Mac Mini v Popcorn Hour A110

["Phil Harris" <phil@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

OK =96 like the kind of mug I am I actually ordered a Popcorn Hour
A110
yesterday (thanks RipCaster =96 good turnaround on the order).

=20

Right =96 initial results after about an hours playing =85

=20

User interface =96 OK, so compared to the nice scrolling menus and
backgrou=
nd
graphics on Plex then the UI is basic =96 very very basic =96 but it
works,=
I
was able to browse my network, find my network shares, explore them, start
=
a
DVD playing off the network etc. from the remote without having to
configur=
e
anything at all! (No damn way you=92re going to manage that from Plex! :-D
=
)

=20

I=92ll give Plex that it is *FAR* sexier to use than the PCH default UI so
=
-
although you could argue that the PCH wins here because I was actually able
to get a DVD playing off my network within a couple of minutes of unboxing
the thing whereas with Plex I had to figure out what the hell the geeks
tha=
t
wrote it had been smoking the night they wrote the code so that I could try
to fathom how to set up a =93source=94 and tell it what was in it before I
=
could
get anywhere =96 I=92m going to give Plex the thumbs up for visual eye
cand=
y in
so far as the UI is concerned.

=20

Now, I have several issues with Plex =96 the main one being the amount of
t=
ime
that it takes for the software to go into the =93Watch movies=94 view =85
I=
don=92t
know what it does and I know that it isn=92t helped by the fact that I=92m
streaming data over the Devolo Ethernet over mains doofers (a direct wired
connection is definitely quicker) but the simple fact remains that it takes
anywhere up to 10 minutes for the software to enter that menu, it has
already built up a data file of all the movie info so why is it spanking
data across the network? Similarly, you select a film to play and sometimes
they=92ll start straight away =96 other times, well, I=92ve waited long
eno=
ugh to
be able to go take a whizz before hitting play and the movie starting.
Thin=
g
is you have *NO* feedback to say it=92s doing anything, buffering, loading,
mapping drives or anything =85 you just sit and wait. It=92s far worse with
movies that have been ripped complete with Menus and Extras and I=92ll
emphasise that this is *MUCH* less of an issue with a hard wired Ethernet
connection but the fact is that it happens, it=92s bloody annoying and it
makes the difference between me being able to just chuck a movie on when we
fancy a movie night and have to =93pad=94 over the delay (hey, I work in
te=
ch
support so I=92m quite good at padding when things aren=92t going quite to
=
plan)
while Plex churns away to itself and anyone else sat in the room is getting
edgy and asking =93Is it working?=94.

=20

Now, on the PCH over the same Devolo connection it=92s a case of hit
select=
on
the movie name, the screen blanks then  goes to a different display (so you
know it=92s doing something) and then it starts =96 cool =96 generally
just=
a few
seconds of delay at worst.

=20

OK =96 now for me this next part is more important.

=20

One thing I *HAVE* noticed with Plex is that the DVD decoding isn=92t good
=
=96
not by any means =96 I see lots of occurrences of random coloured blocks
appearing in movies =96 absolutely repeatable in that I can see it happen,
skip back  and  it happens at the same point again, watch the same movie
again at a later date and it still happens at exactly the same point. Play
the same movie under PowerDVD, WinDVD, Windows Media Player, TheaterTek or
ZoomPlayer (all of which I use on my desktop or laptop PCs) and they all
play absolutely fine. Surprise surprise they also seem to play back
absolutely fine on the PCH too.

=20

To be honest, the whole playback quality thing is definitely better than on
the Mac under Plex =85 it seems to do some fairly nasty sharpening when it
upscales (yeah, it can probably be changed in a Plex menu option somewhere
but which option, where is it and what do the other options actually do =96
I=92m sorry =96 there=92s nowhere in the documentation that explains what =
=93bicubic
upsampling=94 actually does and when and why you would or wouldn=92t want
t=
o use
it). It also is pretty crude when it framerate converts material between 50
and 60Hz =96 it judders horribly on pans =96 and there seems to be no
optio=
n for
having Plex change the actual video output framerate when playing back so
that it doesn=92t have to software framerate convert.=20

=20

Standard Def source material plays back on the PCH looking very much like a
DVD player in that it probably looks a bit soft compared to the
artificiall=
y
hard and edge enhanced upscaled stuff from Plex but it=92s definitely more
faithful to the source DVD data =96 haven=92t yet worked out whether the
PC=
H
will alter its output frequency on the fly as the display I=92ve been using
this evening only supports 60Hz via its DVI (HDMI via an adapter) input but
its framerate conversion isn=92t perfect either.

=20

Hi Def playback I haven=92t spent much time with but as with the Mac Mini
i=
t
isn=92t able to pull data across from the network quickly enough to play
hi-def blu-ray rips remotely =96 I would assume it will have no problems
do=
ing
it locally and I=92ll drop a drive in at some point to give it a try.

=20

Power consumption =96 well, haven=92t checked yet but it runs sooooo much
c=
ooler
than the Mac and has so few components inside (PSU is 40w maximum) that I=
=92d
lay money on it being much more efficient than the Mac even with its claim
to improved efficiency. Of course if you buy a PCH then really =96 don=92t
=
open
up the box unless you have to put a hard disc in otherwise you=92ll feel
soooooo cheated. There=92s not a lot in there for =A3200+ of your hard
earn=
ed
cash. I was originally thinking whether it might be possible to rehouse the
internals of the PCH in one of our enclosures from work so that it matches
the rest of my hifi but I think I could squeeze it all in a fag packet (if
=
I
still smoked)!

=20

Anyway =96 hopefully that=92s interesting reading=85

=20

Phil



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