Smart Home Blog

The latest Popcorn Hour box A-110 and its base B-110 were reviewed on the Digital Reviews. The conclusion is that. The A-110 is stronger then A-100. It supports 2.5″/3.5″ SATA HDD and offers HDMI 1.3a and DTS decoding.

The B-110 is really cool solution for those who’d like to build a custom box. For example, some old DVD case and drive can be use as a base together with B-110.

But in other hand A-100 is still relevant. If you don’t need SATA or HD audio it’s a good choice for network media player.

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Today I received a notification about release of new HD network player - SYVIO-200. It offers similar functionality as Popcorn Hour A-110 - HDMI 1.3Version, 1080P resolution, Torrent client, NAS. Its price is $220.

The funny thing is that. There is a mention about Popcorn Hour A-100 in the SYVIO-200:

The A-100 firmware is upgradeable to support future media containers, codecs and features

So, it seems that SYVIO-200 is just a clone of Popcorn Hour (its base is available for $199) but using different case. Or just Popcorn Hour description for its web site was taken as a base for SYVIO-200 specification. In any case we got one more networked media tank.

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American company A-Tech Fabrication offers interesting cases for HTPC and NAS. The stylish aluminium cases include integrated HeatSync cooling system for CPU and video card. That system uses side panels as radiator. So, it doesn’t need coolers with fan. Also, cases are equiped by HDD Isolation System to eliminate noise from vibrations.

The price is not so cheap as we’d like :). For example, the price of the case on the picture is $749 + additional options.

P. S. I was really surprised when I found the suggested dimensions for the expansion cards to use with A-Tech Fabrication’s cases. Usually the proper hardware can be found by testing only.

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Four months ago I wrote about network player Popcorn Hour A-100. It’s amazing device. Just for $170 you get media player which can play-back all well-known audio/video files from different sources such networked PC or USB stick. Moreover it works as NAS and Torrent client. Now it’s time for the next generation of Popcorn Hour - A-110. Additionally to A-100 features it adds support of 2.5″/3.5″ SATA HDD, USB slave functionality to improve connectivity and transfer rates and HDMI output upgrade to the 1.3a spec, allowing full support of HD Audio pass-through for DTS HD-HR, DTS HD-MA, Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby TrueHD.

The ports were re-organize a bit - USB was moved to the rear panel and co-axial S/PDIF output was replaced by optical one. Also it was added a hardware reset button to bring back hung device.

The newest Popcorn Hour A-110 is available for pre-order for $215.00.

If you’re not satisfy Popcorn Hour design (which looks nice for me) or you’d like to embed it somewhere you can buy the Popcorn Hour B-110 Baseline. So, you’ll able to build your own device.

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Recently I wrote about new LG’s BD300 Netflix Blu-ray player which can play-back stream from Netflix on-line movie rent service. Here is another details about that interesting device. It has amazing UI (have a look on the screenshot). The BD300 can also play-back media content from networked PC or memory stick attached to the player’s USB port.

The BD300 will support Profile 2.0, interactive BD-Live features and Bonus View (picture-in-picture commentaries and special features).

[via CNet News]

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