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A few months back, I did a review of a device called the Popcorn Hour and explained how it radically changed my television watching
habits. Since then, the Popcorn Hour C-200 has been released and I upgraded my
box.
 The Popcorn Hour C-200 lets you install a PC Blu-ray drive
to use it as a Blu-ray player. The only issue with installing an optical drive
into the C-200 is that then there is only enough space to install a 2.5" laptop
hard drive instead of a 3.5" desktop hard drive.
The Popcorn Hour itself is plenty large enough to house a
desktop hard drive, so it seems odd that it wasn't designed with that
capability from the start. Either way, a very simple modification will give you
room to install a Blu-ray drive and a 3.5" hard drive, and still have room for
the 2.5" laptop hard drive as well.
Networked Media Tank (NMT) users have come up with a few
different ways to attach the 3.5" hard drive; I think the way I chose makes the
most sense and was first posted by michaelr64.
I recoded a video with the help of Sharkles and SavvyExacta
showing the exact steps needed to complete the modification, but I'll include
step-by-step instructions below as well.
Click Here For Popcorn Hour Modification Step-by-Step Video
- Open Popcorn Hour C-200
and unscrew four (4) screws to remove optical drive chassis.
- Remove the plugs from the
rear-end of the optical drive bay.
- Open the two wire clips
and remove them so the wires can be moved out of the way.
- Unscrew plastic piece/faceplate
from the optical drive chassis and remove.
- Insert Blu-ray drive into
chassis and screw them together. Only screw in two screws on the right
side of drive when looking at it. The screws on the left side will be
added later.
 Drill through the holes in
the U-bracket to make them big enough for computer screws. (Should be only
slightly larger than current holes)- Attach the U-bracket to
left side of hard drive when looking at hard drive from the back (the side
with connections). Use two screws
and have the U-bracket positioned so it is flush with the front side of
the hard drive.
- Attach the other side of
the U-bracket to the open side of the optical drive, so the hard drive and
Blu-ray drive are one "unit" connected by the U-bracket.
- Fit the Blu-ray drive
chassis with 3.5" hard drive attached into the Popcorn Hour C-200 so that
Blu-ray drive is lined up with faceplate. Attach two screws to the right
side of the Blu-ray chassis when looking at PCH from the front.
- Hard drive should be held
up on the other side by the wires and sheathing. If you feel the need, you
can build a little foam support to keep that side balanced.
- The SATA wire will not
reach back to the hard drive unless the sheathing that holds all the wires
together is cut a bit. Use a scissors or knife to cut the sheathing about
an inch to give the SATA wire enough leeway to reach to the hard drive. DO
NOT CUT THE CABLES THEMSELVES.
After you boot-up the Popcorn Hour, you will need to format
the hard drive and install the NMT apps from the Maintenance section of the
Settings page.
Also before using the optical drive, you will need to set
the region code for the drive. The Blu-ray region was already set to Region A
(USA), but the DVD region needed to be set before it would allow playback.
Blu-ray Disc Region Setting:
-
Go into Setup (no need to put a BluRay into the drive)
- Press the following buttons: "SLOW,
1, 6, 6, 3" on your remote
- A popup appears; on the remote, use the
number keys to select the region you need.
Blu-ray
Regions
1 - Region A (most North, Central and South American and Southeast Asian
countries plus Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, and Korea)
2 - Region B (most European, African, and southwest Asian countries plus Australia and New Zealand)
3 - Region C (remaining central and south Asian countries, as well as China and Russia)
DVD Region Setting:
- Insert a DVD Disc that has the Region you want to select; if the Region is not the same as the Disc, it won't work!
- Go into the Setup Page and press the following buttons on your remote: "SLOW, 1, 6, 8, 3 4).
- Now, a popup appears; on the remote use the number for the region you want to select.
DVD Regions
1 - Canada, United States and territories, Bermuda
2 - Western Europe, incl. United Kingdom and Central Europe; Western Asia, including Iran, Israel, Turkey, and Egypt; Japan, South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho; French overseas territories
3 - Southeast Asia, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau
4 - Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, Australia, New Zealand, and Oceania
5 - Ukraine, Belarus, Russia; the Continent of Africa, excluding Egypt, South Africa, Swaziland, and Lesotho; Central and South Asia, Mongolia, North Korea.
6 - People's Republic of China, Hong Kong
More Info:
NMT Wiki - C-200 Modding
C200 with BD Rom and 3,5'' HDD
CR4 Video - Popcorn Hour C-200 Mod - Blu-ray Drive & 3.5 Hard Drive
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