Popcorn Hour Debuts C-200 HD Media Streamer

Let's face it -- it's tough to make a name for yourself in today's consumer electronics world. With big names such as Apple and Microsoft spending millions upon millions of dollars on marketing, one must wonder how the little guys even keep up. Obviously, it's by making fantastic products and letting word-of-mouth do the rest. Such is the case with a once-little-known company called Popcorn Hour. Said outfit is quickly transitioning from a no-name media streamer firm to one that is becoming the best in the industry.

After making a name for itself with the A-100, improving upon that with the A-110 and branching out with its very own HTPC motherboard, Popcorn Hour's finally ready to give the mainstream a shot. With the all-new C-200 set-top-box, it's hoping to provide the media streaming solution the average consumer has been dreaming about. The Internet-connected box can stream material from networked machines, local storage units or the world wide web, and there's even room for an internal HDD for keeping select files local. Of course, it supports over 30 file formats including MPEG 1/2/4, AVI, H.264, Xvid, MKV, Windows Media and loads of others.

Like its predecessor, the Popcorn Hour A-110, the C-200 streams news and entertainment content from a number video partner sites such as YouTube, Vuze, Revision 3, CNET TV, Veoh, Blip.tv, NBC, CBS, CNN and BBC and Internet radio sites, such as Radio box and Live365 Radio. Additionally, the C-200 can stream still image content from Flickr, Pikeo and Picasa.

Additional new features of the C-200 include:

• A redesigned external shell, which helps the unit better integrate into existing entertainment component stacks
• Wireless RF remote control
• An LCD display for quickly searching, streaming and/or downloading content, which is useful when listening to music without having the TV on
• A gigabit Ethernet connection for lightning-fast file transfers
• A front-loading drive bay that can be used to install a hard drive for storing and playing back downloaded content
• The ability to add a Blu-ray drive with full support for Blu-ray navigation and Blu-ray Live
• AVCHD format and navigation for displaying home video content from AVC format HD cameras

As for Web content, the box can easily pull down material from YouTube, Vuze, Revision 3, CNET TV, Veoh, Blip.tv, NBC, CBS, CNN and BBC and Internet radio sites, such as Radio box and Live365 Radio. Additionally, the C-200 can stream still image content from Flickr, Pikeo and Picasa. As for outputs, you'll find HDMI, component and optical audio.  In terms of pricing, you'll find a sticker of $299 and a ship date of July 2009.