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Today's Show:
Not a week goes by that we don't hear something about the Popcorn Hour A-100 network media player.  We tried relentlessly to get a demo unit for review, but to no avail.  Finally, slightly weary but committed whole-heartedly to the show, Ara decided to pony up the cash and purchase one.  It arrived last week and we got a chance to play with it.  All in all, not a bad little unit.

Popcorn Hour A-100 Review
Popcorn Hour A-100, $179

It appears as though the name 'Popcorn Hour' is the commercialized product version of a device made by Syabas otherwise known as the Networked Media Tank, or NMT for short.  We'll get into more detail as the review goes on, but to skip straight to the bottom line, 'Networked Media Tank' is an excellent name for this product.  There's not much about it that's sexy or flashy, but it works and it works well.  Nobody in their right mind would call it the Networked Media Ferrari, but that doesn't mean you wouldn't want to buy one.

To get back to the beginning, the Popcorn Hour is a small media player that allows you to playback just about any digital multimedia file.  It supports every file type we tried to play, from pictures to music to movies.  Reportedly there are some formats it won't play, and of course it has trouble withDRM protected content, but they also have the ability to add new codecs and formats with firmware upgrades, so if there's something it won't do, you can bet they're working on adding it.

For playback you have composite video, s-video, component and HDMI on the video side and stereo and digital coax on the audio side.  The high def outputs (component and HDMI) support every format from 480i to 1080p/60, and even include support for the 50 fps formats like 720p/50 and 1080p/50.  You have three options on where you can get the content you want to play back.  The easiest option is to just plug any USB storage device into the front of it.  Then you just play it.  You can also add a hard drive to the unit (not included, but the hardware needed to install it is) to store files locally on the Popcorn Hour itself.  And last but not least the most popular option is probably the ability to play content from any network connected computer or storage device.  Right now it only supports hard wired connections, but support for wireless USB adapter dongles could be added in the future via firmware upgrade.

As we already alluded to, the user interface isn't anything that will make you do back flips in the living room.  While it is better than other similar devices we've used, it doesn't hold a candle to theAppleTV or a PS3.  It would be difficult to imagine how it could, when you look at the relative budgets that must have gone into each of those products.  No while it isn't sleek or sexy, it is very functional and intuitive.  If you know how your folders are arranged, you can find anything you need pretty quickly.  Because it's all folder based, there are some limitations.  You don't get cover art or descriptions for files, even if they have that information in themetadata .  There is no searching or sorting or any kind of advanced content management features.  There are also some other weird side effect like: you can play all songs in a folder, or just one song, but you can't start an album from the middle unless you create aplaylist for it.

If you want an inexpensive network media player that can play anything, the Popcorn Hour is the best we've seen so far.  It requires some IT expertise to get it up and running and to use it on a day-to-day basis, but it works like a champ.  Even streaming 1080p HD content over the network looked good, granted it was all that was happening on the network at the time, but it still looked good.  If you want something with a little more visual appeal, stick withAppleTV, the PS3 or the Xbox 360 (or Vudu when it adds local network playback).  But all of those options are a bit more expensive and not quite as flexible.

While we tested the A-100 a new Popcorn Hour, the A-110 is now available for pre-order.  The A-110 adds SATA HDD and USB Slave functionality and support for HDMI 1.3a including HD Audio pass-through for DTS HD-HR, DTS HD-MA, Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby TrueHD.  That new functionality will set you back an additional $35 - it retails for $215.

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