PopcornHour C200 Media Streamer: Blu-Ray & BitTorrent Ready [Video] [Updated With Price]

PopcornHour have revealed their latest media streamer, the C200, and compared to the previous-gen models it's a significant step up.  As well as a new 667MHz processor, the Sigma SMP8643, the PopcornHour C200 gets an HDMI 1.3 port, two SATA connectors, and a user-accessible drive bay for a HDD, DVD or Blu-ray drive.Video demo after the cutUpdated with pricing/availability after the cut

Slotting in a Blu-ray drive either requires an internal hard-drive or 1GB USB drive be attached, but we imagine most owners will do the former anyway as it seems a shame not to use the C200 to its full extent.  Connectivity includes four USB 2.0 (plus another inside), component/S-Video/composite video, stereo analog audio and S/PDIF optical and coaxial digital audio, gigabit ethernet and a miniPCI card slot that's intended for an optional draft-n WiFi card.

The standard remote uses 2.4GHz RF, though an IR version is available, and the list of codecs the C200 supports is so long it'd probably be quicker to say what it doesn't play.  There's also RSS and web video/audio/image support, including YouTube, Flickr and Veoh.  No word on pricing or availability, but this is one very capable machine. 

Update: According to the press release, below, the PopcornHour C200 will be available in July 2009, priced at $299.

Press Release:

Syabas Announces Next-Generation Internet Media Streaming Settop Box

Versatile Popcorn C-200 Now Features Blu-ray Playback Support, a Front Panel LCD and Removable Drive Bay for Either a Hard Disk Drive or Blu-ray Player

FREMONT, Calif. –(Business Wire)– Jun 17, 2009 Syabas, a leading provider of over-the-top settop software and hardware and makers of the award winning Popcorn Hour A-110, today announced the Popcorn C-200, a next-generation Internet settop box that streams digital content from the Internet or its internal hard drive to your television set and home stereo.¹ Unlike competing Internet settop boxes that support a limited number of Internet audio and video file types, the C-200 supports more than 30, including MPEG 1, 2, 4, AVI, H.264, Xvid, MKV, Windows Media and others.

"In today's tough economic times, there are people facing the decision to either cancel their cable subscription or their Internet connection to make ends meet," said Syabas COO, Alex Limberis. "With a C-200, people can experience the best of both worlds, as a lot of compelling content is freely available on the Internet. Today, consumers want to watch programs when they want them, not when a network or cable company tells them it's okay."

Like its predecessor, the Popcorn Hour A-110, the C-200 streams news and entertainment content from a number video partner sites such as YouTube, Vuze, Revision 3, CNET TV, Veoh, Blip.tv, NBC, CBS, CNN and BBC and Internet radio sites, such as Radio box and Live365 Radio. Additionally, the C-200 can stream still image content from Flickr, Pikeo and Picasa.

Additional new features of the C-200 include:

A redesigned external shell, which helps the unit better integrate into existing entertainment component stacks

Wireless RF remote control

An LCD display for quickly searching, streaming and/or downloading content, which is useful when listening to music without having the TV on

A gigabit Ethernet connection for lightning-fast file transfers

A front-loading drive bay that can be used to install a hard drive for storing and playing back downloaded content

The ability to add a Blu-ray drive with full support for Blu-ray navigation and Blu-ray Live

AVC HD format and navigation for displaying home video content from AVC format HD cameras

The C-200 includes component and HDMI out for high definition playback on today's HDTVs. And for audio purists, the device features an optical line out, for playing back content that's been encoded in Dolby Digital or DTS. The box also plays Wave, AAC and MP3 audio files, among others.

"Unlike competing new media streamers that have been around for less than a year and can require someone to hack a product's operating system to get them to work, Syabas has been happily shipping media streaming products to satisfied customers around the world for several years," said Alex Limberis, chief operating officer of Syabas.

Availability

The Popcorn C-200 is expected to be available in July for $299 from www.popcornhour.com. The package includes the C-200, an HDMI cable, RF remote control, quick start guide and installation software. Complete product specifications can be found at: www.popcornhour.com.

About Syabas

Syabas, headquartered in Fremont, California and with facilities in China and Malaysia, is a leading software developer for inexpensive wired/wireless digital home entertainment products. Syabas products enable users to access content such as high- and standard-definition video, music, photos and services, such as YouTube, Veoh, Vuze and DLTV, over a local network and the Internet.

¹= Hard drive not included

Specifications:

Connectivity

Bonjour

UPnP SSDP

UPnP AV

Windows Media Connect

Windows Media Player NSS

Samba

NFS

Media servers: myiHome, myiHomeLite, myiHomeMS (UPnP), MSP Portal

Third party media servers: WizD, SwissCenter, Llink, GB-PVR

BitTorrent P2P

Usenet downloader

NAS access: SMB, NFS, FTP

Web services

Video: YouTube, Vuze, Revision 3, Videocast, CNET TV, Mediafly, Veoh, Mevio, Bliptv, Break Podcast, CBS Evening News, CNN Anderson Cooper 360 Daily, CNN The Larry King Podcast, NBC Today Show, The CNN Daily, CNN In Case You Missed It, NBC Nightly News, NBC Meet The Press, CBS Face the Nation, Podfinder UK

Audio: Jamendo, iPodcast, BBC Podcast, Indiefeed, CNN News, ABC News

Photo: Flickr Photo, Picasaweb Photo, Pikeo, 23

RSS feed: Yahoo! Weather, NMT Forum, Bloglines, Cinecast, MSNBC News, Traffice Condition, Yahoo! Traffic Alerts, Yahoo! News, Weather Bug

Peer-to-peer TV: SayaTV

Internet Radio: Radio box, Live365 Radio

Media files supported

Video containers:

MPEG1/2/4 Elementary (M1V, M2V, M4V)

MPEG1/2 PS (M2P, MPG, DAT, VOB)

MPEG2 Transport Stream (TS, TP, TRP, M2T, M2TS, MTS)

AVI, ASF, WMV

Matroska (MKV)

MOV (H.264), MP4, RMP4

Video decoder:

XVID SD/HD

MPEG-1

MPEG-2 MP@HL

MPEG-4.2 ASP@L5, 720p, 1-point GMC

MPEG-4.10 (H.264)

BP@L3

MP@L4.0

HP@L4.0

HP@L4.1

WMV9

MP@HL

SMPTE 421M (VC-1)

MP@HL

AP@L3

Audio containers:

AAC, M4A

MPEG audio (MP1, MP2, MP3, MPA)

WAV

WMA

FLAC

OGG

Audio decoder:

Dolby Digital

DTS

WMA, WMA Pro

MPEG-1 Layer 1, 2, 3

MPEG-4 AAC-LC

MPEG-4 HE-AAC

MPEG-4 BSAC

LPCM

FLAC

Vorbis

Audio pass-through:

DTS, DTS-HD HR, DTS-HD MA

Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby True HD

Other formats:

ISO, IFO navigation

Rich Object Based Interactive Graphics

AVCHD navigation

Blu-ray ready (requires addition of compatible BD-ROM and at least 1GB USB stick or internal HDD)

Photo formats:

JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF

Subtitle formats:

SRT, MicroDVD SUB, SSA, SUB/IDX

DRM

Cardea DRM (WMDRM-ND)

Janus DRM (WMDRM-PD)

Chipset

Sigma Designs SMP8643, 667MHz CPU with floating point coprocessor.

Memory

512MB DDR2 DRAM, 256MB NAND Flash

Audio/Video outputs

HDMI v1.3a with CEC, 36bpp deep color, 12-bit xvYCC processing and HDCP 1.2 content protection

Component Video

S-Video

Composite Video

Stereo Analog Audio

S/PDIF Optical and Coaxial Digital Audio

Other Interface

192x64 dots white text on blue background LCD display, with software adjustable brightness and power off

Power button with standby, reset and full power down

2x USB 2.0 host at the front

2x USB 2.0 host at the back

1x USB 2.0 internal

2x SATA (one occupied by HDD tray)

3.5" HDD tray

Internal mounting for 2.5" HDD

2.4GHz RF Remote Control

Infra-Red Remote Control port (Infra-Red Remote Control optional)

Network

Ethernet 10/100/1000

miniPCI MII interface for 11n WiFi card (optional)

Power

100~240V AC, 50~60 Hz, max 2.5A

typical: 13 W (no additional device installed/attached)

maximum: 70 W

Dimension

Width x Depth x Height : 425mm x 290mm x 80mm (16.73" x 11.42" x 3.14")

Weight

3.7kg (8.3 lbs)

Package Content

Popcorn Hour C-200 (HDD not included)

IEC 60320 C13 power cord

1.5M length HDMI cable

RF Remote Control with 2 "AAA" batteries

Quick start guide

[via Engadget]