21 Oct 09 The Popcorn Hour C-200 media streamer makes its way into the wild

It looks like Popcorn Hour's C-200 media streamer is making its way into end-users' hands, so prepare yourself for a flurry of reviews. Our friend Brent over at GeekTonic should be jumping into the fray soon, and has kicked things off with a preview. Yeah, the C-200 is bigger than its sibling A-100, but it brings so much to the table that we'd say Popcorn Hour has packed in just as much -- if not more -- goodness per cubic inch. With space available for a hard and/or Blu-ray drive, wired and wireless networking, and USB ports to round out the input connectivity, the C-200 then adds a smorgasbord of codec support just to make sure your bits will survive the translation back into entertainment. With the "it plays anything" kind of capability the C-200 is promising, we've got a feeling that a positive review or two might be the only thing standing between us and a $300 dent in our credit cards.

[Via ZatzNotFunny]

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

The Popcorn Hour C-200 media streamer makes its way into the wild originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 Sep 2009 02:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Tagi: media streamer, friend brent, usb ports, cubic inch, wireless networking, smorgasbord, sibling, blu ray, end users, home entertainment, hdtv, credit cards, goodness, capability, nbsp

18 Dec 09 3D Blu-ray Spec Finalized, PS3 Supported

Lucas123 writes "The Blu-ray Disc Association announced today that it has finalized the specification for Blu-ray 3-D discs. The market for 3-D, which includes 3-D enabled televisions, is expected to be $15.8 billion by 2015. Blu-ray 3-D will create a full 1080p resolution image for both eyes using MPEG4-MVC format. Even though two hi-def images are produced, the overhead is typically only 50% compared to equivalent 2D content. The spec also allows PS3 game consoles to play Blu-ray 3-D content. 'The specification also incorporates enhanced graphic features for 3D. These features provide a new experience for users, enabling navigation using 3D graphic menus and displaying 3D subtitles positioned in 3D video.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Tagi: graphic menus, graphic features, daying, 1080p, billi, new experience, blu ray, ly, images, game

19 Feb 10 2010 — the Year AACS and HDMI Kill Off HD Component Video

For home theater buffs who want (or already have) a high-def system using component-video connections, time may be growing short. Audiofan writes with this story, which begins: "Digital HD (high definition), like that enabled through HDMI and Blu-ray, is awesome. It offers amazing picture and audio quality. It allows you to conveniently connect one single cable to provide both picture and sound. It is royally going to screw up a lot of homes next year. Wait, what was that last part? After December 31, 2010, manufacturers will not be 'allowed' [to] introduce new hardware with component video outputs supplying more than an SD resolution (480i or 576i). Should this go through as planned, it's going to disable or throw a wrench in a lot of existing custom installations as soon as the end of this year." The AACS in the headline stands for Advanced Access Content System, the industry scheme to block "the analog hole" by controlling content from storage media to eyeballs.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Tagi: audiofan, industry scheme, aacs, slashdot, video outputs, 480i, high def, storage media, hdmi, audio quality, definiti, new hardware, buffs, eyeballs, blu ray, december 31, home theater, hd

06 Apr 10 Blu-ray Goes High Capacity

The BDXLspecification enables up to 128 GB of storage on write-once Blu-ray discs and 100 GB on rewritable discs.


Tagi: blu ray, dcs, gb, storage, high capacity