Popcorn Hour A-200

The PopcornHour A-200 is effectively a budget version of the C-200. It has no screen, but features the same decoder chip and firmware. Will that be enough to temp you? Chances are it will ...

Handling: just as good

The A-200 casing is made entirely from plastic, which makes for a finish that's less than impressive. In fact, the device looks like some kind of novelty gadget and certainly has a cheap look and feel to it. An internal fan runs quite quickly within the enclosure and makes a noise that can definitely be heard when browsing through photos, for example. Plus, given that I recorded a temperature of 50°C on the outer casing with the A-200 in playback mode, don't even dream about turning the fan off!


Thankfully, the remote control goes some way to saving the day with its excellent finish and comfortable-to-hold design. This infra-red remote is also backlit, making it much easier to use in the dark.


The interface is similar to that of the C-200 with a carrousel menu giving access to a list-style lay-out. Navigation is nice and fast, and there are plenty of customisable settings and configuration options. Album covers are displayed for MP3 and M4A files, whether or not they're included in the music file. However, to display photos as thumbnails you'll have to use an additional plugin module, either developed by the community or available via the network (myiHome).


I was pleased to see it's possible to use YAMJ to make a video jukebox. This tool was developed by members of the user community and automatically hunts down plot synopses, DVD covers and technical information (video and audio formats, subtitles etc.) for each one of your films. TV series are also managed effectively as all the episodes in a season can be grouped together in one page, complete with a handy summary of each episode.


Compatibility: almost faultless

Multimedia compatibility is a real strong point for the PCH A-200. HD video playback is very good, even when the files are in an MKV container or encoded with a high bitrate of 90 Mb/s. SD video upscaling is just as good too.

Ripped DVD and Blu-ray files are accepted in ISO and RIP formats. However, only ripped DVDs will still have their menus as ripped Blu-rays will just have a generic menu (BD Lite). Subtitles and soundtracks are compatible too.


Another practical function I really liked is the ability to move the soundtrack back or forwards in time by two seconds to re-synchronize it with the picture. It's also possible to move subtitles backwards and forwards in the same way.

The A-200 is compatible with DTS and Dolby Digital audio. If you're playing sound through your TV speakers or if you're not using audio equipment that can decode these formats, you'll be pleased to hear it can be played as PCM audio. In other words, the A-200 can decode DTS and Dolby Digital, including HD versions, and then send a 5.1 or stereo signal (via stereo downmixing) to your audio system. Plus, thanks to the bitstreaming function, these formats can also be decoded by an external amplifier.

Connections: HDMI and Gigabit network

Connections are pretty well covered with HDMI, component and composite outputs. Coaxial and optical outputs mean the digital audio signal can be sent to an amplifier with no HDMI entry. There are two USB ports, with one on the front panel, for compatibility with USB flash drives and external hard drives. However, although it's technically possible to hook up a DVD player, it's not possible to play the discs, as is the case with the C-200.

Networking is catered for by a 100/1000 Ethernet connection. A certain amount of instability was noted in Gigabit mode with transfer speeds no higher than 9.8 MB/s. Although this is still clearly better than most so-called '100 Mb/s' multimedia centres, it's still much lower than the actual capacity of a Gigabit network (approximately 100 MB/s). All this is not really PopcornHour's fault, since it's actually caused by the Sigma Designs SMP8643 chip. For the moment it seems to have a fault in this area and users are still waiting for a fix.

Optional Wi-Fi connectivity can be added with a Wireless-G or -N USB adapter.