Popcornhour - Should I?

[Edit]

I currently use my xbox 360 for all of my media streaming, but I am very aware that it's only a matter of time until the three red lights come along and ruin it all for me. I'm on my 5th (fifth) Xbox, and as I have had the last two flashed, when they broke I have had to buy a new one rather than just sending them to microsoft.

Does anyone know how easy a PCH is to use, as a media player in the lounge, but also as an NAS device, coupled up to say, a 1tb hdd? Obviously I'd need the wireless adapter as well, so I think I'm looking at an outlay of around £300.

Are PCH's known to be reliable? Any input would be helpful.

 

[David]

i would imagine they're pretty reliable although i would sta that if you are hoping to stream hd content over the wireless you may want to think again. Although if you're only watching divxs i'm sure it'll be fine.

 

[McBunny]

for 300 you could build a more flex able pc !

 

[The Ironist]

PM'd about 360's

I would recommend:

http://www.itreviews.co.uk/hardware/h1795.htm

And then a large HDD of your choice to use with it.

A mate has got one, they are great. I use the PS3 in place of the WDTV but if I didn't have the PS3 I would get one of those as it's all I use the PS3 for anyway.

 

[H182]

My bro has one and its great. Menu looks a little basic but streams and plays movies without problems.

 

[J273]

Id look at the western digital TV

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=572

Plays pretty much anything ....chuck the videos on a USB stick no need to open the thing up to put a drive in.


Can also be hacked to allow network support with an adapter.

 

[Edit]

I suppose if not a PCH, I could buy a NAS, then attach the WDTV to it,

I'm too lazy to put things on a usb stick before watching them. Used to do it. can't be ar*ed.

 

[J273]

Yeah i use a PS3 + QNAP NAS and works pretty well.


Did have a WDTV and thought it was brilliant for the price.

 

[Edit]

I've just been looking at speccing up a media centre PC. Building it isn't a problem, but as I've not had a media PC before, I'm not sure what speed of processor I'll need and ram etc. to cope with what I need it to do. Any ideas?

I currently have a dual core pc (2.5 x 2), with 4gb ram, and an 8500gt. I suppose I coould cannabilise (sp?) this, and build myself a more powerful desktop at the same time.

Tempting...

 

[McBunny]

atom 330 on a ion motherboard will do

 

[Edit]

link?

 

[McBunny]

its not out just yet will be in a couple of weeks
http://www.mini-itx.com/

 

[Edit]

Any idea cost wise?

Just priced a popcorn hour setup at £349. With a 1.5tb HDD.

Just looking at what spec of media PC I could build for that, bearing in mind I'd still need an NAS.

 

[McBunny]

seems to be 120 ish for top spec one with wireless n and external psu

then all you need is ram and a hard disk and a case

 

[Edit]

That's awesome. I could have one of those, with a 1tb hdd, and one of those m350 cases on that site you linked, and leave that running all the time as an NAS, with 4gb ram and Vista ultimate. That'd save me some cash.

Edit; I could even whack windows 7 on there...

 

[H182]

Do you need a HD with popcorn? My bro just downloads what he wants on a pc then streams it via the popcorn box.

I like them cos they're so small and no hassle compared to a media pc.

 

[McBunny]

yup and it decodes 1080p at about 10% cpu usage and will also play games (sort of lol )

 

[Edit]

Looking at that site, the wireless enabled one is £159. Have you ordered one? I think they've had a lot of demand, as it says units will be allocated according to date of order.

You don't have to have a hard drive with it, but I don't like having to have my desktop on all the time that I just want to watch an episode of the Wire or whatever.

 

[McBunny]

not yet no there is another one coming out soon and a few more versions of the zotac board

 

[David]

don't you have to put a cpu on there or have i misunderstood, i thuoght it was just a mobo

 

[McBunny]

no it has a atom 330 on it already

 

[David]

oh right, misunderstood, think i'm going to need to get one!

 

[sneeks]

I could be tempted to buy one of those.

 

[J273]

Not the cheapest route....Have you thought about a mac mini running plex?

 

[sneeks]

I priced up one of these mini media PCs and it was just under £300 with the HDD size I'd need, the cheapest Mac Mini is £499 with only 120GB storage

 

[Chapperz]

I have the PC A110 media tank. Gotta say I love it. Browser is a bit clunky. Wirless connection i have heard is not the best way to go with this bit of kit. For Hd streaming it is amazing! I bought it as WMV movie type has become less popular in HD and MKV file type is far more comon. Must say im happy with my outlay! No you do not need a HDD with it. If you do then yest it is better and you can even load a torrent app on it for downloading content. attaching Hdd`s via usb is easy and as long as you pc is set up for network share you will be able to see you movies and folders. Only problem is that it does not play iso or img files atm. it used to play some but now i think it doesn`t play any with latest update. think i got mine from ripspeed or similar. Uk vendor for PCH.

Hope this helps fella!

 

[jack_davey]

I've got the popcorn hour in my living room and its an awesome bit of kit, any questions pm me!

 

[Edit]

I priced up one of these mini media PCs and it was just under £300 with the HDD size I'd need, the cheapest Mac Mini is £499 with only 120GB storage

That's a good price, the bundle I'm looking at is £370. Thats with a 500gb hdd, and 4gb ram though.

Links?

 

[Rasclart]

I've got the popcorn hour in my living room and its an awesome bit of kit, any questions pm me!

Me too! I have installed YAMJ on there (Awesome) great piece of kit!

 

[Chapperz]

Me too! I have installed YAMJ on there (Awesome) great piece of kit!

Whats YAMJ m8 and would i have needed to add a Hdd to use it?

 

[dk]

Id look at the western digital TV

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=572

Plays pretty much anything ....chuck the videos on a USB stick no need to open the thing up to put a drive in.


Can also be hacked to allow network support with an adapter.

that looks brilliant

 

[Rasclart]

Whats YAMJ m8 and would i have needed to add a Hdd to use it?

YAMJ is a interface to allow it to display the movies in a more stylish way. Link below to the forums and the program!

http://www.networkedmediatank.com/showthread.php?tid=9862&pid=84937#pid84937

 

[Edit]

Would it not prove cheaper to get a dell mini 10, with 8gb ssd hard drive and external 500gb hdd?

Think it has an HDMI port too.

Don't know how well it would handle 1080p though...

 

[rory182]

that looks brilliant

these get fantastic reviews and can be had for £70 - £80 I'll be getting one when I get a new TV

 

[Edit]

With the Zotac board, and 4gb ram, would I need any form of ram cooler type thingy if I wanted to run the computer all the time?