*Official* Popcorn Hour A-300 / C-300 Thread

I wonder if it's worth it to upgrade my C200? I wonder if my c200 is even worth anything to sell now? I've had it for two years. I guess my best option might be an A300. although I was really looking forward to a box that uses the dual core chip, but I guess that chip won't be out until next year.

This is true to some extent, but from another perspective, all media streamers are multitasking. While playing media, they also need to respond to the user.

Where I see the second core helping out is if it is dedicated to the UI. Two big complaints have always been sluggish and unimpressive user-interfaces. The dual-core SMP may finally address these issues.

You can also just use a PC running Any DVD HD and share out the BD drive. Then you can play the BD over the network with the media players.

the Sigma dual core chip is supposed having scaling and video processing features as well as 3D and a faster processor. Which over all should still make it faster than the A/C 300 products.

This was why I was looking at that chip. But it will probably be priced high as well. So the A300 will probably fit my current needs. The only thing with the C300 I would want is the RF remote capability since I have my C200 hidden from view. But with the A300 which is much smaller, I can put that in a number of locations.

Has there been any word on when the A300 will show up at Amazon?

Yes, they said 3 months after release via their own storefront.

I guess that would put it around February then.

I'd love to order one from them now but I find it hard to swallow that if I got a defective one that I'd have to pay to send it back. Maybe if it failed after 30 days it would be a little easier to swallow but if I got one right off the bat I wouldn't be a happy camper. Not a very good customer policy in my opinion.

Expected more from the flagship ...
C-300 should not have been released without proper 3D support (frame packing).
It is still expensive and it does not offer integrated bd drive like the dune max , or dual hdd bays like the duo.
Ok, it has a newer chip but in the end , it will play the same things as the dune a200/210/300 , dune max/smart/prime will , either from lan or external hdd's.
A-300 is a way better offer ...
Probably mid '12 will be the time for syabas/dune to offer 3d players to the market with sigma 8910.
Until then , i am sticking with my H1 and netgear 550 ...

ahhh while i love my A300 now they release also a C300 crap i hate electronics , i think i need to buy that also, then i think i will sell all my C200 and A210

That's not always a feasible option though, between storage and copy protection removal.

Also, what's your opinion of the built-in NMJ/scraper? I really do not want to setup/maintain aftermarket solutions for my streamer, but I haven't heard much of anything about it.

Sigh...Im sorry but you're off here.

The A200/210/300 doesnt "officially" support full menus. I own an A200 and it does support full menus, but as time goes on, I have a feeling it'll have trouble with menus. The C200's last firmware update was for BD menu's, the A200 didnt get that update. Probably Syabas renewing (or something) their BD license and porting the expired one to the A2xx.

Anyway, Sigma doesnt have a chip that supports 3D. The 8910 is vaporware. I'll believe it when I see it. It was supposed to be available "the first half of 2011".

If you're going to use that argument about the old players play the same thing as the new players, then the A2xx/C2xx and the old Dune's will be the "best players" for a number of years until 3D iso's are supported.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/13/p...extra-hard-di/

C-300 walkthough

subscribed

NO 3D???????

Hmm ... I just bought a passive 3D TV made by LG. I am confused as to what is doing the 3D. Isn't it the TV? Certainly you can play 3D clips now from almost any media player. I've done it through my ATV2. The connection has to be HDMI (wouldn't play when I hooked up the C200 via component). Are you talking about 3D coming from a media player to a 2D TV? Perhaps active 3D is different than passive?

I can imagine that a full 3D Blu-ray would require a lot of throughput to the TV. But in principle you can already play 3D stuff on a TV from even a basic player. The Avatar trailer played just fine from my players to the 3D TV.

philip

This may seem as an odd question, but since I am fairly poor on computer and such technologies I need to ask before buying the wrong unit.

One of the media player I am seriously considering is the Popcorn Hour A-300, which specification says it can accommodate a 3.5" disk. My question is if there is a maximum storage size the A-300 can handle? I would like to install a 3TB disk if possible.

http://www.networkedmediatank.com/wi...tibility_Lists

Plus I thought I read some chatter about what format was used ...

Jeff

Cinavia enabled or, through firmware update????

"Note that Cinavia will be applicable to this unit, as it is an AACS licensed system. However, whether it will be implemented or not is an unknown at this point of time. AACS mandates February 2012 as the cut-off date for all BD players to implement Cinavia. However, it might be only for players manufactured after that date, and it may not make it into previous systems through forced firmware upgrades."

If it is, it's useless as a streamer.

Won't that DRM be neutralized for personal backups, sooner or later, by an AnyDVD or a DVDFab allowing us to continue ripping to our media servers and streaming over ethernet?

Careful with assuming. I will check the link - thanks!

Isn't it also capable of affecting a recording if a movie with Cinavia is playing in the background? Say you are making a home video with the movie playing in the background. When you play that video on a cinavia capabale player it will supposedly still detect it.

Yes, if you happen to catch a watermark. Watermarks are interspersed throughout the movie, and is designed to survive re-recording.

So, if you happen to capture a watermark in your home-video, the player will act as if it caught you with a cam-corder copy of a theatrical release. That's what it was originally designed to do.

A-300 review finally live:

http://www.mediasmartserver.net/2011...h-a300-review/

Really nice review. Any way to use it with a Plex server?

Never used Plex Server. How exactly would you use Plex, as a UPnP server to the PCH?

It is a client app in Google TV with the Plex server on a PC and works quite well. Also the client app on my Android cell phone. I believe also it supposedly can be finagled to work on UPnP devices but I have not attempted that. It does nifty things like a bookmark on your browser (or extension in Google Chrome) will snag video links off of a web page and it will be in your client libraries ready for play. Your library can also have folders from your PC, other Plex servers and stuff in the cloud.