http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/ Engadget Comments for Popcorn Hour casually announces the A-200 NMT for its most dedicated media streamer fans http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/Jan 12th 2010 6:45PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/Jan 13th 2010 9:46AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/
The crashtastic UI left alot to be desired. I hope it is substantially updated with the newer models.

Don't get me wrong, I have, and still do, put alot of hours on this A-110, but I can barely recall a day without having to reboot the device due to a crash. And for anyone about to drop the standard "but you can just install yamj, blah blah" I say, I can install ANYTHING I want on a dedicated media pc.

As for the "wifi" dongle, don't even consider it for REAL streaming. Opt for an bridged router you can hit directly. The throughput on the usb port is weak.]]>Jan 12th 2010 6:57PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/
As for the UI, you do know it's VERY tweakable, no? Have you installed YAMJ or another movie jukebox? They're all skinable as well. The community involved in NMT development is quite active and there are tons of options for skins and other UI changes. There really are almost limitless ways you can change it to suit your needs and wants.
]]>Jan 12th 2010 7:09PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/Jan 12th 2010 7:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/I have the A100 for more than 2 years, and it does not crash
The UI is not nice, but for playing video this box is amazing.

Also I think the biggest weakness, that is the UI, affects more audio playing.]]>Jan 12th 2010 7:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/Jan 12th 2010 7:20PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/I have to agree, still nothing is better than a HTPC.]]>Jan 12th 2010 7:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/http://www.google.com/search?q=popcorn+hour+crashes) on google are erroneous as well.]]>Jan 12th 2010 7:23PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/I really had no problems, and I use it for torrent as well.]]>Jan 12th 2010 7:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/
Not a terrible device, but if it carried a $99 price tag, it would be a different story. I think I picked it up at 180-200, and I could have just pieced together a 300 dollar box with xbmc, like I did for the upstairs living room :(]]>Jan 12th 2010 7:33PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/Jan 12th 2010 8:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/
The original argument though is that to get a "nice" (maybe stable??) setup, the customization (i.e. setup and tweaking) argument always comes back in from "PCH enthusiasts". And I will always argue, I would prefer to drop a couple more bones on a pc. But, I hear ya. It's cake to setup. Like I said, I still have mine around, and it gets use everyday.

As for the "crashing" bit. My linux box has been up and running for months, with nary a reboot except for system updates. But, yes, I'll admit that when you DO get a headache with a pc, it's a MAJOR headache.]]>Jan 12th 2010 9:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/Jan 12th 2010 9:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/Jan 12th 2010 9:41PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/
PCH devices are incredible. I'm glad to hear they're doing well and coming up with new products all the time. Eventually, if they play their cards right, perhaps you'll be able to find them in Best Buy and Walmart someday. If they make the GUI even more user friendly, anyone should be able to use them, not just us nerds.]]>Jan 13th 2010 9:50AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/Don't get me wrong, I love my PCH-A100. For movies I haven't seen anything that could beat it in the same price range.

But to be fair enough, the A100 is good for movies only, for music the UI make it barely usable. And that is why I still think that as a media player a HTPC is the best choice nowadays.

Also, you could put MAME and play games on your HDTV. :P
But that's another topic. ehehehe]]>Jan 13th 2010 10:23AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/Ever since I switched to using HDMI versus Component Video (dunno why) I have to power off/on the device to just get the video outputting. Very frustrating as it takes a few minutes to startup and worse I have to get off my ass. ]]>Jan 14th 2010 1:54AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/
Yeah, I have updated the firmware to the latest. And, as mentioned, yes, I understand you can "highly customize" it, but, as I stated, I can do that with a normal pc. No I have never installed YAMJ, since to be honest I prefer the simplicity of just running a share and letting all my devices access them however they want without having to install/maintain another piece of server software.

Yeah, I'm lazy.]]>Jan 12th 2010 7:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/
Nitpick: YAMJ is not a server, it just creates flat html files that the pch can browse (even over a network share).

The new devices will have a new UI soon, so hopefully the UI shoudln't be as much of an issue anymore.]]>Jan 12th 2010 7:38PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/Jan 12th 2010 9:19PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/Jan 12th 2010 7:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/
http://www.popcornhour.com/onlinestore/index.php?pluginoption=productspec&item_id=20]]>Jan 12th 2010 7:35PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/Jan 12th 2010 7:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/Jan 13th 2010 3:44AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/It has a GB port that wont (i expect) ever get to be used in its full potential.
its made by a company that created the a110 and c200 - both ugly to look at and use.
It offers very little over current gen media players for more money than current gen players.]]>Jan 13th 2010 5:12AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/remember i bet a lot of people dont even keep a movie on the hard drlve long enough to care about having IMDB info on it or cover art.

Infact WHO rips or downloads a movie without havinga clue if they want to watch it first?
rip/download - watch it -
if movie is good - store
if movie is bad - delete

even then not much point in storing ti when u can just get it again..]]>Jan 13th 2010 5:15AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/storing SD movies uncompressed now costs 25 to 30 cents]]>Jan 17th 2010 10:39PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/
Maybe we'll have something different with the Boxee Box but still I pray we have a XBMC Box sometime in a very close future.]]>Jan 13th 2010 11:12AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/Jan 13th 2010 8:09PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/popcorn-hour-casually-announces-the-a-200-nmt-for-its-most-dedic/Jan 13th 2010 8:54PM