Popcorn Hour A-300, A New Monster From Syabas?

It's basically along the same lines as the A-210. The decoding chip is now the Sigma Designs SMP8647, which is slightly disappointing as it's simply a faster version (by around 20%) than the SMP8643 used in the A-200 range. Multimedia support is still excellent but MVC decoding, which is used for 3D Blu-rays, isn't included. Syabas couldn't have done any better here as the SMP8910 chip which gives support for this keeps getting delayed by Sigma - talk is now of the first quarter of 2012.

New interface, NMJ jukebox

Like the Popbox V8, the PCH A-300 has a new interface which is more polished than the previous one. It has the NMJ universal jukebox (photos, video and audio) in its second version. Information searches and navigation should now be a good deal more fluid thanks to the new decoding chip.


Note that version 2 of NMJ is still planned for the 200 range but don't expect it before the end of the year. Syabas has however announced a 7% fall in responsiveness on this range.

The Popcorn Hour A-300 will be on sale as of mid-October for around £210, which is similar to the price of the A-200 on release.

Two demonstration videos:



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