Home > Android, Audio, Hardware, Linux, Sigma Designs > Popcorn Hour A-500 PRO High-End Media Player is Powered by Sigma Designs SMP8758 SoC (Crowdfunding)
Popcorn Hour A-500 PRO High-End Media Player is Powered by Sigma Designs SMP8758 SoC (Crowdfunding)
August 24th, 2015 cnxsoft Leave a comment Go to comments
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CloudMedia, previously known as Syabas, has been in the Linux media player business for many years, having developed various product based on Sigma Designs secure media processor. Popcorn Hour A-500 PRO is their latest media player, which the company claims have high-end audio and video quality thanks to an ESS SABRE Audio DAC, XLR connectors, and Sigma Designs SMP8758 dual core Cortex A9 processor and its VXP engine.
Popcorn Hour A-500 PRO specifications:
SoC – Sigma Designs SMP8758 ARM Cortex A9 processor @ 1.2 GHz with ARM Mali-400 GPU and VXP image processing engine
System Memory – 2048 MB DDR3
Storage – NAND Flash for firmware, 1x SD card reader, internal SATA bay
Video Output – HDMI up to 3840×2160 @ 30 Hz
Audio Output
Digital – HDMI, optical S/PDIF, and coaxial S/PDIF
Analog – Stereo RCA jacks, XLR connectors, and headphones
Audio DAC – ESS SABRE Audio DAC ES9018K2M
Video Containers – M1V, M2V, M4V, M2P, MPG,VOB TS, TP, TRP, M2T, M@TS, MTS, AVI, ASF, WMV, MKV, 3DMKV, MOV, MP4, RMP4
Video Codecs – HEVC, VP9, H.264, MPEG-4.2-ASP, SMPTE 421M, AVS, H.261
Audio
Formats – AAC, M4A, MPEG audio, WAV, WMA, FLAC, OGG, APE, TTA, DSD
Decoders – DTS, WMA, WMA Pro, MPEG-1 (Layer 1,2,3), MPEG-4 AAC-LC, MPEG-4 HE-AAC, LPCM, FLAC, Vorbix
Pass-through – DTS, DTS-HD HR, DTS-HD MA
Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet
USB – 2x USB 2.0 host, 1x USB 3.0 slave
Misc – IR receiver, IR extender port, dual boot switch, power and network LEDs
Power Supply – N/A
Dimensions – 210 x 188 x 57 mm (Aluminum enclosure)
Weight – N/A
This fanless 4K media player will ship with a remote control, two AAA batteries, an HDMI cable, a USB 3.0 slave cable, ab AC power adapter, a Quick Start Guide, and a Warrranty card. The device can run Linux or Android, and both operating systems appear to be pre-installed, as there’s a dual boot switch on the device. The guts of the machine are actually pretty similar to Popcorn Hour VTEN, which I reviewed a few months ago and found quite good at what it’s supposed to do play videos, including 4K videos using 10-bit HEVC codec, and handle HDMI audio pass-through for all HD audio codec I tested. Popcorn Hour A500 PRO is a different beast however with double the RAM, a SATA bay, higher-end audio codec and connectors, and support for both Linux and Android, while VTEN was only running Linux at the time.
Movie Jukebox App in Linux
I had never heard about XLR connectors before. Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about them:
The XLR connector is a style of electrical connector, primarily found on professional audio, video, and stage lighting equipment. The connectors are circular in design and have between 3 and 7 pins. They are most commonly associated with balanced audio interconnection, including AES3 digital audio, but are also used for lighting control, low-voltage power supplies, and other applications
It’s pretty hard to find media player with XLR outputs, Denon DN-105C is one of the them, and it sells for $549. You’ll also need need some “speakers” with XLR inputs such as Yamaha HS5 monitors ($250), so that mostly for audiophiles who don’t mind spending extra for better audio quality.
Instead of launching Popcorn Hour A-500 PRO on their website as for most their earlier products, CloudMedia decided to go the Kickstarter route as for their STACK Box home automation gateway. Rewards start at $399 with the “Early Bird Special” that should get you the player by November 2015. Shipping is not included, depending where you live can add quite a lot. This ranges from $11 to Hong Kong, $37 to the US or Europe, and up to a cool $184 if you are lucky enough to live in the Seychelles, or most African countries…
Tweet CloudMedia, previously known as Syabas, has been in the Linux media player business for many years, having developed various product based on Sigma Designs secure media processor. Popcorn Hour…
Related posts:
Popcorn Hour VTEN Media Player Powered by Sigma Designs SMP8757 STB SoC Supports 4K, H.265 Codec
Popcorn Hour VTEN 4K Linux Media Player Unboxing & Teardown
Popcorn Hour A-410 Linux Based Networked Media Jukebox is Now Available for Pre-order for $259
Media Player SoCs at CES 2014 – Qualcomm Snapdragon 802 and Sigma Designs SMP8756
Popcorn Hour VTEN Review
Categories: Android, Audio, Hardware, Linux, Sigma Designs Tags: 4k, cloud media, h.265, kickstarter, media player, stb, syabas
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