Ceton Echo Talk - Expected Release, November @ $179

[kingwr]

I got the first email w/ the $179 price, but no second email saying I was in the beta. I know they selected one thousand from thousands that expressed interest, but I wonder if I (and those of my ilk) were excluded because we don't use Ceton tuners. I, for one, would like to know that this thing is being tested with H.264 video from a Hauppauge HD-PVR/Colossus in a .wtv file before I rush out and buy a couple.

[barnabas1969]

There are people complaining that the ceton extender is to expensive. At under $200 for a new product seems more than reasonable. Ceton seems like the only company making products for WMC. That is why i am willing to spend $179 dollars. I am really looking for the echo paired with the Q and I want to give Ceton the incentive to keep developing. Chris Lanier said it a couple years back the xbox is the enemy of WMC.

They said that it will cost less than the cheapest XBox. I thought the cheapest XBox is $149, and that's what I expected the Echo to cost. I'm willing to pay the extra $30 though.

If the Echo gives you Netflix/Hulu/Vudu/YouTube streaming without paying for something like an Xbox Live Gold account, then it's worth the price of admission.

I'll buy an Echo as soon as they are available... and if I like it, I'll buy a few more.

[adam1991]

My only concern here, as the forum Luddite, is that I *do* use my XBoxen as DVD players as well as extenders. Not extensively, but when I want to play a DVD, I want to play a DVD.

I don't know how well an Echo would serve me.

[cnewsgrp]

[Thread merged - STC]

Here is an engadget link http://www.engadget.com/2012/07/15/ceto ... september/

My thoughts: I was expecting 120, so 179 is high. I will wait a little time before I jump in. I guess my xbox will have to do for some time.

[amador]

[deleted due to thread merge - posted twice - STC]

[STC]

^^ Ben has it right.-
Initial release at premium price, then over time they will get cheaper.
Possibly down to even $129 or so hopefully...

[amador]

The entry point of the orginal price of v2 extender was over $250 so $179 for an echo seems very good

[barnabas1969]

My only concern here, as the forum Luddite, is that I *do* use my XBoxen as DVD players as well as extenders. Not extensively, but when I want to play a DVD, I want to play a DVD.

I don't know how well an Echo would serve me.

Back when Ceton was responding to our feature requests, some people (including me) expressed interest in being able to connect an external optical drive via the Echo's USB port. Ceton said that they would "consider" it. Let's hope they support this feature. I have several DVD drives and an external 5.25" enclosure just laying around... so I could make them into an external DVD drive for free.

EDIT: Of course, external BluRay drive support (with the ability for the Echo to natively play BluRays) would be awesome too... but the price of a BluRay drive is about the same as a BluRay player, so I don't know if this would be something many people would use.

[newfiend]

The thing is.. And maybe I'm way off here because I have not been following this thread all the way through.. But .. No one has had a chance to use an echo except Ceton. We don't know what its totally capable of. I know it's a fully functional extender, but will I be able to watch Netflix on it? Will it play all my .mkv's? How good is the browser for the web that's built into it? Its hard to say it's too much $ when we haven't had a hands on yet. I think the price is reasonable. I'll know for sure as soon as I get my hands on one.

Sent from my SGH-i937 using Board Express

[barnabas1969]

The thing is.. And maybe I'm way off here because I have not been following this thread all the way through.. But .. No one has had a chance to use an echo except Ceton. We don't know what its totally capable of. I know it's a fully functional extender, but will I be able to watch Netflix on it? Will it play all my .mkv's? How good is the browser for the web that's built into it? Its hard to say it's too much $ when we haven't had a hands on yet. I think the price is reasonable. I'll know for sure as soon as I get my hands on one.

Sent from my SGH-i937 using Board Express

Are you in the beta, newfiend?

Ceton said previously that it would fully support H.264. Their website says it supports internet streaming, so I assume that will include Netflix... and I can't wait to find out for sure.

[newfiend]

Yep got accepted Sunday.

Sent from my SGH-i937 using Board Express

[amador]

The thing is.. And maybe I'm way off here because I have not been following this thread all the way through.. But .. No one has had a chance to use an echo except Ceton. We don't know what its totally capable of. I know it's a fully functional extender, but will I be able to watch Netflix on it? Will it play all my .mkv's? How good is the browser for the web that's built into it? Its hard to say it's too much $ when we haven't had a hands on yet. I think the price is reasonable. I'll know for sure as soon as I get my hands on one.

Sent from my SGH-i937 using Board Express

Are you in the beta, newfiend?

Ceton said previously that it would fully support H.264. Their website says it supports internet streaming, so I assume that will include Netflix... and I can't wait to find out for sure.

If that is true. It beats the xbox 360 extender in features and price without the Q. I think the Q will make the echo the ultimate extender.

[barnabas1969]

If that is true. It beats the xbox 360 extender in features and price without the Q. I think the Q will make the echo the ultimate extender.

The Echo also has HDMI-CEC and IP control. I don't think the XBox has either.

[amador]

I wonder how the echo will interact with the ceton companion app. Cant wait to sept?

[gcw07]

I didn't get into the beta, but overall the price isn't that bad. It will have to have some major upgrades over the xbox though to make it a sale when your pricing it $30 over the price of a basic xbox that also has the ability to play games. My only real disappointment is the timeline. With a beta not until Sept., a release of the Echo won't be until November or December. That means the Q is probably not coming out this year. With that timeline, that means that if Tivo releases their extender in the fall like expected, I'll probably just move on from WMC and Ceton.

[lithium630]

I think the price is very reasonable. You have to remember the Xbox was sold at a loss for YEARS. If the Echo can plug just a few holes left by Microsoft I will be ecstatic.

[barnabas1969]

I think the price is very reasonable. You have to remember the Xbox was sold at a loss for YEARS. If the Echo can plug just a few holes left by Microsoft I will be ecstatic.

Correct. Microsoft makes their money back on sales of games, downloads, and XBox Live. Ceton doesn't have that type of revenue stream... unless they have some type of app/movie store built into the Echo, or if they get a kickback from services like Netflix/Hulu/Vudu/etc.

[adam1991]

oh, man, if this had the functionality of Roku + MC Extender, I would be ecstatic. I could live without an optical drive.

At the very least, if it does Netflix then it beats XBox plus Gold membership from my standpoint.

But if the Echo just does extender duties along with some codecs to handle ripped movies, $179 is a lot of money.

[barnabas1969]

If the Echo boots in a reasonable amount of time, I'll be a happy camper. The biggest problem I have with the Linksys and HP extenders is the boot time. Mine take about 60 seconds to boot into Media Center. If the Echo boots in 15 seconds or less, I'll be ecstatic.

Throw in Netflix, Hulu, HDMI-CEC, WOL, and IP control... and I'll be in heaven.

[adam1991]

Modern XBox comes up to MC inside of 30 seconds. If Echo beats that, yeah, I'd be happy.