Popcorn Hour A-100 Networked Media Tank - Media Server Review

Popcorn Hour’s A-100 media server is a budget conscious solution for gathering and collating all your digital images, audio and video from your consumer electronics for playback on a high definition TV (HDTV) or home theater. Popcorn Hour is product brand for Syabas Technology.

Because of it’s wide range of compatible digital media formats it will stream or playback content from a wide variety of sources including PCs, NAS, digital cameras, USB mass storage devices (Flash drive, HDD, DVD drive) , internal HDD (not included) and directly from the Internet via a Media Service Portal. As well a providing convenience, collating your digital media in one place provides a backup of valuable and, in some cases, sentimental items.

The Popcorn Hour A-100 will also act as a NAS or BitTorrent peer-to-peer downloader (requires an internal HDD) eliminating the need to use a PC.

The Popcorn Hour A-100 will support the latest high bitrate video formats (MPEG2 MP@HL, H.264 HP@L4.1, VC-1 AP@L3 in TS of at least 40Mbps) for full HD (1080p) video playback.

The A-100 supports peer-to-peer (P2P) from SayaTV which uses Mesh Network Broadcasting Technology which enables thousands of concurrent viewers. Popular unicast internet TV such as YouTube, Google Video and Metacafe are available via the Media Service Portal.

To keep the media server software up-to-date, the A-100 firmware is upgradeable.
Not including the internal HDD is probably a smart idea as everyone has their own idea of what size they require and makes later replacement with a larger HDD possible.

Resources for Popcorn Hour A-100 Networked Media Tank

Datasheet

Popcorn Hour A-110 (an enhanced version of the A-100) Review

User Reviews and Price Comparisons

Popcorn Hour A-100 Networked Media Tank

Popcorn Hour A-100 Specification

Connectivity

• Bonjour
• UPnP SSDP
• DLNA
• Windows Media Connect
• Windows Media Player NSS
• SMB
• NFS
• HTTP servers: myiHome, WizD, SwissCenter, MSP Portal
• BitTorrent P2P
• NAS access : SMB, NFS, FTP

Web services

• Video : YouTube, Google Video, MetaCafe, VideoCast, DL.TV, Cranky Geeks
• Audio : iPodcast, Radiobox, ABC News, Jamendo
• Photo : Flickr, Picasa
• RSS feed : Yahoo! Weather, Yahoo! Traffic alerts, Yahoo! Stock, Cinecast, Traffic Conditions.
• Peer-to-peer TV : SayaTV
• Internet Radio : Shoutcast

Media Files Supported

Video containers:

• MPEG1/2/4 Elementary (M1V, M2V, M4V)
• MPEG1/2 PS (M2P, MPG)
• MPEG2 Transport Stream (TS, TP, TRP, M2T, M2TS, MTS)
• VOB
• AVI, ASF, WMV
• Matroska (MKV)
• MOV (H.264), MP4, RMP4

Video codecs:

• XVID SD/HD
• MPEG-1
• MPEG-2
• MP@HL
• MPEG-4.2
• ASP@L5, 720p, 1-point GMC
• WMV9
• MP@HL
• H.264
• BP@L3
• MP@L4.0
• HP@L4.0
• HP@L4.1
• VC-1
• MP@HL
• AP@L3

Audio containers:

• AAC, M4A
• MPEG audio (MP1, MP2, MP3, MPA)
• WAV
• WMA

Audio codecs:

• WMA, WMA Pro
• AAC
• MP1, MP2, MP3
• LPCM

Audio pass through : DTS, AC3

Photo formats : JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF

Other formats: ISO, IFO

Subtitle formats : SRT, SMI, SUB, SSA

DRM

• Cardea DRM (WMDRM-ND)

Chipset

• Sigma Designs SMP8635

Memory

• 256MB DDR SDRAM, 32MB Flash

Audio/Video Outputs

• HDMI v1.1 (up to 1080p)
• Component Video (up to 1080p)
• S-Video
• Composite Video
• Stereo Analog Audio
• S/PDIF Coax Digital Audio

Interface

• 2x USB 2.0 host
• Parallel ATA

Network

• Ethernet 10/100

Power

• 12V DC, 3A

Dimensions

• Width 10.5"(270mm) x Depth 5.25" (132mm) x Height 1.25" (32mm)

Weight

• 2.2 lbs (1Kg)

Package Contents

• NMT A-100 (HDD not included)
• 100~240V Power Adapter and 3 Prong Flat US Power Cord
• 1.5M length HDMI cable
• Remote Control with 2 "AAA" batteries
• Quick start guide