Yesterday, I pre-ordered the Syabas Popcorn Hour A-100 media center device, and I can’t wait until it gets here. This device is so popular right now, you have to register and be put on a waiting list to actually be able to order it. Basically, it’s a very popular embedded media player that plays H.264, XviD, DivX, VC-1 and MPEG2/4 codecs, not to mention MKV (Matroska) and M*V containers, up to 1080p playback. This unit is extremely powerful from the looks of it. Features include the ability to install an internal hard drive (IDE only, unfortunately), a 10/100 mbps Ethernet port (no WiFi, but not suitable for 1080p HD playback anyway) and two USB ports for external device hookups. Audio/Video inputs are the standard deal: components, digital Coaxial audio, HDMI 1.1, S-Video and basic three-color RCA. One thing I would’ve loved to see is DVI/VGA, but beggars can’t be choosers as the total cost for this unit is an astonishing 179.00 USD. Total cost for me with the shipping came up to 222.00$ CDN.

Some other cool features are the built-in Bittorrent client, NFS, SMB, Windows Media Connect support, YouTube videos playback, RSS feeds, direct ISO playback and FTP connectivity. I could go on and on about the features, but you’re better off reading the site for more information. When I get the unit in (approximately mid-April) I will post a detailed review up for you guys.