Popcorn Hour S-300: More Compact!

Syabas is pursuing the launch of its new range and extending the 300 series. The latest, S-300, aims to give the best of both worlds, somewhere between the excellent but bulky PopCorn Hour A-300 and the Popbox v8 media streamer. It's especially aimed at the in-store dynamic display market.


The remote has been on the same sort of diet as the box and looks as if it has been designed so that it can be hidden behind a TV. We're looking forward to seeing whether it does the job in practice as we particularly liked the larger format model. At first sight (and let's hope that we're wrong), it doesn't look as if it's still backlit, though this feature was included on the remotes for both the A-300 and the Popbox V8. We'll also have to check if the soft-touch coating is still used...

There's 4 GB of storage, in the form of a USB key lodged inside the box, which is practical for the on-board applications (weather, Twitter, RSS flows). You can play your media files using the network or via the USB connectors.

As usual, there's no fan which should mean that this centre runs silently.

For connectivity, the S-300 has HDMI, VGA, 2 USB ports and 10/100 Mbps Ethernet (wi-fi is on option).

The bad news is that the launch price (it's slated for April 2012) looks set to be well over £200, a price that positions it firmly as a model for store owners wishing to do without a computer to pilot their displays. Apparently in Europe, it's going to be released at €249 including VAT in all countries, in spite of the fact that VAT varies from anywhere between 15% and 25% from country to country.


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