POPCORN HOUR A-400 is coming soon

Yeah I seen that the other day. I'm still waiting for a Sigma box that we can put XBMC on.

Anandtech.com claims the vendor has stated a price of $249US for the American market.

Yep, Werner from Syabas stated so in the A-400 discussion here.

That's an excellent price indeed. Much better than current Dune prices. We will have to see how well it performs though.

This is key, that it's mostly stable at launch. With Mede8er's MED1000X3D at $225 shipped in the U.S., also with BD-lite, jukebox, and other similar features, Syabas's PCH A-400 has to be more compelling for $249 + shipping.

VXP in that price range is an added bonus not something everyone would use but still nice to have.

Yeah, forgot about that. So, in theory PQ should be better, artifact free.

Should be and unlike oppo all sources should pass through vxp.

Can you explain this abit more? i'm only interested in playback of original bluray files stored on the network. Will VXP help? in theory should the picture quality match/exceed the Oppo? Does bluray files pass through vxp on the Oppo? (btw. I've used the Oppo 93 a couple of months ago and the picture quality was MAYBE 1-2% (very hard to tell...even on a Epson 5010 projector + 120" screen) better than my htpc running Jriver + Madvr ...end up selling the Oppo).

In theory it should look better the oppo does not pass 1080p video through its qedo scaler only 480p or lower and if I remember right only over component not hdmi.

very excited about this launch... c200 feels like its getting long in the tooth... although its been a solid player for many years and i have yet to find a better replacement...

It depends on the oppo's configuration halfelite ;the permutations are listed here ; long story short - the qdeo can be used over hdmi

http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/transports/high-definition-dvd-players-hd-dvd-blu-ray/oppo-bdp-93-full-review/internet-apps-hdmi-settings

Curious how the a400's vxp compares and how comprehensive is its programming for the low price

Is it always used no matter the source? according to this site http://www.hdfever.fr/2011/05/01/test-oppo-bdp-95eu/ hdmi1 run its but only with a disc, if you have a 1080p mkv it wont run and uses the mediatek chip. Ok i re read the article

"MKV 720p to 1080p are decoded by Mediatek in Direct mode, so this is the Mediatek that upscale MKV, and not the Marvell" So I assume most people dont run direct mode? I dont own an oppo can you clarify what direct mode is? When I think of Direct i think of no post procressing yet it says in direct mode it will upscale so its confusing what is what.
Edited by halfelite - 9/5/12 at 11:29pm

From estimating what the translation means halflite the ''direct'' nomenclature is probably oppo's source direct which does indeed bypass the qdeo. This is for a pure 8bit 4:2:2 stream through the hdmi 1 . Its very handy for outboard vp's ; I use it with a duo.

The oppo has a general purpose mediatek chip on hdmi 2 but this is also capable of upscaling to 1080p/60 as well as source direct [very flexible] ; just without the fancy block noise reduction/sharpness etc the qdeo does .It will be interesting if either the a400 or dune base hd can manage source direct ; that will be a clincher for a few I think

Source direct is one of the things I have always wanted for my Dune Base player. It forces 4:4:4 colorspace which I would prefer be handled by my scaler.

I looks like I might finally replace my C200. This is good news. It looks like I will be buying a bunch of new electronic devices in the 4th quarter.

any more info on CInvia and this unit?
I am talking about sata connected blu-ray player.
from what I can understand they said that doing this would make them get a license and dump them into Cinvia hell.
Not sure what that means.


ps I want to say I am sorry so many post about CInvia and the spelling is different in every post.
I just spelled it like the wiki has it, unsure what is correct.
Edited by etrin - 9/7/12 at 6:06am

No Cinavia, you cannot connect a Blu Ray player or play physical discs with the A-400

thanks for clearing that up dbone there was talk in their thread about it and at first I thought they were saying that it would be included then only for external players then no.
I had to ask

are you getting one for review?
hope they send you one tomorrow

Yeah, the Cinavia talk was just to clarify why you won't be seeing a C version.

Once the A400 is up for pre order I will get my order in and definitely review once I receive

Awaiting for the A400 and the Dune Series review. I wonder if the A400 still uses the YAMJ / (Skin vesion) type of Jukebox as well as having an internal NMJ.

Not sure I follow you about your YAMJ question. YAMJ is an App, has nothing to do with NMJ (sorry if I misunderstood your question)

I meant if the A-400 is going to be like the A-300 jukebox wise.

Should be the same, with the added ability to navigate and control NMJ via iPad. Eversion/YAMJ will likely run exactly as it does now on A-300.

Im still waiting to see if they will allow skins like eversion to use opengl, that pretty much would give some encourgament to make more flash skins that would have nicer options.

Werner has stated flash only.

Flash is fine opengl is an api to pass graphics to the gpu for rendering flash lite media which is what pch runs can support some opengl. It's not a new ui just an extension.

the big buzz is that sigma will have their 3D media player available in november 2012, exactly a year after realtek 3D launch

what new features sigma bring vs realtek ?

jukebox- ( med1000x3d is already option)

xvp (not required if you have a av receiver)

esata ( most of librarys are on NAS but still good option)

price (more expensive players + ~100$)

bugs ( all players have bugs and does will not be exception)

apps to control jukebox( its the only interesting feature so far )

better built silverstone cases ( ok i agree )

i would give a few months to med1000x3d to fix all the bugs, they seem to fix more than they promise...

I have the Media8er X3. It is fantastic for streaming and accept anything you throw at it. Very responsive, also!

The Pq looks good on my plasma 102 cm, but on my 2 M 65 screen, it looks not that good as I want with my Sony VW 95 projector. Yes it LOOKS sharp also, colors are good. But the sharpness is not natural, it look like sharpened, with some EE.

I tis ok for the moment, as my HCPC broke down, and I needed something to play my music, and movies meanwhile. I want Oppo 95 quality in image, and to play all my files like the X 3, but want perfect PQ. The 95 was too expensive, and was not so handy for external files, and I not needed the extra cost for the sound, as I use my Accuphase as Dac. The Oppo 93 (European model) had too much videonoise.

So will there be a streamer with at least same Pq quality as the Oppo 95? Would relly love that! I was not so impressed by Pq of Popcorn hour products, some years ago, my HCPC, was way better. The Oppo 95, is sharp, has an natural movie-like image, but is just above my budget. The search continues, maybe in a future model of oppo? Or will there finally be a streamer available that will pass benchmark standards?