popcorn_hour_a100_review.pdf
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Prelim review from
www.mpcclub.com
about the PoPCorn Hour A100, created by Hi-Jack
Anything in this publication can change due to Syabas releasing weekly updates addressing issues found!!
Contents
MPC Reviews ............................................................................... 1
Introduction PopCorn ................................................................ 3
About the PoPCorn.................................................................... 3
Setup hard drive ....................................................................... 4
Conclusion Initialization.......................................................... 5
Why no SATA or GBIT? ............................................................. 5
Brief about the unit ................................................................... 5
The Remote ............................................................................. 6
TV mode quick settings using numeric key:.............................. 6
Custom Setup........................................................................... 6
Section 1: Adding network resources....................................... 6
Section 2: General Setup options ............................................ 7
Preferences Setup.................................................................. 7
Display Setup ........................................................................ 8
Network Setup ...................................................................... 8
Media Server Setup................................................................ 9
Torrent Setup........................................................................ 9
Maintenance Setup ................................................................ 9
Conclusion setup ................................................................... 9
Network Performance................................................................ 9
Samba.................................................................................. 9
FTP .................................................................................... 10
Conclusion Network performance .......................................... 10
Playback: The Interface........................................................... 10
General Sound Options............................................................ 11
Player set to RAW mode....................................................... 11
Player set to PCM Mode........................................................ 11
ISO DVD / Video_TS ............................................................... 11
Conclusion DVD ISO ............................................................ 12
H.264 Playback....................................................................... 12
General test Video .................................................................. 13
Music playback ....................................................................... 14
Picture playback ..................................................................... 14
Conclusion Pictures .............................................................. 15
NMT Apps and options ............................................................ 15
Samba Server...................................................................... 15
Torrent Downloads .............................................................. 15
MPC Reviews
MPC Reviews are a great “neutral” source for any user or company,
offering an in-depth opinion on products from the consumer’s point of
view.
Electronics company developers and designers wish to promote their
products, good or bad, and often seek to do so by soliciting reviews
from independent sources which have no links with these companies
so that consumers can be assured that the outcome is unbiased. MPC
is one of these unbiased resources with a well-established record of
open and honest evaluations.
Unlike most reviews which are limited to a few screenshots and some
basic text, MPC Reviews are detailed and explore device features in-
depth, with many detailed pictures. This allows any reader to have a
good idea about the product before purchasing it, and the high level
of detail is especially appealing to well-informed, technically-inclined
consumers who demand maximum information before making a
purchase. That’s what makes MPC different.
Reviewed by Hi-Jack, webmaster of
www.mpcclub.com
,
this review is
intended to be your first and best introduction for the PopCorn Hour
A100 as most consumers will experience it, executed from a
consumer’s perspective instead of being based only on technical
details and specifications, which are easy to manipulate and always
look good without in-depth review. Through our reviews we strive to
provide valuable feedback to the brands making electronics
equipment, in order to improve and tune the user’s experience with
the latest state of the art players.
Notice:
MPC is a consumer oriented Media Portal analyzing products
and offering a first impression in their reviews so that you have an
idea of what you are about to purchase. In light of our efforts to
provide reviews quickly to leading-edge consumers, these reviews are
not always able to be fully complete or 100% accurate, and can
become outdated over time.
Date:
October 30 2007
Device:
PopCorn Hour A100
FW Version:
01-11-2007
© 2006 - 2008 MPC Club
Contact MPC:
Press:
press@mpcclub.com
Legal:
legal@mpcclub.com
Owner:
admin@mpcclub.com
Prelim review from
www.mpcclub.com
about the PoPCorn Hour A100, created by Hi-Jack
Anything in this publication can change due to Syabas releasing weekly updates addressing issues found!!
Conclusion Torrent files ........................................................ 16
myiHome Lite Server............................................................ 16
Online MSP: ........................................................................ 17
Video MSP: YouTube............................................................ 18
Video MSP: Google Video ..................................................... 18
Video MSP: Metacafe ........................................................... 19
Video MSP: Videocast........................................................... 19
Music MSP: iPodcast............................................................. 20
Music MSP: Radiobox ........................................................... 20
Music MSP: ABC News and Jamendo ..................................... 21
Conclusion thus far ................................................................. 22
Pros (prelim) ....................................................................... 22
Cons (prelim) ...................................................................... 22
Conclusion.............................................................................. 22
PART 5 Change List:
-
Proof read for correcting mistakes/sentences
-
Extended text intro and many sections
-
Added corrections concerning:
o
Subtitles (added comment sync is available)
o
Subtitles (added reboot resolved grey colored
subtitles, making them readable again)
o
Remote Control (added colored buttons coverage
which can be custom programmed for custom NMT
apps)
-
Revised Pros and Cons list
-
Seriously extended Online MSP section at request
o
Added Video Section MSP
o
Added Music section MSP
Pending others…
o
Prelim review from
www.mpcclub.com
about the PoPCorn Hour A100, created by Hi-Jack
Anything in this publication can change due to Syabas releasing weekly updates addressing issues found!!
Introduction PopCorn
I’ve grown fond of the question "PopCorn anyone?” as it has a totally
different meaning today than it had a couple of days ago. It sounds
like an offer for something completely different than a media player
although that is exactly what PopCorn Hour is, more accurately, the
PopCorn Hour A100. In the last few weeks and months, PopCorn
Hour has attracted a huge amount of people given it's excellent
pricing / feature balance,
bringing the latest codecs
and abilities to people's
homes for the first time in
years below expected
prices. It could not start in a
more positive way but the price alone, will not make it the best player
out of anything unlike the cheapest maybe. Thanks for the review out
there, that you can built up an idea before jumping on board.
drive like the use of FTP or the Internal SMB server which have a
poor performance rate compared to USB Slave. That’s bad, but not
“that bad” if one considers the PoPCorn Hour A100 is mainly intended
as a streaming device…
So, there will be pros and cons for sure. Let’s kick in the front door
off the PopCorn Hour A100 and check the user options and interface
to begin with before we actually put the player to the test on
playback and features surrounding this little box.
About the PoPCorn
First, the PoPCorn comes in two models, the EU and US version.
While both are mainly the same, the US version features component
RCA connectors while the EU version features SCART and outputs
component over SCART (so you have to invest in a SCART to
component cable / adapter on the side if you’d like to use analog HD
instead of digital (HDMI)).
Now we are looking at the PopCorn Hour A100 and can't help thinking
about all the good stuff it can do for this money including SMB server,
torrent downloads, online access to the NMT media portal, custom
modifications and all that beside its core business, playing media files
up to the latest H.264 and VC-1 files. There is no doubt, if the
PopCorn Hour A100 delivers upon the expectations, it will become the
new leader to beat by the competition even though it does have
several limitations which we should already get out of the way
immediately and explain, which effect these will have on your
experience.
Second, the interface is mainly built around HTML and though things
look much better than on the older Syabas middleware where it is
more interactive and “vivant”. What remains is the that everything
feel and looks like a "form" style interface using drop down boxes,
selection boxes and more similar options. It also remains a bottleneck
for the loading speed of pages during setup and navigation but it isn't
as bad to have it become a problem. Some more finesse like using
GFX engine, animation, things moving around would be a refreshing
approach of the menus for the new generation.
Though the interface could be more attractive, it is functional in its
current form even though buttons and such are not always aligned
well, making the interface sometimes even look "underdeveloped".
I’m mainly stating this due to many requests read online and I can
say for 100% sure: "No", the PopCorn will not become the XBOX 4
with XBMC style navigation or options as requested for quite some
time to come as seriously, it has important things to do beside adding
features for starts, being “tuning” all things to mature levels.
I must add, seeing many comparisons online comparing media
players vs. XBOX kind of bug me. The XBOX is a PC platform totally
open to developers while media players are not PC platforms and run
on “mainly” a video processor chip: Sigma SMP8635. Add to that that
XBOX is capable of many things due to illegal components as well and
in some aspects only, can’t compete with media players being Quality
and ease of use. All else, the XBOX probably does better and faster
exactly because it is a full PC almost. In such case, people should
look at HTPC and not stand alone media players to compare… (how
would the XBOX compare there?)
The cheap price partially comes from not having connections like USB
Slave so the PopCorn Hour A100 can’t be used as external USB drive
to fill up the HDD with content. Also, it does not feature an optical
output which is most often used by "normal users" with a receiver but
Coaxial is just as good. It does feature HDMI 1.1 which comes with
some limitations for the latest sound options (DD+, Dolby TrueHD
and DTS-HD Master Audio) but none of these take away functionality
or add “value” over the formats we have available like DTS, AC3 and
Dolby Digital. In some cases we must stick to "older" variants thus
(DTS, LPCM, PCM) or use different methods to fill the internal hard
We do support requests for enhancements to be made but every
single one must make sense to us before we can support it. Do not
expect XBMC inside the NMT players but expect what it is designed to
do be.
Up to the Setup!
Prelim review from
www.mpcclub.com
about the PoPCorn Hour A100, created by Hi-Jack
Anything in this publication can change due to Syabas releasing weekly updates addressing issues found!!
Setup hard drive
Our review is based on using the unit with an internal HDD. This is an
IDE hard drive set to jumper Slave or Master. Once the unit is fitted
with a hard drive, you can format the hard drive using the integrated
HDD wizard. The following images show the complete process where
you can select both USB update and online update. I chose the USB
method since the online servers were not available during our tests.
Luckily, there is warning before it executes a fresh setup procedure
but you know how people don’t read and just click away. I used to be
one of them, until I had a few accidents.
You can update the NMT apps or initialize from both USB and Online
resources. As stated before, I used the USB version as it’s faster and
the only available option at the time of initializing the system.
PS: At first setup, only the “Fresh Setup” is available. In future
updates, we can select the “Typical Setup” option as well which
updates only the NMT apps without formatting the hard drive.
During the format, a progress notification is shown. Depending on
your hard drive size, this should take only one / up to 5 minutes or so
to complete the ext3 format of the internal hard drive. After the
format, all applications are installed to it.
NOTE:
Using the Fresh option, all data
will be erased! I would have preferred
seeing the initial setup separate from the
usual updates as this invites for making
mistakes of customers not paying proper
attention.
Once installed, I’m asked to reboot the system but if I don’t react
within about 5 seconds, the player reboots on its own. That
completes the hard drive installation where we now can check the
custom setup options we have available.
Prelim review from
www.mpcclub.com
about the PoPCorn Hour A100, created by Hi-Jack
Anything in this publication can change due to Syabas releasing weekly updates addressing issues found!!
Conclusion Initialization
Fitting the hard drive is a breeze. If you can handle it with a PC, you
can handle it with the PopCorn Hour A100 as well. The molex rests on
the main board a little which should be avoided. Not that it is a
problem, but it causes the connection to be less convenient.
Brief about the unit
The PopCorn Hour A100 has no cooling fan and therefore is also
silent in operation. Besides the rattling of the hard drive, not a sound
comes from the unit. Using a silent drive (Samsung, see
www.samsung.com
for options and tools) can help building a total
silent solution which for media enthusiasts is very important to enjoy
movies from their living room. No disturbing interruptions of a cooler
kicking in blowing out clouds of dust behind the TV
Notice, unlike other hard drive models, a hard drive is not necessary
for the functionality of the players. With the PopCorn Hour, using it
without a hard drive would be bad, as some functionality will not be
available. Applications and options are installed on the hard drive. For
example, Torrent and the integrated Samba Server would not be
featured without one.
No power button is located on the player which is not as good as for
sure, every player will lock up once in a while and forcing us to pull
the plug which is not always accessible without aerobic exercises is
not convenient, nor is it healthy for the system. In standby, the
PopCorn Hour A100 recovers in less than 2 seconds, meaning,
everything probably remains running in standby mode consuming
about 12 watts. I would prefer shutting off the player especially when
it would lockup (pulling the plug is so “old school”) or when I know I
won’t be using it for a while. PopCorn has already informed us it will
cut power consumption in standby soon. (Good)
The different options to initialize the hard drive with or without
formatting should be separated as even with a warning can be
inviting for errors to be made when not paying proper attention for a
minute. Overall the setup is easy and straightforward. The manual
could cover it in some deeper details though for the real novice users
which will be attracted to the product as well concerning its pricing.
So far, all is good. No issues detected, everything ran fine from the
start except maybe another little tip, don’t connect HDMI from the
start as I got no signal until the hard drive was initialized. Don’t know
if that is for me only or a general case. If so, start with S-Video or
Composite to initialize and change during setup to HDMI or
Component as you wish before connecting the cable.
As you are probably aware, there is no VFD on the unit (huge saving
factor) and the USB hosts are both in the front of the unit which is
easier to access, but also causes cables to be visual. Not a problem
as it is easier to access them this way.
Boot time of the unit after the
initializing of the hard drive and NMT
apps, is around 50 seconds. During the
loading you are shown the PopCorn
Hour logo which is not bad, but could it
not get some more appealing splash
screen.
Why no SATA or GBIT?
I must add, I seen quite some discussions online discussing how one
would prefer GBIT network and SATA hard drive. Although true that
IDE hard drives become harder to find in bigger sizes unlike SATA
drives, it does not carry any advantage in speed. Ok, maybe one
more, that the SATA hard drive can more easily be re-used in the
future if upgrading to newer models, but that’s it!
Once the boot is completed, you
are at the main menu which in
my case, with no network
resources being added yet, only
lists the hard drive. From the left
hand menu, I can use the
options Setup, Web Services and
select my Media Sources. The
last option will create a new list
of all available sources online but fist, these must be added manually.
I’d prefer selecting the available PC’s and NAS servers immediately by
auto detecting these on startup or when using the “Media Source”
option to rescan available sources so they become listed and allow
me to browse. This would also lift the limitation of 5 sources to be
added manually and can be considered quite a drastic improvement
for some cluttered networks with way too many shares…
The SMP8635 media processor, used inside the PoPCorn, has a
limited I/O performance that lays far below the performance of both
IDE and SATA hard drives. That said, there is no performance gain.
In addition to this info, one must know that most SATA supported
media players today use an IDE to SATA adapter integrated in the
system. It’s possible to use one yourself but it must be small enough
to fit inside the PopCorn Hour casing and that will be hard to do, as
the IDE connector fixed on the main board leave just enough room to
connect the hard drive.
For GBIT network we can file the same limitation. The SMP8635
platform is not capable of high bandwidth performance and neither
must it be for video playback. For copying files over to the internal
hard drive it would be a serious benefit if not for this limitation and
the fact the Sigma processor does not support GBIT network.
It’s my vision playing with me again, that a player must not limit itself
anywhere it does not have to be that way. It must fit into as many
environments as possible and cluttered networks are one of them.
Maybe it can still be changed, maybe not.
So, again, as with HDD, it doesn’t matter if using 10/100 or GBIT
even if it was supported as both again exceed the abilities of the
processor and will lead to exactly the same performance.
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