Popcorn Hour A-300 on order :-)

[gadgtfreek]

http://www.popcornhour.com/onlinesto...&mainItemId=45

Connectivity
Bonjour,UPnP SSDP, UPnP AV, Windows Media Connect, Windows Media Player NSS, Samba,NFS
Media Servers: myiHomeLite, myiHomeMS (UPnP)
Third-Party Jukebox: Eversion/YAMJ, UMC
BitTorrent P2P, Usenet downloader
NAS Access : SMB, NFS, FTP

Supported Media File Formats
Video 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
Video Decoders: 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
Audio Containers: AAC, M4A,MPEG audio (MP1, MP2, MP3, MPA),WAV,WMA,FLAC,OGG
Audio Decoders: Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS, WMA, WMA Pro,MPEG-1 Layer 1, 2, 3,MPEG-4 AAC-LC,MPEG-4 HE-AAC,MPEG-4 BSAC,LPCM,FLAC,Vorbis,TrueAudio,APE Audio
Audio Pass-Through: DTS, DTS-HD HR, DTS-HD MA,Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby True HD
Other Formats: ISO, IFO navigation,AVCHD navigation,Simple BD navigation
Photo Formats: JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF
Subtitle Formats: Opensubtitle support, SRT, MicroDVD SUB, SSA, SUB/IDX

DRM
Cardea DRM (WMDRM-ND),Janus DRM (WMDRM-PD)

Chipset
Sigma Designs SMP8647 800MHz with L2 Cache.

Memory
512MB DDR2 DRAM, 256MB NAND Flash

Audio/Video Outputs
HDMI, YPbPr, CVBS, Stereo Audio/PDIF, Digital Optical

Other Interface
Power LED and Attention LED, 1x USB 2.0 Host Front and Back, 1 x USB 3.0 Slave, Internal mounting for 2.5" or 3.5" SATA HDD, Infra-Red Remote Control, Full power down, standby and power up by remote control, Service pin hole for TV Mode switching and shutting down without remote control.

Network
Ethernet 10/100/1000 Mbps

Dimension
Width x Depth x Height : 265mm x 135mm x 45mm (10.4" x 5.31" x 1.77")
Weight
1Kg (2.2 lbs)
High Quality Vented Aluminum Case, Fanless Operation

Package Content
Popcorn Hour A-300 (HDD not included),IEC 60320 C13 power cord, 12V 3A AC-DC Adaptor, 1.5M length HDMI cable, USB cable,IR Remote Control with 2 "AAA" batteries,Screws for 2.5" / 3.5" HDD, Quick start guide,Installation Guide,There is 2 USB cables, one is a short cable for USB extension purpose, one is a USB slave cable, There is no last minute note ,Warranty Card

This thing can play a ton of different formats, over network, via external drive or internal drive. Since all Blu players now are held to Cinavia watermark potential, Blu-ray Iso/Folder/Etc playback is getting slowly killed. I've had my eye on a PCH for awhile but finally decided to get serious. I intend on connecting an external HDD, which will most likely be this WD 2TB drive, because it's proven to work fine:

http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digita...gital+Elements

I already have AnyDVD HD, but looked at MakeMKV as well as DVDFab trying to determine what kind of structure I would go with for my Blu-ray rips (Iso/Folder/MKV/M2TS). After seeing which versions can cause what issues, Im just going to stick with full Iso copies from AnyDVD HD. These seem to be very reliable especially on discs using seamless branching. Total for unit was $238 shipped to me, and it looks like the build batches and send weekly, and since I just missed a shipment it'll prob 10 days before I see mine.

I'll report back when I get it in and some movies on the drive, letting you know how it does. This will be replacing my Blu player in the HT, and I'm also going to put Spears and Munsil/DVE on it so I can check brightness as well as other performance.

[gadgtfreek]

Looks like I ended up in a sooner batch than expected:

RE: [A-300 & C-300] 6 July 2012 Batch [CHARGED, Pending to Ship]
A-300
Order taken from Jun 27, 2012 6:29:20 PM GMT+08:00
to Jun 29, 2012 1:13:04 PM GMT+08:00 will fall into this batch

I ordered mine on 6/28.

[gadgtfreek]

Use DVDFab Copy for my Spears and Munsil Disc and DVE Disc Iso's, so I can check some minor calibration stuff within the A-300. I figure Iso playback of the calibration disc should allow me to run test patterns and accurately check the video performance. Then used the Ripper to get two of my flicks ripped to M2TS, seemed to work well, went fast, and they look fine checking their playback in VLC player.

Kinda cool firing up the flick and it going straight to the movie LOL.

2hr 6 min movie is 20.6 gb's, and a 1hr 43 min movie is 25.0 gb's if that makes any sense . I guess the shorter flick is encoded at a higher bitrate than the longer flick, but I love the fact they are 20 gigs. I should be able to cram a lot on the HDD for the A-300.

Gonna go order this now:

http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digita...gital+Elements

Because it is proven to work.

[mrtripleone]

How long did it take to rip the move?

[gadgtfreek]

The 25 gb one, in M2TS with trailers and all removed, was about 38 mins.

My Asus slim USB 2.0 BD drive has a 6x read speed for Blu.

[gadgtfreek]

A-300 is sitting on my doorstep, pics and thoughts later tonight or tomorrow.

[gadgtfreek]

Cool little product. I havent run the full battery of video tests yet, but brightness and contrast patterns look fine compared with my normal settings. Unit had old FW, so I updated which was very simple as well. My 2TB WD Elements external drive seems to work fine, and the A300 browses titles quick. All my movies are movie/lossless audio only rips to M2TS, and everything played perfectly so far. PQ and SQ seem fine, and it passed the 7.1 audio from Tin Tin to my Marantz without an issue. I really like the size, I put it right on top of my BTD500, and I also like the backlit remote.

Menu navigation is super easy, it has all the right settings, and for something that shipped Thu night from Hong Kong and arrived today, I really cannot complain.







Front USB


I always use my AVR to ensure the device is sending what it is supposed to be:



Ignore my feet, I didnt have any nail polish on today.

[zoran94022]

Is it worth upgrading from A210?

[gadgtfreek]

IMO no. The 200 series has most of the bugs worked out, the 300 is far from it.

If you look in the "Media Player" thread in this section, you will see my pics of all the failed video tests.