movingWiFi.com » Videos

What comes in the A-210 box?

gerry — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 16:42:13 +0000

So what awaits when you open your Popcorn Hour A-210 box?

User guide
Quick installation guide
Power supply and (UK) mains cable
Remote control
AAA batteries
HDMI cable
USB cable (A – B)
Short USB extension cable
A-210 unit
A bag of little screws for an internal SATA drive

Is the C-200 much bigger than the A-210?

gerry — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 14:06:50 +0000

Popcorn Hour networked media jukeboxes enable you to stream video and other digitial media files directly to your HDTV from a variety of sources, either on your home network, an internal hard drive or USB-attached storage devices.

The Popcorn Hour C-200 is more than twice the size and weight of its smaller siblings, the A-210 and its earlier incarnation the A-200. This video has a comparative look at the physical look and feel of the three current video streamers from the Popcorn Hour stable.

So apart from this more impressive stage presence, what else do you get with the C-200 for its heftier price tag?

RF remote control – for the dedicated couch-potato, it can be tedious for the remote control to insist on a line-of-sight infra-red path to your television equipment. The RF remote control on the C-200 guarantees that each button press has an appropriate response from the Popcorn Hour equipment.
LCD front panel – a small but useful display to show what’s currently playing on the C-200
4 USB ports – maybe you want the WiFi dongle, external hard drive, blu-ray drive, dvd player
front panel buttons – in conjunction with the LCD display panel, these buttons let you control the C-200 without a remote control. Let’s face it, remote controls go missing all the time.

Can you run NMT Applications without an internal hard disk?

gerry — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 12:48:21 +0000

Originally you needed to install an internal SATA hard disk drive (HDD) to run NMT Applications on a Popcorn Hour networked media jukebox. However it is now possible to run these services from USB-attached storage, which could even be a USB memory stick (minimum 4GB recommended) or a much more practical external hard disk unit.

The NMT Applications comprise the following services:

BitTorrent client for managing torrent download/uploads
SAMBA server – windows-compatible network share
NFS server – linux/MAC-compatible network share
FTP server – accessing disk space via File Transfer Protocol
myiHome server
UPnP AV server
UseNet client – managing torrents via UseNet

In order to install NMT Applications on your USB-attached storage, you need to use the Popcorn Hour
Fresh install option in the wizard. This will completely re-format your storage device, destroying any data thereon. It is therefore important to archive any important data files off your USB storage device as they won’t be there anymore when the process is complete.

An active internet connection on your Popcorn Hour is required for this process.

Go to the Setup screen
Choose Maintenance
Select the NMT Setup Wizard
Use remote UP arrow to select Fresh Setup
Choose the storage device (probably only one listed)
Set ext3 (the only option) as storage device format, this is a Linux filesystem format
Accept the warning about removal of all contents
Choose Online as the source of NMT Applications
Accept the terms and conditions

The process takes 2-3 minutes depending on the size of your USB-attached storage. Afterwards you will have a new NMT Applications screen among the Setup screens.

Do I need a firmware update on first use?

gerry — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 11:54:58 +0000

Yes. Your Popcorn Hour player is delivered with the factory-installed firmware on it, which may be a month or two out of date. Firmware updates are released very frequently with support for new codecs, lots of new features and bugfixes, so the first thing you should do when you’re setting up your Popcorn Hour player for the first time is to check for a firmware update. This is as easy as 1 – 2 – 3…

You need an active Internet connection on your Popcorn Hour for the firmware update.

Go to the setup screen
choose Maintenance
then select Check for firmware update

If there is a firmware update available, you will be prompted to accept the Terms and Conditions on-screen and the download and install process will take just a couple of minutes. It is important to leave the hardware well alone at this stage. The Popcorn Hour player will automatically restart when it has finished the firmware installation.

VIDEO: Making the most of your mobile broadband

gerry — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:38:36 +0000

Gerry Mulvenna gave a short demonstration of some mobile broadband products at a recent “Business Grapevine” lunch hosted by 6 Degrees Networking in Edinburgh. Here is the video recording (in 2 parts) of the demo and Q&A session.

Dovado UMR connects without any APN. How can this be?

3genuity-uk — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:34:30 +0000

Hopefully you can help me solve a puzzle. Here we see the Dovado UMR with an O2 UK Pay As You Go USB modem (Huawei E160). The UMR has been reset to its factory settings, so there is no Access Point Name (APN) configured. However not a problem apparently and the modem successfully connects to the O2 mobile broadband network.

Maybe this is not so unusual, can you explain it?

Does the Dovado UMR support Vodafone's USB Modem Stick Pro?

3genuity-uk — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 12:22:12 +0000

The “USB Modem Stick Pro” was recently launched by Vodafone in the UK and heralded as their fastest USB modem offering with download speeds up to 7.2 megabits per second and upload speeds up to 2 megabits per second. The device is also known as a Vodafone K3760 and is actually an Option 431 modem.

For most of this year, Dovado have been doing the development and testing work to upgrade the Linux kernel at the heart of the Dovado UMR’s firmware to accommodate this faster generation of USB modems such as the Option 4xx and Option 5xx series. This major firmware update (v4.x) was released on 10 August 2009.

So in answer to the original question: yes, the Vodafone USB Modem Stick Pro is now supported by the Dovado UMR with the release of firmware v4.0.

Dovado have produced a short video demonstrating the use of these faster modems with the UMR.

Help! My computer can’t connect to my UMR to do the initial configuration.

3genuity-global — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 12:01:59 +0000

If you’ve just received your Dovado UMR but you can’t get connected to the configuration web address http://192.168.0.1, the video below may help you overcome the networking issues in your way.

The initial configuration of your Dovado UMR should be a quick and straight-forward process. Unfortunately your computer can conspire to throw a couple of confusing obstacles in your way. This video demonstrates how to get overcome a couple of networking issues you may come up against. The demonstration uses Windows XP and Internet Explorer 6.

One potential source of confusion for some users is that the Dovado reference guide instructs you

to open your web browser and access the website http://192.168.0.1

but with your USB modem connected to the Dovado UMR and not yet configured, how can you connect to a website when you are not online? The “website” http://192.168.0.1 is actually the default address of the Dovado UMR on your Local Area Network – so no internet connection is needed to access the configuration interface.

Obstacle 1: PC constantly prompts to Connect to Dialup (or mobile broadband)
Solution: Modify the Connections tab on your Internet Options to enable the Never Dial a Connection option.

Obstacle 2: Your browser won’t connect because it is working offline
Solution: disable Working Offline from the File menu.

Quick Setup Guide

3genuity-global — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 21:58:51 +0000

In this quick guide you are shown how to configure the Dovado USB Mobile Broadband Router (UMR).

Introducing the Dovado UMR

3genuity-global — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 21:55:48 +0000

Introducing the Dovado USB Mobile Broadband Router (UMR). This router allows you to plug in a 3G USB modem and you can share it out via WiFi or the 4 LAN ports. You can also plug in a “Y”-cable for extra power into the modem for better signal and performance.

Easily put, with the Dovado UMR, you can share out your internet connection via the single USB modem.