Ceton Echo – Windows Media Center Extender Watch Live & Recorded TV/HDTV Access Personal Media Libraries on Any TV on Home Network, HDMI Interface, Remote Included

Pros: Setup was easy. On Sale so I bought 2

Cons: Regular price is way to high!. 100 bucks would be a good price point. Remote sucks big time! Just ordered two Rosewill media center remote to replace the sub-par remotes that came with the Echo. They should come with a remote that can control the TV and the Echo.

Other Thoughts: My InfiniTV 4 works great. The Echo is almost there but needs some tweaking.

Pros: Quick connect to Media Center pays WTV files but other media file extensions not so well.

Cons: Freezes up and has audio problems when fast forwarding, contacted Ceton several times. I have done everything Ceton recommends and for a time after updates and firmware and other tweaks still have the same problems.

Other Thoughts: Wish i had bought an Xbox, the Media extender on my kids Xbox has always worked with no issue. :(

Pros: Size
Features
Tech Support, very attentive
Development ongoing

Cons: No POE or POE+ (Recovery process runs on PC USB2.0, so POE would be workable)

Would not connect, WMC would see it and say Ready. Echo would just say "Connecting". Tried shipping, updated, and beta firmwares, and all failed. Support walked me through device recovery, which I think reinstalls shipping firmware. Still no Joy. RMA for replacement.

Disappointed in the fact that I have to spend $12 more to return a defective piece of equipment.

I have the USB InfiniTV4. It was rough when it first came out. After several updates this thing is bulletproof. I don't even turn the TV on anymore. I was hoping for the same with the Echo. We will see what happens with the replacement unit arrives.

I will update this review when it arrives.

Pros: * Manufactured by a current company that supports it
* Small
* Cheaper and smaller than an Xbox 360
* Wired only (don't kid yourself about HDTV via wireless)
* HDMI output
* Numerous updates have finally stablized the product
* Ceton technical support is good

Cons: * Remote is terrible
* Still not quite 100%
* Open Android support?

Other Thoughts: I've been using WMC with Ceton inFiniTV-4 PCI-e card for a couple years now. Overall, we LOVE the setup. I call it "ANYTHING ANYWHERE ANYTIME". I have an Xbox 360 (includes extender), and used Linksys DMA2100 boxes for quite awhile. The Linksys boxes worked fine, but Cisco/Linksys dopped the line within months of their release, so there is zero support and no more updates. The Linksys boxes are larger, and they also have component output, which can be helpful in some situations (like running component directly to your TV and HDMI through your receiver for Wife-Acceptance-Factor). I was excited when I heard about Echo and was part of their beta program. As is common with beta products, the first Echo I received for the beta was shaky! It would restart and freeze. Ceton has released many updates, and the product is solid now. I am pleased. I currently own 3 Echos, and I'm thinking about buying a 4th one on this sale just to have as extra...

Related thoughts: the My Media Center smartphone app is really nice! I love being able to prune my recordings from anywhere. Sure wish I could WATCH those recordings, but maybe someday. Lastly, I just moved my Ceton card to an HP N54L Microserver with 9TB HDD, and 4GB RAM. It works fantastic! I've had it in several computers now, most recently in an HP N40L Microserver. The dual-core AMD Turion in the N40L is 1.5GHz, which is below Ceton's 2.0GHz recommended spec. It worked fine, but was a tad sluggish with the hundreds of recordings we keep. The N54L is MUCH better. I learned the hard way having your Ceton card in your primary computer is a PITA with all the daily Adobe/Java updates/restarts. Don't even waste your time with that--get a standalone box.

Pros: Easy to set up, priceless if you stream content from your PC to your computer.
The Media Center Extender (MCX) device from Ceton is hands down the greatest complement you can have for your television

Cons: Works great with Windows 7, Windows 8 "isn't supported" but works on my setup just fine.

Other Thoughts: While I claim that I have "superior technical knowledge" for the purpose of this review, I must add that this device is so easy to install a monkey could do it.
A great product addition for Microsoft's mature Media Center platform.

Pros: The Echo worked out of the box. I am set as beta firmware user. Even beta on the two InfiniTV cards. Yes 8 tuners. You MUST follow the instructions to the letter, and you must have the proper Media Center PC hardware. Don't expect to stream to the network and watch local video where the local PC has trouble on its own.

Not two costly of a PC. But one that supports what you want!
MB Asus M5A97 R2.0
AMD FX4100 Quad Core. Not the highest end CPU, but works good.
Memory Corsair Dual Channel 1600 x 16GB
WD AV-GP 1TB 7,200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal A/V Hard Drive WD10EURX

These things work great.

Serving 5 devices, 2 TV from Echos, 1 TV from Xbox, 2 PCs with two of the InfiniTV tuners dedicated as network devices out to the PCs.

The Echo extenders have no issues that I have run into. I have one straight off of Gigabit, and the other on a MOCA bridge, to 100Mbps connection to the Echo. No issues. I am running these on a very hybrid network, but looking to change all to gigabit. I am a Verizon FiOS user and run with two cable cards.

Cons: I wish they had a few more features. web browser would be nice.

Pros: I like the idea behind the Ceton Echo. It's very small and makes no noise. It connects to the WMC PC without much hassle (just as easy as Xbox), and it theoretically works just like the Xbox. It's small size and power usage should make a better choice, not to mention the fact that it's slightly cheaper.

Cons: The echo worked right out of the box. Then it stopped working. It sometimes freezes up. Sometimes the plug in software disappears. H.264 video doesn't stream smoothly. Sometimes when you turn it on, it doesn't do anything (the light comes on but no signal is sent to the TV).

Other Thoughts: I love what the Echo is supposed to do, and I think that it will eventually be a great extender. Unfortunately it's still very buggy. If the video streaming was smoother, I would recommend buying this right now. Live and recorded TV seem to stream fine with my Ceton tuner. If all you need is an extender to watch live and recorded TV, this is a good product for you. If you have a video collection you intend to stream, this will cause you some frustration.

Speaking of frustration, if you buy this, buy a new remote control. The remote that comes with it is absolutely horrible.

Pros: This just works to play TV fom my MCE computer with Ceton quad tuner. Channel change and guide work quickly compared to my xbox. small and energy efficient. Works with universal remotes.

Cons: overpriced as a media device. POOR support for many types of video codecs. Really no good reason for this to be the case other than Ceton rushing this to market half-baked. Ceton's support site is horrendous and has been for years. I mean almost unusably and intentionally vague. Remote is small and does not follow a normal format. Cannot stream any media from the internet, such as Netflix or hulu. And that is NOT acceptible given you can buy two devices that do that for the price of this one.

Other Thoughts: so despite my frustrations it is a good device and getting better. Add netflix and get extensive codec support and this would be the best. FYI Ceton there is a netflix app for MCE that I use with no issues. So why not just let the Echo access that should we as the end user have it installed? Keep up the improvements and I will give you all your eggs.

Pros: Small size; comes with all cables.

Cons: Did not work out of the box. The TV screen kept displaying "Ceton Recovering". E-mailed Ceton Tech Support. They now want me to do an update.

Other Thoughts: A $170 product should work out of the box.

Pros: I am happy there is another company attempting to put together an extender for Media Center. I am a huge fan of Windows Media Center, and the lack of extenders on the market is sad. I appreciate Ceton's attempt, however, the unit is just too slow, cumbersome to use, and the remote is somewhat limited. If the price of the unit was less than $100, maybe I would give it an extra star, however, the Echo is $180 an up. I assume a significant part of that cost is a license fee to Microsoft which is completely outside the sphere of control for Ceton. Nevertheless, you can purchase a 4 Gig Xbox 360 for the same cost of this Echo and the Xbox 360 is an awesome Extender. Plus - you get games with it too! Sorry Ceton, this little unit is like the litte train that tried to make it up the hill, but never got there!

Cons: Ceton was still working on the firmware, needs to be a little speedier. Seemed reallly slow. Too Expensive (compared to a 4 Gig Xbox 360). Lack of support.

Other Thoughts: If you are looking for a good Extender, look no farther than the Xbox 360. You can't go wrong.