I have been a loyal XBMC user for as long as I can remember. It works great, looks good, etc. However, it had one major weakness: No HD content. I have been hunting forever to find something that could replace it and that wouldn't cost an arm and leg. (i.e. I did NOT want a HTPC)

I think I finally found it: The Popcorn Hour Networked Media Tank. (http://www.popcornhour.com)

I finally got mine today and this bastard plays everything I have thrown at it. Divx/xvid/hd-dvd rips/.ts/bd rips/h.264/mkv/etc.

And it streams all of them through my home network setup with no problems. There is room in the unit for a HDD, but honestly I have no use for one (it supports bittorrent downloads, but I don't use bittorrent) and without the HDD it runs completely silent.

If you are looking for a media streamer, I can't recommend this thing enough. For $179, you can't really beat it.

[Edited on January 27, 2008 at 10:55 PM. Reason : .]

[Edited on January 27, 2008 at 10:55 PM. Reason : .]

1/27/2008 10:54:38 PM

So basically you point this thing to your NAS location and it will play any locally stored content you may have as well as anything you can stream from the net?

1/27/2008 11:04:20 PM

pretty much. I am serving stuff off of 2 PCs and a Mac. It generates a list of all network sources during setup and then you are good to go.

It also has other network services such as youtube, google video, saya tv, yahoo weather, rss feeds, etc.

pretty neat little unit. It's looks like a slightly wider external hdd enclosure. Has composite, component, HDMI (1.1) and svid. Plus stereo and coax digital audio. 2 USB ports on the front, sata and usb on the back.

1/27/2008 11:09:48 PM

Wow that thing is pretty impressive. I'm also trying to replace our xbox MC because it doesn't play HD, and this thing looks like the perfect device to get. Any cons you've discovered?

1/27/2008 11:18:22 PM

Ive only been playing with today (just arrived) and so far I haven't really found anything that is too bad.

The UI is nowhere near as good as XBMC and the menus can go sort of slow. But beyond that I haven't really noticed any issues. Apparently it has some troubles with DTS audio, but I haven't tried to play anything with that yet, so no biggie. (besides, handles AC3, DD with no issues). I am sure there WILL be issues at some point, but I haven't hit any yet. There are probably plenty of weirdly encoded things out there that might cause issues, but the stuff I would play (re: usenet) is working great. I am watching a 1080p rip of Planet Earth right now and the Blade Runner 5 disc Blu-ray set is downloading.

Another thing I like about this player is that the developer seems pretty active about issuing firmware upgrades. From what I can gather, they are intent on continuing to add features to this thing.

1/27/2008 11:26:19 PM

Nice. I might have to invest in one. Although i might just build a media center pc this summer. A speedy interface is what i'm all about, and with a HTPC i can choose from a variety of programs/guis. If i get tired of one, i can just switch to another. With a device like this (or a 360/ps3) i'm stuck with one gui.

1/28/2008 12:07:18 AM

I bought an appletv for this, which has more horsepower, but the interface sucks and it can't handle 720p mkv, let alone 1080p. I ran a patchstick on it and added a ton of codec packages, but still no hd playback that I'm satisfied with. I might have to swap out.

[Edited on January 28, 2008 at 11:35 AM. Reason : I'll be tossing all of these for a ps3 once video acceleration works ]

1/28/2008 11:29:05 AM