Installing a Harddrive on the Networked Media Tank from Popcorn Hour

When we here at NetworkingAudioVideo rolled out our review of Networked Media Tank from Popcorn Hour we didn't really talk about the ability to add a harddrive to the device.

Well, our sister site TVSnob.com has found a video on how to install a harddrive on the Networked media Tank. The nice thing is the 10 minute video also shows how to set up the device as a BitTorrent client. Be sure to check the video above out.

[via TVSnob]

New Popcorn Hour Models Due Out Soon?

We came across a very interesting article over at Geek Zone that alludes to new models of one of our favorite media streamers: The Popcorn Hour A-100. It looks like someone who was trying to set up a Popcorn Hour reseller contract got word that they were ready to release new models soon. The Geek Zone board use to have the specs for the devices, but it looks like it has been removed. We went over to EngadgetHD to find the info we were looking for. Here are the unverified specs that are out there:

• A-110: USB Slave / SATA / HDMI 1.1
• B-110: Home Theatre main Board based on feedback, comments and targetted for the hobbyist to create it's own HTPC style case and be a bit active around modding and making it's own casing (also a casing could be provided).
• IDE / USB Slave / HDMI 1.3 / MINI ITX factor Optical / Coaxial / Mini PCI Player is internally references as "hi-jack hour"
• A-112: SATA / USB Slave / HDMI 1.3 cube casing with LCD
• S-200A: 2GB Flash, Black player, HDMI 1.1 and VGA, UART port (signage)
• WN-100: USB Wireless N USB dongle (20Mbps capped for now)

We'll keep our ears opened for any info on this and we'll try and ping our contact over at Popcorn Hour and see if they can shed some light on this.

Popcorn Hour A-100 Available For Public Pre-Order

We recently got an email from our friends over at Popcorn Hour letting us know that they have opened up their ordering system to everyone. For a long time you were only able to buy a Popcorn Hour A-100 by signing up as a member and getting on their wait list. In the past this wait list was months long. Well it looks like they have been able to ramp up their manufacturing process and have enough devices to open up the ordering to everyone. It will still be a first come first serve system, so the sooner your pre-order the quicker you will receive your Popcorn Hour streamer.

We have had our Popcorn Hour A-100 in the office for awhile now and we have been really digging it. Of course it is not without its flaws, but it is one of the top streamers on the market today. And for $179 it is a total bargain. You would be hard pressed to find a HD( 1080p ) media streamer out there for under $200. So If you are in need of a new media streamer and you want to be able to stream true HD, stream over NFS and have a device from a company that is devoted to constantly improving their product, then this is the box for you. Like we said, for $179 it is a no brainer.

You can read all of our coverage of the Popcorn Hour A-100 Media Streamer here.

Hands On With the Networked Media Tank From Popcorn Hour

We have had the Networked Media Tank( NMT ) from Popcorn hour in the office for about a month now and we wanted to share with you our findings. We have been waiting for this device to become available for a long time now and we can't tell you how excited we are to finally have it at the office. So after about a month of testing we can say that this is one of the better streamers we have had the opportunity to test out. One of the main draws of the NMT is its ability to playback just about any format you can throw at it. Other then a few audio formats it played back everything that we tried. To many streamers focus on a few formats and leave out so many of the really popular ones. The people at Popcorn Hour must have realized that there really weren't that many streamers that could just play everything so they threw it all in the NMT.

Another huge feature where the NMT rises above the crowd is its ability to grab media in so many different ways. You can add an internal hard drive and just playback from that, or you can connect to devices on your network via Samba or NFS. Additionally it will pick up UPnP and HTTP media servers. This is probably the most full featured streamer we have come across to date in terms of how it can access your media. It just packs so many options in there that it has been hard for us to figure out something else we would want.

Check out after the jump for our detailed look into how this beast of a media streamer performs when we put it to the test.

Continue reading: "Hands On With the Networked Media Tank From Popcorn Hour"

Popcorn Hour Networked Media Tank Unboxing

We have been waiting for the opportunity to get our hands on the Networked Media Tank for a long time and today it finally arrived. This is from a company called Popcorn Hour and they have been getting great reviews. Before we dive into the meat of the product ( we don't want to be too hasty ) we thought we would do the obligatory unboxing photo shoot for you. We have just started testing it out and we can already say that it is living up to the hype that we had been reading about. OK enough of that, lets get to the photos.



Continue reading: "Popcorn Hour Networked Media Tank Unboxing"

Popcorn Networked Media Tank Lauch Day Only Days Away

We here at Networking Audio Video love a good rumor and/or a promise of the next great new device. Well as were were doing our daily scouring of the net looking for great information to bring you we came across something that peaked our interest. In a couple of days( October 15, 2007 ) Popcorn Hour will launch what could be our newest favorite product. They are rumored to be releasing a product that hits all of the features we here at Networking Audio Video dream of.

There isn't much info now since the site doesn't go live for another 2 days, but what we do know is very interesting. Supposedly, we are looking at a media center streamer that acts not only as a NAS server, not only as a BitTorrent server, but also a device that can stream in HD. As anyone that has read our blog for any length of time knows is that we love a solution that allows us to download and share media without having to keep our main power hungry PC on all the time. One of the main advantages of having a device like this take the BitTorrent downloading and NAS storage away from your main computer is that this is a low power device. You can leave this on over night and not see a huge spike on your electric bill.

So it looks like with the limited amount of information that is available that you can expect to stream content at 1080p resolution which isn't that common among media streamers.
We aren't sure what to actually expect, but all will hopefully be revealed in a few days and then we can update you on what could possibly be our dream NAS/Streaming device.

via engadget