Popcorn Hour C-200 launch nearly upon us, preorders start tomorrow
By Richard Lawler 
posted Aug 26th 2009 10:27PM
posted Aug 26th 2009 10:27PM
[Via MediaSmartServer.net]
Unboxing:
Interface preview:
C-200 Blu-ray demo:
posted Aug 26th 2009 10:27PM
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shut the fuck up, Doug.
-jp
Ummm was anyone else a little put off by his endless scrolling through his folder of *OCD* perfect, sequentially labeled "Best Babes" pics? What an anal retentive porn hound.
Very creepy, in more ways than my mind can comprehend. He's having way too much fun rotating that picture. That coupled with his selection of music screams sociopath... (IMO)
you all judge too much!!! i admit lil creepy but should we judge him?? We sure dont like pople judging u... so i think we should not judge him.
The PH C-200 has some serious potential. But what does it take to make a decent interface?
Yes, this is an updated interface, but welcome to 1999.
The interface doesn't HAVE to be 3D but it at least needs cover-art browsing.
I guess you will still have to hack it to put a decent interface on it.
There are all kinds of plugins you can install for different interfaces. They deliver the best hardware and keep it open for others to create better interfaces.
No kidding. Can't we just put XBMC on that shit?
Horrible GUI.
I think you're spot on. I much prefer Boxee's GUI.
AJ
why would you put XBMC on it? Get an ASRock IONSTAR Atom 330 Nettop PC * install XBMC on that and save yourself a few quid/dollars/buttons/euros.
* includes 2gb ram 320 gb hdd and dvd rw drive
this type of device never works as well as you would hope/expect. i've gone through half a dozen (3 x TVIX, 2 x MVIX, 1 x WDTV) over the years before just putting together a damn HTPC, for around the same price, $300 - you can get a lot of computer for $300 today if you order parts and build. the specialized devices always have problems with some media encodes, around 20% of the SD/HD stuff I've tried. but with an HTPC there are no playback problems using software like KMplayer/VLC/MPC, and you can store media in Truecrypt volumes, and you can store/access more than one HD. also most dedicated media players are very limited in how they can display/sort the files in your media library which makes navigation a chore.
here's your problem, you didn't try a popcorn hour. These work awesome. They play anything and it just works.
TVIX and MVIX both are crapware, WDTV is pretty good but lacking on features
"you can get a lot of computer for $300"
Why do I have the feeling that you valued your time at $0?
Agreed. HTPC has it all over the PCH. I owned the original PCH and, for what it did, it worked fine. But now I have a HTPC with audio being fed through the HDMI cable and I can get EVERYTHING, Hulu, Boxee, all the internet music sites, decent TV style 10 foot interfaces. No way am I taking a huge step back to the PCH no matter how they have tweaked it.
Nope, HTPC still is the way to go. Klamath on the WHS site put together a nice Atom/Ion HTPC for not much money.
http://www.mediasmartserver.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=4794
Can this act as a windows media extender?
I've got the other one now and am ordering one of these. The kids can have my current one for their tv. There's no substitue for a popcorn hour. The updated features of this model are definitely work the extra $100.
wow this is nice
Without rmvb, it leave out the asian market, how is that nearly any video or audio codec
As somebody looking for a media box and Blu-ray player, how is this better than the 300$ PS3 Slim?
Because it actually streams every format, unlike PS3, where you have to transcode anything that's not DivX, even some XviD/DivX you have to transcode.
@Keroliukas
However, with the PS3 MEdia Server thats no problem. I've been able to watch ANYTHING with that server running on my PC. So easy, that even my gf is able to use it. I love that thing
Actually, i cant remember the last time i played on the PS3 or watched live TV....
Popcorn hour. Best friend of the pirate.
(Seriously how many of you rip your own blu ray disks. Thats ok. No need to lie)
It doesn't look like you would need to with this one, just put in a BD-Rom and you can read the actual discs.
Very cool. It would be nice if you could rip them from the box itself as well.
You never know, someone in theory could write a plugin that does it.
>(Seriously how many of you rip your own blu ray disks. Thats ok. No need to lie)
This is engadget, I would like to think a few of us actually do.
I rip my HDDVDs and Blu Rays to ISOs via my desktop PC with an LG drive. I store them on my WHS, and stream them to my media center PC. It means I can get away with only one PC blu ray drive, no disc spinning noise, no 360 noise for HDDVDs, and ripping the ISOs also conveniently strips BR region coding.
I've been interested in a device like this for a bit - TVersity + XBOX 360 is a bit of a pain - can these stream video from sites that aren't just YouTube or Hulu, or should I just try build an HTPC as a commenter suggested earlier?
Yeah Yeah Yeah .. I love it :)
How does this compare to the ACR-PV73100 Playon! AFAIK it uses pretty much the same hardware and the Playon is quite a bit cheaper.
Like the guy above said, HTPC >>> these devices. Takes more effort and know how initially, it costs about the same or maybe more depending on what else you want it to do (like play games). But once its built, put something like VMC/MediaPortal/Meedios/XBMC on it and it blows all these devices back into the stone age. Infinitely customizable and expandable too.
Will you guys stop adding stuff to MY shopping cart!
LOL@$300 HTPC fruitcakes.
You will not be getting a $300 PC that is perfectly silent with zero fans and plays ALL 1080p content FLAWLESSLY like the popcorn hour C200 will... and nowhere near as nice of a form factor for anyhwere NEAR that amount of money.
Even the lowly $100 version of the popcorn hour plays most 720p perfectly.
(and I LOVE my HTPC; but it sure as hell wasn't $300)
Sorry dude, but the ION based Zotac motherboard plus a case cost me less than $250, and it took me about an hour to put a minimal install of Ubuntu and XBMC (Linux Edition) on there.
I now have a completely silent HTPC with Optical, SPDIF, HDMI, Gigabit Ethernet and Wireless LAN for < $300... and it plays ALL 1080p flawlessly, with full Dolby Digital and DTS passthrough. (I believe the latest version of XBMC also supports Dolby True HD through HDMI).
And, it has thousands of music visualizers, album cover art, and is completely skinnable.
Then I'm sure you'll have no problem linking me to exactly what you bought?
Either way I can't stand the comment snobs on Engadget; the popcorn hour is an awesome device.. it works.. doesn't require any tinkering, and is cheap. Get over yourselves.
Second that, would love to see an howto about that!
Because you read some gadget blog you think you have it all figured out don't you? Well I've done it as well so take your elitest attitude elsewhere.
$109 After MIB - Mobo + CPU + GPU = http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500029
$80 Case + PSU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129068
$55 4Gb Ram - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231148
You can even slip in under the $300 mark using a dual-core N330 board after rebates.
nVidiot you are completely right except you are forgetting law #23 of of tech related blogs that clearly states "anytime a "prebuilt" item is posted it should be greeted with general derision and comments such as "I could build that with 2 bits of string and a used bandaid for half the price" followed by links to various pieces of hardware on newegg".
Put me in with nVidiot. Give me a decent headache free prebuilt HTPC box anyday and I don't mind paying more for it. I'm not interested in wasting time fiddling with a HTPC anymore.
Screw NMT and their cheap ass third world website!!!
Will this play BD ISO files, with menu navigation?
Well, initial ordering has been a fiasco. Site is down now for an upgrade, but earlier, once the C-200 went live, the site was bombarded and moving at a crawl.
When I finally did get to ADD TO CART and got to my cart, I had something like 20,000 units of the Popcorn Hour in my cart. Ouch.
Will play BD ISO with navigation yes.
I am excited about getting mine :)
Can say what you like about the GUI, the user community will come up with things for the C200 like they did with the A100/110 look at YAMJ and UMC. The C200 has loads more power and "Rich object based graphics", so it's going to be flashy ;)
I ordered one! (or at least tried)
Probably First. (and last to try)
The Site Got hammered at 2:58 AM EST.
Been Refreshing since 2:44am
It's not 3:06am When I started Typing this - to this point.
I will add the DONE time right HERE - - - DIDNT HAPPEN - - - When it is ordered.
3:07 am nothing yet.
3:08 Am nothing yet.
3:09 site isn't even refreshing.. Seems Dead.
3:10 nothing still.... Site isn't even coming up...
3:!1 Site is back - no order button yet
3:!2 order button appeared!!
3:13 added it to cart
3:14 cart hasn't come up yet
3:!5 my cart came out to $219k for like a ton of popcorns' when I pressed the button only once... LOL
3:16 new Browser window now.
3:!7 OK Chrome and IE fighting it out to see who gets me a shopping cart check out first. - I know double traffic.
3:18, 3:19, 3:21, 3:22 - site seems down again
3:25 nothing
3:27 - no web page host found
3:28 site back up - quick! added to card again
3:29 cart hanging again....
3:34 - Just sitting there - Attempting to add to cart in another browser on another PC
3:35, 3:36, 3:37 - Wow this is worse than trying to order tickets on Ticketmaster they day a AC/DC concert goes on sale.
3:40, 3:44 - Still trying....
3:49 - Just got back from taking a leak and still nothing... Getting sleepy (EST here)
3:51 - site seems dead. Google search shows main popcorn site missing the store and buy now links. You can't get anywhere on the site. Everything is 404 now. - This is a disaster.
3:53 - stopped and repressed the add to cart - FEDORA SERVER at Port 8- not found. SITE IS LIKE SUPER DEAD
3:54 - WE ARE UPGRADING OUT SYSTEM NOW - PLEASE VISIT US LATER MESSAGE... YEA - DEAD.. NOT HAPPY - Stayed up way past my bed time to get one of these - this is crap....
3:55 - Gonna give up for now and go grab food and watch TV and hopefully try again n 30 mins???
5:33am - I give up... Going to bed
I set my alarm to wake me up at 2:45am so I could get online and order one. Had exactly the same issues as the person above. Crashed site, slow as a snail... and now "come back later". Sigh... now I can't seem fall back to sleep. Woke myself up for nothing.
Wait.. how do you get BD in this? I don't see where it fits.. and if its a pass-through.. whats the value?
Is this able to playback a slideshow by panning and scanning, while playing back music? Thats probably the feature I use the most on the ps3. Is anything able to do this besides the ps3? I would love to get rid of that for something more along these lines.
Don't bother with one of these, just build a small HTPC
Why is it that all people who say "build a HTPC" for cheaper never figure in the cost of a keyboard, mouse, remote or DVD drive. They never figure in the associated costs with commercial operating systems, nor antivirus products, nor the frustration involved with all the pop ups associated with new versions of applications. They never figure in the cost of an HDMI cable and certainly assume that everyone knows exactly what they do and place absolutely no value on their time to set it up.
Yes, I've built my own HTPC, I also own an Xbox, an Xbox 360, a PS3, a Wii, a Hauppage MVP, the original popcorn hour and the model 110, Windows Media extenders, multiple servers and server applications, etc. And through all that, I can say that there is no perfect solution for everyone. If there was, all those products wouldn't exist.
The popcorn hour gets the most at our house due to its simplicity of design for a family environment.
This is really a YMMV topic, so before you chime in and tell everyone that your solution is better, just stop and think that not everyone has the same skillset and time available to assemble a PC and have the same requirements that you do.
Website is back up... order away!
I still prefer my macmini with PLEX. Little more expensive but the FREE PLEX makes it soo much better. And with PLEX allowing HULU and netflix,MTV and various other video services it ebats the pants outta anything Popcorn can offer. Popcorn is prob well suited for a bedroom TV or just wait for the WDTV ver.2.
BR doesnt really matter to me since i never plan on buying physical media ever again.
I can't make up my mind about whether I should build an HTPC with Linux and XBMC, buy a slim PS3, get the new PCH C-200, or buy a newer Mac Mini and install Plex on my old one and keep it hooked up to the TV. Hmm...
I noticed you can use a miniPCI MII for wireless on the PCH C-200, but does anyone have a link to somewhere I could buy one?