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Which Hard Drive Media Player?

  • 25-03-2008 12:44pm
    #1
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 12,616 Mod ✭✭✭✭


    I bought a Media Player Hard Drive on iBood a while ago. It was crap I sold it. The menu system was awful and it was just generally disappointing.

    I want to buy another and I'm thinking of getting this one from Freecom: http://www.freecom.com/ecProduct_detail.asp?OID=12601&ID=3750&catID=8060&sCatID=1147633&ssCatID=1147633

    I want one to hold movies etc that I can leave looked up to my TV - I want a good menu system for browsing movies. My router is beside my TV so wireless is not 100% necessary but nice to have.

    Ideally I'd love one that can be used as a NAS. Is this the best one or are there any others worth considering?
    Thanks


Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,933 ✭✭✭keith_d99


    There is a lot of hype around this

    www.popcornhour.com

    You put an internal hard drive into it - or use external usb drive
    Has HDMI output, plays all formats, plenty of support/firmware updates, and a good price

    You have to get in queue to even order it though, due to demand. People even selling the invites to order on eBay


  • Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 12,616 Mod ✭✭✭✭Zascar


    Thanks that does look pretty cool. You can actually get them on ebay for ok money,but you have to remember the cost of a hard drive.

    Do you think the freecom one is any good?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,933 ✭✭✭keith_d99


    It's really hard to know! I've been looking around for this type of product for a while now - and it really is a bit of a minefield. There is lots of complaints about poor UI etc. It says firmware upgradable - but that's no good unless they provide upgrades!

    One thing though - that 199 price is without a hard drive!

    The reason I went for the Popcorn Hour - is that support is excellent, with firmware upgrades nearly early week. Also there seems to be a good community out there too! Plus they apparently play all types of files, and if they don't, there is a good chance they will via a firmware upgrade.

    Popcorn Hour is at the moment 140 delivered - it's coming from outside EU - so customs may get a slice.
    Throw in a hard drive - and you can add approx another 100
    Zascar wrote: »
    Thanks that does look pretty cool. You can actually get them on ebay for ok money,but you have to remember the cost of a hard drive.

    Do you think the freecom one is any good?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,037 ✭✭✭BArra


    can you use an external harddrive connected into the pch through usb to play content?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,933 ✭✭✭keith_d99


    You can indeed - takes internal too - or both
    Got mine there last week - I can really highly recommend it!!

    It plays anything from Divx, ISO files, blu-ray rips etc. etc.
    Has Youtube and other applications on it - You can access it as a network share from another computer on the network

    Has played anything that I have thrown at it! I finally get to see what proper HD looks like - it's something else.

    If you pop an intrernal drive into it - it even has it's own bit torrent client
    BArra wrote: »
    can you use an external harddrive connected into the pch through usb to play content?


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,037 ✭✭✭BArra


    does it matter what kind of harddrive is within the external harddrive though?

    i read that it doesnt support SATA hard drives, only IDE, how will i know which one is within my external 500gb seagate?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,933 ✭✭✭keith_d99


    As it is connected through USB - it doesn't matter!

    I have even plugged a USB stick into it - and it reads and plays stuff fine!

    Internal is IDE only alright
    BArra wrote: »
    does it matter what kind of harddrive is within the external harddrive though?

    i read that it doesnt support SATA hard drives, only IDE, how will i know which one is within my external 500gb seagate?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,037 ✭✭✭BArra


    thanks for the replies, i got my invite to order one today and im quite tempted to get one.

    coming from china did u get hit for import duty? who delivers them

    and finally whats the story if something goes wrong with it warrenty wise? i read that the mini istar has a lifetime warrenty and does pretty much exactly the same as the PCH, that and it has optical in wheras the PCH has coax in? but i think u can get a converter to adapt it


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,109 ✭✭✭muckwarrior


    I was lookin for one of these for ages. Couldn't find one with everything I wanted (NAS, HD, PVR, SATA) so just ended up throwing a media centre pc together. Beware of ones that say they have a LAN connection. This is usually for streaming only and not NAS.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,933 ✭✭✭keith_d99


    Came to 140 including shipping
    Got hit with 17 customs on top of that - so all in 157
    DHL deliver it alright

    Didn't even look into warranty - it's 1 year at least
    When you open it up - there is very little inside - so hopefully very little to go wrong.

    What's good about the PH - is that there are always firmware updates - always a good sign

    Optical out you mean? For sound? Yeah PCH has co-ax out!
    They are both similar boxes - based on the Sigma Chipset - but what I like about the PCH is the large community of owners (and excellent forum)
    BArra wrote: »
    thanks for the replies, i got my invite to order one today and im quite tempted to get one.

    coming from china did u get hit for import duty? who delivers them

    and finally whats the story if something goes wrong with it warrenty wise? i read that the mini istar has a lifetime warrenty and does pretty much exactly the same as the PCH, that and it has optical in wheras the PCH has coax in? but i think u can get a converter to adapt it


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,933 ✭✭✭keith_d99


    Yeah so was I - there are so many out there - but nothing that exactly matched what I was looking for (not unless I was willing to pay mad money)

    Just stumbled across the Popcorn hour thing - for the price, it's a great piece of kit

    It supports smb (so NAS) - you can stream from it, or to it! You can even play a dvd from a shared network drive
    I was lookin for one of these for ages. Couldn't find one with everything I wanted (NAS, HD, PVR, SATA) so just ended up throwing a media centre pc together. Beware of ones that say they have a LAN connection. This is usually for streaming only and not NAS.


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