AVS › AVS Forum › Gaming & Content Streaming › Networking, Media Servers & Content Streaming › Finally Time To Replace My PopBox
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Finally Time To Replace My PopBox

post #1 of 24
11/25/12 at 8:49am
Thread Starter 
Or PopFlop or FlopBox; take your pick. It's no news here, this thing never worked right. mad.gif But I kept it in the bedroom, quite frankly...because I didn't even think I could get like $50 for it (and that was back in the day...I doubt it would even garner $5 now). Even in the bedroom, all I could do was play from a network drive (obviously, the GUI is a mess); and I used it 90% for SD TV files, ripped to .mpg

Now...it's finally sh*tting the bed on me; won't scan, locks up...and of course it can't be re-booted, without getting up to pull the plug! So I've been out of the game for a while, and I'm looking for a replacement. I don't need it to do much; here are my "requirements":

- as I said, 90% of my viewing at this location, is TV ripped from DVD; so a good episode GUI is desirable
- the other 10%, are movies ripped from BD; both .ISO and mt2s (don't really need full BD support, on the ISOs...not in the bedroom)
- it would be great, if this box also did Netflix and/or Hulu well; so I could lose the Roku2 at the same location
- can't see spending more than $100
- I've been out of the game for a while, and don't have time to futz a lot anymore; so easy to use would be nice (but I have been around the block, so there's easy and there's easy)

I have a Dune D1 elsewhere...and probably will get an A-400, once the dust settles; but those are overkill, IMO, for this application. I guess WDTV comes to mind; I tried Live I think, and it was fine...but not my cup of tea (of course, that was back in the day too). I thought about the Dune 53D; but it seems that has come and gone (and that gives you an idea how long I've been out of the loop, lol). I tried ATV2; no thanks. And I was going to say Boxee was out...but I see they've finally gotten rid of that ridiculous trapezoid, or whatever the hell it was; so maybe it's back in play?

Suggestions guys? Also...if it turns out the PB can be hacked, to run something reliable (XBMC?); I might be open to that too. Again, as long as it's not too techie; I just don't want to be that guy anymore.

Thanks
Reply
Reply

AVS Top Picks

post #2 of 24
11/25/12 at 11:31am
Gen2 GoogleTV like Vizio Co-Star and use Plex, you will get jukebox UI, support for most media types and Netflix/Hulu. The GTV Plex is a lot better than the Roku client as it supports more formats so most of your stuff will play.

Plex needs a server running somewhere, ideally a PC if you need transcoding for some reason (e.g if you go with a Roku).

The best XBMC option at the moment is the Pivos XIOS which is an XBMC set top box however it is still in beta, in a few more months perhaps it would be what your looking for.
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 24
11/25/12 at 6:04pm
Thread Starter 
Hmm...I gotta tell ya; that Pivos is intriguing. I ran XBMC on a modded XBox for a while; I loved the GUI. I can only imagine how it is, on new hardware, and with the progress I'm sure they've made.

I could handle a little project; after all, I can keep running the Roku2 and PopFlop until I get things dialed-in. Is it a little project, or a big...all-time-consuming black hole, lol.
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 24
11/25/12 at 6:26pm
I know your were burned by the orginal popbox but the popbox v8 makes a great bedroom unit and is pretty cheap at 129$ it does not have a fancy UI like the orginal popbox its more list view with details if you want, But I run one in my master bedroom and the wife uses it the most and not a complaint out of her.

Just saw you want netflix that leaves you the wdtv live and I dont know much information on it.
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 24
11/25/12 at 7:01pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by halfelite View Post

I know your were burned by the orginal popbox but the popbox v8 makes a great bedroom unit and is pretty cheap at 129$ it does not have a fancy UI like the orginal popbox its more list view with details if you want, But I run one in my master bedroom and the wife uses it the most and not a complaint out of her.
Just saw you want netflix that leaves you the wdtv live and I dont know much information on it.

Thanks halfelite; but I do want a good episode GUI. Something that will list out TV-on-DVD nicely, as that's what I watch...90% of the time at that location.

I'm leery of PCH. Hell, I was definitely going to give them another try...with the A-400; but that thread has people saying their C-200 still isn't working. eek.gif Has me nervous. Thanks anyway.
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 24
11/25/12 at 8:12pm
that is still an option with popbox v8 if you want to run yamj/eversion but then you need a pc to make the jukebox, Your other option is popcorn hour a300 or a400 the 200 series has not so good tv jukebox support, or a Dune model running zappatti which still needs a pc.
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 24
11/26/12 at 5:56am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by halfelite View Post

that is still an option with popbox v8 if you want to run yamj/eversion but then you need a pc to make the jukebox, Your other option is popcorn hour a300 or a400 the 200 series has not so good tv jukebox support, or a Dune model running zappatti which still needs a pc.

Right; but then those options don't meet my budget of ~$100. For a box to mostly have a good GUI, play my SD .MPGs, and occasionally stream an m2ts...without the need for full BD support; I don't think it should have to cost more than that. Thanks
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 24
11/26/12 at 10:03am
If you want cheap Pivo AIOS. If you can it on sale at newegg.com for $60 dollars. It has a horrible UI, super horrible remote, but it plays MKV, M2TS, DVD ISO's without issues. Or go with WDTV2.
Reply
Reply
post #9 of 24
11/26/12 at 10:25am
Quote:
Originally Posted by CDLehner View Post

Right; but then those options don't meet my budget of ~$100. For a box to mostly have a good GUI, play my SD .MPGs, and occasionally stream an m2ts...without the need for full BD support; I don't think it should have to cost more than that. Thanks

The reason is no other boxes have good episode UI for iso files besides the ones listed, if you dont care about episode UI that much the whole playing field opens up to every box.
Reply
Reply
post #10 of 24
11/26/12 at 4:15pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by GusGus748s View Post

If you want cheap Pivo AIOS. If you can it on sale at newegg.com for $60 dollars. It has a horrible UI, super horrible remote, but it plays MKV, M2TS, DVD ISO's without issues. Or go with WDTV2.

How does it have a horrible UI...with XBMC? confused.gif
Reply
Reply
post #11 of 24
11/26/12 at 4:16pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by halfelite View Post

The reason is no other boxes have good episode UI for iso files besides the ones listed, if you dont care about episode UI that much the whole playing field opens up to every box.

I don't have my TV-on-DVD discs ripped to .ISO; I rip each episode, and name the file like 1x01.mpg.
Reply
Reply
post #12 of 24
11/26/12 at 5:27pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by CDLehner View Post

How does it have a horrible UI...with XBMC? confused.gif

You mean the android based model. Yeah, that one is included in the horrible ones as well. No HD sound support and no ISO support. It would be best to make a HTPC, but you can find it for $49.99 on newegg.com. Good luck.
Reply
Reply
post #13 of 24
11/27/12 at 2:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by GusGus748s View Post

Quote:
Originally Posted by CDLehner View Post

How does it have a horrible UI...with XBMC? confused.gif

You mean the android based model. Yeah, that one is included in the horrible ones as well. No HD sound support and no ISO support. It would be best to make a HTPC, but you can find it for $49.99 on newegg.com. Good luck.

The Pivos XIOS DS is actually quite good when running XBMC under Linux. They have a specific distribution for it, as well as the Android version which is not as good. I agree that a small, quiet HTPC would be better for XBMC, but the Pivos is really not bad.

Philip
Reply
Reply
post #14 of 24
11/28/12 at 4:55pm
Thread Starter 
^^^ Guys, you lost me; sorry. As I said, I've been off the bleeding-edge for a while. It almost sounded as if you guys were talking about two different versions of the hardware. You're not, right; just the firmware you load on it?

I think GG confused me with his comments; I just don't see how, if this thing runs the XBMC I remember...how the GUI can be described as "horrible". I thought I might be missing something. That, and the fact that it was $85 on NewEgg the other day, and now it's up to $110. Thought maybe we were talking about two different players here.
Reply
Reply
post #15 of 24
11/29/12 at 10:43am

I recently picked up a Raspberry Pi for $35 (which can run XBMC) and have been impressed with the early results (still testing everything).   I had a bunch of extra spare parts lying around from past failures (namely Boxee Box) so I was able to get up and running on the cheap.  

Equipment list:

Raspberry Pi :  $35

Micro-USB power adapter: I had an extra one sitting around from an old phone

Android/Apple iOS controller:  Free if you have an Android phone/tablet or iPhone/iPad

IR USB receiver:  I had one sitting around collecting dust from my Boxee Box days

SD Card:  Again, had an extra one collecting dust

Case:  Haven't even bothered to purchase one yet, but if I do, there are plenty on ebay for $5-$10

 

I'm amazed at what I can do with this thing for $35.  As long as I stick with the simpler skins like Confluence, the performance is surprisingly nimble.    I had originally loaded with Raspbmc and it was super sluggish, couldn't play my BD rips, etc.  But ever since I switched to OpenElec, it has been rock solid.   OpenElec 3.0 was just released which seems to have resolved the audio limitations I was experiencing with an earlier build (in other words, I can easily play DD, DTS now).   The ability to select movies/shows from my iPad is awesome, but I also like having the IR USB receiver so that I can use my Harmony One as well.   

 

There are definitely some limitations with the puny ARM processor running linux, like no Netflix streaming, but overall its a major improvement over my old Popbox and Boxee Box junkers.    I may even end up buying another Raspberry Pi to replace my PCH.   

Reply
Reply
post #16 of 24
11/29/12 at 11:53am
Quote:
Originally Posted by edpowers View Post

I recently picked up a Raspberry Pi for $35 (which can run XBMC) and have been impressed with the early results (still testing everything).   I had a bunch of extra spare parts lying around from past failures (namely Boxee Box) so I was able to get up and running on the cheap.  
Equipment list:
Raspberry Pi :  $35
Micro-USB power adapter: I had an extra one sitting around from an old phone
Android/Apple iOS controller:  Free if you have an Android phone/tablet or iPhone/iPad
IR USB receiver:  I had one sitting around collecting dust from my Boxee Box days
SD Card:  Again, had an extra one collecting dust
Case:  Haven't even bothered to purchase one yet, but if I do, there are plenty on ebay for $5-$10

I'm amazed at what I can do with this thing for $35.  As long as I stick with the simpler skins like Confluence, the performance is surprisingly nimble.    I had originally loaded with Raspbmc and it was super sluggish, couldn't play my BD rips, etc.  But ever since I switched to OpenElec, it has been rock solid.   OpenElec 3.0 was just released which seems to have resolved the audio limitations I was experiencing with an earlier build (in other words, I can easily play DD, DTS now).   The ability to select movies/shows from my iPad is awesome, but I also like having the IR USB receiver so that I can use my Harmony One as well.   

There are definitely some limitations with the puny ARM processor running linux, like no Netflix streaming, but overall its a major improvement over my old Popbox and Boxee Box junkers.    I may even end up buying another Raspberry Pi to replace my PCH.   

Audio coded stops at DTS and DD correct? It does not support dts-hd or truehd right? I get confused on what each xbmc unit can work with now
Reply
Reply
post #17 of 24
11/29/12 at 12:11pm
I have a Logitech Revue in the bedroom running Plex and it does a damn good job. My media library is on a 3TB USB 3.0 drive connected to my main PC which runs the Plex server. The Logitech hardware does not natively support DTS, but Plex does an excellent job transcoding all my MKV rips (even those with DTS, DTS-MA, Dolby-TrueHD, etc.). It's perfect for a secondary streamer, also has a browser and some decent apps. You can pick them up pretty cheap now, in the <$80 range.

It may also be worth noting that I have a PopBox 3d in my living room which runs YAMJ off this same drive. I found the PopBox software to be severely lacking, but YAMJ has provided great functionality (including excellent TV episode handling!). If you haven't tried it already you may want to look into YAMJ, it could give your PopBox new life and save you some cash in the process since it's free.

Here are some pics of the default YAMJ skin for PopBox, Eversion.

http://www.networkedmediatank.com/showthread.php?tid=57301
Edited by Biggrich76 - 11/29/12 at 12:22pm
Reply
Reply
post #18 of 24
11/29/12 at 12:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by GusGus748s View Post

If you want cheap Pivo AIOS. If you can it on sale at newegg.com for $60 dollars. It has a horrible UI, super horrible remote, but it plays MKV, M2TS, DVD ISO's without issues. Or go with WDTV2.

Not to mention it keep crashes and hang. When it hang, unlike other Realtek 1185 player, it can not be rebooted by using remote's power switch. I have to manually using the power switch at the back. It really is no btter than OP's Popbox. I say pass.
Edited by PawPawDog - 11/29/12 at 1:08pm
Reply
Reply
post #19 of 24
11/29/12 at 12:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by PawPawDog View Post

Not to mention it keep crashes and hang. When it hang, unlike other Realtek 1185 player, it can not be rebooted by using remote's power switch. I have to manually using the power switch at the back. It really is no btter than OP's Popbox. I say pass.

Alot of streamers do not have physical on/off buttons but there is a simple solution for just a few extra bucks.

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?InvtId=BH9936-3
Reply
Reply
post #20 of 24
11/29/12 at 1:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Biggrich76 View Post

Alot of streamers do not have physical on/off buttons but there is a simple solution for just a few extra bucks.
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?InvtId=BH9936-3

Sorry, I was referring to Pivos Aios. Made the worng quote.rolleyes.gif Pivos Aios does have a power switch at the back and the correct quote below.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GusGus748s View Post

If you want cheap Pivo AIOS. If you can it on sale at newegg.com for $60 dollars. It has a horrible UI, super horrible remote, but it plays MKV, M2TS, DVD ISO's without issues. Or go with WDTV2.

Edited by PawPawDog - 11/29/12 at 3:33pm
Reply
Reply
post #21 of 24
11/29/12 at 1:25pm
HTPC. Built a mini-ITX one for $300. Smashes any media streamer to little pieces. Yes, this is the media streamer forum but I had to chime in. I chucked my old media streamer and have never looked back. Simple to use, simple to set up, will play back anything.
Reply
Reply
post #22 of 24
11/30/12 at 6:19am
Quote:
Originally Posted by halfelite View Post


Audio coded stops at DTS and DD correct? It does not support dts-hd or truehd right? I get confused on what each xbmc unit can work with now

 

To be honest, I'm still not sure.  The latest OpenELEC 3.0 beta release says it can handle HD audio, but I'm not sure if that includes the raspberry pi flavor.  I have not been able to get it to work yet, but only spent a few minutes on it (I don't really care since this is not in my main theater room).      I tested with a Blu-ray rip mkv w/ DTS-HD (Lawless) and the audio stream gives me the option of selecting DTS-HD, but my Onkyo receiver remains in plain old DTS mode.   

 

EDIT UPDATE:  Apparently the R-Pi firmware does not currently allow for HD audio bitstreaming.   


Edited by edpowers - 12/7/12 at 11:25am
Reply
Reply
post #23 of 24
11/30/12 at 10:45am
care to share your parts list?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tiddles88 View Post

HTPC. Built a mini-ITX one for $300. Smashes any media streamer to little pieces. Yes, this is the media streamer forum but I had to chime in. I chucked my old media streamer and have never looked back. Simple to use, simple to set up, will play back anything.
Reply
Reply
post #24 of 24
11/30/12 at 11:56am
Intel G540: $45
4GB Kingston DDR3 1333MHz (BIOS automatically set to 1066MHz): $20
Gigabyte H61N-USB3: $80
Samsung 64GB SDD 830 - $60
Antec ISK-300: $99
Win 8 Pro: $15 (or $40, if you don't have Win 7 lying around)

MPC-HC + Lav filters, will play back anything 2D, 3D you need a Core i3 3225.

$319 minimum, not counting rebates or cheaper parts/sales.

This is basically a home built WD live, without any of the problems or glitches.
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home

AVS Top Picks

AVS › AVS Forum › Gaming & Content Streaming › Networking, Media Servers & Content Streaming › Finally Time To Replace My PopBox