No not WITH popcorn ON a Popcorn. Actually VIA a Popcorn to be precise…and through my lounge room TV.
Enough witty opening lines. A Popcorn A-100 is a network media player, also known as a network media tank. It has 3 main parts to it:
- A network connection, to hook up to my PCs and the Internet
- Connections to plug in to a TV and Amplifier (HDMI, Component , 5.1 Digital Sound etc)
- A hole inside it (yes we will return to this one)
When it arrives from the USA I will
- Plug my home network – the LAN – into 1.
- Plug the LCD TV and Amp into 2.
- Configure a few things.
….then watch nearly every media file stored on my PC (in the Study) on the 720p LCD TV (in the Lounge) – including high definition ones with full surround sound. Sweet! For the tech dudes, this includes not just AVI (DIVX and XVID) but the newer containers like MKV. I already have some demo MKVs with 720p high def video and 5.1 DTS, but the current laptop in the lounge is too old and slow to play them.
This is streaming the media; taking them from the PC and playing them via the Network. The media isn’t just limited to video files, but also music and photos. The Internet connection allows YouTube etc videos to be show, I believe.
It can also attach an external USB drive and stream the media from that too. Plus the Popcorn is quite small, about 27cm x 13cm x 3cm (high)
And as for the hole inside. It’s for you to install your own hard drive. Add a standard laptop 3″ disk and you can do lots more with the Popcorn. As it runs a neat operating system (O/S), you can store you media files locally on this hard drive to run ‘offline’ (with no network connection). Plus the Linux O/S comes with other smart things, including a BitTorrent client. Again, I say sweet!
Maybe this disk storage gives it the nickname of Media Tank?
The cost. About $270 Australian, landed ; meaning including shipping from the USA. Would have been cheaper a month ago when we nearly had parity with the $USA!
From what I read it can handle nearly every media file you can throw at it. Now that’s interesting for me because I can record HD TV on the bigger PC in the Study, but have no way of playing it back on the TV in the lounge. My understanding is the Popcorn A-100 can do exactly this playback. Plus it has regular firmware/software updates you grab of the Net.
Time will tell. The local forums say it shouldn’t take long to get here. More information at the Popcorn web site.