Can someone help a non techy newbie?

[neil]

I am wanting to purchase something like an AppleTV that will store my CD collection and family photo's so that I can view them on my TV and listen through my Hifi. I need to be able to make playlists, like itunes, and have a good quality slide show. I don't want to have to have my computer turned on, so I think it needs to have its own hard drive or the ability to plug in external hard drives. I have been trying to do my own research of a variety of devices such as the Mvix,Freecom, Emtec etc, but they all seem to have some drawbacks or seem to be overly complex. Would the new Popcorn Hour be the right type of device for me?
Thank you in advance for your help.
Cheers
N

[Woziak]

neil Wrote:I am wanting to purchase something like an AppleTV that will store my CD collection and family photo's so that I can view them on my TV and listen through my Hifi. I need to be able to make playlists, like itunes, and have a good quality slide show. I don't want to have to have my computer turned on, so I think it needs to have its own hard drive or the ability to plug in external hard drives. I have been trying to do my own research of a variety of devices such as the Mvix,Freecom, Emtec etc, but they all seem to have some drawbacks or seem to be overly complex. Would the new Popcorn Hour be the right type of device for me?
Thank you in advance for your help.
Cheers
N

Why not buy an AppleTV... Looks like it fits your needs. The other devices are able to play more formats (codecs) but none of them are as user friendly as an AppleTV. You won't find "Apple" level of integration with iTunes and iPhoto on any other device.
If your focus is on music and photo's (Mac-style) the Popcorn Hour is probably not best device for you.

[neil]

The Hard drive appears to be limited as I have over 300 CDs and nearly 70GB of photo's from the past 8 years, and I gather it doesn't allow an additional harddrive, and Itunes doesn't play all of the music files that I have on my current computer. Is the Popcorn really not going to be as cool as the appleTV? I read somewhere that it was what the appleTV should have been, but I don't really understand.
Thanks again for your help
N

[I am with...]

neil Wrote:The Hard drive appears to be limited as I have over 300 CDs and nearly 70GB of photo's from the past 8 years, and I gather it doesn't allow an additional harddrive, and Itunes doesn't play all of the music files that I have on my current computer. Is the Popcorn really not going to be as cool as the appleTV? I read somewhere that it was what the appleTV should have been, but I don't really understand.
Thanks again for your help
N

You can hack the apple tv and add bigger hardrive (search on google). But let say that movies and HD movies will run better on the popcorn that I am eager to test.

[Woziak]

neil Wrote:The Hard drive appears to be limited as I have over 300 CDs and nearly 70GB of photo's from the past 8 years, and I gather it doesn't allow an additional harddrive, and Itunes doesn't play all of the music files that I have on my current computer. Is the Popcorn really not going to be as cool as the appleTV? I read somewhere that it was what the appleTV should have been, but I don't really understand.
Thanks again for your help
N

HD capacity (Apple sells 160GB) is limited to what is available in 2.5" drives. The AppleTV is not meant to be an archive but more of a "active content" box (you choose what to auto-sync to it in iTunes).
If your focus is on music and photo's the Popcorn won't be as cool as the AppleTV... The integration with your Mac-apps is what makes it cool and easy to use.
If your focus is on Movies (downloaded) the AppleTV is rather limited. This is where the Popcorn can be much better than the AppleTV.

Reading your comments i still think the AppleTV would suit your needs best.

:wink:

[neil]

Thanks Woziak, that was very helpful. Is it easy to change the content of the AppleTV hard drive? What format would you recommend that I convert my CD's too?
Again thanks for your help.
N

[Woziak]

neil Wrote:Thanks Woziak, that was very helpful. Is it easy to change the content of the AppleTV hard drive? What format would you recommend that I convert my CD's too?
Again thanks for your help.
N

You're welcome...
I think AAC is very good... if you want lossless you can use Apple Lossless codec...