Rob, I think you nailed it with the Popcorn hour. They're using the same software as a few other devices. It's based on a media platform with a name I can't remember now. That may have something to do with why they don't show images, though I can't be sure.

I think their old site was better, the new one is pretty much just a shopping page. The benefit of the Popcorn, and probably the eGreat since it uses the same software, is that they receive updates.

Many of these boxes are the same or similar with regards to hardware. Maybe the boards are a bit different in layout. That's because many of them use the same SoC from Sigma and implement their reference designs. The final word in video file support is going to come down to software tweaks. And regardless of how good the playback is, any device can fall down because of its UI.

One thing I don't know about the WD is whether it will deal well with a large media collection. Say 1000-3000 movies and TV shows plus 30-50k audio tracks. I'll find out once I set up one for my friend.