Cloud Media must have noticed the shortcomings of Rockchip SDK and RK3288 processor found in their Open Hour Chameleon box with pseudo 4K video playback and only partial audio pass-through capability, and the company have not given up on more traditional Linux based media players with a proven track record, as they’ve just announced Popcorn Hour VTEN featuring the latest Sigma Designs SMP8757 SoC with 4K video output.
Popcorn Hour VTEN specifications:
- SoC – Sigma Designs SMP8757 ARM Cortex A9 processor @ 1.2 GHz with ARM Mali-400 GPU
- System Memory – 1024MB DDR3
- Storage – 512MB SLC NAND Flash, 1x eSATA port, 1x SD card slot
- Video Output – HDMI
- Audio Output – HDMI, optical S/PDIF, and coaxial S/PDIF
- Video Containers – MPEG 1/2/4 Elementary, MPEG 1/2 PS, MPEG-2 TS, AVI, ASF, WMV, MKV, MOV (H.264), MP4, 3DMKV, BD-ISO, BDMV, 3D-BD
- Video Codecs – XViD SD/HD, MPEG-1, MPEG-2 MP@HL, MPEG-4.2, MPEG-4 10, WMV9, VC-1, H.265/HEVC
- 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, optional WN-160P USB Wi-Fi dongle (802.11 b/g/n)
- Misc – IR receiver, power and network LEDs
- Power Supply – 5V/3A
- Dimensions – 144 x 110 x 30 mm (Aluminum enclosure)
- Weight – 1 kg
The system runs the company’s NMJ Media Jukebox application. Sigma Designs is a company strongly believing in the benefits of closed source software, so don’t expect much from them in terms of complying with open source licenses, except possibly the Linux kernel.
VTEN is up for pre-order for $169, with shipping scheduled for February 6, 2015.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
Support CNX Software! Donate via cryptocurrencies, become a Patron on Patreon, or purchase goods on Amazon or Aliexpress
Had one of the first Popcorn hours. Sigma design. No thanks.
Have to agree, did play around with their A400 model… No thanks, not going to touch their stuff again, unless they really start to play ball with GPL.
Does it run XBMC/Kodi?
Popcorn & Openhour? Stay away from it, awful awful software always..
I had the A-110 , C-200, A400 and A-410.
With every new player the support got worse.
The playback quality is ridiculous.
@Harley
They will claim it does, but it won’t, at least not properly.
@Nick Rout
Are you sure? It only says “NMJ (Network Media Jukebox)” which is their own software based on the Sigma Designs SDK
After more research it looks like it will be closed source and not run XBMC/Kodi, just as all previous media players in Sybas Popcorn Hour series.
of all the media players I’ve had, those based on Sigma have had easily the best / stable video playback with the simplest of GUI, still outperforming Android models based on whatever latest SoC you can think of. (no SMB buffering, auto framerate switching, HD audio …)
Personally I’m keen to see what this new SoC can do but,
@cnxsoft Is SMP8757 correct as the Sigma product catalogue doen’t list it? (SMP8756 Sigma SMP8758 are) – The new Dune 204will be using the SMP8756)
@cnxsoft My bad, official page does quote SMP8757, but cant anything on Sigma about it thou
@FatMatt
I remember with older processor Sigma Designs had a version with Macrovision, and another with adding 1 to the part without Macrovision, so it must be something like that.
Ugly remote control.
Popcorn/ CLOUDMEDIA doesn’t have SENSE-of-RESPONSIBILITY for their legacy products. For example, poor C-200 is abandoned, left without support, no firmware fix since 2013. They know C-200 has dozens of bug that can be fixed by updating the firmware. But they chose to abandon C-200, rotten in the hell. I will never buy PopCorn products anymore. Will you buy a product that will be rotten obsolete? MKV files with new codec appears, maybe one new codec every three months. Without new firmware, even newest VTEN will be failed to handle these MKV files with the new codec. So …. ?
I’ve been using a C200 since late 2009. It has been rock solid.
I also have a couple of A400s which work great and I recently picked up a VTEN. Since the VTEN is new it does need some updates to fix somethings. But they usually squash major bugs quickly.
I have owned many popcorn hour devices and have found them to be by far the best players out there, even play direct from iso file, superb network media players, 50 gig 3d movie no problem, to compare these players with android player is just like comparing a Ferrari to a lada? Far superior vxp processing, audio dac’s etc etc. Thew popcorn hour c-300 has played every file ive thrown at it with ease, auto downloads movie info, auto downloads subtitles in whatever language you tell it, g8 movie wall. Only concession i will make is that gfor the older popcorn hour you had to know your wauy round network terminology etc to get em to work but not now its plug and playwith ease
The VTEN with FW of 10 August (01-04-150805-25-POP-427-802) won’t play HEVC files with a resolution of 1280×720. I also found 1024×768 not to be working.
The system gets busy (busy circle visible), but does not really crash otherwise. Sometimes audio starts. I tried various video output settings, but no succes. I use Matroska (.mkv) files. Other resolutions like 1080p, 576p, 480p, or resolutions like 1366×768 or 960×720 work fine.
I bought this product for its HEVC support, since I converted my whole collection to h.265 but there are lots of 1280×720 files in there, so please fix this!
I had an A400 which I sent back after a week. I was soo buggy. The VTEN looks better and 24p and autoframrate for example work fine, but this bug may lead me to return a PCH product the 2nd time, and that will be the last of Popcorn Hour for me then.
The VTEN with FW of 10 August (01-04-150805-25-POP-427-802) won’t play HEVC files with a resolution of 1280×720. I also found 1024×768 not to be working.
The system gets busy (busy circle visible), but does not really crash otherwise. Sometimes audio starts. I tried various video output settings, but no succes. I use Matroska (.mkv) files. Other resolutions like 1080p, 576p, 480p, or resolutions like 1366×768 or 960×720 work fine.
I bought this product for its HEVC support, since I converted my whole collection to h.265 but there are lots of 1280×720 files in there, so I need this.
I had an A400 which I sent back after a week, it was soo buggy. The VTEN looks better and 24p and auto framerate for example work fine, but this bug may lead me to return a PCH product the 2nd time, and that will be the last of Popcorn Hour for me then.
I love my popcorn hour C-200 and see no replacement for it. That’s strange.