Understanding Popcorn hour

[cjohns38]

I have been using GBPVR on my PC for about 3-4 years. I recently bought a HDTV and have reading up on the popcorn hour and how it integrates with GBPVR. Long story short, I thought I would ask the experts.

1) I understand that popcorn hour allows users to stream content from another location. I would be curious to know if it allows you to also record back to the location of the content. In other words, I’d like to centralize my video files so I can watch them on either location. If I buy a popcorn hour unit can I use the GBPVR menu to then record back to my pc? Or will it just stream and show the menu?

2) I have noticed that some popcorn units allow you add hard drive. If you add a hard drive can you use GBPVR to record to the popcorn hour? (I'm assuming so but I'd like to know for sure.) Will it record in hard drive?

3) How does comskip work with popcorn hour? If I stream from another location will it still work? If I buy a popcorn hour and put in a hard drive will comskip work on there?

4) How difficult is it to get a popcorn hour to work with a cable box? I’m assuming pretty easy….

5) Am I better off to just build a media PC or buy a popcorn hour? If I buy a popcorn hour what model would you recommend?

Any info would be helpful...thanks!

[Ted the Penguin]

Look at a popcorn hour as a HD MVP. It is not a full HTPC, it is just a client of GB-PVR.
if you hook it up using component cables, it does pretty much every thing that GB-PVR does. all of your recordings and other media are stored on your server (or wherever you access them from on your current GB-PVR machine).

so... I could answer your questions, but I feel it would be redundant. would you like to rephrase any of them? (trying to say this nicely )

[Jaggy]

Unlike Ted the Penguin I will try to answer this question by question as now that I have volunteered to do some updating of the NMT section of the wiki I see some things slightly differently than I did before & this message makes me believe we need some explanation of how the NMT integrates with GB-PVR for users that don't have an MVP or client.

1) I understand that popcorn hour allows users to stream content from another location. I would be curious to know if it allows you to also record back to the location of the content. In other words, I’d like to centralize my video files so I can watch them on either location. If I buy a popcorn hour unit can I use the GBPVR menu to then record back to my pc? Or will it just stream and show the menu?

The NMT (Popcorn Hour, EGreat M34a etc.) are just media extenders that work like a client after Martin & sub worked their magic. So it is actually GB-PVR+mvpmcx2 on the server PC that is streaming the data & the NMT is picking it up & displaying it on the screen. So yes it will centralise all your videos etc. on your server. All the normal GB functions you can preform on your PC can also be preformed from the NMT, including but not restricted to setting up recordings etc.

2) I have noticed that some popcorn units allow you add hard drive. If you add a hard drive can you use GBPVR to record to the popcorn hour? (I'm assuming so but I'd like to know for sure.) Will it record in hard drive?

Lots of people seem to ask this question, I can't answer it very well as I don't have a HDD in either of my NMT's as a "quite" client outweighs almost everything else in my sittingroom

3) How does comskip work with popcorn hour? If I stream from another location will it still work? If I buy a popcorn hour and put in a hard drive will comskip work on there?

Comskip for me works fine just like it does when viewing on the PC, I suspect if you put a HDD into it & set it up in GB like any other network drive it would work just the same.

4) How difficult is it to get a popcorn hour to work with a cable box? I’m assuming pretty easy….

It is the server that is setup with all the capture sources/cable box etc. It has nothing to do with the NMT, but as long as the server can record & change channels OK using the NMT it will tell the server to change channel & work fine.

5) Am I better off to just build a media PC or buy a popcorn hour? If I buy a popcorn hour what model would you recommend?

I decided the NMT route was by far the best way to go, much less hastle all round & the NMT is tiny comparison to a PC, also if you don't fit a HDD totally silent. I have both a PCH A100 & EGreat M34a, both do the same job but the M34a is smaller & I think look heaps better in the cabinet, it also has the advantage when I press the power button it turns right off & I got it new, the A100 was a referb'd unit & therefore a lot cheaper & has a better remote. So I guess what version you get depends on what you want...new...cheap...etc.

[psycik]

Lots of people seem to ask this question, I can't answer it very well as I don't have a HDD in either of my NMT's as a "quite" client outweighs almost everything else in my sittingroom

You can record to you nmt if you wish...set you gbpvr server to record to the NMT's hard drive over the network. But it's easier to have it on the server in my opinion.

[mvallevand]

My two cents

- Many people have no idea what an MVP is so an explanation is probably necessary

- The NMT's actually support the GBPVR interface on HDMI, component, composite and svideo more than most PC's.

- The PCH is not a NAS device and I think it would make a lousy recording drive.

- If by "other location" you mean via the Internet, forget it, if you mean other rooms in the house it's good using wired networking.

Martin

[srhutch]

I have a HDD in my PCH, but cant see why you would record GBPVR directly to it. I have copied the kids DVD's to it so not to take space up on the GBPVR server although they are still on the GBPVR server and of course it has all the artwork which is handy for kids that cant read yet, and you dont get any image with native PCH interface.

I have also just ordered and waiting for it to be delivered a IDE to CF adapter so I can remove the HDD from the PCH and have a slient 2-4GB CF card installed.

The main reason I installed a HDD was so I could install WOL to wake the server up but believe it maybe possible without.

[cjohns38]

Thanks for your comments it makes everything a little more clear. Even though I've been using GBPVR for years I've never taken the time to read about the MVP or any media tanks. Having spent time reading about them I would recommend pushing GBPVR's ability to work them more even more so if you could record directly to it. I found GBPVR a few years ago by searching "opensource TIVO." It just so happened that I wanted to run it through my PC anyway. Had I have wanted an actual opensource "box" I would have moved on because it wasn't clear it was possible.

I figured that GBPVR worked the same on the PCH as a PC but it's good to have that confirmed. The bad news is that my server is a PC on a wireless network. I doubt that streaming over wireless is going to work real well. Hummm... I guess it's time to do a little more research on PCH and some alternatives and see what I come up with.

In other news.......I don't know if I'll put a hard drive in a PCH or not but if sound is an issue and money is no object, I wonder if a solid state hard drive would eliminate the noise?

[tuckster]

The bad news is that my server is a PC on a wireless network. I doubt that streaming over wireless is going to work real well. Hummm...

HD content does not work well with wireless. It can work, but not well. That's been my experience anyway.

You might consider powerline adapters which network through electrical outlets. More expensive than running Cat 6 cable, but very easy to use.

[srhutch]

In other news.......I don't know if I'll put a hard drive in a PCH or not but if sound is an issue and money is no object, I wonder if a solid state hard drive would eliminate the noise?

The noise from my HDD is very minimal, but for what I need a £10 interface and a £10 CF card is cheap, will be silent and use less power.

[Ted the Penguin]

so... I apologize for my failed explanation

anyways, the inability to play HD content over wireless has much more to do with bandwidth than anything else. My PCH is hooked up wirelessly, and SD content works great on it. but all of that depends on your wireless network, if you have something that will provide a reliable 100Mbps (wireless N over short distance), then you can probably do HD, but that depends on your source material, and how high its bitrate is.


and just a bit more clarification, the GB-PVR interface works the same on both, but GB-PVR will remain installed on your server, the PCH will just connect to it.