, was super proud of what was actually released to a few devices.

You can read the reasoning for things on the blog years ago: http://cetoncorp.com/blog/ceton-echo-android/

I mostly just wanted to comment on inaccurate information.
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#12

Post by Mpgrimm2 » Thu Oct 08, 2015 5:20 am

Motz wrote:Also, I don't work for Ceton anymore, but I did work on the project though, was super proud of what was actually released to a few devices.
Any chance you can comment on the state of Ceton and Windows Media Center now that you have moved on?
Are they swirling the drain as far as the consumer market goes? Backing away from media center? Etc?

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Motz

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#13

Post by Motz » Thu Oct 08, 2015 5:34 am

I left 2 years ago and a lot changes in 2 years, but obviously couldn't comment if I wanted to, which I really don't. There is a certain level of trust at any company you work at or worked at, also I am very good friend with the entire team.
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Mpgrimm2

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#14

Post by Mpgrimm2 » Thu Oct 08, 2015 6:06 am

Thanks. Didn't really expect you to comment but it was worth a shot...

everyone would like to hear some thing from the Ceton team about moving forward.

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#15

Post by Sammy2 » Tue Feb 23, 2016 5:21 pm

Motz wrote:I left 2 years ago and a lot changes in 2 years, but obviously couldn't comment if I wanted to, which I really don't. There is a certain level of trust at any company you work at or worked at, also I am very good friend with the entire team.
Kudos to you and your integrity, James!!

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