Aaron
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Registered: 9th Aug 04
Location: Cottingham, East Riding
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Talk to me...
My current home server, which is just a small form factor desktop computer, has started playing up. The issue is the hard drive, which is easily fixable by replacing it, but, I think now is the time to replace it (the server its's self) with something a better spec.
Anyway, my current Media Centre is also just a desktop computer, which I’m seriously considering making my replacement server. It’s got a 64bit chip, thus will then allow me to move onto Server 2008R2 rather than the 2003 server which I’ve been using for years.
So, if I do the above, I’ll need a new media centre for the living room. I've heard things like "PopCorn Box" banded around a few times, but I have no personal experience of them.
I'll need something which can play videos from an external source such as a NAS or mapped network drive from a server. The videos will be DivX/XviD avi files, and maybe .mkv's in the future.
Any opinions on hardware will be great 
[Edited on 30-12-2010 by Aaron]
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Aaron
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Registered: 9th Aug 04
Location: Cottingham, East Riding
User status: Offline
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I'm looking at this kind of thing, maybe:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Linksys-DMA2100-Dual-Band-Wireless-N-Extender/dp/B000YL94CU/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
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Doug
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Registered: 8th Oct 03
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What's your budget?
Best off reading up in here:
http://www.avforums.com/forums/streamers-network-media-players/
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Bart
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Registered: 19th Aug 02
Location: Midsomer Norton, Bristol Avon
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Give this a read http://www.corsasport.co.uk/board/viewthread.php?tid=581558
But a popcorn hour A210 is what you need.
If you need something with a DVD/BD drive then get the C200.
Plays everything known to man and just works....
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Doug
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Registered: 8th Oct 03
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Bart, do you have the A210?
Can you make playlists on the go? so I could make a list of 5 .avi files to watch as I fall a sleep?
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Bart
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Registered: 19th Aug 02
Location: Midsomer Norton, Bristol Avon
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I previously owned an A200, then bought the C200 when it was realised.
The A200/A210 are exactly the same, the 210 is the fanless case design (looks better imo). The 200/210 is the same hardware spec as the C200, but the C200 allows for an internal optical drive.
Ive not tried to make playlists, but you can group videos together and hit a play button, I believe it'll cycle through the videos in that group, similar to a series box set or something.
http://www.networkedmediatank.com/ Is the official forum for popcorn hour, the community is really good and everyone is very helpful.
Theres a shout box if you just want to ask a quick question or two, theres usually moderators or devs hanging around there.
[Edited on 31-12-2010 by Bart]
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John
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Registered: 30th Jun 03
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PS3 and server running PS3 media server.
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Bart
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Registered: 19th Aug 02
Location: Midsomer Norton, Bristol Avon
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quote:
Originally posted by John
PS3 and server running PS3 media server.
This is ok, by depends on what you want.
I'm not sure how much a ps3 is but an A210 can be picked up new for around £170.
My mums boyfriend has just swapped his ps3 (+ps3 media server) in the lounge for an A210 as the ps3 can't cope with high bit rates (hi def and bd rips).
[Edited on 31-12-2010 by Bart]
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John
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Registered: 30th Jun 03
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PS3 is only about £200 these days, there were old shape ones for £150 in a thread somewhere.
PS3 can play blu-ray natively so I don't think the problem is with the PS3 not being able to to cope.
Cause will either be the server not being able to transcode to a format the PS3 supports fast enough or just plain network bandwidth.
If he's playing a 40gb blu-ray rip over the network it will be struggling.
I've played anything up to 10gb no bother over a wired network with quite an old 'server' (old pc).
Admittedly haven't tried anything bigger than that.
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stubs
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Registered: 30th Jun 02
Location: Bolton
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Bart, do the PopcornHour's play DVD & BluRay ISO rips? This would save me a lot of conversion time if so.
Also, what is the preview screen / coverflow like? Does it allow for synopsis & reviews etc.. or does it just show a DVD cover image? Can it do trailer previews also?
Cheers,
Stu
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Toby
Premium Member
Registered: 29th Nov 05
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quote:
Originally posted by stubs
Bart, do the PopcornHour's play DVD & BluRay ISO rips? This would save me a lot of conversion time if so.
Also, what is the preview screen / coverflow like? Does it allow for synopsis & reviews etc.. or does it just show a DVD cover image? Can it do trailer previews also?
Cheers,
Stu
Yes ands google YAMJ for indexing options
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Bart
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Registered: 19th Aug 02
Location: Midsomer Norton, Bristol Avon
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yes, any of the 200 series media players will play rips, iso's, AVIs, VOB, MOV, MKV, m2ts etc etc
With reference to the coverflow, yes synopsys is shown, im not sure about reveiws, I believe it can be.
Yes it can show trailers on the same ovie page, but ive disabled that as I dont want 150+ HD trailers stored on my NAS, I tried it and it consumed too much storage for me.
For info, see some pics below from my coverflow.
John, yes you are right, the problems he was experiencing was the PS3 media server being saturated with a 16gb rip.
I think for 90% of people, the PS3 will work fine, but for media fanatics, its not the choice for a 'media streamer', its a console first.
You can get various other skins for YAMJ, but they're not really to my taste. I have a plain black glossy TV and this skin looks right on it.
[Edited on 31-12-2010 by Bart]
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stubs
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Registered: 30th Jun 02
Location: Bolton
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Looks good to me!! I might go for one of them then, thanks!
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stubs
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Registered: 30th Jun 02
Location: Bolton
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Do the popcorn hour a-110 use yamj? How do they compare to the 200 series?
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Pablo
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Registered: 3rd Feb 03
Location: Milton Keynes
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just hook ur laptop up to ur tv
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noshua
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Registered: 19th Nov 08
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quote:
Originally posted by stubs
Do the popcorn hour a-110 use yamj? How do they compare to the 200 series?
Yes they do, the 200 series have a faster processor (still nothing amazing as it's not needed for the video decoding) so they seem a bit more responsive.
Get an ION based computer and run XBMC or Boxee. Acer Revo for example/
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stubs
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Registered: 30th Jun 02
Location: Bolton
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quote:
Originally posted by Pablo
just hook ur laptop up to ur tv
No thanks
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Pablo
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Registered: 3rd Feb 03
Location: Milton Keynes
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saves all the fucking about, just plug it , select the file, always get a smoother play back i think then media players
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stubs
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Registered: 30th Jun 02
Location: Bolton
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quote:
Originally posted by noshua
quote:
Originally posted by stubs
Do the popcorn hour a-110 use yamj? How do they compare to the 200 series?
Yes they do, the 200 series have a faster processor (still nothing amazing as it's not needed for the video decoding) so they seem a bit more responsive.
Get an ION based computer and run XBMC or Boxee. Acer Revo for example/
Thanks for that!
I don't really like the idea of using a computer as a media player.. I just want a nice out the box solution to keep things simple and tidy.
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stubs
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Registered: 30th Jun 02
Location: Bolton
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quote:
Originally posted by Pablo
saves all the fucking about, just plug it , select the file, always get a smoother play back i think then media players
I don't want to be turning on and plugging in a laptop to watch a film. I've got a nice install with nothing in sight and a Philips Pronto to control everything... 1 button turns everything on & sets it up etc.. nice and easy. Can't be doing with wireless mouse & keyboard etc
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Pablo
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Registered: 3rd Feb 03
Location: Milton Keynes
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I know what you mean i tried a few now just plug the laptop in. Whn they are better and play smooth i will look at them again
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stubs
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Registered: 30th Jun 02
Location: Bolton
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It's my missus that moans about stuff.. if she can't work it she throws a wobbler.
I've got a really smart Icecrypt S4000 satellite reciever that lets me share my Sky sub with others but she hates it because there's no full EPG like the original Sky equipment and she's kicking off royally about it. She wants me to cut eveyone off (and our internal multi-room setup) so we can put the sub card back in the SkyHD box 
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noshua
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Registered: 19th Nov 08
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XBMC can be run essentially as it's own OS - xbmc.org/download
Whack it in sleep mode and you can have it wake up with 1 button, any MCE remote ll work so the Pronto will easily be able to control it.
ION units are about the size of your hand - http://hardwaregadget.blogosfere.it/images/pc/Acer%20Revo.jpg
I replaced my Popcorn with Revo + XBMC for two reasons; to save leaving my laptop on downloading then connecting the PCH to my laptop to transfer data every time I had downloaded; the very basic UI of the PCH (110 at least) did my fucking nut in.
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noshua
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Registered: 19th Nov 08
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quote:
Originally posted by Pablo
I know what you mean i tried a few now just plug the laptop in. Whn they are better and play smooth i will look at them again
They can play 1080p BluRay rips perfectly fine? I assume you're downloading them, they will play mkv's just fine.
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stubs
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Registered: 30th Jun 02
Location: Bolton
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Hmmm... well now you put it like that.
What are the outputs from the ION's?
How fast do they boot also?
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