I was looking at investing in a Popcorn Hour after reading a review in Linux Format, Is it anygood at handling HD movies?
Alternative option I had was to setup a shuttle or a mini-itx system and use geexbox as the hub for control of media.
But I am really tempted to get a Popcorn Hour worthwhile investment?
> Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 13:52:03 +0100
> From: hugo@???
> To: hampshire@???
> Subject: Re: [Hampshire] Ultimate Linux Media PC?
>
> On Sun, Aug 02, 2009 at 07:53:59PM +0100, Stuart Matheson wrote:
> > My girlfriend is moving out of her current splace and will no longer have
> > access to the expert she had there (ie someone with an xbox with xbmc). I'm
> > looking for a quiet multimedia PC that can be plugged into a TV for watching
> > iplayer, youtube and other online video as well as video files and possibly
> > a dvd (I have an external dvd player she could use though so it isn't a deal
> > breaker). She said the xbox was quite noisy though so she'd like something
> > quiet. Something that shouldn't have much trouble running something like
> > xbmc (which she is familiar with, or any other easy to use program) and can
> > connect to a SD tv would be great. A remote will also likely be required. An
> > internal or external HDD would be fine as I have one spare. She is also
> > interested in wii fit so a nintendo might be an option, but I have no idea
> > if it would fit the bill in regards to the other requirements.
> >
> > What can people recommend for this (unit and remote)? It doesn't necessary
> > have to be brand new so 2nd hand laptops/refurbished PCs aren't out of the
> > question. Like most people (or in her case, public servants) she is pretty
> > skint so the cheaper the better.
>
> I'm not certain if this will be suitable for your needs, but I have
> a Popcorn Hour A110[1] here. I use it mostly for playing TV I've
> recorded off-air with a DVB USB stick in a separate machine.
>
> It plays almost everything that I've tried on it (barring DVB
> MPEG-2 transport streams, oddly); it can pull content from Samba, NFS,
> FTP and UPnP servers, from its internal HD, or from external USB HDs,
> off any of the three USB ports. Barring any hard disk noise, if you
> have one installed, it's completely silent, with no fans.
>
> The user interface is web-based, and is documented and somewhat
> hackable. It can visit remote websites and display them, although its
> built-in browser is of limited capabilities. It explicitly states that
> it supports YouTube, but doesn't mention iPlayer. It can handle
> BitTorrent downloads as well, if you have a hard disk in it. There is
> a reasonable set of third-party applications built around the
> machine[2], too.
>
> My only complaints to date are that it seems to be quite hard to do
> playlists for audio material, and that I've had some trouble with the
> reverse button.
>
> Hugo.
>
> [1] http://www.popcornhour.com/onlinestore/index.php?pluginoption=catalog
> [2] http://www.networkedmediatank.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
>
> --
> === Hugo Mills: hugo@... carfax.org.uk | darksatanic.net | lug.org.uk ===
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