[REQ] Cheap "Popcorn Hour" machine?

the_syco

Found this: http://www.digitalera.co.uk/products/Popcorn_Hour_A_110_Network_Media_Player_NMT_IN_STOCK_NOW-1109-0.html at £212 from the UK it isn't bad for a driveless machine.

Wondering is there any cheaper ones, or maybe not the latest one, but still a recent model, that is cheap? Esp as it supports nearly everything under the sun (including MKV files), has HDMI, LAN port... the list goes on.

Are there any resellers in Ireland, or cheapish ones in the UK?

consultech

the_syco wrote: »

Found this: http://www.digitalera.co.uk/products/Popcorn_Hour_A_110_Network_Media_Player_NMT_IN_STOCK_NOW-1109-0.html at £212 from the UK it isn't bad for a driveless machine.

Wondering is there any cheaper ones, or maybe not the latest one, but still a recent model, that is cheap? Esp as it supports nearly everything under the sun (including MKV files), has HDMI, LAN port... the list goes on.

Are there any resellers in Ireland, or cheapish ones in the UK?

+1 on this.

I am also interested in finding some way of getting one of these in cheap (preferably in Sterling). My preference is for a driveless Tvix box (6500), but it looks like I'm pretty much limited to www.kjglobal.co.uk, who are still a bit cha-ching...

Basq

Ordering it from the US site (www.popcornhour.com) comes in at about €197 shipped internationally to Ireland. But it's shipped from the States so it's liable to customs.

You can order it from AdvancedMP3Players.com with a 500GB HDD for €271 or without a HDD for €215. Don't think they ship to ROI but they ship up North (if you know someone up there).

consultech

basquille wrote: »

Ordering it from the US site (www.popcornhour.com) comes in at about €197 shipped internationally to Ireland. But it's shipped from the States so it's liable to customs.

You can order it from AdvancedMP3Players.com with a 500GB HDD for €271 or without a HDD for €215. Don't think they ship to ROI but they ship up North (if you know someone up there).

There is apparently some HDD noise issues with these types of machines, as you'll invariably get a bog standard spec HDD with them. I was interested in getting one in sans HDD and getting a Western Digital low noise green drive or something into it or something.

Basq

I was all for buying one but my brother and 6 of his friends in work bought 6 A-110's together.

All but two of them (my brother's included) suffered from issues like videos and the interface locking up. The official reseller's they bought from (http://www.popcornhour.es/en/) sympathized and offered them the more expensive eGreat EG-M31B as a replacement instead - they all went for this!

Kinda soured me on the idea of the A-110... apparently the A-100 isn't as buggy.

fdevine

basquille wrote: »

You can order it from AdvancedMP3Players.com with a 500GB HDD for €271 or without a HDD for €215. Don't think they ship to ROI but they ship up North (if you know someone up there).

AMP3.co.uk certainly do delivery to ROI. Have bought stuff from them before.

Basq

fdevine wrote: »

AMP3.co.uk certainly do delivery to ROI. Have bought stuff from them before.

Cool... how much is shipping with them by the way? Just so I know for again... they didn't indicate that they shipped here in their FAQ.

the_syco

Cool. Heard that they work well with the Devolo homeplug, so I'll be able to send movies from my PC through a solid brick wall, a partition wall, to a box that supports MKV (a container for many high-def, erm,... nix distros ) files.

fdevine

basquille wrote: »

Cool... how much is shipping with them by the way? Just so I know for again... they didn't indicate that they shipped here in their FAQ.

Info is there alright.

http://www.advancedmp3players.co.uk/shop/shipping.php?shipping_item=7

£12.99 shipping within Europe

daytob

there was a popcorn machine like that one in one of the cash converters * sorry if thats a plug. you could try one of those if you are really badly stuck

the_syco

daytob wrote: »

there was a popcorn machine like that one in one of the cash converters

Huh? Cash convertor? Like, pawn shop? Location would be cool :cool:

daytob

it was the one in parnell street
in that new market facing tescos
dont know the proper name of the shopping centre but if you walk past the jurys on parnell street its in that mall next to it. downstairs

the_syco

daytob wrote: »

there was a popcorn machine like that one in one of the cash converters * sorry if thats a plug. you could try one of those if you are really badly stuck

Only got blank looks when I asked had they a "Network Media Player" by Popcorn Hour

JohnDigital

I did a lot of shopping around in the last few weeks to find one at the right price. All the cheapest retailers were out of stock.

Purchases through popcornhour.com ship direct from China, so you need to be prepared to pay import duty (13.9%) and VAT on top of the price you pay. But with no HD included. I wanted to buy both together as I knew it would work out cheaper than buying the HD locally, or online separately.

I ordered mine from ripcaster.co.uk a week ago, its shipping with a Western Digital Green 500GB drive. They knocked £10 off the postage cost when I asked them to price match advancedmp3players. Payment to them was £267 including £14.50 DHL to Dublin. Just checked my Visa, that is showing €301 all in. Without the HD it would have been £209.99 + £14.50 postage.

Advancemp3players and Expansys were £199 for the same machine without HD and without postage, but both were out of stock to the end of Jan. I see the prices at ripcaster have gone up £10 since last week though. Anyway, mine's due tomorrow according to DHL, I'll do a review in the Media Centre forum when I've had sufficient time to play with the machine.

consultech

JohnDigital wrote: »

I did a lot of shopping around in the last few weeks to find one at the right price. All the cheapest retailers were out of stock.

Purchases through popcornhour.com ship direct from China, so you need to be prepared to pay import duty (13.9%) and VAT on top of the price you pay. But with no HD included. I wanted to buy both together as I knew it would work out cheaper than buying the HD locally, or online separately.

I ordered mine from ripcaster.co.uk a week ago, its shipping with a Western Digital Green 500GB drive. They knocked £10 off the postage cost when I asked them to price match advancedmp3players. Payment to them was £267 including £14.50 DHL to Dublin. Just checked my Visa, that is showing €301 all in. Without the HD it would have been £209.99 + £14.50 postage.

Advancemp3players and Expansys were £199 for the same machine without HD and without postage, but both were out of stock to the end of Jan. I see the prices at ripcaster have gone up £10 since last week though. Anyway, mine's due tomorrow according to DHL, I'll do a review in the Media Centre forum when I've had sufficient time to play with the machine.

John what would your thoughts on the Tvix 6500(v2) vs. PCH be? The general concencus I've gotten is that the TVix is a better machine with all the firmware upgrades etc., albeit a few quid more expensive. Im thinkin of orderin a Tvix 6500 on kjglobal.co.uk and 1TB WD Caviar Green elsewhere all costing bout €400.

Any point in this, or do u know?

JohnDigital

I've not had hands on experience with either, but from what I have researched there is little between them except price. PCH seems to fit the bill for what I'm looking to do. I guess I will know soon enough if its as good as the reviews that it gets.

Boots2006

I got an iStar mini about a year ago, ordered it direct from www.istarhd.com
- was looking for a popcornhour, but they were all on waiting lists at the time. The thing I got has v v similar features, same user interface etc. Some small bugginess, but overall v good for video.

See also:
http://www.hdplex.net/istar-h5.1-h5-upgrade-version-network-media-tank-popcornhour-family-pre-order-for-jan.20th-batch.html

beolight

http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/12/29/hdi-dune-bd-prime-worlds-first-hybrid-blu-ray-player-hd-stre/

you can get it at divxplayer.nl

i have a brand new tvix 6500 could be persuaded to sell on

beolight

the_syco wrote: »

Found this: http://www.digitalera.co.uk/products/Popcorn_Hour_A_110_Network_Media_Player_NMT_IN_STOCK_NOW-1109-0.html at £212 from the UK it isn't bad for a driveless machine.

Wondering is there any cheaper ones, or maybe not the latest one, but still a recent model, that is cheap? Esp as it supports nearly everything under the sun (including MKV files), has HDMI, LAN port... the list goes on.

Are there any resellers in Ireland, or cheapish ones in the UK?

http://www.ibood.com/uk/en/index.php

£179 plus postage

ibood seem to be doing coutry specific items these days this isnt the offer for ireland or holland (havent checked other countries)

JohnDigital

beolight wrote: »

http://www.ibood.com/uk/en/index.php

£179 plus postage

ibood seem to be doing coutry specific items these days this isnt the offer for ireland or holland (havent checked other countries)

While £169.95 is the best sterling price I've seen, most online retailers in UK are selling around the £210-£220 mark. ibood's RRP is highly inflated! For £270 you can pick it up from the likes of ripcaster with a 500GB harddrive installed (as I did). https://www.ripcaster.co.uk/node/329

Fantastic little machine. Only drawback though is for an SD TV you only have the option of using Composite or S-Video, there is no RGB over scart in these latest machines so you can’t use Component to Scart. If you’re HDMI there’s no problem obviously. Now picture quality is still absolutely superb over the S-Video connection on my Philips 100hz 32" WS, so I’ve no complaints, but I would like RGB over Scart for the slight advantage that it would give.