Popcorn Hour Media Portal Device

[Admin]

The main reason that I am wanting to get something like this is that I have about 500 DVDs and I've started backing them up as ISO files so that they are uncompressed and this device has the ability to mount those and stream them over your network and display them on your HDTV.

http://www.popcornhour.com/onlinestore/ind...mp;category_id=

Popcorn Hour A-100 allows you to pull in digital video, audio and photos from various sources for your enjoyment on your HDTV or Home Theater setup.

You can stream or playback your digital media content from a variety of sources, such as your PC, NAS, digital camera, USB mass storage devices (Flash drive, HDD, DVD drive) , internal HDD* and even directly from the Internet via the Media Service Portal.

It also serves as a NAS and a BitTorrent peer-to-peer downloader** to eliminate the need to switch on a PC or other device for this purpose.

The Popcorn Hour A-100 supports the latest high bitrate video formats (MPEG2 MP@HL, H.264 HP@L4.1, VC-1 AP@L3 in TS of at least 40Mbps) to give you up to 1080p high-definition videos.

In recognition of advances in Internet TV, the A-100 supports peer-to-peer Internet TV streaming technology from SayaTV, as well as popular unicast internet TV such as YouTube, Revision 3 and Vuze via the Media Service Portal.

The A-100 firmware is upgradeable to support future media containers, codecs and features.

* HDD not included

** An internal HDD is required for these functions.

Specification :

Connectivity

* Bonjour

* UPnP SSDP

* UPnP AV

* Windows Media Connect

* Windows Media Player NSS

* SMB

* NFS

* HTTP servers: myiHome, WizD, SwissCenter, MSP Portal, Llink, GB-PVR

* BitTorrent P2P

* NAS access : SMB, NFS, FTP

Web services

* Video : YouTube, Veoh, Videocast, DLTV, Cranky Geeks, Bliptv, PodfinderUK, Vuze, Break Podcast, Revision 3, CNN The Larry King Podcast, CNN Anderson Cooper 360, The CNN Daily, CNN In Case You Missed It , NBC Meet The Press, NBC Today, CBS Face the Nation, NBC Nightly News, Mevio

* Audio : Live365 Radio, iPodcast, Radiobox, ABC News, BBC Podcast, CNN News , Indiefeed, Jamendo

* Photo : Flickr, Picasaweb

* RSS feed : Bloglines, Yahoo! Weather, Yahoo Traffic Alerts, Traffic Condition, Cinecast, Yahoo! News, MSNBC News

* Peer-to-peer TV : SayaTV

* Internet Radio : Shoutcast

Media files supported

* Video containers:

o MPEG1/2/4 Elementary (M1V, M2V, M4V)

o MPEG1/2 PS (M2P, MPG)

o MPEG2 Transport Stream (TS, TP, TRP, M2T, M2TS, MTS)

o VOB

o AVI, ASF, WMV

o Matroska (MKV)

o MOV (H.264), MP4, RMP4

* Video codecs:

o XVID SD/HD

o MPEG-1

o MPEG-2

+ MP@HL

o MPEG-4.2

+ ASP@L5, 720p, 1-point GMC

o WMV9

+ MP@HL

o H.264

+ BP@L3

+ MP@L4.0

+ HP@L4.0

+ HP@L4.1

o VC-1

+ MP@HL

+ AP@L3

* Audio containers:

o AAC, M4A

o MPEG audio (MP1, MP2, MP3, MPA)

o WAV

o WMA

o FLAC

o OGG

* Audio codecs:

o AC3

o WMA, WMA Pro

o AAC

o MP1, MP2, MP3

o LPCM

o FLAC

o Vorbis

* Audio pass through : DTS, AC3

* Photo formats : JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF

* Other formats: ISO, IFO

* Subtitle formats : SRT, SMI, SUB, SSA

DRM

* Cardea DRM (WMDRM-ND)

Chipset

* Sigma Designs SMP8635

Memory

* 256MB DDR SDRAM, 32MB Flash

Audio/Video outputs

* HDMI v1.1 (up to 1080p)

* Component Video (up to 1080p)

* S-Video

* Composite Video

* Stereo Analog Audio

* S/PDIF Coax Digital Audio

Interface

* 2x USB 2.0 host

* Parallel ATA

Network

* Ethernet 10/100

Power

* 12V DC, 3A

Dimension

* Width 10.5"(270mm) x Depth 5.25" (132mm) x Height 1.25" (32mm)

Weight

* 2.2 lbs (1Kg)

Package Content

* Popcorn Hour A-100 (HDD not included)

* 100~240V Power Adapter and 3 Prong Flat US Cord

* 1.5M length HDMI cable

* Remote Control with 2 "AAA" batteries

* Quick start guide

[DrReality]

Speechless?

[Admin]

Speechless?

Seems pretty cool huh? I'll probably order it this weekend and I'll let you guys know what I think of it.

[frosgrim]

Seems pretty cool huh? I'll probably order it this weekend and I'll let you guys know what I think of it.

It does sound really cool. What does it do to your home network bandwidth while playing though?

[Admin]

It does sound really cool. What does it do to your home network bandwidth while playing though?

From what I have read on devices like these you can play 2-3 full quality DVD files on your home network without any lag on a 10/100 MB ethernet setup. If you have a gigabit setup then you really have nothing to worry about!

I plan to get a pair of these eventually but I'm just going to get the one for now and see how it does.

[frosgrim]

From what I have read on devices like these you can play 2-3 full quality DVD files on your home network without any lag on a 10/100 MB ethernet setup. If you have a gigabit setup then you really have nothing to worry about!

I plan to get a pair of these eventually but I'm just going to get the one for now and see how it does.

That is amazing.

[BossTweed]

That is very cool. I have a modded XBOX that I can use to do a lot of the same stuff, with no support for HD or anything though (which is why I don't use it any more).

I've started using a free program called TVersity that lets you host media on your PC and stream it to an XBOX or PS3. It doesn't do ISO's though, which is annoying. It is pretty slick though, and I've used it to stream internet audio and video which comes in handy as well.

[Admin]

That is very cool. I have a modded XBOX that I can use to do a lot of the same stuff, with no support for HD or anything though (which is why I don't use it any more).

I've started using a free program called TVersity that lets you host media on your PC and stream it to an XBOX or PS3. It doesn't do ISO's though, which is annoying. It is pretty slick though, and I've used it to stream internet audio and video which comes in handy as well.

Ha, the EXACT reason why I went looking for this type of device is because while I love Tversity, it annoys me that they don't support ISO's and apparently don't care to support them either. I love using Tversity with my 360 though, it works absolutely beautifully. I only have a 50" Sony but it's 1080p and I'm amazed at how my 700 mb avi files look on it through Tversity and the 360.