One more to join the club. I bought the POHD on the last day of 2009 @ RM550 from LYP. Was also looking at the XStreamer & the Seagate Theater+ but needed something that can take internal 3.5" HD for max storage. Internal HD helps to reduce clutter on the TV rack and simplify things for the wife & kids to use.

I'm not a HT nut nor an audiophile so mine is fairly basic setup with the POHD hooked up to a Toshiba 42RV600 42" LCD and AegoM speakers. Well within my budget and very happy so far watching my 1080p & 720p collections. RMVB is mostly wife's territory.

This my 2nd media server. My first was a Neuston MC-500 many years ago. Anyone used that before?

Anyone know which player can read ext USB Mac (HFS+) formatted HDs? I just found out that the POHD cannot when I plug in my external HD today. Minor detail that I overlooked when deciding on the purchase.

Thanks for the info auhckw. Downloading now and try tonight. I'm quite new to the POHD, just 7 days old since I got it. May be some sifus here can help me.

1. POHD can connect to NFS servers. Can it also act as an NFS server so my computer can connect to it using NFS instead of SAMBA?

2. How to power down the POHD? I put the POHD to sleep (red LED) using the remote. Then I hold the power button on the front of the POHD for many seconds but all it does is turn back on to blue.

3. Is it OK to turn off the power to the POHD when it's sleeping since I dunno how to power down the POHD using the remote or the front button.

I must say I'm quite happy so far with this gadget. The only thing I wish is that it can read my Mac formatted USB HDs. Also wished it had gigabit LAN but that can't be changed.

Friends, what kind of speed are you getting transferring from PC to POHD via ethernet? I'm only getting about 5MB/s sustained. This is using SAMBA. Have not tried NFS yet to see if it makes a difference.

Anyone here tried 3rd party USB wifi-N with POHD? I heard DLink DWA-130 works?

Thanks for the info. I've checked the forums but I think the guy using the Trendnet said he's only getting 2.5MBps. He wasn't very clear about it. I was thinking I might buy the DWA-130 and experiment with it. Maybe someone here already has tried?

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Added on January 10, 2010, 4:26 pmBy the way, I thought I'd share this. If you're using a Mac, there's a software called Elgato EyeConnect which is basically a UPNP server that will allow you to view your photos from iPhoto & music/podcasts from iTunes on the POHD. It's very handy for me as I already have all my photos organised on the Mac.

This post has been edited by soonwai: Jan 10 2010, 04:26 PM

I asked at Viewnet & CZone on Saturday. They didn't have it but say can order. RM180. So expensive.

What kind of transfer speeds are you getting from the Trendnet? Also is your wifi set to mixed B/G/N or just N only? Is it stable cos I've seen so many posts on the ACRyan forum that the connection keeps dropping. I think if I can get at least 5MB/s then I'll change to the wireless bcos 5MB/s is the current speed I'm getting with wired Ethernet.

Just got an Xtreamer(firmware 2.13). Now mucking around with it to see how it compares to the POHD. First off, some casual observations.

1. The Xtreamer has a lot of nice features. Web remote so you can control it from your PC's browser and a web based iPhone remote. Lotsa predefined RSS feeds, Youtube feeds and what not.

2. I like that the GUI packs a lot more info due to smaller fonts but I really dislike the black/red colour scheme and that giant red X on the Home screen. I seem to squint more when using the Xtreamer. I much prefer the POHD menus though I wish it had smaller fonts (but not as small as the Xtreamer).
It's got lots of info (firmware ver, IP add, small little icons indicating USB, Net, HDD, etc on the home screen). I don't like that, too much clutter.

3. Love the size. It's so small and still fits a 2.5in HD but the design of the case is mediocre. Too much silver lettering and logos emblazoned on it and it has a really cheap gloss look. I much prefer the design of the POHD. But of course the Xtreamer is lot more portable. Useful to bring along for trips.

4. It's got YAMJ support but I've not tried that yet.

5. Copying files from PC to the Xtreamer over 100mbit Ethernet when initiated from the File Manager in the Xtreamer is extremely slow. About 1MB/s. POHD gave me 5MB/s.

6. Though I can view the files on the Xtreamer, I can't copy from my Mac to the Xtreamer while connected via Samba. My mac tells me that I might have to login. Must look into that tomorrow.

7. I have one file, "Panasonic Demo - A Night In The Milky Way 1080i 40Mbps LPCM AC3.m2ts", which stutters on the POHD when played over Ethernet. It plays just fine over Ethernet on the Xtreamer.

Overall, I don't like it much. Mainly because of that stupid bright red X on the home screen and it looks cheap compared to the POHD but it's small and perfect for carrying around.

So there, more tomorrow.

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Added on January 12, 2010, 2:45 amI just tested the POHD with wireless. Im getting about 3MB/s. Changing my router to N only didn't improve things. I normally have it on mixed BGN to cater for the Wii and iPhones. The router (DIR-655) shows me that the POHD is connecting at 130mbps which I think is the max and like you my POHD is also about 5 meters away from my router.

This post has been edited by soonwai: Jan 12 2010, 02:45 AM

One of the players going to my Mother-in-law house where RMVB is strictly a requirement so Sigma is out of question and with all the flames between POHD & Xtreamer, I just thought I'd see for myself what the fuss is all about. Have you visited the Xtreamer forums? Wow, got some heated threads there between the 2. In any case, I'll try both for a while and keep one. At the moment, I'm still leaning towards the POHD. It looks much classier sitting on the TV rack. If my parents want one, I'll probably get a Mede8ter to try out next.

I just realise that all my relatives and friends, bar one who's got a WDTV, have got big TVs but all only watching SD. Can't wait to show them them HD.

What I'm really looking forward to is the Boxee Box cause I've been using Boxee, Plex & XBMC on the Mac for awhile. Hopefully it's Realtek based.

For network transfers, I use DUMeter with Windows XP. On the mac I use Menumeters. HD to HD transfers, on the Mac can use Activity Monitor or a Casio stopwatch will do just fine.

Yeah but you can go to acryan forums and get unofficial hacked 2901 firmware which restores Youtube.

This post has been edited by soonwai: Jan 13 2010, 12:49 PM

I think it was removed at Youtube's request due to licensing issue or something like that. I remember reading about it on acryan forum but forgot which thread.

I also notice that Xtreamer still have Youtube in their latest firmware. I wonder how all this licensing stuff works.

This post has been edited by soonwai: Jan 13 2010, 12:55 PM