Popcorn Hour A-110 review
By Ben Drawbaugh 
posted Mar 18th 2009 8:07AM
posted Mar 18th 2009 8:07AM
With HD media streamers being a dime a dozen these days, when one particular one seems gain popularity we take notice. So we figured there was no better way to learn what all the fuss is about then to spend a little time with it. The main point of our curiosity was to go beyond the specs and to try and determine how usable it was. To learn what sets the Popcorn Hour apart from the rest, click on through.
When it comes to media streamers we don't expect much, as it's the content we're interested in, but the two most important factors -- temperature and noise -- were both easily covered by the A-110. The box is dead silent and doesn't seem to generate much heat at all. Next on the list is connectivity, and that is pretty good, too. There are two regular USB ports -- one on the front and one on the back -- for things like USB thumb drives and one USB-PC adapter that can be used to connect to a PC so if you installed an internal hard drive (it makes the A-110 an external HDD but EXT2 support on your computer is required).
There are of course component and HDMI (1.3a) HD outputs as well as standard def' ones like composite and S-Video. The only connector we'd like to see added is coaxial digital, but perhaps we're the only one that still uses that. The one thing that is missing though is built in WiFi, but there is an optional USB dongle that fills the gap. The only real gripe we have is with the remote. It is actually a pretty good looking remote, but without any programmable buttons like TV power and volume, it pretty much makes it a throw away for a programmable one. We also found the power LED lights confusing, red for off is obvious, but yellow for on had us scratching our head when we were troubleshooting some HDMI handshake issues and weren't sure if it was on or off.
Software
More often then not, some of the coolest gadget ideas get killed in implementation because of bad software. The most impressive thing about the Popcorn Hour is its ability to play just about every file we tried -- ironically enough, everything except DVR-MS files from Windows Media Center -- and the many ways to access content. Of course it has the usual suspects, like places to plug in thumb drives and a network share, but when you add an internal hard drive (2.5 or 3.5 SATA) things get really interesting thanks to the built in BitTorrent and Usenet clients. Of course you can also copy files from your PC via USB or over the network thanks to the built in SMB file server and FTP server. But even without an internal drive, there are plenty of ways to get content. You can stream a bunch of stuff from the internet like Revision3 and Blip.tv, but you can also stream from the included myiHomeLite software (runs on PC, Mac and Linux) or from most other common media sharing protocols like UPnP (like PlayOn and TwonkyMedia) DLNA, and WMP Network Sharing.
The software isn't all good though, as it's missing eye candy like animated transitions and transparencies. There are a few really unusable parts of the UI as well, like the fact that we couldn't successfully enter our 25 character WPA key, even after 5 attempts -- yes we're persistent. You also can't can't rewind mkv files or skip backwards, but you can use the scrub bar and direction pad to skip 30 second intervals. But worst of all, the unit locked up on us a few times during setup and required us to power cycle it -- but it never did this while we were watching HD. The only other issue we had was trying to use the built in firmware update over the internet feature, so after one unsuccessful attempt, we just downloaded it manually and loaded it with a USB drive which was pretty painless. Overall we wouldn't say the Popcorn Hour software is bad, but isn't polished either. The bottom line is that it does work and it does do what it is supposed to, but it isn't beautiful.
Possibilities / hackability
The most impressive thing to us though is the flexibility of the device. Over at the community forum we found no shortage of really cool user plugins that do all kinds of things. The coolest was Yet Another MovieJukebox (YAMJ) which offered a really cool movie interface that included box art and metadata. But also cool was the HDHomeRun client and the media center extender clients for software like GB-PVR and MediaMVP. Installing plugins was pretty easy too, you could either load them via USB and click on the installer with the remote or telnet in and run a script. At the simplest level, the A-110 is a little Linux box, which really opens it up to hacking and thus many possibilities, and we really like that. In fact we feel compelled to pick one up if for no other reason then to get down and dirty and figure out how to make it do cool things.
Conclusion
Overall we have more good then bad to say about the A-110, and although it isn't perfect when we consider the possibilities, we would certainly recommend it to anyone who fits the geeky type. But its strongest feature is also its biggest drawback, as we would never recommend this to the simple type -- you know the general population. While it can do just about anything, we didn't find it super easy and wouldn't expect those without a fundamental knowledge of networking and video to be able figure how to make it do anything useful. But for those who like to tinker, you're in for a real treat.
The PCH is a great little device, and being able to add an internal hard drive makes it portable as well. There hasn't been a file I haven't been able to play on the PCH. Honestly though, the UI is pretty terrible, and the response time when using the remote to navigate can be slow. I think the UI is what is holding back the PCH from becoming more widely accepted. A solid alternative is the SageTV HD 200 extender.
Come on, the UI really isn't all that bad. It does the job and looks just fine. What do you expect from a device that isn't meant for and honestly isn't capable of a fancy UI with animation and stuff like that. I don't mind it at all. At least they tried to make it look nice. It has some nice glossy graphics with reflections and all that. Plus it's TOTALLY skinnable, so if you don't like it, change it.
That being said, I LOOOOVE my A-100. It plays EVERY file I throw at it. And yes, YAMJ is awesome!! i can't wait for excal's new skin to be released. It's looking great.
I'm sorry but the UI is THAT bad! This is coming from someone who has owned the PCH A-110 and replaced it with an Apple TV. Before you bash the Apple TV (I have my complaints about it too) I just want to mention that I have Boxee installed on it. Boxee allows me to play any format that the PCH can play. The only complaint is that Boxee can't take advantage of the GPU and so it can't play files with high bitrate.
The PCH is terrible for playing anything but movies. If your only trying to stream movies, then why not get the PCH, but the fact is your not paying much more for the ATV + Boxee... Anyway, I'm gonna get the Asus Eee Box 206 when it comes out, that should play my 1080p well
YAMJ totally makes the Popcorn Hour worth the cost. My friends are in awe when they come over and see it for the first time. This is the best home entertainment device I have purchased in years.
Perhaps the A-110 is just more unstable and has more bugs than the A-100 or something, because I've had my A-100 for about a year now and it's NEVER locked up on me and the online update feature has worked every single time.
@Loban - I agree that the UI is not terrible, but it is not by no means great. I was just agreeing with Ben that I would never recommend the PCH to the "simple type" as he put it. Not trying to knock the PCH as I own one, just a little frustrating when you see the potential the PCH has.
On a side note, I have all my son's movies loaded up a WD GP 1TB internal drive in the PCH, so I can bring along whenever we travel, a huge plus!!
I'll agree that the UI could be better, but I don't really think about it too much, especially since I have it boot to YAMJ anyway. You can definitely tell the developers are not graphic artists. They are concerned with functionality first and foremost.
Have you seen the pics of the new QNAP NMP-1000? It looks really amazing, and the UI is slick too.
Yeah, but still no price on the QNAP yet, that could be the deal breaker. Just ordered the SageTV HD200 for a relative, see how it stacks up against the PCH
Mine just arrived on Monday, and it has been awesome.
Sure, the UI isn't that rpetty or fast, but I didn't buy it to stare at the IU, I got it to play videos and it does that beautifully.
I also had trouble updating the firmware from the website, but i think I know what the problem is: their servers for the firmware aren't that great. I was getting around 30-50 KB/s when downloading off their server on to my PC (I have 15 mbit internet, so its not my connection). I did install the frimware through USB but installed the NMT Apps over the internet. It took around 20 mins to download them, but it got them in the end.
My only gripe with it is the slow data tranfer rate from my PC to the PCH over my local network. I average around 2.0 MB/s which makes it annoying when transferring 10GB files.
Other than that, a solid reccomend.
The updates have gotten worse. Earlier last year, an update took a minute or too, now you actually have to wait nearly 30 minutes. I also think it's their servers and just think that the popularity of the device has outpaced them getting a better connection or upgrading their servers.
Meh. Buddy has the 110, I like the network connectivity, but for price, functionality, size, aesthetics, ease of use and user interface, I prefer the WD HD TV media player.
My only gripe about the WD is that it doesn't support USB hubs. Insanely stupid, but somehow that got past QA. Otherwise, it's a great little device. Maybe they'll fire the Product Manager and re-spin the product with that functionality.
It depends on what you need. I could never live without network connectivity (I use my computer as a server hosting files for my PCH), but if the WD product had that I would probably buy it and offload my A-100 on eBay
I've thought about getting one of those for my kids' tv, but the thought of having to actually go upstairs to get their usb drive, hook it up to a computer to update it and take it back up there is just too exhausting, hehe. I have another popcorn on order for them and their own share set up within my share so I can limit what they have access to.
For those interested in adding networking, USB Hub, and optical drive support to the WD TV, there's an alternative firmware available that does all of the above successfully. There's a firmware thread at AVS forum... I'll probably go down this road soon since my theater is on the third floor, my desktop PC is on the first floor, and hooking/unhooking and re-running cabling for my 1TB 3.5" drive is a bit of a pain in my in-wall equipment rack.
No mention of it handling BD rips?
Plays them Perfect
I was thinking the same thing, and rips quality compared to Blu-Ray
So just to make sure, the PCH can also be used as a Network Attached Storage (hooked up to the router) because of the internal hard drive capability?
As long as you put a HD in it and enable the SMB server, yes, you can map to it from any computer and save files to it.
i dont care that the UI isnt pretty, because it plays most everything, but i wish the UI was faster for browsing large libraries. it does get consistent firmware updates and the last one sped up the UI slightly (font rendering?).
been waiting for some more SageTV HD 200 reviews to come out; as a potential replacement.
No heat issues? Seriously? My A-110 gets pretty freaking hot.
Compared to the POS Roku Photobridge, this thing runs cool.
I run XBMC on Apple TV. The only limitation is that it doesn't do anything over 720p and 720p files are limited to about 1500kbps. The UI is bitchin' and it is extensible. Plus you can use all of the other ATV things that come with the Front Row software.
-aedile-
Anyone feel like voting down Aedile? I know I do.
Count me in. AppleTV isn't in the same ball park as the popcorn hour.
No way, I'm with Aedile on this one... I owned both the PCH A-110 and the AppleTV. I sold the PCH cause it was CRAP compared to the ATV with Boxee installed on it. I'm sorry but Boxee/XBMC allows you to play any file that the PCH can play, except with the AppleTV you also get the option to use the slick interface for music... PCH has the worst UI, and it seriously is THAT bad.
I'm not gonna lie, when I first got the PCH I was amazed, I was loving it. But my friend made me buy the ATV and told me to return it if I didn't like it, so I did. I bought it, and thought I was going to return it right away... but I found out about Boxee, installed it, and haven't thought about it since. The only complaint I have is that Boxee can't take full advantage of the ATV as it can't access the GPU hardware acceleration so you can't play files with high bitrate. This is why I'm waiting for the Asus Eee Box 206 to come out.
I had some pretty bad heat issues with an internal 1.5TB installed. I ended up replacing the lid for one with a cutout for a case fan. After that, no more random lockups.
I have the HDX1000 (which is almost identical to the PCH) with a 1TB HD and YAMJ and IT TOTALLY ROCKS! I completely love it. The ONLY thing lacking is the scrolling through MKV and TS files and an audio/video sync problem when FF through movies, but if you never FF or RW, it plays them perfectly.
re: heat - I have a samsung 1 tb drive installed in my popcorn hour a110 in an enclosed cabinet and the PCH barely even gets warm.
Can someone test if it will support the AVCHD files encoded by the "Hauppauge HD PVR" ? I'd be in the market for PCH if I knew it support them...
I've been using PS3 Media Server with my PS3 [ http://code.google.com/p/ps3mediaserver/ ]
and it works like a charm from my vista machine. 03/17/09 I ordered Popcorn Hour A-110 ships directly from Hong Kong.. I think, I can not wait to take it for a spin.
Thanks for that info I downloaded I have tried one HD movie and worked with no issues so far. I am going play around with it some more.
I have the a-110, and I also have the wifi usb add on. It detects the network, but I can never get it to connect. That's the only bad experience I have had with the unit (other wifi devices connect just fine from where it's at).
The no-rewind with MKV files is a big problem for many users. It's been complained about for some time now, and still no fix. Getting all the more important as so much source material is in HD.
You can still skip backward by 30 second intervals by holding the right button. Why do you need to see a moving image while you're rewinding?
The technology required to actually do that is... advanced. Add on the fact that this basically has to be setup to work with smb file sharing and you are talking about a lot of hassle to pull off something that isn't vital. You can still skip back 30 seconds using the left arrow.
I'm thinking of getting a used Mac Mini and using Boxee to replace my A-100... we'll see
CtrlHD? dirty pirates! ;D
Rivertrance, I just added the Hauppauge HD PVR to my arsenal of video devices and the PCH A-100 happily plays the files created by them.
can you combine multiple shares as one virtual share on the PCH like you can with XBMC?
For multiple shares, I use a single share and have folders that I set up as "junctions" to my other drives. That way there is no issue with multiple drives.
I love my popcorn hour. Had it for over a year now (the 100, not the 110), and while I completely agree with this article, I just have to add that I didn't buy it to look at cool menus. The thing that matters is what I can stream through it and my mkv's look awesome (I use their myihome and don't keep a drive in the unit for ultimate silence in my entertainment room).
I'm using Popcorn Hour 110 almost 6 months already. I agree, UI is crappy, it is not meant to play audio files (no album at and nice track/album info) but it plays HD formats. Yes, all of them, MKV-s, H.264-, .TS, 1080p and more. I had previously Dlink DSM 520 and I had constant problems with HD. Never with Popcorn.
Jaak, http://jacksgadgets.blogspot.com/
Decent at the price - but a mac mini + plex is the real thing ;)
The Mac mini doesn't have HDMI, and doesn't support even DTS. Barely a 'media center' when it can't even do DTS...
I am the owner of a PopcornHour A110. I would consider myself pretty techy, I have a thorough understanding of the workings and setup of everything in a home theater, and I cannot for the life of me get my PH to work the way it's intended to. It's just too crude, too complicated to set up for me. I just today decided to give up because what I want from it is simple enough that I can better served by an AppleTV (with Boxee) or a Mac Mini (with boxee). Especially because it will be hooked up to a projector so i can do straight VGA to VGA.
Anyone want to buy my Popcorn hour?
I bought it for $250 (it's the A110 with the WN-100 WiFi adapter) and I'll even include the 50GB internal drive i put in there- it's even formatted for you already!
I'll sell for $150, free shipping. That'll get me halfway to my mac mini at least. This is a great deal, barely used, and we can both get the HT setups we want.
I'll take it. How do I contact you?
It is a great box, no doubt. Anybody interested should look at other NMT's as well. The best ones I have found are from EGreat. They even have a new one coming out for $149.00. I have a 31B which does everything I need and more.
Forgot the link . .
http://www.egreatusa.com/
Blurzz- email me at Pollockd35@gmail.com and we'll set it up.
I have been a XBMC user for many years, and have been alpha-testing Boxee from the beginning. I was one of the guys who signed up for their PCH in September and had to wait until nearly Feburary to get it shipped. With that said, I sold it within 2 weeks for almost double what I paid for it because exactly what everyone above said.
The UI sucks guys.
If you don't think it does, use XBMC/Boxee/Plex for awhile and you'll be in awe of how streamlined everything is. YAMJ is nice, if you've never seen anything else but it doesn't compare to XBMC/Boxee/Plex.
I could use the a100 ok, but my roommates, esp the non tech ones, hated it with a passion. It was slow, buggy, and very non inuitive. I got asked every day 'when is xbmc coming back?" Luckily, around the same time the a100 got sold, Boxee reached Beta status. Now everyone uses and loves Boxee. They even brag about it. You think your friends are impressed with YAMJ? Go download Boxee or XBMC using Mediastream and configure that up properly and it will blow your mind and make you the envy of everyone.
XBMC is available on all platforms (Linux, OSX and Windows) and Boxee is in open alpha in Linux and OSX but still closed for Windows.
Screw simple media streamers. Go with a real media solution. Your friends and family will appreciate it.