Popcorn Hour or HDX1000?

[SumnerBoy]

Anyone got one of these (or anything similar they can recommend)? Currently have an XBox 360 which I pretty much only use for streaming SD movies stored on my home server. Was thinking of selling the XBox and getting a dedicated HD media streamer. Just wondering if anyone has one of these devices or can make any other recommendations/suggestions?

[Ernie1553552694]

You might be one of the first to get one of these boxes.

 

There's always a Tvix unit that's bought in by an importer. A safer bet if you want local support.

[Spearmint]

I have the HDX1000 and love it!

 

When I was looking to purchase I tossed up between the two units, what won me over was the build, plus the coax digital out.

 

The unit hasn't missed a beat since I bought it. I also use an IAMM NTD-38HD, and Beyonwiz DP-P2 as streaming devices. The HDX1000 wins hands down IMO for streaming smoothness of the many video formats across the LAN.

[SumnerBoy]

 

Spearmint;93494 wrote:

I have the HDX1000 and love it!

 

 

 

When I was looking to purchase I tossed up between the two units, what won me over was the build, plus the coax digital out.

 

 

 

The unit hasn't missed a beat since I bought it. I also use an IAMM NTD-38HD, and Beyonwiz DP-P2 as streaming devices. The HDX1000 wins hands down IMO for streaming smoothness of the many video formats across the LAN.

 

Thanks Spearmint. Can you tell me where you purchased it from? Also, have you been streaming 1080p content across your LAN - does it playback stutter free? Have been reading a fair bit about this product and some complain that full 1080p across 10/100 ethernet sometimes can't be handled due to bandwidth limitations.

 

What streaming software do you run on your server? myihome? YAMJ?

[Marantz]

My brother usees one of these with excellent results - http://www.dse.co.nz/dse.shop/4a2c31380054d8b8273fc0a87f3b0695/Product/View/XH9817?utm_source=home&utm_medium=internallink&utm_content=product&utm_campaign=HOT

[Tristar71]

DO NOT go Popcorn Hour.... I had one, it broke and sent it back...great concept - I had the whole movieflow interface running but the thing blew up... nice idea - shoddy components - reading the forums for the Popcorn hour - too many people had problems with their machines and shipping them back overseas was a pain in the proverbial.

[SumnerBoy]

 

marantz;93508 wrote:

My brother usees one of these with excellent results -

http://www.dse.co.nz/dse.shop/4a2c31380054d8b8273fc0a87f3b0695/Product/View/XH9817?utm_source=home&utm_medium=internallink&utm_content=product&utm_campaign=HOT

 

Thanks Marantz - I have looked at this one from WD but it doesn't have networking which is definite requirement for me. I want to potentially have a few of these devices around the home all streaming from the same server.

[SumnerBoy]

 

Tristar;93509 wrote:

DO NOT go Popcorn Hour.... I had one, it broke and sent it back...great concept - I had the whole movieflow interface running but the thing blew up... nice idea - shoddy components - reading the forums for the Popcorn hour - too many people had problems with their machines and shipping them back overseas was a pain in the proverbial.

 

Hmmm - interesting to hear that TriStar. Looking at the two the HDX1000 certainly looks like a much better built device - and much nicer looking too.

 

Can I ask what part failed? Cos the internals look pretty basic, just a couple of PCBs. Figured those solid state devices were pretty reliable these days.

[Tristar71]

the PCB - just went dead - no lights, action, nothing... wouldn't boot, wouldn't reset - just faulty.. had the hassle of sending it back losing money as well...having waited over 5 weeks for delivery. got it working for about 3 weeks and then sent it back... overall experience very poor - and lesson learnt.

[SumnerBoy]

 

Tristar;93514 wrote:

the PCB - just went dead - no lights, action, nothing... wouldn't boot, wouldn't reset - just faulty.. had the hassle of sending it back losing money as well...having waited over 5 weeks for delivery. got it working for about 3 weeks and then sent it back... overall experience very poor - and lesson learnt.

 

Fair enough. Can I ask where you bought it from? I am looking at a supplier in Oz - mediaplayersandmore.com.au. They claim they will handle warranty claims and defects rather than having to send back to the manufacturer. Obviously still have to pay for shipping back to Oz.

 

Thanks for your thoughts on this.

[Spearmint]

 

SumnerBoy;93502 wrote:

Thanks Spearmint. Can you tell me where you purchased it from? Also, have you been streaming 1080p content across your LAN - does it playback stutter free? Have been reading a fair bit about this product and some complain that full 1080p across 10/100 ethernet sometimes can't be handled due to bandwidth limitations.

 

 

 

What streaming software do you run on your server? myihome? YAMJ?

 

My projector is only 720p.

 

I use a PC for ripping and storage of my SD & HD material; I also have several NAS drives for storage, all my streaming units pick up any drive that are shared on the network, and display the file list alphabetically, whether it be video, images or audio files. I’ve currently got nearly 7Tb of storage, and with HDD’s being quite affordable IMO, and the use of USB/eSata hot swap caddies makes sharing very easy as well.

 

I use Gb switches and have no problems streaming the same file to the three different units simultaneously. With regards to 1080p you can always install a HDD in the unit (I don’t bother) or connect a drive directly via USB if streaming becomes an issue. In my experience if the streamer unit cannot buffer enough information, (I had one previously) then playback can be somewhat hit and miss on HD material, and if your LAN has any bottlenecks then you might have some issues. All my PC’s and NAS units have GB LAN’s, so the only units using 100Mb are the streaming units themselves. I’ve not had any issues with the HDX1000 with regards to playback.

 

My HDX1000 came from Media Players and More.

[SumnerBoy]

Thanks for that Spearmint. It sounds like the HDX could be the way to go.

[Tristar71]

I bought it from the Popcorn hour website direct....

 

The company is in the states and shipped from China as it turned out....

[Spearmint]

Just to add, I also stream audio via LAN to my multiple Sonos unit’s simultaneously as the video gets streamed, plus a few computers accessing the net etc, with no detrimental effect on the video streaming.

 

I’m sure you’ll be happy with the HDX1000, I know I am.

[SumnerBoy]

 

Spearmint;93543 wrote:

Just to add, I also stream audio via LAN to my multiple Sonos unit’s simultaneously as the video gets streamed, plus a few computers accessing the net etc, with no detrimental effect on the video streaming.

 

 

 

I’m sure you’ll be happy with the HDX1000, I know I am.

 

Have just ordered one from Media Players And More - he has them in stock so hoping I will have it at my door by the end of the week!

 

I run a Squeezebox system with 3 players so will have a similar setup to you in terms of what I am streaming across my network. Although only one of the Squeezeboxes is wired (the other 2 are wireless).

 

My home network is currently only 10/100 but I am about to build a new house so will definitely be looking to upgrade to gigabit ethernet.

 

Thanks again for your comments/suggestions/help.

[lebleaux]

 

Tristar;93509 wrote:

DO NOT go Popcorn Hour.... I had one, it broke and sent it back...great concept - I had the whole movieflow interface running but the thing blew up... nice idea - shoddy components - reading the forums for the Popcorn hour - too many people had problems with their machines and shipping them back overseas was a pain in the proverbial.

 

I purchased a Popcornhour from the very first batch. It gets used every week, plays anything I can throw at it and it has never missed a beat.

[Tristar71]

one worked?! you got a good one. Still doesn't excuse shoddy components, poor customer relations and service along with overseas buying.

[daver1553552689]

 

SumnerBoy;93488 wrote:

Anyone got one of these (or anything similar they can recommend)? Currently have an XBox 360 which I pretty much only use for streaming SD movies stored on my home server. Was thinking of selling the XBox and getting a dedicated HD media streamer. Just wondering if anyone has one of these devices or can make any other recommendations/suggestions?

 

Have the earlier Popcorn and its OK for SD but HD has been hopeless which is not so good considering this is their selling point.

Its very hit or miss whether HD content will play. Some play on friends Popcorn and not mine but I haven't been able to figure out why.

[Spearmint]

 

daver;93846 wrote:

Have the earlier Popcorn and its OK for SD but HD has been hopeless which is not so good considering this is their selling point.

 

Its very hit or miss whether HD content will play. Some play on friends Popcorn and not mine but I haven't been able to figure out why.

 

What are you using to rip the HD files? I rip my BD with DVDFab and so far the HDX1000 hasn’t missed a beat streaming these files across the LAN, this includes playing any of the HD audio tracks as well.

[SumnerBoy]

 

Spearmint;93849 wrote:

What are you using to rip the HD files? I rip my BD with DVDFab and so far the HDX1000 hasn’t missed a beat streaming these files across the LAN, this includes playing any of the HD audio tracks as well.

 

How big are your BluRay rips after using DVDFab?

[daver1553552689]

 

Spearmint;93849 wrote:

What are you using to rip the HD files? I rip my BD with DVDFab and so far the HDX1000 hasn’t missed a beat streaming these files across the LAN, this includes playing any of the HD audio tracks as well.

 

A friend with same popcorn provides the ones I've tried so far so I haven't ripped any. He seems to have nearly 100% success while I have pretty high failure rate. Both units arrived in same box and use same firmware so its hard to work out what the issue is. I've written it off to the perils of a ver 1.0 device.

[Spearmint]

 

SumnerBoy;93895 wrote:

How big are your BluRay rips after using DVDFab?

 

The ones I've done so far range from ~16Gb thru to 25Gb

 

I only do the odd one here and there as a demo, since there are no chapters I find them a pain in the rear unless I'm going to watch the whole movie. One of these days I'll get motivated and try to make up a HD compilation.

[Spearmint]

 

daver;93916 wrote:

A friend with same popcorn provides the ones I've tried so far so I haven't ripped any. He seems to have nearly 100% success while I have pretty high failure rate. Both units arrived in same box and use same firmware so its hard to work out what the issue is. I've written it off to the perils of a ver 1.0 device.

 

Are you using an internal drive or connected via USB or are you streaming it across the LAN?

[daver1553552689]

 

Spearmint;93954 wrote:

Are you using an internal drive or connected via USB or are you streaming it across the LAN?

 

Usually streaming but internal HD doesn't work either. Sometimes tsMuseR will fix but not reliably and all the ones I have came from another Popcorn anyway so shouldn't need remuxing.

[Evan1553552740]

Ill put in another good word for the HDX, A friend of mine has had one for a few weeks now and it has been brilliant, He has a HDD in his and stores everything inside it so i can borrow it whenever i like, only thing I dont like about it is that it wont do any of the digital audio decoding, so when i borrow it and go to watch a movie that only has a dts soundtrack it wont decode that to 2ch and my tv has no idea what to do with a dts stream. But that was the main reason he wanted it anyway, He wanted his amp to do all the audio decoding.

 

Very good unit with a nice interface, Even my wife loved it!