It would seem that this device is marketed at the regular consumer that just wants to watch HD content, without the hassle of configuring too much software/hardware.
If my brother-in-law is a measure of the common person, then I think the unit falls short. I have it now, because he could not get it working. When I got the unit, I plugged it in, and the networking was configured for a static IP. Because of that, pressing any option, other than Settings caused the unit to lock up.
After I changed the IP to use DHCP, it worked fine. I configured it to go against my media shares, and it played .mkv files, .ts files (HDPVR), and regular divx/xvid files. The responsiveness of the unit was very good for starting and stopping the playback of a file. Much faster than my SageTV HD-100. But the menus were much more sluggish, especially the online vidoes.
The online videos section is quite rich. There is lots of selection, but the UI feels slow to render.
A few months back, I showed my SageTV setup to my brother-in-law, and he wanted it. He didn't need/want the PVR functionality, just the distributed nature of the system, and the HD-100 for HD content. He is setup now with an Xbox running XBMC, which serves his needs quite well, except for HD content.
I'm a huge SageTV fan, but I could not bring myself to recommend SageTV to him, since I did not want to spend my days supporting his setup, and mine. So, I recommended that he get a popcorn hour; plug and play. Well, as it turns out, I still need to support him, which is disappointing, to say the least.
Of course, had I known that SageTV was going to be releasing a STB, and not just an extender, then I would have told him to wait for the SageTV STB. It's too bad they didn't run a pre press release stating their intentions.
Today, there are several options for HD STB Media Players.
- Popcorn Hour
- AppleTV (Running XBMC)
- SageTV HD Theater
I think that now that I have played with the Popcorn Hour, it is a nice device. UI is very spartan, but functional. But, I think that if I wanted just a HD media center, then I'd either get the Apple TV and run XBMC on it, or I'd get the SageTV HD Theatre. Given my setup I would lean towards the SageTV HD Theatre, since I already have SageTV installed. If I had nothing, and I knew my needs didn't include a PVR, then I'd probably get the Apple TV running XBMC.
Of course the lesson learned here, is that no matter how much you think a device is easy to use, leave it up the consumer to prove you wrong every time.
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