About a year ago I recommended people to buy cables to output the audio and sound from their PC to their television. This is still a viable option, but Popcorn Hour is now THE option. It is a multimedia HD/SD streaming device used to play video files on your television. Popcorn Hour absolutely destroys anything else out there, but it takes some getting used to.

Popcorn Hour (PCH) is for the type of person who can easily adapt to a new device that doesn't provide much help documentation. Basically, its for geeks. I bought it because the word was that it can play basically every format you could think of: x264, wmv, dvd iso, etc etc at only $180. It smoothly plays 1080p x264 files with dolby digital audio or DTS. A dream come true for most of us. However, the device cannot decode these audio formats, so a receiver is a MUST have to get full audio support.

In order to get smooth 1080p playback streaming over the network, myiHome needs to be installed. The reason is that a windows share (Samba) is slower going to the device. You can read the Popcorn Hour Wiki to learn more about this.

The last thing I'll say about the device is that it was built cheesy.  The remote feels cheesy and so does the device.  The interface isn't that great either and reminds me of XBMC in its earlier days.  But guess what?  None of that matters since it works and the firmware is constantly updated every month.  Look no further for the do it all device.