Popcorn Hour prices C-200 media streamer at $299, launches next month

Looking for a more official announcement than a forum post? Beyond the read link awaits Popcorn Hour's official press release for the C-200 containing some of the details we so desperately wanted, like a July release window and price of $299. Otherwise the details remain the same with support for nearly every codec we could ask for and a front mounted drive bay ready for HDD or optical drives of your choosing. We sent over a query about the Blu-ray and Blu-ray live support mentioned, but were unable to nail down any new details -- we'd bet on being able to play back your de-AACS'd rips & backups but that's about it. Any other questions that need answering once we score some hands on time with this do it all media box?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

[Michael @ Jun 17th 2009 10:19PM]

give me i want. wdtv goodbye!!!

[GoldMan @ Jun 29th 2009 2:42AM]

I'm searching the Telsey BLOBbox, because all this devices are very older as technological concept

[Mike Vaia @ Aug 1st 2009 10:04PM]

So much for launching in July... Maybe next July?

[Mike Vaia @ Aug 25th 2009 11:56AM]

August 25th... still no C-200...

[Igor @ Jun 17th 2009 10:20PM]

How about DivX support?

[KEROLiUKAS @ Jun 17th 2009 10:26PM]

You're kidding right?

[heffeque @ Jun 18th 2009 8:23AM]

He doesn't want to reencode his oldschool DivX pr0n videos. Xvid codec should read DivX anyway.

[Christopher Dolan @ Jun 17th 2009 10:28PM]

I am all over this - MY POPCORN A100 is heading for ebay.

I will buy this the moment it is avalable - I love the PCH products!

[KEROLiUKAS @ Jun 17th 2009 10:26PM]

Too bad UI experience is a bitch on this one.

[Maeztro @ Jun 17th 2009 10:28PM]

I disagree. It isn't perfect, but I can live with it. My popcorn hour plays everything I throw at it. If I had to list my top 5 gadgets of all time my popcorn hour would be somewhere near the top of that list.

[KEROLiUKAS @ Jun 17th 2009 10:29PM]

I agree it is usable, but after using DivX Connected UI, seeing Popcorn hour i was like ewwwwwww.

[Bakkoda @ Jun 17th 2009 11:13PM]

I will gladly trade shiny pictures, animated menus and other such trivial crap for the versatility of the popcorn hour. My A-110 is the single greatest multimedia device I have ever owned.

[jds580s @ Jun 18th 2009 2:44AM]

Not so fast. We haven't seen the UI on this one yet. The chip supports flash or at least flash lite so it could look very different than the a-100 and a-110 we are familiar with.

[Christopher Dolan @ Jun 17th 2009 10:27PM]

Now if i get a BLU RAY, HD DVD combo drive will it play my HD DVD too? I do have a nice collection and would like to put the 360 add on away forever.

[jds580s @ Jun 18th 2009 2:41AM]

No HD-DVD support. It's a limitation of the sigma chip.

[chrisnorth @ Jun 17th 2009 10:31PM]

this seems like a really nice product but a ps3 seems like a better option. divx support is a must for most people mabey im wrong.

[KEROLiUKAS @ Jun 17th 2009 10:32PM]

A must? This thing eats DivX for breakfast and drinks it off with some h.264.

[chrisnorth @ Jun 18th 2009 12:13AM]

oh i didnt see the xvid but the extra $100 for a ps3 i still think would be well worth it. paired with a nice external hdd or stream from your pc. plus remote play capability. i moved from xbmc to the ps3 2 years ago and i havent looked back. only thing i miss is the imdb info.

[hugoliva @ Jun 18th 2009 1:30AM]

chris
You have no idea what you're talking about. I own both a PS3 and a PCH and only once made the stupidity of trying to use the PS3 as a media player. Some differences that set both apart are:
1.- In order to use subs in PS3 you have to do one of 2 things, either hardcode them or integrate them into the file so you can make turn them on/off, that takes time and extra programs, with PCH you only place the .srt next to the video file and you're ready to go.
2.- Ever tried to play .mkv in PS3?, you'll have to transcode it so it can play, more time and programs, with PCH you just hot play and there you go.
3.- Play iso in PS3, yeah right! not gonna happen 'till someone hack it. With PCH you just hit play.
4.- Play contained files in rar? PS3 never gonna happen, PCH you just install Ilink, press play and of you go
5.- Torrent and usenet clients already integrated in PCH. PS· you have to install Linux and then figure out how to play what yo downloaded.
6.- Files over 4GB? PS3 won't even read NTFS or ext3. I've played 45GB files directly from PCH's HDD without a hiccup.
7.- Noise!!!! PS3 sound like a frigging jet engine, PCH is noiseless, as a matter of fact, it doesn't even have a fan!
8.- And at last but not least, power consumption. My killawat has measured the PCH at 15W max while playing from an internal 1TB HDD an h.264, 1080p, multiple subtitles, DTS sound filled .mkv while downloading torrents. My PS3 draws 150W just being on.
Once you've tried a PCH you'll ask yourself whay you loose you're time using the PS3 as a media center. The only video game console that can compare to a PCH is an original XBOX with XBMC, and it doesn't do HD.

[Richard Glitter @ Jun 18th 2009 1:51AM]

@hugoliva

Thanks a lot, you just cost me 300 bucks =]

[Mike @ Jun 18th 2009 3:09AM]

PS3 is by far a better bet. It does 90% of things this does (plus obviously gaming and web browsing, remote play, and Slingbox PVR with PlayTV).

Also The PS3 does them far more stylish (Although I doubt the trailer-park Xbox owners know what style means). Take the photo slideshows on PS3, blows away anything else I have seen...

[chrisnorth @ Jun 18th 2009 7:23AM]

whoa whoa im not trying to start a console debate here sry bout that. let me clairify. i was just stating that for an extra $100 you could get a ps3 which puts this in a tricky category. im sure this thing is an outstanding media player and well worth $300. hey ill go as far as saying its most likely the best media player out there, but personally id want more than a media player out of $300.

[john mckay @ Aug 29th 2009 1:07AM]

Not so fast buddy; I doubt if you have a PS3.

It wont play wmv/vc-1 encoded movies (unless you don't need sound), it's fussy about versions of AVI and MPG. Yes you can use PS3 Streaming but who wants to transcode from a PC (and is far from perfect) when you can use a PCH by itself or via a central NAS. V3 firmware might fix some of the issues but I'm not holding my breath. I'll probably keep the PS3 for 2nd room, games and photos, but might not.

I'm eagerly awaiting my c-200 which I've ordered, and the fate of the PS3 hangs in the balance.

[heartday @ Jun 17th 2009 10:35PM]

If it plays HD dvd, i would buy it

[Ghoti @ Jun 18th 2009 12:30AM]

If it plays Betamax, I would buy it! :-)

[hugoliva @ Jun 18th 2009 1:36AM]

No 8 track is a deal killer

[Neg @ Jun 18th 2009 2:27AM]

needs a film scanner imo

[heffeque @ Jun 18th 2009 8:28AM]

I've checked and it doesn't read Vinyl records :-( A no-no for me :-(

[The Avatar @ Jun 18th 2009 10:36AM]

Reel-2-Reel baby!!!

[Stin @ Jun 17th 2009 10:53PM]

I'd rather take the $300 and buy a small home theater PC that can do so much more than this streamer can.

[Lucas @ Jun 17th 2009 10:59PM]

Name ONE!?

Remember, it has to have HDMI, an OS, etc..

[Stin @ Jun 17th 2009 11:06PM]

I bought a HP Slimline last year for $300 that is dual core, 320GB hard drive, 2GB ram, Windows Vista Home Premium, ATI graphics with HDMI out. It's small and it's whisper quiet. Check ebay.

[Lucas @ Jun 17th 2009 11:25PM]

..ok, then how will you interface with it? I don't want a keyboard anywhere near my TV.

[Taz @ Jun 17th 2009 11:27PM]

The ZOTAC ION motherboard with an Atom N330 has all the outputs you'll ever need (HDMI (with HDMI audio OUT), SPDIF, Optical, etc) and will decode 1080p content with the XBMC Live CD (9.04 currently)...

And this has the advantage of having the super slick and extremely useable XBMC interface.

I haven't come across a single video format that it won't play.

[adam.plante @ Jun 18th 2009 1:04AM]

@Lucas
Well I would use a remote personally

[Kamokazi @ Jun 18th 2009 1:08AM]

@Lucas

You can use regular remotes, or cool mice like the MX Air with HTPCs.

There are very nice HTPC keyboards that would not seem out of place in a living room, or discreet ones like the DiNovo mini.

But really, just because *you* don't want a keyboard doesn't mean a $300 HTPC is worse than this. Really quite the opposite. However the advantages of a HTPC are also disadvantages to some...they don't want the complexity or flexibility, they just want a simple media player. Maybe that's why you can *gasp* pick the one that suits your needs best. Isn't a competitive market with different products targeting different needs of consumers great?

[john mckay @ Aug 29th 2009 12:44PM]

Go on... what would you like the PC thingy to do that this can't?

Apart from burn copious amount of energy, buzz away in the background, need codec updates, need 3rd party software to run the files. I'm interested to know what this can't do, and which you feel is relevant to it's function. It ticks my boxes!

[Andy D @ Jun 17th 2009 10:57PM]

As much as I love my HDX 1000 and YAMJ, I rather have XBMC. I'm hoping the Ion platform will help with moving back to that. I think I read that GPU support for XBMC is in the works.

[AJ in the East Bay @ Jun 18th 2009 2:00AM]

+1

XBMC is the $hit.

[kingu @ Jun 18th 2009 4:59AM]

Works on GNU/Linux with latest nvida drivers.

[darkinfero @ Jun 17th 2009 11:01PM]

I'm punch

[mykie @ Jun 17th 2009 11:01PM]

$50 for a used xbox, easily softmodded to xbmc still seems like a better price:performance ratio.

[Andy D @ Jun 17th 2009 11:14PM]

Except that it's a big box and doesn't play HD video

[John @ Jun 17th 2009 11:01PM]

Of course PH supports Divx, and everything else:

# Video Containers supported: 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 supported: 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 supported: AC, M4A, MPEG audio (MP1, MP2, MP3, MPA), WAV, WMA, FLAC, OGG

# Audio Decoders supported: Dolby Digital, DTS, WMA, WMA Pro, MPEG-1 Layer 1, 2, 3, MPEG-4 AAC-LC, MPEG-4 HE-AAC, MPEG-4 BSAC, LPCM, FLAC, Vorbis

[jonshipman @ Jun 17th 2009 11:30PM]

I believe they were joking. Since official DivX support needs a paid license. They went with XviD which is open source and plays all divx files anyway.

[Scuba Steve @ Jun 17th 2009 11:15PM]

It supports everything that is free...but Netflix, Hulu? Forget it. Might as well stick with an A-100 or an A-110. You are stuck buying playon anyway.

[jds580s @ Jun 18th 2009 2:51AM]

Don't rule Netflix out for the Popcorn Hour. The C-200 supports DRM which was the major hang-up with the a110. There have been a few hints at Netflix, subtle as they may have been. This could have been the device needed to actually do it.

[Jeff @ Jun 17th 2009 11:20PM]

Multi Channel flac in a mkv? I've played with YAMJ and it doesn't compare to XBMC or Mediaportal. PC still wins in my book.

[h_2_o @ Jun 17th 2009 11:22PM]

with the ion based nettop boxes hitting homes soon, popcorn hour is going to have a very hard sell to anyone. give me an ion any day of the week over this POS

[DR House @ Jun 17th 2009 11:34PM]

i wonder if it will blend