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Popcorn Hour C-200
The successor to the mother of HD Media Players, the A-110. The Popcorn Hour C-200 was the first to use a Sigma 864x chipset (the 8643), which is currently the fastest chip used in any Media Player.
It also stands out by offering an optional internal Blu-Ray drive and full BD-ISO support. You get great connectivity options, including both 2.5" and 3.5" HDD support, 5 USB ports (2 front mounted), and both TOSLINK and Coaxial digital audio. Other unusual but appreciated features are an RF remote, front mounted LCD screen, and a mini-PCI expansion slot. Format support is expansive and the Sigma chip should be capable of decoding anything. The only criticism that could be levelled at the hardware is it's physical size. It is larger in every dimension that it's nearest competitor the Dune HD Base 3.0, and is getting close to twice the size of the A-110.
Syabas are renowned in the Media Player world for providing good support for their products. The C-200 is supported by many third party NMT applications giving you every feature you could imagine. The problems of the cheaper players missing features and waiting for updates are simply not an issue here.
Whilst all this looks amazing on paper, the problems have come from a most unexpected angle. The Sigma / Syabas combination almost invented this whole market so it was a massive surprise when the C-200 was released and the firmware implementation was poor. Full HD-Audio is still not working, CD playback is buggy, streaming performance is poor, the user interface is unimpressive, ...the list goes on. Everyone seems to be looking towards the (no date announced) release of the next Sigma SDK firmware for a solution. This seems likely about March. Syabas have released a video preview of the new interface here: New Interface Video.
The C-200 competes with both the Dune HD Base 3.0 and similarly priced mini-HTPCs. It is a very capable player that is still waiting for it's firmware to catch up.
  | Manufacturer: Syabas Technology Launch Date: September 2009 Target Price: $300 - €320 - £300  Chipset: Sigma 8643 Storage: Internal 3.5" SATA HDD(*2) USB(*5) Network: Ethernet 1000 Optional Wi-Fi(n) Fan: No Size: 425*290*80mm (9.86m³) Video Outputs: HDMI 1.3 Component Composite Audio Outputs: Stereo Analogue TOSLINK S/PDIF Coaxial S/PDIF S-Video On Demand: ? UPnP: Yes
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Links
• Official Website • Official Forums • Firmware Updates • AVSForum (USA) /C-200 • New Interface Video |
Reviews
• CNet UK [9/10] [Sep-09] • MPCClub [Sep-09] • MediaSmartServer [Sep-09] • Gizmodo Comparison [Nov-09] • Hometheatre.il /Youtube [Jun-09] |
Places to Buy
• Buy Direct From Popcorn Hour • Google Shopping   
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Product Discussion There are 5 comments
December 16, 2009 - 10:11
Without paying $50 for the IR remote kit this is NOT harmony compatible!! November 24, 2009 - 03:53
I canceled my order for c-200 after waiting for one month+ because of continues delays. Proved to be the right thing to do. September 12, 2009 - 10:15
At the moment these are working: LG GGC-H20L, LG CH08LS List of compatability is here: September 10, 2009 - 10:15
does anyone know what kind of bluray drive this support? August 27, 2009 - 10:14
popcorn hour webpage is down 27 th august. popular media player!! Leave a Comment
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