PopBox V8 By Syabas

More info at Popbox Forum
Product Images + Images to show the small formfactor + Youtube Videos + Specifications

http://forum.popbox.com/showthread.php?tid=1538

Preview french site (google translate): http://translate.google.com/translat...ews-20979.html

looks like they swapped the Sage casing! awesome! more choices...

The original PopBox had a disastrous launch, but several firmwares later, is now a good streamer. Mainly for two things IMHO: hd audio bitstreaming and ability to run Eversion/YAMJ on it. I don't see much to get excited about the new PopBox v8 other than a new chip (so maybe better performance) and a new stock UI, with hd audio carried over. It has NMJ-lite for its jukebox, but NMJ itself sucks, so you'll want to use Eversion/YAMJ anyway.

What would've been interesting is if Netflix finally materalized (promised on the original PopBox) and/or if there were other premium Internet content apps. Also, they opted for no full Blu-ray 3D support, HDMI 1.4a, or other new features.

But, if the price point is the same as the existing PopBox, then v8 may be compelling enough for the new chip, new stock UI and a smaller form factor (but, even there they just recycled the SageTV HD300 case).

139 Euro is the price in Europe http://www.popbox.fr/
it don't has a jukebox at all if you watch the video, but it can fetch infos from there cloud and download them if you want, also subtitle downloader

I think 3D BD and HDMI 1.4 for 139€ is not possible, also it is a popbox, so is more for the mainstream market i think

It will be HDMI 1.3a, so no Blu-ray 3D. Also, as of now there will be no premium US content (i.e. Netflix). I believe the Popbox v8 is being positioned from an online content standpoint with European services more in mind at launch (don't forget the first Popbox launched US only whereas the v8 will be US/Europe). I should be receiving a unit to review, and I expect it to run laps around the original Popbox launch. It may not be the next gen player some of us are looking for but I don't think that is the intention of the v8

I assume no word on any new PCH players?

No, and wouldn't expect an announcement anytime soon.

i think they will only announce something when they are ready to ship them out, the V8 was announced last week and is already on the way to the resellers, i think they learned from the past

Agreed. My impression is that there is still a lot of work to be done with the SMP8910 (assuming the 300 series will revolve around this)

Is the SMP8910 the chip that's supposed to support XBMC, or is that further out?

It could. I don't if XBMC was tied to a specific SMP chip, but the 8910 is definitely the next gen chip

I'm using XBMC for the first time on a jailbroken Apple TV 2 and I see what all the fuss is about with regards to nice UI and perfect movie/TV scraping. Now, a streamer that supported XBMC and did hd audio would be just perfect. Maybe still another 1-2 years out.

Yeah, there is still a bit to be sorted out. XBMC currently does not support HD Audio (at least not officially). Also, no support for full bd menus (only an issue obviously for those who want this).

One other option, I think with Windows 8 it can be installed on an ARM so that might open the door to more possibilities as well.

It will be interesting to see what 2012 brings us because honestly the last few years have been rather dull in the media player space, the same old with just recycled hardware

Yeah, shipping will begin soon. There won't be netflix, the focus for online content is more geared towards Europe.

you don't need macrovision to get netflix, its the same with Bluray license, you just need to make sure that BD playback, or also netflix doesn't output over the analog outputs, then all is fine, or else the C200 wouldn't be able to playback BD's, because they use SMP8643 which is also without macrovision.

I believe the Sigma chip just needs to be certification from Netflix. I am sure Syabas will look in to bringing on Netflix but obviously there are no guarantees one way or the other. Also (and correct me if I am wrong) but Netflix is currently not available oversees?

thinks so too yes, about netflix, it is not available in europe, but they start now to make it available in europe, i think that could be interesting then also for syabas to get it working.

www.mpcclub.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27617

Preview from MPC Club.

Interesting, but by the time they bring it to the US I'll probably already bought a 101/301.

By the time they bring what, the V8? I would expect it to hit the states within the month (should have mine by the end of this week hopefully)

In europe some have it already listed for 139, the v8 is already on the way too them, I think for that price I will just buy one, will be perfect for my bedroom .

If you care about bitstreaming HD Audio then "XBMC = No sale"

lol i don't care about xbmc as long as it can't playback my mkv, m2ts, bd's with hd audio without a issue, beside that i will never go back to a htpc solution which means again work and a angry family , i would need to maintain then 6 htpc's, no thank you, never again.

By the way Sybas was talking it seemed like it would be some time before it was released in the US. If not it comes down to a matter of price and performance between the V8 and the 101/301.

For me it also depends upon anime fansub embedded .TFF (stylized subs) support. If any of these players can handle this and is <$150US I'll probably go in that direction. Of course the damn fansub groups are going 10bit encoding anyways, and while the 8671 is probably powerful enough to handle 10bit decoding in software, I doubt either manufacturer will offer support for it, which is a bummer. (And I'm talking about unlicensed anime, not the licensed stuff which I purchase).

Bit-Streaming is over-rated, mlpcm is pretty much the same thing (for HDMI, NOT spdif). Some people can say they hear the difference, though some people also say they can tell the difference with Monster cables.

Unless there is some serious flaw in the player hardware, decoding HD streams to mlcpm is not difficult (unlike audio conversion requiring a decent DAC).