Re: Mac Mini v Popcorn Hour A110

[Steve Palmer <tankman37@xxxxxxxxx>]

Never having used either, this sounds like a good thumbsup to the=20
Popcorn! Might have to flex the plastic at some point in the future then!
:=
)

Steve

Phil Harris wrote:
>
> OK -- like the kind of mug I am I actually ordered a Popcorn Hour A110
> yesterday (thanks RipCaster -- good turnaround on the order).
>
> Right -- initial results after about an hours playing ...
>
> User interface -- OK, so compared to the nice scrolling menus and=20
> background
> graphics on Plex then the UI is basic -- very very basic -- but it=20
> works, I
> was able to browse my network, find my network shares, explore
them,=20
> start a
> DVD playing off the network etc. from the remote without having to=20
> configure
> anything at all! (No damn way you're going to manage that from Plex!
:-D =
)
>
> I'll 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=20
> able
> to get a DVD playing off my network within a couple of minutes of
unboxin=
g
> the thing whereas with Plex I had to figure out what the hell the=20
> geeks that
> wrote it had been smoking the night they wrote the code so that I=20
> could try
> to fathom how to set up a "source" and tell it what was in
it before I=20
> could
> get anywhere -- I'm going to give Plex the thumbs up for visual eye=20
> candy in
> so far as the UI is concerned.
>
> Now, I have several issues with Plex -- the main one being the
amount=20
> of time
> that it takes for the software to go into the "Watch movies"
view ...=20
> I don't
> know what it does and I know that it isn't helped by the fact that I'm
> streaming data over the Devolo Ethernet over mains doofers (a direct
wire=
d
> connection is definitely quicker) but the simple fact remains that
it=20
> 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=20
> sometimes
> they'll start straight away -- other times, well, I've waited long=20
> enough to
> be able to go take a whizz before hitting play and the movie
starting.=20
> Thing
> is you have *NO* feedback to say it's doing anything, buffering,
loading,
> mapping drives or anything ... you just sit and wait. It's far worse
with
> movies that have been ripped complete with Menus and Extras and I'll
> emphasise that this is *MUCH* less of an issue with a hard wired
Ethernet
> connection but the fact is that it happens, it's bloody annoying and
it
> makes the difference between me being able to just chuck a movie on=20
> when we
> fancy a movie night and have to "pad" over the delay (hey, I
work in tech
> support so I'm quite good at padding when things aren't going quite
to=20
> plan)
> while Plex churns away to itself and anyone else sat in the room is=20
> getting
> edgy and asking "Is it working?".
>
> Now, on the PCH over the same Devolo connection it's a case of hit=20
> select on
> the movie name, the screen blanks then goes to a different display (so
yo=
u
> know it's doing something) and then it starts -- cool -- generally=20
> just a few
> seconds of delay at worst.
>
> OK -- now for me this next part is more important.
>
> One thing I *HAVE* noticed with Plex is that the DVD decoding isn't=20
> good --
> not by any means -- I see lots of occurrences of random coloured
blocks
> appearing in movies -- 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.
Pla=
y
> the same movie under PowerDVD, WinDVD, Windows Media Player,
TheaterTek o=
r
> 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.
>
> To be honest, the whole playback quality thing is definitely better=20
> than on
> the Mac under Plex ... it seems to do some fairly nasty sharpening
when i=
t
> upscales (yeah, it can probably be changed in a Plex menu option
somewher=
e
> but which option, where is it and what do the other options actually
do -=
-
> I'm sorry -- there's nowhere in the documentation that explains
what=20
> "bicubic
> upsampling" actually does and when and why you would or wouldn't
want=20
> to use
> it). It also is pretty crude when it framerate converts material=20
> between 50
> and 60Hz -- it judders horribly on pans -- and there seems to be no=20
> option for
> having Plex change the actual video output framerate when playing back
so
> that it doesn't have to software framerate convert.
>
> Standard Def source material plays back on the PCH looking very
much=20
> like a
> DVD player in that it probably looks a bit soft compared to the=20
> artificially
> hard and edge enhanced upscaled stuff from Plex but it's definitely
more
> faithful to the source DVD data -- haven't yet worked out whether the
PCH
> will alter its output frequency on the fly as the display I've been
using
> this evening only supports 60Hz via its DVI (HDMI via an adapter)=20
> input but
> its framerate conversion isn't perfect either.
>
> Hi Def playback I haven't spent much time with but as with the Mac
Mini i=
t
> isn't able to pull data across from the network quickly enough to play
> hi-def blu-ray rips remotely -- I would assume it will have no=20
> problems doing
> it locally and I'll drop a drive in at some point to give it a try.
>
> Power consumption -- well, haven't checked yet but it runs sooooo
much=20
> cooler
> than the Mac and has so few components inside (PSU is 40w maximum)=20
> that I'd
> lay money on it being much more efficient than the Mac even with its
clai=
m
> to improved efficiency. Of course if you buy a PCH then really --=20
> don't open
> up the box unless you have to put a hard disc in otherwise you'll feel
> soooooo cheated. There's not a lot in there for =A3200+ of your hard
earn=
ed
> cash. I was originally thinking whether it might be possible to=20
> rehouse the
> internals of the PCH in one of our enclosures from work so that it
matche=
s
> the rest of my hifi but I think I could squeeze it all in a fag
packet=20
> (if I
> still smoked)!
>
> Anyway -- hopefully that's interesting reading...
>
> Phil
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>=20


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