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[eyore]

Well, I've gone and done it. The "buy now" option was only £1 above the minimum price (plus £10 shipping) so I bought it.
So many of you have recommended a media player I thought I'd give it a try and give you all a rest 
Thanks for the link Dolbyman.
Fingers crossed.....................

[kirky]

I have a hard time remember life before my home theater pc.  Doesn't help that there's a PC on each TV in the house all running XBMC with a central "NAS" device for content.  One of the PCs is a TV server and distributes a TV signal to all the PCs (and thus the TV) with the capability of recording shows, timeshifting, etc.  I've got 6 tuners in the TV server, so recording is never a problem.

I would also suggest getting USENET access.

[Wizzard419]

Indeed, HTPC's are great. If you've got a home network but don't want the investment of an HTPC you could even just go and buy an xbox 360 or ps3 as both have HD output and can stream data.

[eyore]

Now I usually find I buy something new and there are no sockets for what I already have on it (my second-best video camera has RCA outputs, my DVD recorder doesn't have RCA inputs, for instance. I now need adapters to get the video in via scart).
I'm hoping the Popcorn just plugs in via HDMI to the TV (I do have a spare socket for that), I plug in a HDD and away it goes.
Experience tells me (a) it isn't going to be as simple as that and (b) I'll spend the next few weeks searching for accessories/leads/adapters etc or buying new HDDs as half of mine are FAT32 (so I could swap between two PCs).
I'll also have to find a way to link it up to the home cinema audio (already sharing that via a multiple selector for the TV and 2 DVD players and something else I'm not sure where the wire goes to). 
What have I done.....................

[eyore]

OK, it arrived today (the Popcorn) and even for a dork like me, it was pretty easy to get up an running (yes, really a plug in, let it load, connect the HDMI cable to the TV, plug in the USB and select the video (I chose the Pixar Play Parade DIVX HD as mentioned) and play 
The popcorn seems to have 1001 other functions (and a 112 page manual which was missing but which I found on the Internet).
Seems like it's just what I needed 
Thanks.

[kirky]

Seems like it's just what I needed 
Thanks.

Maybe now you'll start listening to us?   

Glad you like it...  What I will suggest, and I'm not sure if it applies to that device, is heed the suggestions on how to store your collections.  I was resisting the directory structure on movie storage until finally one day i spent more time getting something to work than it took to watch the movie.  Finally I bit the bullet, followed the suggestions on the net for movie collection organization and WOW, Everything just worked!

Again, not sure if it applies to the Popcorn Hour device, but I know XBMC and others seem to follow a structure that's been hammered out over the years and makes the devices so much more usable.

[eyore]

Liking things simple (and this device does not have a HDD built in for storage but one can be added) my intention is still to store stuff on several HDDs (plus  data DVD backups - just in case) - and copy them from the PC either to flash drives or maybe even a dedicated external HDD to watch on the bigger family TV.
My organization is, I'm afraid, non-existent at the moment but I'll get around to it (how many years have I been saying that now) 
At the moment, I'm just delighted to be able to watch the videos without having to convert them or burning them to standard discs. My PC can't handle HD anything - it's just too slow - even with VLC player.
I'll be playing around with the different formats now to see what it will/will not play.
Takes me a while to adapt to all the new stuff these days having grown up with vinyl records and B&W TV. 

[eyore]

Sorry to bring this up again but I'm having a problem with my Popcorn 
Some of the park videos I had were now on DVDs. I though I'd rip them back to the PC and transfer them to my dedicated HDD drive to play through the Popcorn A-100 on my TV.
They were ripped to video_ts files (VOB BUP and IFO) in folders with the video name on it (eg Splash mountain). Also the empty audio folder is in there as well, of course.
Trouble is, the A-100 sees the folder but reports it as 0kb on use of the info button. It doesn't open so I can select the video_ts folder or anything, just reverts to the splash screen with the "backup your hard drive" reminder.
I've already checked there are no "extra" files in there that may cause problems.
The A-100 is supposed to play vob files but I'm stumped.
Any suggestions from those of you that have this media player would be welcome.
Thanks.

[dolbyman]

try to rip your dvds as as single iso files .. the popcorn hour should play them with all menus intact

http://www.pavtube.com/guide/imgburn-create-dvd-iso-from-video-ts-directory.html


oh and maybe also check for firmware updates

http://www.popcornhour.com/download/A110/firmware-A110.html

[kirky]

Yeah, I think most of these media players support ISOs.  I like to keep everything intact.

I just found out, I can do PAL easily as well, so no more need to worry about conversions that don't work right anyway...  Even been toying about with 3D films.  No 3D TV, so I'm using the red/cyan glasses...

[eyore]

Thanks, I'll try the suggestions. I'm really green when it comes to some things technical like this. There's a whole chunk about the popcorn hour (in the manual they don't supply with the unit - only a quick start guide so you have to get it on the web)  and networking which means nothing to me (I tried to network my PCs together several times and failed although I did manage to get them all to use the same wireless router) - all about only being able to view ISO and Vob via NFS or SMB 
Which, to cut a long story short, means it can't mount a DVD from an external HDD, I think 
My head feels like a cauliflower after reading all this.
I'll let you know how it goes.................

[dolbyman]

I don't think you have to mount it.. just open it.. like vlc does

that should work from either local drives or remote fileshares alike

[eyore]

Updated the firmware and it certainly plays single Vob files now (from a Flash drive).
Now to test on the HDD.
Nearly broke it - I was going to update the A-100 - had a quick look - oops, A-110 

EDIT:
Plays VOB files but only if they are on their own (ie not with the BUP IFO files)
Nope, won't play from a video_ts folder and won't play ISO files (black screen).

The support page says this:
DVD support in .iso is only supported via NFS/SMB connection at this time.
Yes, clear as mud. It seems I can only view them if I get them from a network
I'm too old for this.


Edit:
Rebooted the thing several times and - it played an ISO file. The wind must have changed or something. Too exhausted to try it a second time!