Ceton Beta testers

[Joe01880]

Ceton put out a call for Beta Testers,
Single file lines ladies and gentlemen, no pushing, no shoving

http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/30/c...extender-beta/

http://beta.cetoncorp.com

[mr.unnatural]

I signed up for both beta programs earlier this week. The announcement was posted over at The Missing Remote on April 28th, so you're a little behind.

[fyodor]

I signed up. The absence of tolerable extender solutions has been the main thing holding me back from going back to the HTPC DVR world.

[mr.unnatural]

SageTV had a great extender. Unfortunately, they got bought out and SageTV and their wonderful extenders are no longer available. I hate it when a successful product gets bought up by a larger company and then vanishes from the marketplace.

[RockinRay]

Originally Posted by mr.unnatural

SageTV had a great extender. Unfortunately, they got bought out and SageTV and their wonderful extenders are no longer available. I hate it when a successful product gets bought up by a larger company and then vanishes from the marketplace.

+1 - we used SageTV for about 2 years. It was a great product and the HD300's rocked.

Too bad Google has not done anything with them since they bought them out.

[fyodor]

Originally Posted by fyodor

I signed up. The absence of tolerable extender solutions has been the main thing holding me back from going back to the HTPC DVR world.

I actually used SageTV for several years back in the day. It had the best recording engine of anything I've tried and some neat transcoding plugins. But I didn't like the interface much and there weren't any non-clunky ways to view premium content.

[tootal2]

I wonder how much it will cost.

[mr.unnatural]

Beta testing is generally free, AFAIK. If you're testing software it probably has an expiration date. If you're testing hardware you probably have to return it after the trial period is over. They might want you to post a deposit or provide a credit card number as collateral, but as I've never been involved in one before I'm only guessing. You're pretty much forbidden to talk about it if you're accepted into the test so I've heard next to nothing about how it works.

[paulnelson20]

Originally Posted by mr.unnatural

Beta testing is generally free, AFAIK. If you're testing software it probably has an expiration date. If you're testing hardware you probably have to return it after the trial period is over. They might want you to post a deposit or provide a credit card number as collateral, but as I've never been involved in one before I'm only guessing. You're pretty much forbidden to talk about it if you're accepted into the test so I've heard next to nothing about how it works.

From what's been posted by the guys at Ceton, you pay for the extender up front, when the beta test is over, you keep the unit at no additional charge. What will be interesting is if there will be a difference in price of the beta test unit (discount for being a beta tester/having to deal with any bugs) and the finished retail unit.

[mr.unnatural]

They should offer it to you at a discount or allow you to upgrade to a retail version once it's been debugged. If it only requires a software or firmware update then it's not a bad deal.

[Worf]

I use my Xbox360 as a Media Center extender. The UI's the same as it's really just doing an RDP session into the HTPC.

[mr.unnatural]

The main problem with any current Media Center extender is that they seriously lack codec support for most of the popular formats like MKVs or Blu-Rays. Hopefully the Ceton extender will address this issue and provide wider support. Actual features haven't been released yet so it's anyone's guess what they'll actually be able to handle.

[Chris Gerhard]

Originally Posted by mr.unnatural

SageTV had a great extender. Unfortunately, they got bought out and SageTV and their wonderful extenders are no longer available. I hate it when a successful product gets bought up by a larger company and then vanishes from the marketplace.

You mean successful product as in a product you like or one that works well? I have seen nothing that makes me believe it was a successful product from the company's standpoint, one that sells well and is highly profitable, if it was, it would still be available for purchase.

This Ceton box is exciting, I am not interested other than as an observing bystander and won't be buying one. If there is a similar product based on TiVo in the future, that would be even more exciting.

[Joe01880]

Originally Posted by mr.unnatural

I signed up for both beta programs earlier this week. The announcement was posted over at The Missing Remote on April 28th, so you're a little behind.

I looked here and didnt see anything about it so I posted the announcemnet when i saw it on Endgaqdget.
Although I do not think my TiVo's will be going any where any time soon I always have my eye out for a new toy and the chance to play with one for free, or maybe even get paid to do it, then keep it. Just sharing but its good you already knew about it. I did not!

[tootal2]

You dont get paid for the beta. you have to pay for the ceton echo. I have to use a computer to watch shows in my bedroom from my ceton cable card pc.
The echo will save me some power.

I still dont know what im going to do with my tivos. but it looks like i dont need them anymore.

Originally Posted by Joe01880

I looked here and didnt see anything about it so I posted the announcemnet when i saw it on Endgaqdget.
Although I do not think my TiVo's will be going any where any time soon I always have my eye out for a new toy and the chance to play with one for free, or maybe even get paid to do it, then keep it. Just sharing but its good you already knew about it. I did not!

[innocentfreak]

Thought about signing up but realized I don't care. I will wait and see what they end up offering software wise when it comes out. I am more interested in playing with the Q.

[mr.unnatural]

Originally Posted by Chris Gerhard

You mean successful product as in a product you like or one that works well? I have seen nothing that makes me believe it was a successful product from the company's standpoint, one that sells well and is highly profitable, if it was, it would still be available for purchase.

This Ceton box is exciting, I am not interested other than as an observing bystander and won't be buying one. If there is a similar product based on TiVo in the future, that would be even more exciting.

I meant successful in that it was a product that appeared to work better than any other offerings currently available. I don't know how successful it was financially. SageTV was always a niche product with a fanbase that was smaller than the number of WMC users. I never actually used the Sage 300 extender but I was in the process of evaluating SageTV with the patched version that worked with the Ceton InfiniTV4 tuner when Google took them over.

I was interested in getting the Sage extenders but my timing was off. I never did finish evaluating SageTV because there seemed to be little point after the takeover. I couldn't buy a license for it if I wanted to and the Sage store closed up shop, which meant no extenders unless I went through ebay or other similar source.

[paulnelson20]

Originally Posted by innocentfreak

Thought about signing up but realized I don't care. I will wait and see what they end up offering software wise when it comes out. I am more interested in playing with the Q.

I would have thought about it too, however I have ditched my WMC/Ceton set-up and have gone back to Tivo for my tv usage (using my HTPC for watching blu-ray rips and downloads). The whole guide data issues lately and the spontaneous crashes of the InfiniTV 4 are the main culprits. I don't want to have to check every other day to make sure my guide data is updating, especially if there is something a week down the line and there is no data in WMC, sometimes I don't remember to check again after the guide finally updates. When it gets down to 4-6 days worth of data (several times in the span of a month or two, it becomes a nuisance.

[tootal2]

my wmc guide runs out on 5-11-12 i hope they fix this problem soon. i still have my tivo running

Originally Posted by paulnelson20

I would have thought about it too, however I have ditched my WMC/Ceton set-up and have gone back to Tivo for my tv usage (using my HTPC for watching blu-ray rips and downloads). The whole guide data issues lately and the spontaneous crashes of the InfiniTV 4 are the main culprits. I don't want to have to check every other day to make sure my guide data is updating, especially if there is something a week down the line and there is no data in WMC, sometimes I don't remember to check again after the guide finally updates. When it gets down to 4-6 days worth of data (several times in the span of a month or two, it becomes a nuisance.

[bradleys]

Originally Posted by tootal2

You dont get paid for the beta. you have to pay for the ceton echo. I have to use a computer to watch shows in my bedroom from my ceton cable card pc.
The echo will save me some power.

I still dont know what im going to do with my tivos. but it looks like i dont need them anymore.

What a great deal! Ceton convinces you to purchase a full price pre-production unit and expects you to report all of the software bugs and usability issues!

I suppose you will then have to pay full price again for an actual working model once YOU find all the bugs in it!!!

Yeah, sounds like a great idea to me.... I am sure they will creativly spin this to find enough people to pay them for the privilege to do their work for them! And what happens if this thing never makes it into production? Do you get reimbursed? Will the guide continue to be supported?

Have fun with that...

[innocentfreak]

Originally Posted by bradleys

What a great deal! Ceton convinces you to purchase a full price pre-production unit and expects you to report all of the software bugs and usability issues!

I suppose you will then have to pay full price again for an actual working model once YOU find all the bugs in it!!!

Yeah, sounds like a great idea to me.... I am sure they will creativly spin this to find enough people to pay them for the privilege to do their work for them! And what happens if this thing never makes it into production? Do you get reimbursed? Will the guide continue to be supported?

Have fun with that...

You are buying the hardware. You don't pay after the beta is over. You just keep the hardware. Consider it a hardware deposit so someone doesn't get shipped a free Echo and then try to sell it on eBay or do zero testing.

You have to apply specifically to the Echo beta and also get accepted.

I am sure if TiVo offered people the same deal with their ip box or transcoder, you would have people who want to test.

[CoxInPHX]

I signed up for the Echo extender beta trial. I recently purchased a SiliconDust HD HomeRun Prime from Woot. I have not yet set it up though. I wonder if Ceton would pick a beta candidate that did not own one of their Ceton InfiniTV4 products. Guess we'll see.

[tootal2]

seems like a good deal to me. I would buy 1 right now if i could

Originally Posted by bradleys

What a great deal! Ceton convinces you to purchase a full price pre-production unit and expects you to report all of the software bugs and usability issues!

I suppose you will then have to pay full price again for an actual working model once YOU find all the bugs in it!!!

Yeah, sounds like a great idea to me.... I am sure they will creativly spin this to find enough people to pay them for the privilege to do their work for them! And what happens if this thing never makes it into production? Do you get reimbursed? Will the guide continue to be supported?

Have fun with that...

[mr.unnatural]

Originally Posted by tootal2

my wmc guide runs out on 5-11-12 i hope they fix this problem soon. i still have my tivo running

Guide data is an issue with Zap2it and has nothing to do with Ceton or your PC. Sometimes it doesn't get updated as often as I'd like, but it's never gotten to the point where it ran out altogether.

[aaronwt]

Originally Posted by bradleys

What a great deal! Ceton convinces you to purchase a full price pre-production unit and expects you to report all of the software bugs and usability issues!

I suppose you will then have to pay full price again for an actual working model once YOU find all the bugs in it!!!

Yeah, sounds like a great idea to me.... I am sure they will creativly spin this to find enough people to pay them for the privilege to do their work for them! And what happens if this thing never makes it into production? Do you get reimbursed? Will the guide continue to be supported?

Have fun with that...

Nothing unusual about having the beta testers pay for the hardware. I've been in several betas over the years where I paid hundreds of dollars for the beta hardware to test it. And when the beta was over we got to keep the beta hardware. Which ended up costing less than the price of the final retail product.

[bradleys]

Originally Posted by aaronwt

Nothing unusual about having the beta testers pay for the hardware. I've been in several betas over the years where I paid hundreds of dollars for the beta hardware to test it. And when the beta was over we got to keep the beta hardware. Which ended up costing less than the price of the final retail product.

I would have no problem signing a contract or even paying a refundable deposit for the hardware... That makes sense.

But purchasing and subscribing the unit - just to do their work for them... Uh, no.

[mr.unnatural]

Originally Posted by bradleys

I would have no problem signing a contract or even paying a refundable deposit for the hardware... That makes sense.

But purchasing and subscribing the unit - just to do their work for them... Uh, no.

This is pretty much common practice employed throughout the computer industry. People get an opportunity to try hardware and software before the rest of the population at a reduced cost and all they have to do is let the manufacturer know what they like or dislike about the product or report any glitches that occurred. It saves a lot of headaches for everyone in the long run. It's virtually impossible for any developer to test every single combination of hardware and software out there so having beta testers is paramount to providing a stable product. If you think Winows is buggy, just think how bad it would be if there was no beta testing program.

[bradleys]

Originally Posted by mr.unnatural

This is pretty much common practice employed throughout the computer industry. People get an opportunity to try hardware and software before the rest of the population at a reduced cost and all they have to do is let the manufacturer know what they like or dislike about the product or report any glitches that occurred. It saves a lot of headaches for everyone in the long run. It's virtually impossible for any developer to test every single combination of hardware and software out there so having beta testers is paramount to providing a stable product. If you think Winows is buggy, just think how bad it would be if there was no beta testing program.

I am a developer and have been managing development teams for over a decade...

The problem with a beta product is, that by definition it is going to change.

In this case, if the problems are all software releated, you may be OK long term. But if any of the issues require a hardware change you own the product and the manufacturer has no obligation to make you whole.

This is risk free for the manufacturer and they are counting on your enthusiasm for a new product to keep it that way.

I have no problem sharing risk - I am just not going to take all the risk and leave them scott free when the whole product comes tumbling down.

[mr.unnatural]

I hear what you're saying and agree with it in principal, especially with respect to any potential hardware changes. In the case of the Echo extender, any changes are likely going to be software related. I'd feel perfectly comfortable testing such a product if it gave me the ability to be an early adopter at a fraction of the retail cost with the potential of upgrading it to the full released version with a software update. I see any possible risk as being minimal at best.

[innocentfreak]

Originally Posted by bradleys

I am a developer and have been managing development teams for over a decade...

The problem with a beta product is, that by definition it is going to change.

In this case, if the problems are all software releated, you may be OK long term. But if any of the issues require a hardware change you own the product and the manufacturer has no obligation to make you whole.

This is risk free for the manufacturer and they are counting on your enthusiasm for a new product to keep it that way.

I have no problem sharing risk - I am just not going to take all the risk and leave them scott free when the whole product comes tumbling down.

The product is a final hardware product. You are only testing the software.