The latest Logitech product Squeezebox Boom has been reviewed recently. Briefly it’s good and it pays for itself. It didn’t spark a revolution in the internet-capable device area but definitely Squeezebox Boom set a new benchmark in the market.
I liked Sqeezebox (but not its remote control) when I got it for testing a couple years ago. And like very much Squeezebox Boom and maybe will buy it some day.
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.
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.
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.
The ZIOVA Clearstream™ CS510 is a High Definition network media Player. It gives three connectivity options: wireless networking, Ethernet wired networking and USB 2.0 hard drive connection. The unit handles playback music and video as well:
The CS510’s music playback capability handles all the formats enthusiasts have longed for, including the high definition FLAC lossless compressed format, OGG, AAC (commonly used in Apple iTunes**), MP3, Windows Media Audio 9, CD Audio and others.
Video playback is also astonishingly comprehensive. The CS510 handles playback in Windows Media Video 9, XviD, Nero Digital™, MPEG-4, QuickTime MPEG-4, MPEG-2, MPEG-1, and other formats.
Additionally, CS510 may display weather information and stream Internet radio stations if it ’s connected to the Internet.
The media player can be integrated with two commercial media servers: TwonkyVision or Windows Media Connect.