Apple TV vs Popcorn Hour

[obey908]

I can't decide what one I want to buy. Does anyone of any experience of using both? Or just your personal opinion of what you think is a better home theater device.

Thanks

 

[italiano40]

I enjoy the tv because you can store music and video on it and i can put my podcast on it, my friend has the popcorn hour and all you can do is stream the movies from their service

 

[serpico]

I enjoy the tv because you can store music and video on it and i can put my podcast on it, my friend has the popcorn hour and all you can do is stream the movies from their service

Good to know. I have a lot of podcasts that I watch and would be nice to watch it on the tv while working. Cuts down on resources using itunes at the same time on the notebook.

 

[MVApple]

^I would check out popcorn hour to see what it can and can't do because its always being updated and its much more powerful for playing back video than the appletv.

 

[LinMac]

The popcorn hour device looks pretty neat overall.

I like my AppleTV because it fits neatly into the iTunes ecosystem and I have access to the iTunes store. That doesn't mean I wouldn't add a Popcorn Hour to my setup though as it looks very interesting. The support for a variety of media formats is very compelling.

 

[BoulderBum]

I think the Apple TV focuses on on-demand content, convenience, and usable interface, whereas the Popcorn Hour focuses mostly on compatibility with a broad range of formats.

The Apple TV features On-Demand movie rentals from every major studio, an attractive and intuitive integration with your iTunes library, a great interface to view Video Podcasts, YouTube and Flickr slideshows and it has an internal hard drive, right out of the box.

The interaction with iPods can't be understated either. You can purchase a TV show in the iTunes store, take it with you for the train ride to work or airplane, then be able to watch it on your TV when you get back. For iPhones and iPod Touches, there's also free "Remote" application you can download that lets you choose your content from your handheld device and use its virtual keyboard to search (it's very cool).

The Popcorn Hour, on the other hand, is good if you have a wide variety of file formats and you don't want to do everything the Apple way. It's more difficult to set up, and the interface isn't as smooth, but at least you won't be stuck in Apple Land.

I'd also watch the two videos to compare the user experience:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoSDo-iFpwg&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLT_T0xHzTc

 

[obey908]

think i am going with the apple tv. does anyone know if target is still having the sale, or any other stores? should i wait for black friday, or buy now?

 

[Donar]

I enjoy the tv because you can store music and video on it and i can put my podcast on it, my friend has the popcorn hour and all you can do is stream the movies from their service

The Popcornhour can store (and play) your .mp4 .m4v .mkv .mp4 .wmv .avi .aac (without DRM) ... if you put a hard drive into it. Or you can Stream things via UPNP, smb, NFS to it. It plays 1080p fine and you can also watch Youtube, Flickr. Just go to their homepage and have a look.

 

[BoulderBum]

think i am going with the apple tv. does anyone know if target is still having the sale, or any other stores? should i wait for black friday, or buy now?

Anytime is a good time, I think. Apple occasionally drops prices of their entire product line, but Apple hardware itself never goes "on sale" for reasons detailed here.