Popcorn Hour anyone?

To replace my HTPC pretty much. Probably going to pick up the A110 within the next few weeks and pray that it will stream media files and 720p+ .mkvs from my NAS without much pain. After some research, I pretty much realize that replacing the HTPC with a Popcorn Hour, or a HDX 1000, is a win win situation in all aspects.


For those who don't know what Popcorn Hour is, it is pretty much a networked media extender, it can stream media files from a PC, a NAS, any USB devices including external HDs and even the optional internal HD installed inside it. It can pretty much play and decode all media files, from basic Xvid to 1080p Matroska files with DTS. It has component and HDMI connections, as well as optical out.

Basically I found that my HTPC was too much and too energy, about 190w, and the Popcorn Hour only takes 15w, which is pretty efficient. Good.

Plus, XBMC gets iffy often, 1080p it struggles with, while the PCH plays almost all media files as intended. Awesome.

So, besides streaming media files, I pretty much don't use the HTPC for anything else, so its kinda wasted, while the PCH is pretty much a media tank that does only one thing, which is what I want. Alrighty.

The size difference, my HTPC is the size of a A/V receiver, so it does stick out in my Home Theatre system. The PCH is about the size of a 7" netbook, though not as lengthy. Super.

Remote control, don't need an external keyboard/mice like the HTPC. Awesome.

PCH costs a bit under $260 Canadian(or $220 USD), I can still sell my HTPC for about $400. Win!



Though I won't be ordering until later this week or next week, I'm still continuously doing research on compatibility.

 

Tis' a good device. however I found that the WDTV was better and cheaper.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...rives+-+External-_-Western+Digital-_-22136325

Its getting constant support and updates, its so small and easy to use.

I wish I had gotten one isntead of building my HTPC. I gave the HTPC to my step dad after his computer broke (it was actually more powerfull than his old computer) so now I plan to get one of these down the road.

I have 2 friends that have gotten one of these on my recommendation and both of them love it, one of them even had a popcorn hour previously.

As for HTPC use mine took like 58w idle and just in the 60's at load, sounds like yours to be in the 100's was using some really bad HTPC parts, but the HTPC can still do so much more than both devices if you find you need those features. Internet browsing being the #1 thing on my list..

The WDTV is not meant to be used as a media extender there are many media extender devices made to stream from your NAS or server (these days many people use there Xbox 360 or PS3 or Wii) so maybe in your case since that is something you want to do the WDTV is not a better fit. I do plan to however once I build my windows home server to see if I can find a way to use the WDTV with streaming, it should be little more than just creating a virtual hard drive for the device to read.

Edit: looks like somebody already found a way - http://stream-recorder.com/forum/streaming-via-wdtv-t3788.html?

 

I do think the WDTV is nice, and for $120~, which is less then half the cost of the PCH.

Though I do think streaming a 1080p MKV file through a network might not be the best idea for a network with at least 2~ people on it at once. With a HD in the PCH, it can pretty much also act as a NAS, so I was thinkking of stuffing a 1TB HD in there, then put all the 720p+ media files onto that HD and let it stream only the SD media files which are on the NAS.

If it doesn't go as planned, the WDTV, or even the ASUS O!Play are other backup options. These media tanks aren't as popular as HTPCs but I can definietly see it grow in popularity, so I could probably sell it for cost if I can't find a working solution with it.

As for the HTPC, yea it was pulling alot, not sure why. Internet browsing is not necessary at all for me, so that's not a problem. I already have a PS3 which plays SD and HD media files fine, but the PS3 cannot render nor view Matroska files.

 

Yeah I think WD forssaw that 1080P wont work well over most peoples networks thus why it was designed to just have external HDD's or USB flash drives plugged into it. Also probably serves a dual function of making it cheaper and easier to use (most people not into technology wouldnt do to well messing with networks and streaming stuff)

It was the work of modders that added NAS/Network capabilities too it.

Heck the best way to go about it for me maybe just to have a 1.5TB external drive connected to my WHS and have it do a backup of all that media data onto the external and just plug that external into the WDTV when I need to watch something.

I like the idea of an external drive on the WDTV more than the internal drive of the Popcorn Hour it leaves you with more freedom and options but it again has no native network support and you would have to add the cost of a USB --> Ethernet adapter to it if you were to want to add that function.

Also for me I watch most of my stuff on my computer in my room, this is just going to be in the living room to watch an occasial movie with the family. Rather than have hundreds of files constantly avalible it may be better for me to just simply transfer the single movie I want to watch to a USB drive and plug it in. Again I think this was kind of the idea behind the WDTV, just transfer what you want when you want to a external HDD or usb key.

I noticed with just the HTPC trying to use Windows Media Center, it gets annoying and harsh to navigate to a movie you want when you start to get a very large collection. Windows Media Center was epic fail to me anyways. It didnt want to make streaming easy, and was very limited on the codecs and file formats it would support.

I ended up having to use a mouse and just play them from windows in Media Player Classic (like for my anime that often has odd subtitle/audio options)

 

True true. Good to hear another opinion, as I've gotten rabid PCH fans when I asked the same question elsewhere

Hmmm, in my perfect world, my DNS-323 NAS would stream everything to a media player downstairs in my home theatre. So all I have to do is go downstairs, turn it on and browse and watch. Though I don't know if this can ever happen yet

I'm looking into the WDTV, and perhaps take a 80gb external 2.5" HD around and just copy media onto it when I want to watch stuff. Though I'm reading that 1080p MKVs might make the WDTV struggle.

I guess I can still continue using my NAS as a media storage unit, and just copy media to an external HD to play on the WDTV. Though NAS -> PC -> HD might be a PITA with 100+ gigs of stuff at a time.

Though is the extra cost and potential pains(I read that the PCH + NAS don't play along well often) be worth it for seemless streaming with me on a sofa? Ayyeee......

 

1080p did have issue in the first release, it was fixed after the first firmware update. Thats as far as I know anyways.

Also 1080p is not a big deal to me as I actually have no 1080p content, all my HD stuff I download is 720p.

A media extender or something similar is only the 2nd phase for me, first comes building my server. I have the parts picked out but none of the money

I am debating putting it on a credit card but I know thats a bad idea, I may just buy the power supply right now and maybe the HDD's since they are on sale, but then its going to taunt me until I finish the server.

Parts List - Here

Oh and if you would like to see here is what I used for the HTPC

Im going with intel this time even though the cpu is rated 65w vs the 45w of the AMD cpu I used in the HTPC, since its a 45nm build and faster clock per clock I think it will actually use less power. Though I am pretty sure the 4500 IGP on the intel board is going to use more power than the HD3200 did on the AMD board. The 4850e and HD3200 handled full 1080p without a hitch so worked great as a HTPC.

Oh and one more thing on power use. I am not sure where they pull the 15w rating for the PCH if thats in use or just plugged in. Often with electronic devices they pull so much power even when turned OFF. The HTPC while using 60w of power in use only used 1W of power when in sleep mode and that was 99% of the time, it was much closer to 0w of power but I had it on single watt readings so it rounded up.

I have no idea how much power the WDTV uses.

Considering my budget and how often I would use this the WDTV is a better fit for me for sure, but from evaluating how important this seems to you and how you want to use it the PCH seems like a better fit.

You can also look into just plain extenders as well, though you will probably end up at the same conclusion I did that they are too limited in what they can do and if it doesnt support something your out of luck, and thats what led me to build the HTPC so I would be sure it supported everything I wanted.

So possibly just think of building a newer HTPC as well, that build for mine was just over $300 and that was including remote/keyboard/etc.

 

After looking into pricing, the cheapest WDTV I can find here is $116 + taxes, which is about $125. For the PCH, its $199 + taxes, which is $213.

It seems like I'll be trying out the PCH, for $80~ more, the optional internal HD, network streaming, true out of box 1080p video and audio playback(though DTS seems iffy).

 

Good luck and hope you enjoy it.

I'll dig back into the WDTV and media extender scene when time comes for me to get mine.

I would optimally like one that works with streaming too, but since I like to tinker I may try the WDTV and see how well it works with the modded firmware.

 

Definetly, the WDTV community is pretty huge though the PCH one isn't lacking neither. I'll probrably pick up a WDTV for the family sometime down the line.

 

I use a PCH A-110 right now. I dont have wired networking in my house but I have do have the wireless adapter for the PCH. I can stream 720p files with about 2 ppl web browsing. 1080p files without anyone using the network will hiccup, possibly due to the range and most likely the wireless.

I mostly leave all my 720p+ files on the 1TB hard drive I put in and stream TV shows and such that I DL to my computer. This works best for me since I also have an xbox with xbmc streaming the same standard def content to another room.

I dunno what your time frame for buying is, but there is a coming(recently released?) newer model coming. Dunno if its worth the wait but I'm sure you've seen it on their website.

 

The C200? I looked into it, but the LCD screen I don't need, the Optical Drive tray I don't need neither. But regardless, I'm sure the A110 is fine. But at $220~ I can probably sell it for the same price I bought it, MSRP here in Canada is $260, if I think I need to upgrade.