Large-Scale Setup: Echos vs Other (Non-WMC?) Options

[barnabas1969]

For a consumer that has never played a video game in their life and is not remotely aware of the other features an Xbox may bring to the table (Netflix, Xbox Video, music, better codec support, etc), the mere idea of buying a large gaming console with a fan that can't be discretely placed on the back of a TV is a bit of a negative. As has been discussed in this forum ad nauseam, everyone's mileage has varied with the Echo. My family in our house (successfully) uses an Echo several nights a week, via a unit that is out-of-sight on the back of a 60" LCD TV that is basically flush mounted to an exterior wall ... a place where an Xbox just can't fit.

Exactly. It isn't perfect, but it's tiny, efficient and silent and streams live/recorded TV just fine.

Can you say, "Linksys DMA-2100"? It would be more reliable, less expensive, almost as small, and fanless too.

[STC]

^ Without starting up the fire, 'more reliable' would be pushing it a bit, at least for me. My old DMA's used to crap out a lot. My wife and I used to joke about who was going to pull the plug on the DMA in the bedroom just after we get comfortable for the night. The Echos I have are way more stable.

[mdavej]

^ Linksys won't work for me because it has no WOL, and I can't script it in my router.

[slowbiscuit]

Get a better router. I recommend anything that can run Tomato.

[STC]

Tomato +1

Lots more than DDWRT.

[mdavej]

I've had worse routers that I've run Tomato and DDWRT on in the past. Now I do have a better router. It just won't work with those. My old routers that did run those were unstable. I have Echoes that work fine and no need for any scripting. I have no HTPC, Extender or network issues that I need to solve. If it makes you guys feel better to have 4 less Echoes in the world, give me 4 Linksys extenders and a new router and I'll be glad to use them. Otherwise, I'll keep what I've got.

[barnabas1969]

I couldn't watch an hour or two of live/recorded TV on the Echo without it crashing. The Linksys worked fine for hours upon hours. Never had a problem with the Linksys.

[mdavej]

I've had no such issues. My 4 Echoes have been working perfectly (aside from the zoom bug) ever since I got them. So you can understand why I have no complaints or reason to change. By buying used, discounted and reselling, I've managed to bring my net cost per Echo down to $50, which is even cheaper than what I'd been able to do with Xbox or Linksys. So I'm very happy with the cost, performance, form factor and features of Echo.

From what I gather, reading the experiences of those with lots of issues versus those with none, Echo does indeed have major problems handling less than perfect network connectivity. Rather than handling problems gracefully like other extenders, they crash. This is definitely a bad thing and a very valid reason to avoid them. Luckily, my network is very simple and very solid (even my tuners are PCIe, not ethernet), so my Echoes have been trouble free.

[stuppid]

I finally completed my installation in the last week. I previously used three hauppauge tuners in my pc for basic cable. I only had one extender in the bed room(Samsung mr-00ea1) and used a Western Digital TVLive plus box on the patio. I was happy with my set-up except The Western Digital would not handle wtv files except using play to which was a pain in the arse. All of my DVD's are ripped to dvr-ms which everything handles fine. I started collecting echos last year after they announced that they were abandoning android. I always wanted more extenders but did not want x-boxes everywhere. I also collected an Infinitv4 when they were on sale. Brighthouse Bakersfield decided to that they were going to carry Sportnet LA for the Dodgers but only on digital. The wife pushed for a cable box but I put my foot down. I had a time limit of two weeks to get everything working before the season started. It took about a week to get the cable card to work perfectly(Brighthouse was very helpful) so I had a few days to spare. I installed the echos in the kitchen, daughter's room, and on the patio. Whammo, everything works great. I have had one echo require repairing, but no problems since setting dhcp reservations. I have had no problems with the echo so far with playback of live tv, recorded tv, movies via dvr-ms, or music. I hate the remotes but will probably wait a while to do something different. Current setup is three echos and the one Samsung. I have one other echo but it is not installed yet for another bedroom. I want to purchase a couple more for spares so that I can future proof as much as possible while they are still available. I am waiting on another sale to hit.

[Dragonfly]

I want to purchase a couple more for spares so that I can future proof as much as possible while they are still available. I am waiting on another sale to hit.

It's your lucky day:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6815706003

[CharlieWayne]

I've been wondering also how many of these are left on the market. Were using 4 echo's right now and will have a need for 3 more in he coming year or so.

Today the price is still at $99 for them.