Beta Testers for Echo

[choliscott]

The update was in the newsletter that went out last week. The Echo beta test was pushed back to October as they wanted to fix a few things before hand

This is the beta testers for Echo thread. It has drifted into discussion of the Q and InfinTV 6...

Any updates on the start date for the beta program?

[Dean L. Surkin]

I'm hoping to hear about Echo availability this week. I've been promising my wife that we'll be able to replace our Cablevision DVR (Scientific Atlanta 8300HD) this fall, and she's starting to doubt that it'll happen. In the meantime, the SciAtl continues to exhibit glitches due to age (as do I, for that matter, but she's stuck with me)...

[gpatlanta]

I doubt you'll hear anything until October based on what has been stated by Ceton. It'll happen. They already have production units and are just getting the big stuff worked out before beta.

[Diverge]

Their last newsletter said they hoped to ship them to beta testers the 1st week of October. So there should be more details about it in some time between now and then.

[cncb]

Seems like we should hear something today unless they plan a weekend announcement.

[foxwood]

By the way, will any of the Beta testers be using the Echo outside North America? Most of Europe has switched from Analog broadcasts to digital, using a number of different formats, so it would be helpful to know that the Echo is going to handle all of that content OK.

[Dean L. Surkin]

Eric or any other Cetonites:

Do you expect the Echo to support FLAC? Alternatively, if my HTPC has a FLAC add-on for Windows Media Center, will the Echo then be able to play back FLAC files? I ask this because I see that Logitech has relegated Squeezebox to EOL status, and I'm planning for the inevitable day when my Squeezebox Receivers give up the ghost. Thanks.

[ucfknight]

Seems like we should hear something today unless they plan a weekend announcement.

No news yet. I hope we get an update one way or another early this week.

[erkotz]

Eric or any other Cetonites:

Do you expect the Echo to support FLAC? Alternatively, if my HTPC has a FLAC add-on for Windows Media Center, will the Echo then be able to play back FLAC files? I ask this because I see that Logitech has relegated Squeezebox to EOL status, and I'm planning for the inevitable day when my Squeezebox Receivers give up the ghost. Thanks.

Format support ultimately comes down to a few things:
1. Hardware limitations. If the HW decoding can't do it, and the CPU is too slow to decode it, it's dead.
2. Licensing. Is a royalty fee required to implement it? If so, how much?
3. Development effort.

Don't take this as a yes (or no) for FLAC, but being audio, the CPU limitations won't be that great, and the whole point of FLAC is no licensing is required, so you pass the first two deamons

FWIW, I also keep my CD rips in FLAC.

[DigiTechMedia]

Man I could really use about 30 echo's at the moment for customers. But, I would be really happy to have just 1 right now for myself Surely they are close to letting us order for the Beta stage?

Billy

[Diverge]

Man I could really use about 30 echo's at the moment for customers. But, I would be really happy to have just 1 right now for myself Surely they are close to letting us order for the Beta stage?

Billy

My natural pessimism predicts a delay coming

edit: I hope I'm wrong

[ahwman]

Ceton,

Can we get an update on the status of the Echo? The first week of October is fading fast...

[lithium630]

Man I could really use about 30 echo's at the moment for customers. But, I would be really happy to have just 1 right now for myself Surely they are close to letting us order for the Beta stage?

Billy

My natural pessimism predicts a delay coming

edit: I hope I'm wrong

ESP?

[STC]

http://thegreenbutton.tv/forums/viewtop ... 101#p29101

[Diverge]

Man I could really use about 30 echo's at the moment for customers. But, I would be really happy to have just 1 right now for myself Surely they are close to letting us order for the Beta stage?

Billy

My natural pessimism predicts a delay coming

edit: I hope I'm wrong

ESP?

I wish. It was just a feeling and guess based on what Ceton employee's post about, or don't post about.

Like the line of pixels problem on copyonce channels lots of people have, they once said they were able to reproduce but either won't fix, or can't fix, or give any info on what's going on publicly or in the support ticket i've had open for a couple years it seems

[ucfknight]

Well, looks like the wait will continue. I hope they get the kinks worked out soon and can start the beta program quickly.

[Dean L. Surkin]

Hmm, no post from Eric for two days now. They must be scrambling to get the beta out the door. I wish them luck in solving the last-minute problems.

[Dean L. Surkin]

andyb22 posted the following over at the AVS forum (he received it by email):

Ceton Echo Update
We’re still putting some finishing touches on the Echo software and beta units will not be going out this week. Alpha testing is going very well; it’s just taking a bit longer than we planned. We’ve built in extra time to the schedule for things like this and everything is still a go to have the Echo released in time for Holiday 2012.

We’ll provide an update on beta timing as soon as we can.

Ceton Q Update
Since previewing the Q at CES in January we’ve learned more about Microsoft’s plans for Windows Embedded, the operating system on which the Ceton Q is based (at CES we demonstrated the Q running on Windows Embedded Standard 7). While Windows Media Center is available with the consumer version of Windows 8, it is still unclear whether Media Center will be offered in the next version of Windows Embedded. We expected that question would have been resolved by now but it’s hasn’t. So, what to do???

We’ve been discussing a few different options internally for a while and frankly we haven’t decided the best path forward yet. What we have decided is that the Ceton Q as previewed at CES will not launch this year as we planned 10 months ago. It’s possible the Q will launch in 2013, either as initially envisioned or perhaps re-envisioned, but we can’t guarantee that at this point. We know there is a ton of interest in the Q and that this news will be disappointing to a lot of you but we think it’s important to be upfront about where things stand.

Ultimately, we want to make sure that we deliver great products that customers will love for years to come. Given the flux at Microsoft around some of the key components we were relying on, we simply don’t feel we can do that with the Q at this point.

Ceton Companion Update
And last but not least … the Ceton Companion. If you haven’t checked out the apps yet, it’s never too late. They’re a great addition if you use Windows Media Center with any type of TV tuner, not just Ceton tuners.

Since we launched Companion less than a month ago, we’ve rolled out updates to the Companion Services (the utility that runs on your PC) as well as to all versions of the app for the different platforms. We’ve also introduced a version for the Barnes & Noble NOOK as well as an update that optimizes the app if you’re using the new iPhone 5 and a version that supports the new Kindle Fire HD. Phew!

How many apps can you think of that launched on Apple iOS (including iPhone 5 optimized), Android, Kindle Fire and NOOK at basically the same time? Yeah, the Companion team is pretty amazing and has been awful busy as you can probably tell!

So that’s it for now. Please stay tuned for more on the Echo soon.

As always, thanks for all your support and encouragement!

-The Ceton Team

[foxwood]

That would be the same e-mail most of us received, and that is posted in the ceton Echo forum:
http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/vie ... 101#p29101

[gpatlanta]

Should I be worried that I did not get this email? I'm checking my spam filters, but I signed up for the beta..