EngadgetHD Tries the Popcorn Hour A-110

[Hooch Tan]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.engadgethd.com/2009/03/18/popcorn-hour-a-110-review/' target='_blank'>http://www.engadgethd.com/2009/03/1...r-a-110-review/</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"With HD media streamers being a dime a dozen these days, when one particular one seems gain popularity we take notice. So we figured there was no better way to learn what all the fuss is about then to spend a little time with it. The main point of our curiosity was to go beyond the specs and to try and determine how usable it was."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/dht/auto/1237427013.usr20447.jpg" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p>EngadgetHD has put up their impressions of the Popcorn Hour A-110 and its generally favourable.&nbsp; There are a few gripes, but they're pretty minor, and they're fairly pleased with the whole setup.&nbsp; The interesting part for me is the flexibility it provides through add-ons.&nbsp; This is what will set the Popcorn Hour apart from the rest of the pack.&nbsp; Unfortunately, what may prevent it from gaining wide acceptance is the user interface, which EngadgetHD finds lacking.&nbsp; The extra goodies are nice, but if the interface isn't friendly, it'll find itself relegated to the smaller market of geeks.&nbsp; The A-110 is tempting, but I'm afraid that I might find myself going back to Windows Media Center because when I want to watch movies, I don't want to struggle with the interface; I just want to sit back and relax.&nbsp; Am I alone on this?</p>

[ryanmorris]

I've had my A-110 since Christmas, on the recommendation of a friend. I STILL can't get the thing to stream, implement a Movie Jukebox program (which is what makes the whole experience worthwhile), or do anything other than copy divx files to the internal harddrive and play them from a File Manager type window.

I'm a banker, not a programmer. I do however, build my own computers and enjoy techno tinkering. If I cannot even begin to grasp it, then either I'm completely missing a step or the Popcorn is a product specifically for the IT professionals, programmers, etc.

[alese]

I have an original A-100 version for a year now and while interface is not all that great it still does what's needed for me - a simple way to navigate to my videos / pictures and stream that content to my TV screen.
Of course it would be nice to have more Media Center like interface with all the eye candy, but since even my wife and 4 year old daughter use it, I would say it's not that bad. Considering I payed 250 EUR for it, and I have full HD streaming, it's much better value than dedicated Media Center computer.

Oh, and the killer feature for me is the ability to play ISO files, just like a normal DVD disk. So now I have my DVDs ripped as ISO files on my server and I just select the one I want - no more "fiddling" with physical disks and DVD player.

[Jason Dunn]

I'm a banker, not a programmer. I do however, build my own computers and enjoy techno tinkering. If I cannot even begin to grasp it, then either I'm completely missing a step or the Popcorn is a product specifically for the IT professionals, programmers, etc.

Don't feel bad. I've seen many of these devices, and they all seem to fall into one of two categories:

1) Big-brand company releases device with great user interface, easy to use, but only supports a limited number of file formats and just doesn't DO enough

or

2) Small company releases device that supports everything under the sun and can do 100 different thing, but has the user interface from hell and no one but a select few can figure it out.

Many of these types of devices (#2) remind me of this Onion spoof video:

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/sony_releases_new_stupid_piece_of

***WARNING: very strong language warning in that video!***

[Jason Dunn]

Oh, and the killer feature for me is the ability to play ISO files, just like a normal DVD disk. So now I have my DVDs ripped as ISO files on my server and I just select the one I want - no more "fiddling" with physical disks and DVD player.

That's the ONE thing I got excited about with it, but the interface I saw a while back was just so damn ugly. :(

[Stinger]

As I said in my review of the A-100 (http://forums.thoughtsmedia.com/f307/popcorn-hour-100-review-89110.html), it's an enthusiast device. It's got plenty of flexibility and power but this comes at the price of polish.

Having said that, I've recently started using Yet Another Movie Jukebox on mine and it's improved the UI dramatically. Set-up can be a bit fiddly for TV series but it's well worth it.

A quick search of youtube brings up a couple of videos (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94ESwOsEBWk) of the YAMJ interface. They're worth checking out if you want to see what a difference YAMJ makes.

I'd never recommend the PCH devices to my grandma but it suits my needs perfectly.

[Jason Dunn]

Having said that, I've recently started using Yet Another Movie Jukebox on mine and it's improved the UI dramatically.

That UI looks great! Where does it get the DVD covers from? Automatic, or do you have to find and move them over yourself? And what's the quality like playing back a DVD ISO on it versus playing the physical DVD in a player with good upscaling - can you tell the difference in a significant fashion?

[Stinger]

I can't tell the difference between DVD .isos played from my PCH and DVDs being played from my Denon up-scaling DVD player. Both are connected via HDMI to my 720P TV.

The DVD covers and meta data are downloaded using a CLI-based PC application. Thankfully someone has written a UI to configure it too. The tool bases its decisions on the name of the file. If it downloads the wrong data, you can override it with an .xml file and point it towards the right IMDB record.

Ideally, the tool would do this look-up automatically when you upload a new file but at the moment you have to run it manually.

Even so, it's a vast improvement. :)