michaelhong.com

I received my Popcorn Hour two days ago. I’ve been testing it out extensively (read: watching too much TV) and took some pics which I’ll try to upload later tonight or tomorrow to go along with the review

SETUP: Setup was easy enough. Hooked up my HDMI cable directly to my receiver, ethernet cable, and power. Installing the hard drive was not difficult. To open up the PCH, there are 4 thumb screws which, when removed, allow you access into the PCH innards. I hooked up my Seagate Momentus 2.5″ drive by plugging the hard drive into the SATA/power ports. Use the included screws to secure the hard drive as best you can. I was able to get two screws attached. The hard drive is stable enough as it won’t be moving around once it’s setup

SHARING: I shared my media folders via SMB on my Mac. Because of the way I had my shares set up, adding them was a bit tedious as I had to authenticate each folder with a username/password (it would be easier to share the root directory where your media files are stored.) Typing on the PCH isn’t too bad if you’re familiar with texting on a numeric keypad. You can set up a USB keyboard if texting isn’t your thing.

VIDEO PLAYBACK: Once I got my shares set up, the PCH played my 720p MKV files flawlessly. I had to change the aspect ratio using a button on the remote as PCH shrunk my MKV file to a bizarre proportion, but after fixing that once, it remembered my setting. I have some Korean dramas shared and I could toggle the subtitles on/off quite easily. The initial buffering takes a little less than 5 seconds on my network but then plays without stutters or skips. One strange thing I noticed is that I lose the first second or two of sound. The video plays fine but there is no sound. Annoying, but not dealbreaking. One big issue is that the PCH is having some problems streaming my VIDEO_TS folders. At first I thought it was a network issue as my Mac is connected to my network via a Linksys PLK-200 PowerLine networking adaptor. However, the MKV files were streaming at a higher throughput. The DVDs are basically unwatchable as they stutter continuously. It turns out that the VIDEO_TS stuttering is a known issue and will be addressed in the next firmware update which should be out soon. If you convert the VIDEO_TS folder into an ISO, it supposedly plays back the DVD correctly, however I have not tested this yet. In the meantime, I can transfer the VIDEO_TS folders to my hard drive that I installed in the PCH to avoid any network issues.

PHOTOS: I have not tested the photo ability as I do not really plan on using it. If I get some time, I’ll try to use it and gather some impressions.

MUSIC: I have not tested the music ability as I do not really plan on using it. If I get some time, I’ll try to use it and gather some impressions.

APPLICATIONS: With a hard drive installed, you can install a set of applications, including Transmission (BitTorrent Client), SMB/NFS server, uPnP media server, myiHome server, FTP server, and NZBGet which allows you to grab files off of newsgroups. If you don’t want to leave your computer on, you can use Transmission to download your torrents and your newsgroup files. I have the FTP and SMB server set up so I can transfer files to/from the PCH if I need to.

INTERFACE: The interface is functional. It’s not Apple TV beautiful, it’s not XBMC beautiful, but it does its job. There is easy access to videos, music, photos. If you desire, there are ways to make the interface a little more attractive, but it’s not really worth my time. Most of the time I’ll be using it for the media playback, not to stare at the menus. Still, it definitely won’t impress any of your tech luddite friends.

SUPPORT: There’s a nice wiki here. There is also a very active community at the NMT forums. All of my questions were answered after looking at the wiki or searching through the forums.

CONCLUSION: The Popcorn Hour A-110 does everything I want it to. It plays back all of my video files, including MKV, which was the real reason I chose the PCH to replace my Apple TV. The hard drive really isn’t necessary unless you plan on storing media there and setting it up as a server. The interface isn’t the prettiest, but it’s functional and I’d much rather have firmware updates to improve functionality than an improved skin. I’m sure that better themes will come in time. The developers are active and responsive. I’m anxiously awaiting better VIDEO_TS support. I wouldn’t recommend this to the general home electronics consumer, but if you know how to share files on one computer and can access them from another computer on your network, you shouldn’t have any problems setting up a Popcorn Hour. The $215 price tag is a little high considering you can get a 40GB Apple TV for $229, but they’re really geared towards different markets. The Apple TV can play in its own walled garden. You can rent movies from the iTMS, play protected AACs, etc. In the future, I’d like to see streaming Netflix and Hulu support (there’s a way to get around it now, but you need a Windows computer) out of the box. If you have DRM-free videos, there’s no better way to watch it than on the Popcorn Hour A-110.