To continue our coverage of Pre-CES 2010, here we have an ambitious media hub from Syabas, the same company that gave you Popcorn Hour. The new media device called Popbox Hub promises a better interface highlighted by visual thumbnails, applets called Infopops and a much improved universal search tool.
In case you’re not familiar with Popcorn Hour, it’s a multimedia machine that streams and plays all kinds of video and digital media to your TV or home entertainment system from your PC, storage device, network or over the Internet.
Popbox Hub carries on this functionality plus more. First, there’s still the Popapps which were re-programmed to store content locally as well as use more complex code including Java, Flash or Qt. This allows local content such as games as well as content provider such as Netflix.
Popbox Hub will also continue to stream content from ABC, BBC, CBS, CNN and NBC. It will also continue to support major podcasters – Revision3 and Next New Networks as well as non-vide services including Facebook, Shoutcast MP3 and of course Twitter.
And for your viewing pleasure Popbox Hub has also improved its video processing, particulary now supporting full 1080p HD video of up to 100Mbps bitrate. Popbox Hub supports various video formats including H.264, VC-1, WMV, XviD and MPEG. It can also stream content from iTunes computer or media service through local network by tapping on Apple’s Bonjour as well as content delivered through DLNA and UPnP sources.
One of the nicest thing about Popbox Hub is the fact that it is so simple to set-up and use. It utilizes Ethernet for networking, component and HDMI for video input, RCA and SPDIF for audio. You can also plug-in an external hard to it through a USB port plus extra storage from and SD Card.Â
Popbox Hub will be available in the US this March and will set you back for $129.
Via Electronista
Originally posted on January 4, 2010 @ 7:05 am