Mede8er or Popcorn Hour A-200

DigitalSoul

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The below is the comparison of possibly the best two media streamers available in the market.
Both are priced at around £150.00 including delivery for UK ppl and should be on the wish list of people planning to buy a new good media streamer in one month's time...

Mede8er -

..Realtek 1073 based - 128 MB DDr2 SDRAM, 128 MB Flash
..No Torrent
..only 10/100 Lan
..Limited WebServices
..HDMI 1.3
..FLV, RMVB Possible
..Limited Card Reader
..Nice Feedback by existing users
..Possibly Full BD Navigation (Not sure)
..Excellent packaging of product and nice freebies

Popcorn Hour A-200 -

..Sigma 8643 based - 512 MB DDR2 DRAM / 256 MB Flash
..Torrent + NMT apps
..10/100/1000 LAN
..More WebServices/ Extra Media Servers
..HDMI 1.3a
..Seems FLV,RMVB Not playable even with faster processor and more RAM
..No Card Reader
..No Feedback so far as no one has used it yet.
..Only Simple BD Navigation (possibly due to license constraints)
..Plastic casing could be an issue if used with 3.5" HDDs, No Component cable provided.

These are the major differences I could think of.
Can any of you put some more light on this comparison and add more differences if I've missed out any?
:lease:
 
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The Mede8er (and in all likelyhood every Realtek player -forever) does not have full BD-ISO (menu) support.

:lesson::lesson::lesson::lesson::lesson::lesson::lesson::lesson::suicide::suicide::suicide::suicide::suicide::suicide::suicide::hiya::hiya::hiya::hiya::hiya::hiya::hiya:
 
comments in red
Mede8er -

..Realtek 1073 based - 128 MB DDr2 SDRAM, 128 MB Flash

..No Torrent - incorrect its just not an offical addon. In my time talking to customers about media players the majority use them for media playback not torrent/newsgroup downloading as this invloves an internal drive and most people stream.

..only 10/100 Lan - more than enough for streaming and the 1000 port on the sigma chip is not running at its best ;)

..Limited WebServices - This could be the future with paid for content. For now i bet most people dont even touch this. It's like a lot of TV's come with youtube etc but people dont use it. You cant beat a PC based browser.

..HDMI 1.3 - i think its 1.3a but they just dont bother to write the A. I have seen various tests report its 1.3a. For consumers, there is no difference between HDMI version 1.3 and 1.3a or 1.3b. These minor revisions to the specification typically relate to manufacturing or testing issues and do not impact features or functionality. In addition, HDMI Licensing, LLC is actively working with manufacturers to reduce confusion for consumers by de-emphasizing version numbers and focusing instead on product features and functionality

..FLV, RMVB Possible - Yes not sure many people use it but very handy for the odd anime rip in your collection.

..Limited Card Reader - I have no experience of that.

..Nice Feedback by existing users - Great feedback and build quality so far with only 1 unit returned to us.

..Possibly Full BD Navigation (Not sure) - i think it will be BD lite as always, but for the majority of people menu's are not an issue.

..Excellent packaging of product and nice freebies - correct.

Popcorn Hour A-200 -

..Sigma 8643 based - 512 MB DDR2 DRAM / 256 MB Flash
..Torrent + NMT apps - The apps do appeal to a lot of people but for me offered limited appeal. Ok i can run a torrent program, but i dont really want to leave my media player on all the time or have a hard drive in it and i need a PC anyway to connect to the torrent service to add my download so i may as well just use my very nice and fast PC.

..10/100/1000 LAN - Would be interesting to see if the 1000 part is any good.

..More WebServices/ Extra Media Servers - With the "Popbox" they have shown that they care about web services. Of course this will mainly be US based as the UK is behind (as normal) in this field.

..HDMI 1.3a - as above not an issue.

..Seems FLV,RMVB Not playable even with faster processor and more RAM - Odd indeed but been an issue for a few years now, not sure its a biggie as the format is not that popular in the west.

..No Card Reader - I expect its not a feature people look for anyway.

..No Feedback so far as no one has used it yet. - Early comments were just on the cheap look of the unit but the UI has been promised to be a step up from the normal slow UI.

..Only Simple BD Navigation (possibly due to license constraints) -

..Plastic casing could be an issue if used with 3.5" HDDs, No Component cable provided. - As long as it is built better than the C200 and A110 we dont mind, the returns rate for those two players was shocking.

These are the major differences I could think of.
Can any of you put some more light on this comparison and add more differences if I've missed out any?

Probably lots of features to compare =) but as the A200 is next gen we should probably wait for another new player to compare it against.

Personally i dont see the point in faster media players just yet they handle everything so far. What needs to be worked on is build quality and making players stable.
 
Hoping to have one next week. I will do you a quick review if its any use to you ?
 
Very handy - been trying to get hold of one my self to see if they are any good but no joy yet.

First delivery will be out on 29th Jan so can not expect any review till then ;-(

(Could be an awkward question but..)
Are you planning to stock this A-200 with you?
 
Hoping to have mine a little before then, but not 100% :p

Honestly I suspect it will have an incredibly similar firmware to the C200.

Which I am 100% happy with, aside from the discrete remote codes that work wonderfully on my A100 not working.
 
Hoping to have mine a little before then, but not 100% :p

Honestly I suspect it will have an incredibly similar firmware to the C200.

Which I am 100% happy with, aside from the discrete remote codes that work wonderfully on my A100 not working.

The Firmware will differ in Some Areas,Samples have gone out to some,the news confusion will be between this and the Popbox which will launch in the u.s first and off course be much cheaper,its going to be a very busy marketplace in months to come,Lets Hope Popcorn can bring the A-200 Up to speed on arrival
not have all the problems with the C-200 It had.:)

Hiya Dan.;)
 
problem with realtek based devices atm is hd audio bitstreaming cant be done on most of them yet (xtreamer/Mede8er dont support it yet) also no pgs subs on those two devices either, doesnt make for very good ripped bd playback.

syabas are not without problems though, they seem to think forcing people to update by withholding features is a good idea, imo all its going to do is drive owners of a100/110 to other manufactures devices because they dont want to see the same happen with the c200/a200, not to mention the year old bugs they havnt fixed, and despite making millions from there devices being to cheap to licence real youtube support
 
If the A200 is anything like the C200 there'll be big problems. The C200 has all kinds of bugs which I expect the A200 to have too (it's the same machine essentially). Depends what you use it for though. And ultimately, all of these streamers have annoying (and sometimes crippling) bugs.
 
I know where Smurfin is coming from. There are issues with the C-200 (as there are with every media player on the market)...But, depending on what you want it for will depend on what will suit you best.

I personally have the C-200 and I love it. I have never had a firmware update problem (I know you have Smurfin). I don't use it for BD playback (yet) as I primarily wanted it for storing my large DVD collection. The only issues I have with the PCH at the moment are:

Lipsync on some MKV files with AC3 is out (they are working on this)
Default subtitles set to off in an MKV, the PCH still shows subs so I have to turn them off everytime.

Others complain about gigabit LAN not working properly but I don't stream, I have an internal drive so does not affect me. The other major gripe is that HD audio does not work in single file BD/HD rips. I can't confirm as I have my (2) BD rips as BD folder structures which do work fine with HD audio.

They are working on these and other issues and as the A-200 is the same chipset then it has hit the ground running with the same fixes already in the C-200. It should be a more 'consumer friendly' bit of kit than the C was at launch.

You should decide on what you want to use it for first, what is importaant to you and get the one that will support what you want to use it for.
 
Just tracked my delivery and it should land today, not sure anyone will be home, but if they are I should get to set it up later tonight.
 
You lucky one...

I was lazy by one day to place the order.... My credit card got charged today and would be shipped on 4th..

Could not wait anymore..... Just received my WD15EARS ... it is also waiting for A-200 now..
Please post your views and comments.. dyeing to hear them... :thumbsup:
 
No one home :(

Rearranged it for tomorrow, so should get to play tomorrow night :)

Just tweaked my umc so might give a brief show of that too.
 
Just want to share my experience... as I am very happy about it..

My unit was downloading 4 files at 1.5 MBPS (Actual Speed) (700+ KBPS, 500+ KBPS, 200+ KBPS and 100+KBPS) using Torrent.. and still was able to play 1080P flawlessly..

Torrent support was very important factor for me.. and kept me away from buying the otherwise very good.. The RealTek King - Mede8er for a month..
Thank God.. Mede8er does not support Torrent.. I would not have waited for A-200 otherwise.... ;-) :clap: :clap: :clap:
 
mede8er has supported torrents for some time now, but it was not on the dev's high to do list as obviously its a media player first and download station is down the list :)
 
I assume the Mede8er suffers from the general Realtek problem with Dolby/DTS HD decoding? I assume Sigma chips are not affected
 
A-200 cannot bitstream DTS-HD or TrueHD properly yet from ISO or single MT2S files

Very annoyed about this seeing as their tech specs clearly says it does

currently waiting for firmware update to make a feature that should already work..actually work :rolleyes:

finger pointing between Syabas and Sigma... still doesn't explain how they can release a product to market claiming it does something which it cannot.
 
At least we know that for none single file playback it works already and that like the A110 before that it will come to the Sigma chipset. The current crop of Realtek players will NEVER be able to bitstream HD audio.
 
mede8er has supported torrents for some time now, but it was not on the dev's high to do list as obviously its a media player first and download station is down the list :)

I've read about it being possible on Mede8er but even after a monthlong search could not find any concrete info anywhere.

It sounds really funny that Mede8er does not want to include something which would add the value JUST because some minds at Mede8er dont feel it as necessary. I think if they are charging a premium over other realtek players then they should provide this feature if hardware can support it. It then should be left to the users to use it or not....

Surprisingly almost 74% people want this Torrent feature in the Mede8er.
Source : Mede8er Forum Survey

I seriously doubt that their HD GUI has taken all the inbuilt memory so they could not provide it.. ;-) I can second this claim with reference to a post found in Mede8er forum saying there is no space left in the inbuilt memory to install this Torrent client in Mede8er.

Source : Torrent Client : Insufficient Memory Issue

If you know any EASY way to install Torrent in Mede8er please post here.
Atleast some users of Mede8er would get benefitted out of it...

There is one here but that's beyond the understanding of any common user.
One would say.. if I have to all this I might as well build an HTPC.. Why to bother for a media streamer then... ??
 
I have never used a torrent client on a media player, i quickly installed a newsgroup client on my c200 just to test the speeds other than that i keep hard drives away from media players.

I have had chats with end users who have installed torrent clients on the mede8er, at the time i didnt know it was possible as personally i dont see the point as i have a NAS or a PC that will do the job.

I expect the Mede8er dev's are very busy and adding value is certainly a priority but as always there are bugs in SDK's to fix or work around and people would rather have a stable media streaming platform than a half working media player that could also download torrent files.

The Syabas platform is very good for this sort of thing as a lot of the apps written for other devices are easy to port over.
 
At least we know that for none single file playback it works already and that like the A110 before that it will come to the Sigma chipset. The current crop of Realtek players will NEVER be able to bitstream HD audio.

Shame really. While it is an important feature i dont know many people that would use it most seem happy with downmixing audio and leave it at that.

The current gen of Realtek players still offer superb value for money but the Sigma line up is the only choice for the HD audio side of things. I can see the A200 being very popular especially when the new UI hits. It certainly seems to be selling well anyway.
 

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