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Fast 8643 chipset, NMT software
Fan, Lossless HD-Audio problems

Popcorn Hour A-200
The natural successor to the hugely successful A-100/110 now upgraded with the same faster Sigma 8643 chip as the C-200. The main difference between this and the C-200 is the lack of Blu-Ray (commercial/menu) support. The box itself is an unusual shape for a Popcorn Hour player and is plastic rather than metal.

The A-200 ships with a firmware very similar to the C-200, promising a 'rich' UI at a future date (preview here). The current user interface is more attractive than the Realtek players or the WDTV Live and a big advantage of the Popcorn Hour products is the availability of NMT apps giving you more features and wide customisation.

If the Popcorn Hour A200 did everything it was designed to do it would undoubtedly sit at the top of the pile. It is priced low enough to encroach on the mid range Realteks but is technically equipped to match even the most expensive players. Unfortunately it still has somewhat buggy firmware. Lossless HD-Audio formats (Dolby TrueHD / DTS-HD MA) can only be passed to a receiver from a Blu-Ray directory structure and not from standalone .m2ts / .mkv files.

On the hardware side the A-200 is formidable and represents great value at the price. If you trust Syabas to eventually sort out the firmware (and we are inclined to) then the A-200 is highly recommended. It has a much larger array of applications than any of the Realteks, is more powerful, promises full HD-Audio support, and is getting close to mid-range Realtek price levels.


Manufacturer: Popcorn Hour (Syabas)
Launch Date: January 2010
Target Price: $180 - €180 - £175
User Ranking: 20 /172. Number of Votes: Medium   ?  info 

Chipset: Sigma 8643   ?  info 
Storage: Internal 3.5" SATA HDD(*1) USB(*2) SD Card(*)
Network: Ethernet 100* Optional Wi-Fi(n)  ?  info 
Fan: Yes
Size: 270*150*50mm (2.03L)

Video Outputs: HDMI 1.3a Component Composite
Audio Outputs: Stereo Analogue TOSLINK S/PDIF Coaxial S/PDIF 1.3a

DVD ISO: Yes. With menu
Blu-Ray ISO: Yes. No menu (lite)

On Demand:  ?  info 
UPnP: Yes

HD Audio: DTS DmixTrueHD DmixDTS-HD MA Dmix
DTS PassTrueHD PassDTS-HD MA Pass   ?  info 
Page last updated: 22-Jul-10
Links
Official Website
Official Forums
Firmware Updates
A200 Compatibility List
AVSForum (USA) /A-200
New Interface Video
Reviews
MPC Club
MediaSmartServer [Feb-2010]
Places to Buy
Amazon
Popcorn Hour Direct
• Google Shopping   

Product Discussion

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There are 13 comments
Mito – Malaysia
June 17, 2010 - 11:54

I am very satisfied as the owner of this A-200 player. Everything is up to my expectations without any issue so far. +1 for Syabas' good work on firmware updates!

Prospective_Buyer
April 29, 2010 - 21:08

This review of the A-200 states that full DVD ISO menu support is present. Maybe this was added with a new FW? In any case, kindly update the specs to reflect this.

Rom – UK
April 09, 2010 - 12:02

True that they do not play HD audio from single file sources (MKV or TS files). Untrue on m2ts as long as they are in BD folder structures rather than files on their own. It is purely a bug in the single file player in the firmware. When the Disc player is used full HD audio is attained.

My concern is that you state in your summaries that the C200 does not do DTS HD audio at all - which is untrue.

You state that the WDTV live does HD audio passthrough (it does not according to WDs own site).

The A-200 has the same features as the C-200 (except full BD support) but does not show HD mixdown.

Reply to Rom
iboum
April 09, 2010 - 12:31

I've updated both Popcorn Hour pages and specs today and am confident both are now correct. DTS-HD MA for both is now listed as 'partial' in the specs and is discussed in more detail in the summaries.

The WDTV live supports TrueHD passthrough but not DTS-HD MA. There is confirmation of this all over the various forums.

Reply to Rom
Rom – UK
April 11, 2010 - 13:01

They all need the HD audio options checking on their pages. If you check TrueHD or DTS HD passthrough in the search specs, the only PCH that appears in the results is the A-110.

Reply to Rom
iboum
April 11, 2010 - 13:13

Both the 200 models appear for TrueHD passthrough, but neither do for DTS-HD MA because they don't fully support it. Our specs are correct!

Reply to Rom
Rom – UK
April 11, 2010 - 18:00

Sorry, but I get DTS-HD MA from my videos on my C-200. Your specs are NOT correct.

Reply to Rom
iboum
April 11, 2010 - 18:15

Your own post above confirms that DTS-HD MA support is not full on the PH-A200! QUOTE: 'True that they do not play HD audio from single file sources (MKV or TS files)'

Support for DTS-HD MA is partial. This is how we present it on our site and is entirely correct. Anything else would be misrepresentation.

Reply to Rom
Rom – UK
April 11, 2010 - 20:14

Then you should remove TrueHD as it does not do this from single files and you should also remove TrueHD and DTS MA from the A100 and A110 as they do not do HD audio from blu-ray structures.

You should be consistent across the board if you are going to claim you are accurate. If you are going to remove a feature from an appliance because it cannot play it in a specific container then this rule should apply to ALL NMTs.

You seem to be selective in your judgements.

Rom – UK
April 08, 2010 - 22:51

I would like to know what "does not yet support full HD-Audio" means as I have a C-200 and you report the same for that but I get full TrueHD and DTS-MA/HD from my machine bitstreamed or downmixed.

Another thing is that your spec sheets are wrong in a lot of the listed player/features which will mislead people.

Reply to Rom
iboum
April 08, 2010 - 23:25

It is widely reported that neither of the Popcorn Hour 864x players will pass DTS-HD MA audio from .mkv or .m2ts files, they will only pass the DTS core. The Popcorn Hour summaries could do with updating / clarifying though. It is a minor problem that will presumably be surmountable by future firmware update.

If you find anything that you think is incorrect in our specs then please email us or leave a comment on the relevant page. We're not claiming 100% accuracy. We try our best.

Reply to Rom
iboum
April 08, 2010 - 23:27

Actually, I see mistakes right here in the A-200 specs. Point taken. There will be an effort to review things tomorrow.

brain
January 15, 2010 - 09:30

If it won't stack I won't buy it.

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Detailed Specification
ManufacturerPopcorn Hour (Syabas)
ModelPopcorn Hour A-200
Launch Date SummaryJanuary 2010
Price $ US180
Price € Euro180
Price £ UK175
Rating4.01
Max Resolution1080p [Full-HD]
Chipset ManufacturerSigma
Chipset Family864x
Chipset ModelSigma 8643
Chipset Mhz667
Memory 512MB DDR2 DRAM, 256MB NAND Flash
Internal HDD3.5" SATA
HDD Num1
USB (Host)2
USB (Slave)1
USB Version2.0
SD
eSATA
Other Storage
File SystemsFAT, EXT, NTFS
UPnPYes
Network ProtocolsSamba, NFS, FTP, Bonjour, Windows Media Connect
Wired NetworkEthernet 100*
Wireless Network Optional Wi-Fi(n)
HDMI Video1
Component Video1
Composite Video1
HDMI Version1.3a
Video OtherS-Video
Stereo L/R Audio1
S/PDIF TOSLink1
S/PDIF Coaxial1
AV Recording
AV Inputs
Video Formats (Codecs)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
Video Extensions (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
Audio Formats (Codecs)WMA, WMA Pro, MPEG-1 Layer 1, 2, 3, MPEG-4 AAC-LC, MPEG-4 HE-AAC, MPEG-4 BSAC, LPCM, FLAC, Vorbis
Audio Extensions (Containers)AAC, M4A, MPEG audio (MP1, MP2, MP3, MPA), WAV, WMA, FLAC, OGG
Image FormatsJPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF
Subtitle FormatsSRT, MicroDVD SUB, SSA, SUB/IDX
DVD ISOYes. With menu
Blu-Ray ISOYes. No menu (lite)
Dolby Digital (AC3) DownmixYes
Dolby Digital (AC3) PassthroughYes
Dolby Digital Plus (E-AC3) Downmix
Dolby Digital Plus (E-AC3) PassthroughYes
Dolby TrueHD Downmix
Dolby TrueHD PassthroughYes
DTS DownmixYes
DTS PassthroughYes
DTS-HD HR Downmix
DTS-HD HR PassthroughYes
DTS-HD MA DownmixYes
DTS-HD MA PassthroughPartial
Internet RadioYes
On-demand mk1Loads
On-demand mk2
BittorrentYes
Web Browser
Browser Detail
DVB-T
FanYes
Front LCDNo
Power100~240V AC, 50~60Hz. Output 12V DC, 3A max. Typical 8W, maximum 36W
Power Usage Standby8
W (mm)270
D (mm)150
H (mm)50
Volume (litre)2.03
Weight (kg)1.60
W (inches)10.6
D (inches)5.9
H (inches)2.0
Weight (lb)3.52
Added to iboum2010-01-12
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