Popcorn Hour, Multimedia Player


I finally got a device that could be used as a media plaher and believe it or not it is called the Popcorn Hour or Network Media Tank, Model A-100. It took about 2 and half months to get the device because the company, although not well know, has developed sort of a cult following that the Media Tank is often sold out as soon as the batches are manufactured and released. To get the product you will have to register on the company’s website and you will be informed, by email, when your allotment of the media tank is available. You will then you have two to three days to accept and make a purchase. After that, it takes additional two weeks or so to receive the product.
I have used my Vista Ultimate PC as a HTPC (home theater PC) since I got in June 2007. To do this the PC would be moved from the office to the living room near the flat screen TV for the night. It was too much of a headache. At $179 plus shipping, the media tank quickly eliminated the need to do this.

The device is no bigger than two 3.5 inch hard drives placed side but with much less weight. It is very discrete and can fit anywhere near a stereo or a home theater system. It can be networked but for now the media files are fed from an external USB hard drive. A parallel ATA drive can also be placed inside the media tank but comments on the community forum for the product says that will make the device noisy. There is so much this little device can do and the information is found at the website: http://www.popcornhour.com/. There is also a community discussion forum site at http://www.networkedmediatank.com/ for the owners and owner wannabes. For this writer, the ideal setup will be to fully used the network capabilities and connect it to a NAS (networked attached storage) like the Linksys NA200 or the 320GB Buffalo LinkStation Live. Had the Linksys Media Center Extender, DMA 2200, been ready by Christmas 07, it would have been a preferred option despite the $300 price tag. But the Linksys DMA 2200 is still under consideration though; that will be another blog.
~ Tokesan ~

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