Popcorn Hour Owners Thread (All Models)

[srinisundar]

Thanks George,

I have changed my mind and planning to buy A-200 instead from Amazon for $139 (including everything).

Only differences between A-210 and A-200 is A-210 has fan-less and aluminium body design.

I too landed on PCH A-200 for $99(used) in ebay...And will wait for USB 3.0 version of PCH soon.

 

[Kittu]

Read the second posting by mooro. I think its a bit toomuch.

http://www.whathifi.com/forum/compu...ezebox-popcorn-how-do-you-get-it-right?page=1

 

[santhosh]

Can a Squeezebox access the hard disc of the PCH to play music..if so I could copy all the music and movies to the disc, play movies from PCH and music from Squeezebox rather than keeping a computer up and running all the time

No, this can't be done because Squeezebox needs Squeezecenter to be running on a computer/equivalent. To the best of my knowledge, a Squeezecenter client for the PCH has not been developed yet.

If your intention is to reduce power consumption(among other reasons), invest in a Netgear NAS - it comes with support for Squeezecenter and you can save some energy by not running a computer. Members GeorgeO and noking run this configuration. I run squeezecenter on a Netbook with a low power consumption, need to buy a Netgear ReadyNas Duo sometime soon.

Edit: My info on Squeezecenter not available for PCH was wrong, link ^^ provided by Kittu has steps on how to do it. Will try it out on my A-110 when I get time - been too busy offlate.

 

[deepakgang]

Thats great. Let us know if you manage to achieve this. keeping the pc on for squeezebox is not always the best thing. along with power consumption, I wouldn't want my pc to run for ever and attract hackers, viruses, my friends pinging me over gtalk and I disconnecting internet and connecting it back when I need it.. overheating etc etc. not the best solution to access my music database although not too bad

 

[GeorgeO]

Theoretically a Popcorn Hour is visible on the network and should work like a NAS. I dont know practically how it works, though.

 

[manny9]

Yeah thats what I thought. I don't know about Squeeze box but if it can support NFS or SMB protocols PCH can act as NAS....not sure though...

 

[citylife]

I've ordered A-210 direct from Popcorn Hour yesterday.

I'm a complete noob as far as hardware is concerned. Please suggest which 2TB internal HDD (5400 rpm) to buy and if available from any online shop?

Pl. also suggest if there is any difference in performance of A-210 if external HDD is used instead of internal HDD .

Thanks in advance.

 

[GeorgeO]

Im using a Samsung Spinpoint. No diff, but the form factor with an internal is more convenient, smaller footprint, one less power supply etc.

 

[citylife]

Following is recommended in NMT wiki for A-210 :Seagate Pipeline HD ST2000VM002,
while Seagate Barracuda Green SATA 6Gb/s 2TB Hard Drive
ST2000DL003 is available from ebay india for Rs. 4430. Do you think it will be compatible?

 

[GeorgeO]

Difficult to tell without actual installing it.

 

[manny9]

I am using Seagate Barracuda ST2000DL003 2TB HDD with my PCH-A210....no problems so far. Having internal Vs external is not much of a difference but if ur using original ISO rips (30-50gb files) I guess internal will be better...Also since A210 has a USB slave port i don't find problems in moving the files to internal HDD. But in case of C200 which doesn't have USB slave this might be any issue....you need to do with a wired LAN becaz wireless is damn slow....

 

[ananth_mk]

Hello All:
Need your help !!
I jus received the PCH c200 today..and yet to open it and start the setup. Before that I have a question.

As I already have my 1 TB WD HDD drive loaded with some BD movie contents.... Install this HDD drive into c200 will by anychance erase/delete my loaded movie contents?? please help how to avoid if thats the case.

 

[GeorgeO]

Yes, it will take some time to load on it's software on to the disk and most certainly all your data will go away. You will have little option but to park all the data somewhere else!

 

[ananth_mk]

Thanks George for your response..

On further re-search to protect my existing HDD contents...came to know further details from NMT link: C-200 First Steps - NMTWiki

From this link info. my understanding is that the HDD format happens only due to the need of install of NMT apps into the internal HDD. (which leads to format the HDD to ext3 and so?? )
Now Since we have the provision to have all the NMT apps in the internal mount USB stick itself...(seems to ahve motherboard provision for this) I think the PCH system dont' need to format the HDD newly again, while I install my HDD into the PCH c200 and thus allow me to retain all HDD contents. Am I right ?? If not, pls. help me to get clarify on this further. Thanks much.

 

[manny9]

You can try this.....start ur C200 with 4 or 8GB memory stick and install NMT apps. It will format the USB drive to EXT3 and install the app framework. Before this pls make sure you update ur device with latest firmware.

Once done put ur 1 TB NTFS HDD into PCH and browse the file , it will not format....I did this for my A-210 and did not have any problem....and make sure u change the internal SATA as ur media drive in the PCH settings after u install.

 

[ananth_mk]

Update: @manny9. Wow.. Thanks a lot. Tried out your steps today and That really worked well to me with c200 setup. You saved me.
Finally able to preserve all my HDD contents and able to play from it. Thats great !!

Edit update: Got this below my query answered reading one of your earlier posts point to: Setup>Maintenance>NMT Setup Wizard>Media Select>SATA_HDD_A1
>>>One thing i could not make out as you said is...how to make my internal HDD as my default media drive(over that NMT apps installed usb stick) in pch c 200 settings? Do we have any settings anywhere to do it? Tried to browse thru all pch menu options...but seems no luck to me.
Any idea in detail ? <<< Edit update 06/07/2011

Regarding the play-back.. its excellent to find out that the audio iso files(DTS audio tracks) too able to play from usb stick using PCH. !!! WOW again.



previousmanny9 Thanks very much for your inputs.!! Let me try your steps and update.

 

[citylife]

I am using Seagate Barracuda ST2000DL003 2TB HDD with my PCH-A210....no problems so far. ..

Thanks manny9.

I checked Seagate site for HDD numbering. ST2000DL003 is entry level while ST2000VM002 is DVR recording grade.

Pipeline HD Hard Drives | Seagate

Today i found a dealer in Nehru Place who said he has a 2TB Pipeline HDD for Rs.5300/-. Can' t be sure about them Nehru Place dealers till i see myself the model # on the HDD.

The other alternative is Western Digital 2TB AV Drive - Model WD20EVDS available with only one dealer in Chandigarh. But WD reputation is quiet low all over the internet.

 

[manny9]

Hey ananth_mk I'm glad this worked out for you The firmware is exactly same between A210 and C200 so you should be able to go to this path : setup>Maintenance>NMT Setup Wizard>Media Select>SATA_HDD_A1. After Reboot while loading PCH will show " SATA_HDD_A1 is Share folder" or something like that. Now any downloads will directly go to your HDD rather USB drive.

Try NMJ's flash movie wall, its really good. But not good as XMBC but it better than having to go through the file structure. "How To" is available in their Wiki, if you need any help pls let me know.

I am trying to install YAMJ (Yet another Musci Jukebox) in my PCH, its hell of task and needs lot of time. I was successful but still not able to change the default skin to Aeon (very similar to XMBC)....you can do so many things with PCH !!!

A210/200 Owners: When I bought A210 I was little worried that it doesn't support full BD menu only BD lite. I remember having a chat with George regarding this. But in their latest firmware update they have give full BD support to A210 and 200. I ripped my Matix collection to full BD folder structure and not only PCH played beautifully i was able to access complete BD menu !!!!! PCH rocks

 

[citylife]

...
A210/200 Owners: When I bought A210 I was little worried that it doesn't support full BD menu only BD lite. I remember having a chat with George regarding this. But in their latest firmware update they have give full BD support to A210 and 200. I ripped my Matix collection to full BD folder structure and not only PCH played beautifully i was able to access complete BD menu !!!!! PCH rocks

Wow! Thanks again manny9. My A-210 ships in 7th July batch. Meanwhile so much to read and install.

 

[manny9]

No problem....PCH is a great piece of hardware even if it is little unstable sometimes and you need to be bit "Geeky" to realize its full potential, its worth all the little troubles...