The guys over at networkmediatank’s forums have been waiting anxiously for more details on the newest version of the Popcorn Hour (C200) and Sybas finally delivered the specs and a few pics to feed the frenzy. Some things I noticed when browsing the specs and the forum Q&A include:
- It’s pretty big – much bigger than those older Popcorn Hours. The C-200 (16.73″ x 11.42″ x 3.14″) appears to be close to 2x the size of the A110 (10.5″ x 5.25″ x 1.25″)
- A nice move up to the much faster (more powerful) SMP8643 Sigma Chip (the A110 uses the SMP8635)
- It looks like it will support standard DVD and Blu-ray – there’s a removable drive tray that seems to support a hard drive, DVD drive or Blu-ray Drive!
- Gigabyte Ethernet support finally. Too many media players don’t yet support this.
- It comes with an RF remote control – something not all that common even these days. I’ll be interested in seeing what that remote looks like. I would guess it will be something much less than a Harmony remote and closer in function/style to the Snapstream Firefly remotes.
I didn’t see anything showing price, but I’m betting it will start in the $300 price range at least. Those GB-PVR guys have to be excited about this media player as they can use this thing as an extender.
The official product page is up. It’s listed at $300 as you predicted, but no details on availability yet. Being able to add a Blu-ray drive to it makes this quite the Swiss army knife of digital media I’m thinking. Hmmm.
You gotta admit that of all the outfits out there, this is one that listens to it’s customers and delivers.
Very cool. I really like the idea of this hardware (small, subtle, extensible), and I think the price point is about perfect.
I hope SageTV gets inspired by this for their next generation of hardware… or, alternatively, I hope GB-PVR gets more polished. I get more impressed with each release of GB-PVR, but never enough to leave the Sage camp (yet). Hardware like this definitely has me wondering, though. I’ll also be curious to see if the versatility of this device in particular produces any momentum in any other media center communities (XBMC, Boxee, etc.).
What I also really like about this is that it leaves open the possibility of adding a Blu-Ray *Burner*, at least, in theory. Aside from the possibility of burning my DVR recordings to BR-D, I’d love to be able to back up my media files 50GB at a time.