Popcorn Hour's latest all-accessing all-playing media device has finally made its way into our hands, and while we haven't had nearly enough time to put the
C-200 completely through its paces, we did spare a moment to take some pictures and play a movie or two. Other than using
RF (no line of sight needed here) the remote is mostly unchanged from the earlier
A-110, though we have had some issues with the box not responding to inputs, tightening the antenna seems to have made things better for now. Slipping a SATA hard drive in requires only the lightest tug on the drive bay door, it really couldn't be easier -- we'll have to see how a Blu-ray drive fits soon. With the exception of slight noise from the HDD we put in, the C-200 is nearly silent in operation, and home theater nuts will be glad to know that bright blue display up front can be dimmed all the way to off. An extra USB port front and back hasn't hurt usability either, though it would have been nice if it recognized a keyboard when we were setting up new RSS feeds. Thanks to DLNA support, Windows 7 Play To functionality worked sufficiently playing media, but we couldn't get the titles to display properly on the C-200 whether initiated from the PC or on the box itself. So far it's played everything we've thrown at it, from legitimately downloaded trailers to less MPAA-authorized material. Anything you want to see tested as part of our full review? Leave ideas in the comments while you check out the pictures.
posted Sep 25th 2009 3:34PM
how's the speed of the menu's on this thing has it improved over the last version?
Would love to see that as well!
Would love to see a comparison in times when copying a large file to the device vs. the A-110. Does the better ethernet speed make a difference or does the i/o cycles still cause an issue. Run the test when watching a 1080p file also, seeing if the performance changes and/or effects the movie playback. My only real gripe with the A-110. Thanks.
I'll second that. It takes 3 or 4 times as long to transfer a file to the A-110 as it does between two PCs on my LAN. It takes as long to transfer to the A-110 as it does to download over NNTP.
same here...mine transfers files at about 30-40mbit/sec which is painfully slow. My network and HDD can easily handle 10x that speed, so it's obvious the bottleneck is the device.
.mkv anime with subtitles (HD). Will it play that
That would be a step backwards from the A-100, which supports embedded subtitles in mkvs.
My understanding is that it will play the subtitles but not stylized subs. They'll just be plain like pre-1.0 VLC used to do. So, depending on your pickiness is can be fine or horrible.
The forums have a few threads on it.
Please be sure to try an MKV file with h.264 video, aac audio and Advanced Substation Alpha subtitles.
+1
Also please try 1080p anime with soft karaoke subs. Also try mkvs wth multi-channel FLAC audio.
If a firmware update is made available during your review, please give us your experience of the update process.
@gm76
Pretty sure it was confirmed that it will not play multi channel FLAC....
SSA subtitles display in approximately the right position now (unlike on the A-110, which puts everything at the bottom). Much better styling support - like colors and fonts - will arrive soon via a firmware update.
I am interested in knowing how it works with DLNA compliant servers (e.g. how does it navidgate the tree structures they might provide) and music served up by them (e.g. does it play WMA, Flac, Ogg files).
Well that was a bit disappointing. Looks like flimsy Taiwanese crap to me. Compare this to a more stable established brand product from a year or two ago - not THAT much extra fun added. Is it true what i read, that you have to break the seal to build in SATA devices - so void warranty? And there is no HD audio? A PS3 or a Netgear EVA9150 seem like a better deal if you check out the pricelevels, or a cheaper streamer like AC Ryan, O'Play, Netgear EVA2000, WD Live combined with a separate BluRay player. I dunno. The interface of the C200 looks like a Kiss DP from 4 years ago.
I don't understand what you mean with the SATA device and the warranty...
If it is anything like the first one, you can open it up and get to any part of it that you want. It is made be user serviceable, so I don't know why opening it up would void the warranty.
wow. you've clearly never heard of popcorn hour or their devices.
also, they've been around for a year or two, so i'm not sure what you're trying to argue with your "established brand" statement.
Soon somebody will come out with a Tegra based box that runs Android and has an XBMC like interface on it. People that bought an earlier popcorn hour are going to pass on this one....
I have an A-110 and I'm seriously considering the C-200. Two main reasons: commercial BD playback after I install a cheap LG drive and DTS decoding, neither of which are possible on the A-110. The former more interesting than the latter. While I would like to have those two things (and a number of the other upgrades) I'm not certain that it's worth $300 to me.
More like $350-$400 once you factor in the cost of the BDROM. And I got the previous model for $210 I think. So it's quite a jump in price range.
Any ideas when we'll see Hulu on a standalone Set Top Box? I don't want to run PlayOn from another PC, and I've been looking at VuNow, Roku, Popcorn Hour, and more trying to find something.
Perhaps you're unaware that Hulu has been actively breaking STBs that try to stream Hulu directly to TVs. They had a running battle with Boxee a while back, though that seems to have settled down. I'm surprised in fact that they haven't tried to kill PlayOn yet. The studios that supply content to Hulu don't want them competing directly against the networks on real TVs.
Does it stream Hulu?
If you run TVersity Pro or PlayOn on a PC you can stream Hulu to the Popcorn Hour (or just about any other DNLA device).
Trying this out with an old PH A100 now...
@broo:
so, the answer then is no, the popcorn hour c-200 does not stream hulu (dlna streaming through tversity, playon et. al. does not equal direct streaming).
I see no compelling hardware changes over the A-110, but the interface looks much more mature. Can we count the new firmware being made available for A-110s?
Very interested in streaming BluRay isos (with full menus) from a NAS or server PC. Full isos, _not_ movie-only isos.
I'd like to know how the list of movies or TV shows displayed. Does it allow different views like wall or cover-flow like XBMC? How about movie or TV show info from IMDB/TVDB?
The earlier version was quite capable in terms of playing 1080p content so I don't have any doubt on that part but the presentation part of the earlier unit was mediocre at best when compared to PC based frontends.
Its hard to want popcorn hour with the Zino coming out... I think for a media player i'd like to have access to Hulu and Netflix. Esp since hulu is going to be going premium (rumor)... So, running XBMC with e-Sata HDD on something like the Zino would be completely ideal... But like Rick said, a PS3 or even the 360 would be a better deal... The 360 since you can run Netflix right thru the box... And esp since WDLive is only like 99 bucks....
hmph... Smaller, sexier, more access... thats what i want in my media room...
If the Zino runs Win media center who cares? Media center is a joke compared to the popcorn.
Agree completely. If the Zino is capable of playing back full screen HD flash videos like Hulu and such, then I'd much rather have that than something like this, especially as the prices are looking very similar. Sure I'll need a little remote keyboard for the Zino, but at least I'm guaranteed that Hulu will work, while everything else might be broken regularly. My primary interest in something like this would be for internet streaming--Hulu, ABC.com, TV.com, etc.
Can the Zune HD play divx or MKV files? That's what's stopped me from buying one right now at least. I do agree on the Netflix and Hulu playback ability. I have the original A100 and would love to have that feature on it.
Does it display album art when playing music? If DVD or album art is embedded in the file, does it display that when looking at an index of music or videos?
I'd love to see a comparison of how it streams stuff off of DLNA compared to using a PS3 with a file server running PS3 Media Server - that's the setup I have now which I'm loving the heck out of. Stuff such as, will it play 1080p mkv files off a media server with proper passthru AC3/DTS audio?
How well does it stream from a Mac or NAS?
I don't have a C-200, but if you're asking because you're considering getting one for streaming and you've never used a PCH device before, I can tell you they stream full 1080 HD movies PERFECTLY. All my movies reside on an external server. All it does is buffer the movie for a few seconds and then it's smooth sailing from there. They play over the network just as if they're from an internal drive.
Does this thing come with some form of a web browser that works half decently?
-How is streaming from a mac? Since there is no easy way to setup the "YAMJ" stuff on a mac what are you missing???
-I've heard streaming full HD content over SMB shares is too slow and you need to use HTTP. Is that true?
How about a target price? Anyone have an idea?
It is alright out and up for order on their site, it is $300.
Would like to see subtitles .srt and .sub/.idx working on .avi files (xvid/divx), thanks!
1. Any video upconversion on this one? And if so, can you pick the upconverted resolution you want?
2. Any visualizers for audio/mp3 playback?
3. Any room for mirrored drives?
*i have been trying to find a whitepaper on this unit to answer this stuff for myself, but no luck yet. A nice PDF with specs, "channels", etc.. would be nice, but could not find on their website (yet anyway).
I'm 99% sure it does upconversion, since the older cheaper model does. It will stretch whatever video file you give it to whatever resolution you want. I have mine upconverting everything to 1080p. It's even smart enough to auto switch to 1080p 24Hz mode for 24fps video files.
Link to the technical Specs...
http://www.popcornhour.com/onlinestore/index.php?pluginoption=productspec&item_id=12
thanks for the spec link!
Does this version support .sub .srt .idx with divx/xvid avi's? the firmware on my current a110 wont.
It should supportSRT files. I know my A110 does.
Please shoot video of navigation using just the LCD on the front of the unit. Would love to be able to play music without turning on the TV to navigate.
Yup you can!
I would love to see how it does as an extender for GB-PVR.
I have had mine for a week ... Needs another Firmware update before it should be reviewed .. Shows lots of promise .. And yes it will play Blu-ray .ISO and Folders from a server , or USB Harddrive with menus etc....
I would love to know how this works with Macs. I've got an Apple TV right now, but I'm pretty frustrated with the lack of support for other video file types outside of Apple's prefered codecs. I know about Boxee, but hoping for a non hacked option.
Can I drag and drop files from my Macbook or Windows 7 laptop to the C200 over my home WiFi network?
Can it handle non-NTSC content like an AVI of Top Gear that's 25/50fps on an NTSC TV?
How's the upscaling?
Can it handle DVD ISO's with subtitles and everything? Can it turn the subtitles on/off? Can it navigate a DVD menu? How about Blu-Ray?
Video formats? Can it handle DivX and VidX? Can it handle Real? Can it handle Flash?
I would love to know how playback, quality, navigation, etc. is from a Windows Home Server - especially an HP Media Smart. I believe the remote is RF, does it accept IR? What about boot times? Reading remote discs with large quantities of files, etc?
Thanks!
Ok here we go .. Works Great With WHS , I own a 7.5 TB HP Media Smart can Find and playback anything quickly.. You can buy a IR add on for $11 (come with another remote as well for that price) (I have a Harmony 900 so i just use the IR dongle) .. Boots in 20-30 secs .. Navi is fast ...
I agree with all the comments regarding the user interface. I'd like to see that covered at length, as it was a primary complaint about the A-110. User interface/menu issues aside, the A-110 was awesome and I'm looking forward to the C-200.
Still won't record? Need a box to play and record.
The whole point of this box is for people who obtain media from other sources.
can some one coach me or refer to a tutorial, how to set up hulu?
Throw an Anime episode in H264/AAC inside an MKV container with ASS subtitles. Anime can be found at www.tokyotosho.info if you need some. From what I remember ASS support on the popcorn has been HORRIBLE, especially with anime that have subtitles heavily stylized/positioned on the screen. You can try this [AoT]_Asura_Cryin'_11_[720p_h264+AAC]_[FA963AD2].mkv since it has quite a few. Especially the Episode title and the ending preview of the next episode. Also note this MKV uses Ordered Chapters to load a pre-encoded OP/ED sequence, and its actually a concat of 3 MKV files. This will fully test the MKV support, chapter support, and how it handles concat files.
can you please check if it plays 1080 mkv files with dts sound ???
do you see any performance difference between on local drive (USB) playback and Network
I'm really considering buying one
I have the 1st gen Popcorn Hour (A100) and I can verify that it plays back 1080p MKVs with DTS audio.
As for the difference between local and networked- it would depend mostly on your media server. I use a Windows Home Server with a few 1TB SATA drives and I have about a 3-4 second delay while the PH buffers the video. I have not tried 1080p video from the internal HD as it takes a LONG time to transfer data to an internal drive...
I would expect the new C200 version to perform at least as well as their 2 year old model.
I cannot express how much I love my PH A100; I am just tying to see if I can find a way to justify $300 for an upgrade to the C200... :o)
WOW, I'm very impressed
I think will replace my PS3 in media playback, yes definitely it will!!!
Thanx ;)
I am sorry but I plan on getting the Lenovo Q110 with windows 7 on it....and calling it a day......to much bull shit....win 7 media center has progressed enough for me
How about avchd / m2ts e.g. HD video files from sony and other brand video cameras.
Here is a m2ts video file directly from my handycam: http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/491583/weblinked/20090925195938.m2ts (yes the video is a bit blurry, but not due to the codec but due to my poor focusing).
Thanks,
Gordon
can most of the functionality be accessed via the front display? i.e pandora stations, mp3 music selections? sometimes i dont want to have the tv on and i woudl rather not have to turn it on just too change a song or channel
How well does it respond when used as a photo slide show device? Does it take less than a second to show the next photo (most of these devices seem to take too long)? Does it have zoom/pan/rotate functions and how responsive are they? Does it want to build a thumbnail index of all your photos and then run out of memory?
I would love to know if this thing can stream from espn360. It would be nice to have one box that does everything I use.
I have a number of HD-DVD titles that I would like to put on my HD and play through this unit.
My WD Media Player will not playback these files unfortunatly and when I converted one to Blu Ray, there were sound issues with it.
I tried a m2ts file i ripped from my Transformers Blu-ray and I got stuttering audio. Any suggestions?
MUST fully support HD matroska, wmv version X (sadly), xvid, H264 (x264) mp4, FLAC
I do not care about blewtardray. Despite wild claims to the contrary HD DVD is not dead.
MUST play well with hardwire ethernet CIFS shares
Living in a Faraday cage wireless ethernet is of no interest
Must support CIFS streaming without first needing to download
MUST support e-Sata. Some of us own storage arrays.
MUST NOT cook my not-green 10,000 rpm sata drives
It's new? Why no USB 3.0?
MUST NOT treat owners like criminals.
GUI- and button response must NOT be laggy (like DVP5992)
Should have rewind feature that does not suck
Should have well thought out subtitle control
Should play OGG containers of video and audio.
Should be able to stream ISO, cue/bin, and RAR spanned media (like xbmc)
Should have community addons/plugins/api/etc for interweb surfing with useragent spoofing for audio- and video playback.
Should support pandora and a few other popular, FREE interweb music streaming services
DLNA is the lowest common denominator. Does popcorn shine?
I do not care about hulu -- the point to internetting content is to AVOID commercials
I do not care about other "premium" ($) interweb services
Does someone knows if it works with an Apple Wireless KeyBoard? It's not in the C-200 Compatibility Lists.
Thanks,
Edwin
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