Anyone else heard anything about this media box? Looks pretty cool! All sorts of nerd bells and whistles…
http://www.popbox.com/index.php
Supposed to be released around the 4th of July.
heavenlydmeonic wrote:
Anyone else heard anything about this media box? Looks pretty cool! All sorts of nerd bells and whistles…
Supposed to be released around the 4th of July.
Yeah looks neat, especially the fact that they have developed an SDK for the homebrew community: https://developer.popbox.com/c/devuser/home
Eat your heart out WD ! We had to develop our own SDK (wdtvext) and in the latest release WD turned off debug info, making development for us even harder. I think I’ll get me a popbox, would love to mess around with it and with an 8643 CPU you can’t really go wrong for $129.
SjefDeKlerk wrote:
Yeah looks neat, especially the fact that they have developed an SDK for the homebrew community: https://developer.popbox.com/c/devuser/home
Eat your heart out WD ! We had to develop our own SDK (wdtvext) and in the latest release WD turned off debug info, making development for us even harder. I think I’ll get me a popbox, would love to mess around with it and with an 8643 CPU you can’t really go wrong for $129.
I was going to get another WD Live Plus for the spare room, but I am really looking hard at this PopBox! I am just worried about being an “early adopter” and getting burned … but you are right, for $149 (with the WiFi Adapter) you really can’t go wrong.
But no Netflix. That’s a big disappointment.
However, given the direction WD is going I suspect I will at least need to try one of these, because other than those users who use Netflix I’m getting to a point where I don’t think I can recommend the Live anymore (whether I’ll be able to recommend the Popbox depends on how THEY perform).
heavenlydmeonic wrote:
, for $149 (with the WiFi Adapter) you really can’t go wrong.
It’s $129 at amazon.
Wow, strong words from Mike.
WD should take note, he has been a great supporter of the product and these forums.
Maybe Popbox will kickstart WD into assigning a bit more finance in the direction of development and bug fixes, but then again…
mkelley wrote:
But no Netflix. That’s a big disappointment.
However, given the direction WD is going I suspect I will at least need to try one of these, because other than those users who use Netflix I’m getting to a point where I don’t think I can recommend the Live anymore (whether I’ll be able to recommend the Popbox depends on how THEY perform).
What you talkin’ 'bout, Willis? It has Netflix…
http://gdgt.com/syabas/popbox/
Look under Specs tab, listed under services. Took me a while poking around to find it, too.
There ARE a few drawbacks to this device (same goes for the WDTV as well) . The next player I’d buy should have HDMI 1.4, , the popbox still has 1.3 (which will only give you 1080i max for 3D content). Furthermore there’s no gigabit internet. Both should be in any ‘next generation’ player that’s now being released imho. Also keep in mind that this player currently is US only.
Anyway, I don’t think there’s even a chipset on the market right now that supports HDMI 1.4 (correct me if I’m wrong, although you can already buy 1.4 cables: http://www.hdcable.co.uk/1-4-hdmi-cable.html and 1.4 TV’s: http://www.panasonic.com/3d/full-hd-3d-home-theater-system.aspx ), but if you’re looking to upgrade and are planning to buy a 3d TV in the (near) future, you might consider waiting a few months with upgrading your mediaplayer …
Why do you thing you need Gigabit Ethernet?
Well, non 3d bluray has a theoretical maximum of 40 Mbps, hence a 100 Mbit network is always enough to stream. I think 3d would probably double that rate, and a 100 Mbps network wouldn’t be enough anymore (since this maxes out to 75 Mbps for content in practice). Although I must say this is just speculation, I haven’t seen any info on this yet.
3D – meh. Doesn’t interest me in the slightest (and didn’t the previous two times it was a fad).
If the Popbox does indeed have Netflix (which I *still* don’t see anywhere but I’ll try that link) then it does indeed look a worthy contender for best box (which I still think is the Live Plus). I have to see how the PB handles playback, net shares, etc. but the nice thing about buying from Amazon is you can return things for a full refund (all you really have to say is “It doesn’t work”, which is really the truth if it doesn’t do the job for you).
I’m investigating the third party Live software right now, but I suspect I’ll be ordering a PB anyway.
mkelley wrote:
3D – meh. Doesn’t interest me in the slightest (and didn’t the previous two times it was a fad).
If the Popbox does indeed have Netflix (which I *still* don’t see anywhere but I’ll try that link) then it does indeed look a worthy contender for best box (which I still think is the Live Plus). I have to see how the PB handles playback, net shares, etc. but the nice thing about buying from Amazon is you can return things for a full refund (all you really have to say is “It doesn’t work”, which is really the truth if it doesn’t do the job for you).
I’m investigating the third party Live software right now, but I suspect I’ll be ordering a PB anyway.
Hehe. I’ll be upgrading my TV to a 3d set within a year, so in my case, I’ll wait a bit with upgrading my mediaplayer.
heavenlydmeonic wrote:
mkelley wrote:
But no Netflix. That’s a big disappointment.
However, given the direction WD is going I suspect I will at least need to try one of these, because other than those users who use Netflix I’m getting to a point where I don’t think I can recommend the Live anymore (whether I’ll be able to recommend the Popbox depends on how THEY perform).
What you talkin’ 'bout, Willis? It has Netflix…
Look under Specs tab, listed under services. Took me a while poking around to find it, too.
I’d be asking why such an important feature is only mentioned on an external site “wishlist” page that hasn’t been updated in 2 months.
Netflix is mentioned nowhere on the official Popbox page. Even their own PR won’t confim either way if Netflix will be there at launch (no idea on the validity of the following):
http://www.zatznotfunny.com/2010-05/no-netflix-for-popbox-at-launch-ever/
A lot of people bought the Live assuming Netflix would come to it and got burned.
Pretty funny to see that people are willing to risk that all over again on a box that doesn’t currently advertise Netflix or even YouTube.
The grass isn’t always greener.
I think it’s pretty clear there will be no Netflix on this box.
That doesn’t rule it out for me, as NF is something I really only need on one TV (and I have the Plus for that). But it IS an interesting omission.
PixelPower wrote:
I’d be asking why such an important feature is only mentioned on an external site “wishlist” page that hasn’t been updated in 2 months.
Netflix is mentioned nowhere on the official Popbox page. Even their own PR won’t confim either way if Netflix will be there at launch (no idea on the validity of the following):
http://www.zatznotfunny.com/2010-05/no-netflix-for-popbox-at-launch-ever/
The 8643 doesn’t even have macrovision. Sigma’s odd number chips are the ones without the security SoC, so any player based on a Sigma odd cpu number, like the popbox and WDTV Live, won’t play Netflix
The 8643 doesn’t even have macrovision. Sigma’s odd number chips are the ones without the security SoC, so any player based on a Sigma odd cpu number, like the popbox and WDTV Live, won’t play Netflix
Thanks for the info.
You get Netflix on the popbox via an app. It appears that this app may not be available at the launch so they have removed all info from the popbox website.
Quote:
PopBox wants to have as many apps on the platform as possible at launch but we don’t have the final lineup quite yet. The great thing about the platform is that it updates easily, so while I can’t confirm either way that Netflix will be available at launch just yet, we do hope to have Netflix on the box as soon as possible.
http://www.zatznotfunny.com/2010-05/no-netflix-for-popbox-at-launch-ever/
.
richUK wrote:
You get Netflix on the popbox via an app. It appears that this app may not be available at the launch so they have removed all info from the popbox website.
Quote:
PopBox wants to have as many apps on the platform as possible at launch but we don’t have the final lineup quite yet. The great thing about the platform is that it updates easily, so while I can’t confirm either way that Netflix will be available at launch just yet, we do hope to have Netflix on the box as soon as possible.
http://www.zatznotfunny.com/2010-05/no-netflix-for-popbox-at-launch-ever/
.
I really find this hard to believe and if you read that article, it seems very suspicious.
I’m pretty sure Netflix won’t license ‘unsecure’ chips like the 8643. Besides, there’s no Netflix software decoder for Linux available at the moment. If you want Netflix, I’d either wait for additional clarification or buy something else.
Well, at the very least they are being honest about the situation.
Netflix ain’t a high priority for me right now and I’m still looking strong at this box.
SjefDeKlerk wrote:
richUK wrote:
You get Netflix on the popbox via an app. It appears that this app may not be available at the launch so they have removed all info from the popbox website.
Quote:
PopBox wants to have as many apps on the platform as possible at launch but we don’t have the final lineup quite yet. The great thing about the platform is that it updates easily, so while I can’t confirm either way that Netflix will be available at launch just yet, we do hope to have Netflix on the box as soon as possible.
http://www.zatznotfunny.com/2010-05/no-netflix-for-popbox-at-launch-ever/
.
I really find this hard to believe and if you read that article, it seems very suspicious.
I’m pretty sure Netflix won’t license ‘unsecure’ chips like the 8643. Besides, there’s no Netflix software decoder for Linux available at the moment. If you want Netflix, I’d either wait for additional clarification or buy something else.
If you look at these popbox photos you will see that netflix was on it.
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2010/01/syabass-popbox-get-ready-for-the-new-media-streamer-champ/
plus this video is on the companies blog page
