Popcorn Hour Integration and Any Plans to add to C4

I recently had an EVA8000 added to my system, but after much frustration packed it up and returned it. Too much static and quite frankly it worked on my plasma but none of my sharp or toshiba LCD's. I changed to a popcorn hour and my dealer setup and it works great. I was looking on the web and there seems to be a bit of a cult following with this device. I am going to add 500gb drive to it which will make it more stable.

I found a really cool video jukebox and was wondering if anyone is using anything cooler than this. Also does anyone know if there are any plans for C4 to add popcorn hour? Lastly, has anyone made a Popcorn Hour driver beyond just the remote functions?

http://www.treasure-cove.net/moviejukebox.htm

From what I hear a lot of dealers use Popcorn Hour in their own homes but do not install them in user homes because it is buggy and there would be too many support calls.

I am looking into various network media tanks and so far the best jukebox Ive found is 'Yet Another Movie Jukebox' (YAMJ)

http://code.google.com/p/moviejukebox/wiki/MovieJukebox

Bonus of YAMJ over MLJ is YAMJ doesnt require the Movie Collector software ($50)

I have an IP driver for the popcorn hour however it requires you modify the Popcorn hours firmware. Unfortunately though the unit is really unstable with the modified firmware and tends to crash on a regular basis. This only gives you IP transport controls and not play files. You can play files using the backend however this breaks the front end of popcorn hour. In my opinion even though its a cheapy its a piece of shit.

Also don't bother trying to contact the developers i've tried and they're happy with their market and have no plans for external control so its a dead end.

Alan, have you heard/tried anything with the HDX-1000?

Never heard of it

I have used the PopcornHour for almost a year without any issues. I have only used the standard interface on popcornhour without any Jukebox, so I am not sure how well they work.

Alan, or anyone else, has anyone used an IR blaster/extender to control the Popcorn Hour via the Control4 system? I want to put 1 or 2 in my basement and use them as part of the video distribution but am trying to figure out how I can control them if the IP control is buggy and not fully functional.

If it uses regular IR codes, then it is possible to control it via an IR emitter through control4, you just have to navigate it using the PH interface.

If you really want to see a driver post it here: http://www.networkedmediatank.com/, they have clearly stated several times that they're not welling to work with any manufactures at this time.

I control an ioBox 100HD which is a Popcorn Hour by a different manufacturer. It uses the same chipset. I use IR and it works just fine with Control4. If you install YAMJ you get coverart and can navigate very similar to they way C4 controls DVD Changer and Network File Store/EVA8000. I am not sure if a driver already exists, but if not your dealer can write a basic IR driver for you that will work sufficiently.

Thanks for the replies.

lvs - What made you choose the iobox over the Popcorn Hour? I was considering getting the HDX 1000. A few things pulling me back to the Popcorn Hour though:

1. DTS decoding... although I dont think I need this as any digital audio will be going through a DTS receiver.

2. I have confirmation on the networkmediatank forums that if you set the Popcorn Hour to the component video and digital coax/optical audio outputs then it actually outputs video and audio simultaneously to all outputs (HDMI, RCA, etc. This is exactly what I need to be able to use it for my video distribution system since some areas will have 5.1 setups with independent receivers and others will just have the in ceiling speakers for the whole house distributed audio. I unfortunately dont have confirmation this works with any other device such as the ioBox or HDX 1000. Does it work like this on your ioBox?

Do you know if the firmware hacks etc that people have done for the Popcorn Hour can be applied to any of the Sybas devices?

I control an ioBox 100HD which is a Popcorn Hour by a different manufacturer. It uses the same chipset. I use IR and it works just fine with Control4. If you install YAMJ you get coverart and can navigate very similar to they way C4 controls DVD Changer and Network File Store/EVA8000. I am not sure if a driver already exists, but if not your dealer can write a basic IR driver for you that will work sufficiently.

You could do that, the only problem is with PCH every time you update your movie you have to make modifications to the driver. There new driver allows you to hit the number (ie.100) and it will directly go to the movie. The problem there again is that once you add another movie it re-organizes the database. Trust me I’ve tried.

Thanks for the replies.

lvs - What made you choose the iobox over the Popcorn Hour? I was considering getting the HDX 1000. A few things pulling me back to the Popcorn Hour though:

1. DTS decoding... although I dont think I need this as any digital audio will be going through a DTS receiver.

2. I have confirmation on the networkmediatank forums that if you set the Popcorn Hour to the component video and digital coax/optical audio outputs then it actually outputs video and audio simultaneously to all outputs (HDMI, RCA, etc. This is exactly what I need to be able to use it for my video distribution system since some areas will have 5.1 setups with independent receivers and others will just have the in ceiling speakers for the whole house distributed audio. I unfortunately dont have confirmation this works with any other device such as the ioBox or HDX 1000. Does it work like this on your ioBox?

Do you know if the firmware hacks etc that people have done for the Popcorn Hour can be applied to any of the Sybas devices?

They are both NMT solutions and thus both use the exact same firmware developed by Syabas, and not by PCH nor by HDX. They only differ slightly in terms of hardware choices and box design. But under the hood, they are all the same and offer the same interface and features through the same Syabas developed firmware.

I control an ioBox 100HD which is a Popcorn Hour by a different manufacturer. It uses the same chipset. I use IR and it works just fine with Control4. If you install YAMJ you get coverart and can navigate very similar to they way C4 controls DVD Changer and Network File Store/EVA8000. I am not sure if a driver already exists' date=' but if not your dealer can write a basic IR driver for you that will work sufficiently.[/quote']

You could do that, the only problem is with PCH every time you update your movie you have to make modifications to the driver. There new driver allows you to hit the number (ie.100) and it will directly go to the movie. The problem there again is that once you add another movie it re-organizes the database. Trust me I’ve tried.

Were you using YAMJ or one of the other third party interfaces? It seems to me reorganizing of the database wouldnt matter if you were, because you are just browsing cover art that is categorized by genre and sorted by title?

I control an ioBox 100HD which is a Popcorn Hour by a different manufacturer. It uses the same chipset. I use IR and it works just fine with Control4. If you install YAMJ you get coverart and can navigate very similar to they way C4 controls DVD Changer and Network File Store/EVA8000. I am not sure if a driver already exists' date=' but if not your dealer can write a basic IR driver for you that will work sufficiently.[/quote']

You could do that, the only problem is with PCH every time you update your movie you have to make modifications to the driver. There new driver allows you to hit the number (ie.100) and it will directly go to the movie. The problem there again is that once you add another movie it re-organizes the database. Trust me I’ve tried.

Were you using YAMJ or one of the other third party interfaces? It seems to me reorganizing of the database wouldnt matter if you were, because you are just browsing cover art that is categorized by genre and sorted by title?

I have used multiple interfaces, but those 3rd party interfaces seem to break every time I update my PCH. So I stopped using 3rd party interfaces, I am hoping one update it will come with a good looking gui One day…

I am waiting for this bad boy: http://www.amazon.com/Netgear-Digital-Entertainer-Elite-Grey/dp/B001P80FGA/ref=sr_1_28?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1238516690&sr=1-28

http://www.netgear.com/Products/Entertainment/DigitalMediaPlayers/EVA9150.aspx

You and me and everyone else

Thanks for the replies.

lvs - What made you choose the iobox over the Popcorn Hour? I was considering getting the HDX 1000. A few things pulling me back to the Popcorn Hour though:

1. DTS decoding... although I dont think I need this as any digital audio will be going through a DTS receiver.

2. I have confirmation on the networkmediatank forums that if you set the Popcorn Hour to the component video and digital coax/optical audio outputs then it actually outputs video and audio simultaneously to all outputs (HDMI, RCA, etc. This is exactly what I need to be able to use it for my video distribution system since some areas will have 5.1 setups with independent receivers and others will just have the in ceiling speakers for the whole house distributed audio. I unfortunately dont have confirmation this works with any other device such as the ioBox or HDX 1000. Does it work like this on your ioBox?

Do you know if the firmware hacks etc that people have done for the Popcorn Hour can be applied to any of the Sybas devices?

1. I chose the iobox because my understanding is that they are basically the same device and there was no waiting like there is for the PH, plus I did not need DTS decoding.

2. Unfortunately, I cannot confirm this as I use HDMI only, but as Matt has said they are basically the same firmware, so in theory it should work. You might ping dragontech and see if they can answer that question or check the release notes with the latest firmware release.

What firmware hacks are you referring to. I have not tried any them, but again assume it should work.

Like I said, I use YAMJ, and it works well and I don't have any of the issues that Matt has referred to. I stream video from a ReadyNAS Duo and have not used an internal hard drive option. Once you get through the learning curve on setting up YAMJ, it is not bad to add a movie to the database and just run the DOS command file to execute the search for coverart and builds indexes to the movie. Here the steps I follow when adding a movie to the library. I simply rip the video to a folder with the title. Run the batch file MY_YAMJ, it finds the new movie looks up the information and updates it on the ReadyNAS. At that point just force the iobox to refresh the .htm file and your new coverart and your title will show up. Now, if it doesn't find the coverart, it is much more of a pain.

I have also used the Netgear EVA8000, streaming from the same source integrated with C4 and it works very well. It is a much more seamless integration and much less hassle for the initial setup.