Re: OT: Network Media Players

On Tue, 29 Sep 2009 22:07:42 GMT, Kevin Weller <Spam_Not@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
allegedly wrote:

With that in mind I've just ordered a Popcorn Hour A-110.

I missed this thread, but I have one of those. I threw a 1TB disc into it
as well. It's a pretty good device and can play nearly everything I have.
The problem files have been my own videos where I'd converted them to XVID
and left the audio at MP3 - those it doesn't like and the audio doesn't
play. If I convert the audio to AC3 then it's OK. However, other peoples
XVID with MP3 appear to play fine. Weird.

It upscales and downscales pretty well - at least on a CRT TV.

The internet portal is OK, but needs revamping really, it's too slow in
the first place and the interface is clunky. E.g. You can't enter a
specific youtube id, but you have to search for the video using keywords,
which can be hit and miss. Using a PC is far better in this instance.

I've also converted a number of DVDs to put onto it (very time consuming).
This is OK if the device is already on and you quickly go to the thing you
want to watch, but if it's off, then it's far quicker to go and find the
DVD itself and use that as it can take a while to boot.

Audio wise - again works OK and supports play lists (if created
"correctly"), but there are gaps between tracks presumably as it loads the
next one. This doesn't work well for music where one track blends into
the next.

On the + side, the developers are pretty active with new software updates
and things like the above could well be fixed in the next release. I know
there were also requests to get iplayer integration but I imagine the UK
market is small compared to the rest of the world.
.

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