Western Digital HD TV Player or Popcorn Hour A110?

[live4fun]

Western Digital HD TV Player or Popcorn Hour A110? which one is best ?

Your response will be highly appreciated.

Thanks

[jman98]

This is a subjective question. It is like asking someone whether apples or oranges are best.

I have the Western Digital HD player. It does NOT have any storage. No hard disk. You can only play files from USB devices. It supports a variety of files very well. It won't "play everything" but people seem to know what can cause problems and there are usually solutions to fix files that won't play. Often it just requires a remux. The biggest problem is with MKV container files.

Popcorn Hour has a disk drive. It plays almost everything, but there are some files that it won't play at all or play very well. There don't seem to be good solutions to make it play problem files. Again, MKV files can be a problem.

Neither device plays DTS audio very well. If you have a lot of files that only have DTS audio, this may be a problem with both players. I don't remember the name, but there is a free program available that can convert DTS audio in MKV containers to AC3 audio. That program might be useful.

I feel that the Western Digital player is rather poor for DVD playback. If you have a lot of ripped DVDs or ISOs, you may not like it very much. I have no idea if Popcorn Hour is the same, better or worse at DVD playback. I don't watch DVD rips on my Western Digital player so this is not a problem for me.

[live4fun]

Thanks for your input.
I was planing to buy either one, so got confused, I dont know which one is compatible with more type of files? can we rename vob extention file to mpg that can play in WD TV well?

Thanks

[prouton]

The Popcorn Hour differs significantly from the WD product in one particular way -- the PH connects to an ethernet network and can play back files located on a server or other computer (like a PVR). With the WD device, you have to bring the content to it on a USB storage unit of some sort.

[jman98]

Thank you, prouton. I forgot about that as I don't stream media at all. The WD product cannot stream media from a network.

If I had to guess, I think that the WD is more compatible with more types of files, but the WD has no network capability and everything you play must be on a USB device with it.

[TJK1911]

I don't know anything about the WD, but a word of warning about the Popcorn Hour - they give you zero documentation on how to use it. There's a so-called quick start guide that is completely uninformative (it doesn't even show how to hook up the damn thing, although that's pretty self-evident) but there's no instruction manual. Nothing. No explanation of the remote. There's not even a pdf you can download - well there is, but it's only the useless quick start guide.

Apparently they expect you to go trawling through various forums and online wikis to get information. When I first hooked mine up, I got nothing on the screen except a brief PH logo in black and white, then it'd go blank. Buried deep within the bowels of their website I finally found an FAQ section that told me that you first have to hook it up with componenet video cables, find and figure out on your own how to navigate the setup menu, and then set it for HDMI. Only then would it show an HD image onscreen.

Since then I've managed to work out on my own how to use some of it. I can navigate through the file structure of an external hard drive and play videos. It plays pretty well, although it doesn't fast-forward very fast, and some files you can't rewind. There's no way (that I know of) to stop watching a video file and return to where you left off, other than the slow fast-forward. I have not been able to make it do a slideshow of still images yet - it'll show the first one but then totally locks up, and I have to power it off to reset it.

For ripped DVDs it works great - it's just like playing the DVD itself and has full menu capability. I've read that the WD does not show menus.

Anyway, if someone can call me an idiot and point me towards the instruction manual for the PH I'd appreciate it.

[jman98]

The WD remembers where you stopped a video and it will ask you if you want to resume playback where it stopped. That is a nice feature.

I have not extensively tested DVD playback, but I did finally find out how to use the WD's remote to access menu options. Again, I was not impressed with the one DVD ISO that I played on it, but I did not buy this device for DVD playback and I have not extensively tested. Perhaps it's better than I think at DVD playback or maybe it's not. All I know is that my one test did not impress me.

[live4fun]

Thank you all.

sorry for the late response.

I think better go for WD TV, playing DVD file are not my option. I guess it support more type of file than
popcornhour and off course resume play is excellent option.

[wertyxhts]

does Popcorn come internet ready if I want a wireless connection? or will I need a wireless adapter?

[RabidDog]

wertyxhts: PH will sell you a wireless adapter (USB?) for an extra 34bux.
AFAIK the diff between these two (thinking of of both myself) is that one is a consumer friendly playback device, possibly a DVD player replacement. while the other is a much more multi functional device, with its main function being video playback.. the PH is almost like a low powered network PC..It can stream and display internet sites and also complete torrent downloads.

PH flexible,customisable,upgradeable BUT complex,expensive, rough edge software (EGREAT, HDX ISTAR)

WDTV relatively powerful, easy to use + set up BUT single purpose device, no networking (No internal hard disk)

Which one? For family use probably wdtv, for techy use PH . . . . others .. YMYOChoice

And don't rule out the Kodak HD theatre which is very new $300