What can the PCH do for me - Popcornhour FAQ

[notdavid]

(02-14-2009 08:15 PM)pc001 Wrote:  How about what else can PCH do? I have learned lately it can have some Internet browsing capability, I never knew it can browse by simply using PCH. Well, the quality is not the best, but might be helpful to others. I also learned it can watch some SayaTV stuff, which is great. Anything else I am missing? BTW, is there a wiki about all these features? including special keys and buttons... e.g. Title button take you to the internet...

Thanks for any help in advance,
Perry

Wiki?
Top of Every Page.

ND

[gujucrave]

Thank you very much for taking this much time and effort & putting this info together for us...

[cheaper_popcorn]

Have you come to this thread to look for information?

Once again, here is the WIKI - read it, it gets better for every day:

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE WIKI (FAQ AND INFORMATION) FOR NMT PLAYERS

(If you cannot find the information you need in the Wiki, start a new thread in this forum and mention what you think is missing from the Wiki, so it can be added.)

[jampot31]

(10-03-2008 04:37 PM)shlomibe Wrote:  I think the following issues should be covered in the FAQ - I will include some answers, but hopefully someone more knowledgeable will complete.

- Should I use internal HDD or network? What are the advantages of each option?
Playback over network requires less setup and day-to-day operation.
Playback over network is slower - takes time to buffer the media to start, and any random access (jump) requires re-buffering.
Playback from internal HDD is faster, but you need to transfer the content into the PCH, and that takes some time and effort.
Playback from PC, means that when the PC is down the PCH doesn't work.
You will need to reboot or at least reconnect the PCH after every time the PC reboots, if content is in mid play, you will have to start over.

- How to set up playback over network?
The PCH should see the directories on the PC which are defined as shared, after you define PCH and PC with the same workgroup.
[Vista sharing instructions could be useful]

- How to install HDD?
For complete functionality, you need to format the internal HDD in the PCH, so you can't use a PC formatted HDD.
You can install a NTFS formatted HDD with content already on it, but then you will not be able to transfer additional content into the HDD via ftp or file sharing.

- How to move content into the internal HDD?
You can use Windows file sharing [4 MB/s]
You can use ftp [6.5 MB/s]
You can Torrent directly into the HDD, but at this point this doesn't work for zip packs.
You can connect removable storage to the PCH via USB [speed?]
You can connect the PCH to the PC via USB after installing utility ext2ifs [20 MB/s]
You can connect the PCH formatted HDD to the PC via SATA after installing utility ext2ifs [40 MB/s]

Hello there,
Expecting my PCH in a couple of days. Can you list if there are any limitations on the use of external HDD ( powered externally as well) through the PCH USB interface ,speciafically in terms of playback of higher bit rate formats.



Great site containing a whole lot of information.

[cheaper_popcorn]

In general USB hard disks work just fine even with high bitrate formats - it should be said however that the player itself is only guaranteed to support playback of high definition files which do not exceed the official BluRay specifications.

If you are going to get your high definition files from unofficial sources, be prepared to learn a little about what is required to find things that will play. There is an MKV FAQ in the Wiki which explains the basics of it.

[AttiCzi]

Hello.
I have a PCH110 with an internal HDD. If I buy the WN-100 USB WiFi adapter would I be able to listen to web radio stations and watch YouTube videos on my PCH110? Or does my computer has to be turned on as well?

[toker-a110]

I have had my PCH-A110 for about a month now. It is configured to automatically download all my TV shows via NZBGet and unpacks it to the correct directory and rename to the file to the appropriate TV show.
The PCH has so far played everything i have thrown at it except for HD-DVD and BlueRay ISOs, if you extract the stream from the ISO then it will play fine. I mainly play MKV / WMV files in 720p or 1080p, I have some old movies in DVD ISO / VIDEO_TS folder format which it plays fine.

Streaming HD over the network is fine on CAT5 but not on the PCH Wifi Dongle (Wireless G standard isnt fast enough), I am now running CAT5 to my PCH.

Positive Points for PCH
- Cheap
- Quite
- Torrents and NZB support
- Plays just about every format (except HD-DVD / BlueRay ISOs)

Negective Points
- Basic Interface
- Configuration via conf file for application (this may cause non-techie so issues)
- No HD-DVD / BlueRay support (and unlikely to happen due to licensing cost)
- Very low PAR2 performance
- Slow UNRAR performance (can take 3 hours to unrar 10GB MKV file)

[dc11ab]

If you use lundman's llink you can play bluray iso's without extracting the m2ts file. And llink also plays straight from RAR without unpacking. Not sure if it plays retail BD/HD-DVD, but retail SD DVD hooked up via USB drives can be played too. Through the CSI there's also a "native" RAR playback but it still has some rough edges.

[landoncube]

pch is ordered because wd hdtv player won't handle Blu-ray .isos.

This is a good guide and I will ignore the 'won't play iso' comments. It will work fine.