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HTPC to replace a Popcorn Hour C-200

Mike1983

Mike1983

Mike1983

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16 Nov 2007
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811
Hello

I have got myself a Popcorn Hour C-200 and I love the convenience of being able to play files stored on my NAS drive. I am slightly disappointed though with the amount of "maintenance" and setting up this unit needs along with it's poor (read as non-existant) Gigabit performance. I'm currently averaging at 11 MB/s over 100Mbps with the same rate on gigabit!

I would like to relegate this unit to my bedroom and possibly install an HTPC in it's place.

Do you have any recommendations on pre-built units or models that OcUK supply, what to look for etc? Requirements as below

* I have a stand alone Blu-ray player so the HTPC does not need to cater for this
* Must be able to connect over a Gigabit network with good transfer rate, streaming large files from a NAS drive like uncompressed .ISO and movie_ts folders.
* Must be quiet
* Must have a footprint similar to a C-200 / DVD unit
* Must be able to output video and sound directly over HDMI to an A/V receiver

Any suggestoins would be appreciated

Thank you
 
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WDTV Live?

I don't really know anything about the Popcorn Hour products, but i'm assuming it doesn't do Live TV (the WDTV Live doesn't either)
 
What exactly are your problems with it? Even 100Mbit speeds will be plenty to play HD media so I'm not clear why that matters, if you want less maintenance and setup then a HTPC probably isn't the way to go IMO.

WDTV live is a good product at a reasonable price for basic playback.
 
Gooner14 said:
Revo surely?

But yes makes a great HTPC with XBMC. I have the Acer Revo R3610, running XBMC, it plays iso over the wifi, but I've had it next to my NAS playing 1080p over wired.
Click to expand...

Revo... exactly!!!

Sorry: That will teach me to post from my phone. t9 spell correct curse
 
I go for ASROCK 330. Its a nice little HTPC. Adobe is implementing DXVA into flash player, thus you can watch youtube/iplayer HD without problem. However, it is still in beta stage but it is getting there!!
 
The revo is essentially the same as the asrock but can be had for £180 with an atom 330

I would presume running playback from a PC is much easier than XBMC or any media centre set up... navigate to folder, double click and away you go?
 
Thanks for all the replies.

Just to confirm, yes I'm happy with the transfer rate of the C-200 as far as being able to stream HD content goes. It kinda sucks though to transfer files to the internal HDD at 11 MB/s over a decent Gigabit connection. I havent got what I paid for / what was advertised in my opinion.

The "maintenance" issue is with regards to the in development firmware side of things and a few problems with playing videos on the C-200 that work fine on my PC. I have had to convert and remux a fair few files so far so they will play on the C-200. I'm technically minded and up to the job, I could just do without the hassle.

I think an HTPC will cure the above and allow me to browse the web too. Only problem I can think of is the increased power requirements and possible fan noise??

Thank you for your suggestions
 
Surely the set-up the popcorn requires is pretty much a prerequisite of any of these types of so called "plug and play" media devices.
My advice would be that you have two options, you allready own a popcorn wich is arguibly the best of its type, the only thing that lets it down really is its price compared to its contenders in the market, this aside its worth the premium to any one that has the funds and form what i understand (based on the fact i havnt had hands on use of all models of media box's) the popcorn line up has the best support for video formats on the market. so this in mind i would not banish it to your bedroom in favour of another "out of the box" solution.

so, firstly you IMHO have the best product that simplicity allows so stick with it.
Your second solution if your still unhappy and want to find a better solution is to go the route of a pc based system, its very much a labour of love though and you shouldnt venture down this path if you dont like tweaking and fiddling and tweaking some more, installing more software and tweaking a little more.
These are much more rewarding though and have an infinite support list for video codecs, more freedom to try new software and find the right solution for you.

I built mine about 6 months ago, i didnt go the route of the revo or other itx solutions though i went matx 9300 based board with a e5300 and a couple of gig of ram, cracking box and i have an itx system running as a download box and nas feeding it all the media it could ever need, definatly much more fun than these out of the box things. i have it in a silverstone milo 02 case aswell so its nice and low profile, and not an eyesoar, not as small as an itx solution but not a warty lump bulging form the media stand either!
 
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still though surely this is more effort than what the popcorn demands and so moot? for simplicity you cant beat these out of the box solutions, id wager if these are too much effort then any other product is going to be more a hassle than a answer!
 
Exactly my point, there is no way on earth that buying a PC and installing a media front end (no matter how good or easy to install) is simpler than an off the shelf solution like he has.

That said I do agree the only simpler still off the shelf solution in the WD TV HD box and what he has is probably better.

Best idea is probably to stick with the popcorn for media and buy a proper NAS if storage speed is a problem...
 
To be honest the picture quality on the Popcorn I have tried side by side with shuttle which has an Nvidia chipset, 1080p on the popcorn is clearer and certainly plays better I find fast forwarding on the shuttle cause MKVs to scrabble up on screen until it catch's up.
I only bought the A100 just to have a play with as I am passing it on to a friend.
 
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