I've been using an Unraid server with an HTPC for about a year now with great results.  However, it is a wired connection via a gigabit network.  I just purchased a new flat panel and don't see that I have too many options to get CAT6 cable to it given the number of physical challenges that stand in the way.  However, the wireless connectivity from my router to the new flat panel is excellent so I was wondering about the possibility of using a Popcorn Hour device with its wireless usb dongle to reach the unraid server. 

 

I just wonder whether it will work especially with archived Blu Rays.  Has anyone had any experience with this or can comment? 

I've been using an Unraid server with an HTPC for about a year now with great results.  However, it is a wired connection via a gigabit network.  I just purchased a new flat panel and don't see that I have too many options to get CAT6 cable to it given the number of physical challenges that stand in the way.  However, the wireless connectivity from my router to the new flat panel is excellent so I was wondering about the possibility of using a Popcorn Hour device with its wireless usb dongle to reach the unraid server. 

 

I just wonder whether it will work especially with archived Blu Rays.  Has anyone had any experience with this or can comment?   

 

If is truly a crapshoot when it comes to streaming uncompress bluray via wireless.  The general consensus is that it will NOT work reliably.

 

Perhaps something like a Power Line adapter would be your best bet.

Hi  JP,

 

Running a popcorn hour through 100mbs streaming bd iso isn't a problem. I've heard though that the wireless is touch and go for some but for others it works well.

 

Josh

Thank you!  I completely forgot about the powerline adapter.  I've actually used one in someone else's house with very impressive results. 

 

I think now all I need to figure out is whether any of the Popcorn Hour devices will playback the actual files found on a BluRay and DVD.  This is how I've archived my movies, not in ISO format.

Thank you!  I completely forgot about the powerline adapter.  I've actually used one in someone else's house with very impressive results. 

 

I think now all I need to figure out is whether any of the Popcorn Hour devices will playback the actual files found on a BluRay and DVD.  This is how I've archived my movies, not in ISO format.

 

All PCH models work better with BDMV rips rather than ISO. The A-series don't play ISO at all.

Excellent!  This just keeps getting better.  I'll stop asking questions now for fear I've run out of luck

 

Thanks again.

Well, maybe one more question since it appears some here understand the Popcorn Hour pretty well.  If I am only looking for Blu Ray (rips) and DVD (rips) Playback which model is better?  The A-210 or A-200?  Even the comparison chart on their web site hardly shows a difference.

Well, maybe one more question since it appears some here understand the Popcorn Hour pretty well.  If I am only looking for Blu Ray (rips) and DVD (rips) Playback which model is better?  The A-210 or A-200?  Even the comparison chart on their web site hardly shows a difference.

 

They are exactly the same hardware. They just changed the packaging (case) to allow better cooling.

 

Thanks!  I just purchased the A-210 with the WN-150 wifi dongle.  Unfortunately, it looks like they are back-ordered until the end of the February so I'll be waiting a bit, but looking forward to it when it does get here.  I'll be interested to see if I'll have any luck with the wifi.  If not, the powerline suggestion was an excellent one and I'll go that route.  Thanks again.

I would suggest using a wireless bridge (e.g. Linksys WET610n) vs. a wireless USB dongle.  I have an A-110 and a WDTV Live Plus both streaming wirelessly with this bridge.  I did a lot of research on wireless and this seemed to be the best option.  I can say that except for full 1:1 BD files (which are hit and miss and also files that I have to use .ts or .mkv containers with my streamers) they both stream perfectly with higher bitrate though slightly compressed files.  A lot of it will depend on how far the unit is from your router.  Both of mine are over 30ft and for those with the WDTV Live, I had to use the B-RAD firmware for it to work.

I literally had to wait a month and a half for the Popcorn Hour to arrive, but it got here today!  However, it appears I don't have something configured correctly because it states it either cannot resolve the host name or find the target server.  My unraid server is setup almost completely at default with a share titled "Movies"  The directions actually state to enter information like nfs://192.168.1.150:/Movies, but the fields reflected in NETWORK SHARE on the Popcorn Hour actually reflect Protocol, IP/Host Name, Share Folder, etc..  Can some perhaps tell me how they have the information entered for just a basic unraid server?

I think if it is all default, your shares are SMB not NFS maybe?

Correct.  I'm very new at this so I'm not sure whether I can have both.  Also, there are EXPORT SETTINGS and USER SHARES.  Any help is really appreciated since I'm lost.

"export settings" are to export your actual "disk1", "disk2" etc and your flash drive. Typically I have these as export r/w, hidden. Used more for "admin" purposes. Then you have "User Shares" wheer you make things like your Movies directory which, if you leave include and exclude alone, can span multiple disks.

In your PCH, I would try:

smb://192.168.1.150/Movies

FYI - I found this Wiki - has some good info...

http://www.networkedmediatank.com/wiki/index.php/Network_Share

The A210 is a good choice - the difference between A200 and A210, as someone else said, is the casing.  The electronics are exactly the same.  However, the big benefit is that the 210 is fanless.  The fan on my A200 is quite noisy! 

 

Many of us have found that nfs offers better performance than smb (at least for streaming video).

 

I have my Movies and Series shares set up on nfs only.  So, in unRAID, that's nfs export - yes, *rw.

 

On the pch, I have the shares set up as Protocol:NFS TCP, IP/Host name: 10.2.0.100 (the IP of my unRAID server), Share folder: mnt/user/Movies, Share Name: Movies.

How do you guys like the A210?  I'm looking to get a second box but i already have the Boxee thou.

Thanks Peter.  I'm apparently pretty ignorant when it comes to much of this.  I thought that seeing the Unraid server via the Popcorn Hour would be almost as easy as setting it up via Windows.  I didn't have too many issues there, but with the PCH I'm continuing to struggle.

 

First, I should mention that I did buy the USB wireless adapter.  I realize that I'm running a risk for playback, but for $20 I thought it might be worth a try.  I setup the wireless connection via the PCH just fine.  It used my wireless network settings, got an IP, and signal strength is 87%.  That all seems fine.  I then went to the Media Source Screen and saw two line items.  The second was something like NFS Connector and the first I can't remember at the moment (not at home at the moment).  Anyway, via the first line item it did lead to the MSHOME workgroup and saw out on my network just fine.  It then saw the unRaid server and listed it as the default:  "Tower".  However, any attempt to click on "Tower" resulted in an error something like "Content could not be found" or "Target server not running."  So I sort of abandoned this as part of my process and went directly to the Network Share in the SETUP PAGE.

 

From here it was a little confusing because the directions that came with the PCH reflect that the line items should be written a specific way, such as nfs://<ip address>:/dir.  However, I don't think these instructions match the latest firmware updates of the PCH since there are specific fields to now enter PROTOCOL, IP/HOST NAME, SHARE FOLDER, etc..  It seems these new fields will take place of the old way of entering a single line item for the same information.  I just wish the included directions reflected that because I'm trying anything at this point.

 

Ultimately, based on what you have below it leads me to believe most of what I have in the Popcorn Hour Network Share is close to accurate.  I just may need to configure unRaid to become visible to PCH.  Here is a good example of what I have in the fields on the PCH.

 

PROTOCOL:  NFS (do I need to choose NFS-TCP?)

IP/HOST NAME:  192.168.1.150 (confirmed via unraid web interface that this is indeed the IP of the server)

SHARE FOLDER:  should it be TOWER/MOVIES or just /MOVIES ? (on my unraid server I have a single share for all my movies called Movies)

SHARE NAME:  Movies

 

I noticed in the unraid web interface under SHARES it has sort of two sections:  one for DISK SHARES and the other for USER SHARES.  The disk shares has some NFS line items, but I assume I can just leave those blank...correct?  It is the user shares I'm attempting to setup for NFS and export...correct?

 

Thanks for any help.  I didn't expect to be this lost, but I guess it isn't the first time.

 

PROTOCOL:  NFS (do I need to choose NFS-TCP?)

 

Many people have found that nfs-tcp is more reliable.  I can't think of any good reason not to use this setting.

 

 

IP/HOST NAME:  192.168.1.150 (confirmed via unraid web interface that this is indeed the IP of the server)

 

Okay, that should be fine.

 

 

SHARE FOLDER:  should it be TOWER/MOVIES or just /MOVIES ? (on my unraid server I have a single share for all my movies called Movies)

 

No, No, NO!

 

In my previous post I wrote '/mnt/user/Movies'.  The '/mnt/user/' part is important, and it must be in lowercase.  The last part must be exactly the same as the name that you've given to your user share in unRAID.  If the share is called 'Movies' then that is what you must add to the end of the Share Folder entry - again, the case is absolutely important.  So, based on what you've written here, your Share Folder entry should be exactly the same as mine: '/mnt/user/Movies'.

 

 

SHARE NAME:  Movies

 

This entry is not so critical - it merely specifies how the share will appear in your Popcorn Hour menu, under Network Browser, when you select your source.

 

I noticed in the unraid web interface under SHARES it has sort of two sections:  one for DISK SHARES and the other for USER SHARES.  The disk shares has some NFS line items, but I assume I can just leave those blank...correct?  It is the user shares I'm attempting to setup for NFS and export...correct?

 

Correct.  As far as your use of the Popcorn Hour is concerned, it needs to know nothing about the Disk Shares, so you don't even need to export those from unRAID.

Thank you so much.  I'll be trying all this first thing when I get home and report back how it went.  Everything you passed on I had an inkling about except the Share Folder clarification using "/mnt/user/Movies".  I'm not sure where I should have picked up the information around /mnt/user.  From any PC I've simply been able to enter either \\Tower or the ip address of the server.  I would have thought the same applied here, but obviously I'm wrong.

 

One more question while I'm thinking about it if you don't mind.  Within the USER SHARES section of the web interface on the unraid server I think it asks for something like an NFS Name.  I assume if the share itself is named "Movies" then there isn't an issue with updating this to reflect "Movies" as well...correct?  I guess I'm just wondering if something entirely different should be entered there.

 

Thanks again for the help.     

In case you already have RG6 throughout your house, another option you might consider is MoCA (Multimedia over CoAx):

 

http://www.mocalliance.org/

 

The bridges are a tad more $ than powerline solutions, but if you're a stickler for "keeping things neat" and leveraging existing cable runs, might be worth a look.

 

Some Amazon listings:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Actiontec-Ethernet-Over-Coax-Adapter/dp/B0022NHMZY/

 

http://www.amazon.com/D-Link-DXN-221-MoCa-Ethernet-Adapter/dp/B0024FAQL2/

 

 

Looks very cool and wasn't even aware this existed.  Our house is 30 years old so I suspect it is all RG59.  I can't seem to find anything that stipulates it must be RG6 though.  Is that your understanding?

Looks very cool and wasn't even aware this existed.  Our house is 30 years old so I suspect it is all RG59.  I can't seem to find anything that stipulates it must be RG6 though.  Is that your understanding?

 

To be quite honest, I never even knew there was an RG-59! I'd always been on RG6 kid 

 

In any case, according to the MoCA FAQ:

 

Q: Does MoCA work on any type of coax?

A: Yes. The simple rule is that if you can receive a TV signal from the outlet, it can support MoCA.

 

http://www.mocalliance.org/aboutus/faq.php

 

Peter (or anyone else who might be able to help), I hate to get this specific, but I get a little nervous when making changes to unRaid that I might not perfectly understand for fear I'm going to do something irreversible and lose data.  Attached is how two of my shares are currently configured via the web interface.  I assume I simply need to make an update in Export (NFS) box and that is all I need to utilize NFS TCP on the PCH, however, what am I supposed to put in there?  Do I list the share name (Movies)?  Is there some kind of command I put in there to make it clear I with to EXPORT READ/WRITE?  Just having a drop-down box like SMB would make more sense to me, but I'm sure there is a good reason why it doesn't have that.  Thanks again.

Never mind.  I think I found the answer here:  http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php?title=FAQ#How_do_I_configure_NFS_mounts.3F

 

Peter, you also had it reflected in one of your responses (*rw).  I just didn't put it together.  Thanks again.  Hopefully, this will work tonight (fingers crossed).