Smart Home Blog

Recently I wrote about Myka – small box with allows to download media content from BitTorrent or local server and playback it directly on TV. Here is a similar device named Popcorn Hour A-100. It supports wide range of audio/video formats and connectivity ways including BitTorrent, UPnP, Samba, NFS and FTP. Additionally it offers watching of YouTube and Google Video clips, photos from Flickr and Picasa, peer-to-peer TV SayaTV and listen internet radio. The Popcorn Hour has HDMI v1.1 (up to 1080p), Component Video (up to 1080p), S-Video, Composite Video, Stereo Analog Audio, S/PDIF Coax Digital Audio and 2 USB ports. Also it can be equiped by PATA HDD to store media content. It’s a compact (270x132x32 mm) and stylish. So, you can place it near or behind TV and enjoy rich media player.

The Popcorn Hour A-100 is tagged just at $179.00 (without HDD). But it isn’t available at present time on the producer’s online store. However, one friend of mine recently bought it. So, we’ll see that box in action soon and confirm or refute its advantages.

Company from Boston Myka offers a simple way to watch video files downloaded from the Torrents directly on your TV. The box looks like Mac Mini (this is my favourite form-factor for media client). So, it won’t break your living room interior. The Myka comes with Ethernet or WiFi to connect to Internet and with an internal hard drive with a choice of an 80-gigabyte, 160-gigabyte and a 500-gigabyte model. So, you will able to download video content and store in the box or watch directly on TV. The box sports HDMI, Composite, S-Video and SPDIF ports. It supports HD (up to 1080i), MPEG4 and various well-known audio and video codecs.

Myka will be available in the summer of 2008. But you can do pre-order now – $299.00, $349.00 and $459.00 for 80GB, 160GB and 500GB respectively.