Syabas introduces consumer-oriented Popbox media player
One of my personal highlights of the evening was checking out Syabas’s booth at CES Unveiled where they were showing off the new Popbox media player. Coming from the makers of the famous, technical-oriented Popcorn Hour media player, the Popbox is best described as a connected consumer-oriented media player designed to handle practically any media format whether it’s local or over the Internet.
While the Popbox doesn’t come with an internal hard drive itself, the box plays back content from the Internet, from a network-connected PC, and a USB-attached storage device such as an external hard drive or even something like the Flip Video Camera.
The system features an open platform which allows third party content providers to easily and rapidly develop, deploy and even monetize applications and content on the system. Applications and content may be given away or sold via the Popapps Portal. Developers can sign up for the program now at www.popbox.com.
Sybas also announced today several new content and application partners including Netflix, Twitter, FunSpot, Crunchyroll, and SHOUTcast.
One of the key facets to the Popbox is the fact its a consumer-oriented device. To help make things easier for the average consumer, the system features a completely redesigned user interface designed by Dewey Reid who won an Emmy award in 2004 for the user interface he created for the Moxi Media Center. If you were disgusted by the older Popcorn Hour UI, then you’ll absolutely love this new UI. Here are snapshots of the UI.
The hardware specifications for the Popbox are as follows.
- HDMI output supporting 1080p/720p/480p
- Component video output
- Stereo analog and S/PDIF optical audio output
- Flash Lite 3.1 support
- Video file container support includes: MPEG1/2/4 Elementary (M1V, M2V, M4V), MPEG1/2 PS (M2P, MPG, DAT, VOB), MPEG2 Transport Stream (TS, TP, TRP, M2T, M2TS, MTS), AVI, ASF, WMV, Matroska (MKV), MOV (H.264), MP4, RMP4
Video codec support includes:
- XVID SD/HD
- MPEG-1
- MPEG-2 MP@HL
- MPEG-4.2 ASP@L5, 720p, 1-point GMC
- MPEG-4.10 (H.264)
BP@L3
MP@L4.0
HP@L4.0
HP@L4.1 - WMV9
MP@HL - SMPTE 421M (VC-1)
MP@HL
AP@L3
Audio file containers include AAC, M4A, MPEG audio (MP1, MP2, MP3, MPA), WAV, WMA, FLAC, OGG with codec support including:
- Dolby Digital
- DTS
- WMA, WMA Pro
- MPEG-1 Layer 1, 2, 3
- MPEG-4 AAC-LC
- MPEG-4 HE-AAC
- MPEG-4 BSAC
- LPCM
- FLAC
- OGG Vorbis
The unit measures 8 x 6 x 1.25 inches and weighs a scant 450 grams.
OH.. and the best part about all of this? The price. The Popbox will cost a mere $129 when it comes out in March. You can be sure we’ll be getting this box!
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