My XBox360 extender died!

[redec]

My XBox360 is giving me the red ring of death, so it looks like I'm in the market for a new extender. Is the XBox360 still the best thing out there or is that ceton echo deally (or something else) any better? Does it support the same set of codecs? Can you ffwd/rewind mkvs on it? (that was my main complaint about the XBox360)

[mdavej]

Another Xbox is probably your best bet. It's the only thing that works well with Win 8 and has streaming apps, albeit sub-par picture quality on them.

I use Echoes everywhere, but they are more buggy and limited in non-extender functionality (no games, no Netflix, no realistic 747 noises from the power brick fan). Upside is they're tiny, silent and efficient. Mine seem to play MKVs fine with the help of Shark or LAV, but I don't play many. Somebody just posted several Echoes for sale here on TGB, so you could probably get a deal.

[Tracer]

You could always try repairing the Xbox yourself if it is out of warranty. There are a number of how to.. articles on the web and youtube.

[adam1991]

I have two XBoxen and an Echo that I've had since beta, but that I kept out of service until about last August.

I don't know where the "buggy" parts of the Echo are. It does just work as an extender. No problems.

That being said, if you have room for an XBox and don't mind turning it off and on as needed, it *is* a superior extender. But then again, overkill is still overkill. If all you need is to watch TV using an extender, Echo is likely plenty sufficient and just as good.

[mdavej]

I don't know where the "buggy" parts of the Echo are.

Biggest one is the zoom bug. But I've learned to avoid that, so no issues. They're also much more sensitive to a less than perfect network than Xbox. I have several Echoes in service, so that's my choice as well. Just want the OP to go in with his eyes open since Echo has so many who hate it with a passion.

[redec]

Thanks guys. Yeah I am going to try repairing my 360 as a first measure...I was hoping there was something *awesome* out there that I didn't know about, and this would be an excuse to get it . The main issue that I have with my xbox360 as an extender is ffwd/rewind operations when playing mkvs. Whenever I play an mkv I can not fastforward or rewind, if I do it just freezes, then I have to start watching from the beginning again (cuz I can't fastforward to where I left off). This is *very* annoying. I don't know if it is 100% of mkvs that have this behavior, but it is a lot (I've never knowingly found one that worked properly). Is this a common problem? I've bitched about it in the MyMovies forum, and was told this is a limitation/bug of the extender itself and nothing can be done to fix it. Do you guys know, is that true?

[mdavej]

If you can post an example file to try, I'll see if it works on my Echoes.

[hoff247]

I just picked up a linksys dma2100 for 30 bucks on eBay. It draws very little power and I can leave it on 24/7. Only have to turn tv on and can watch tv immediately.

[glugglug]

Thanks guys. Yeah I am going to try repairing my 360 as a first measure...I was hoping there was something *awesome* out there that I didn't know about, and this would be an excuse to get it . The main issue that I have with my xbox360 as an extender is ffwd/rewind operations when playing mkvs. Whenever I play an mkv I can not fastforward or rewind, if I do it just freezes, then I have to start watching from the beginning again (cuz I can't fastforward to where I left off). This is *very* annoying. I don't know if it is 100% of mkvs that have this behavior, but it is a lot (I've never knowingly found one that worked properly). Is this a common problem? I've bitched about it in the MyMovies forum, and was told this is a limitation/bug of the extender itself and nothing can be done to fix it. Do you guys know, is that true?

FF/REW doesn't work with MKVs, but usually skip forward, skip back does.

You can enter a number before hitting skip forward and it will multiply the skip size by that number. For example, if you have your skip forward interval set to 1 minute, hitting 3 0 skip will skip forward 30 minutes.

[soapdishbandit]

I just picked up a linksys dma2100 for 30 bucks on eBay. It draws very little power and I can leave it on 24/7. Only have to turn tv on and can watch tv immediately.

How does the DMA2100 compare to the Echo?

[Scallica]

How does the DMA2100 compare to the Echo?

It works.

[DavidinCT]

I just picked up a linksys dma2100 for 30 bucks on eBay. It draws very little power and I can leave it on 24/7. Only have to turn tv on and can watch tv immediately.

That has Wi-Fi on it, is it any better than on the 360 ? Just for live TV and recorded TV I could use a spare one but, getting a coax or network cable to the location might be tricky so I have been avoiding it.

A Wi-Fi option would be nice but, I tried a 360 over Wi-Fi once (N router) and it was spotty at best....

[mdavej]

How does the DMA2100 compare to the Echo?

It works.

Yeah, the 2100's wake on lan is awesome.

[rmalbers]

Just to add, the 2100 extenders can't display MPEG-4 channels, the xbox360 extender can, so if your cable system has some MPEG-4 channels the 2100 will not work with those. My cable system has a few and it's a pain because every once in a while there is something I want to watch on one of those channels.

[Mpgrimm2]

My XBox360 is giving me the red ring of death, so it looks like I'm in the market for a new extender. Is the XBox360 still the best thing out there or is that ceton echo deally (or something else) any better? Does it support the same set of codecs? Can you ffwd/rewind mkvs on it? (that was my main complaint about the XBox360)

I got a RROD Xbox 360 for free a while back and just got around to fixing it using 5x16mm bolts, 5 mm washers and heat sink compound...

http://www.instructables.com/id/Fix-the ... ut-towels/

Worked like a champ. I am really impressed with the 360 as an extender and all the extra streaming apps etc you can add that work with my harmony mce remote.

So much better than the Ceton Echo I have which works just fine but not on the same level feature wise. Echo is now disconnected and about to go back in a box.

Next is to figure out how to convert all my DVD (vob file) rips to some thing that will play well on my 360. ( I have DVDfab but it seems limited to 2gb file size and 720x380 video.

[DrSmith]

Wow, that is a good article over at instructables.com. I cannot believe it fixes many RROD, but overheating has always been a problem with 360s I guess. I use several 360 extenders on and off, so it's just a matter of time before I see a RROD. Used 360s are getting cheaper, but will probably disappear before too long.

Next is to figure out how to convert all my DVD (vob file) rips to some thing that will play well on my 360.

I have been using handbrake to convert my old DVDs to m4v files. This format has the advantage of working on iPads, Win HTPC and 360 extenders with an automatic codec update, no need for 3rd party codecs. The only problem with m4v's that I have had is that you cannot fast-forward on the 360, you must ##skip to move around in a movie.