Popcorn Hour A-200 Digital Media Set-Top Box Revealed [New Set-Top To Feature HDMI, Hard Drive, WiFi Connectivity]

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The folks behind the popular digital media box Popbox introduced at CES, the Popcornhour A-200, a smaller, more streamlined version of their popular full-size Popbox unit. The A-200 will have an on-board SATA slot (bring your own hard drive) and will support apps and an online video-on-demand platform.

On the back of the device, they’ve included a ton of AV ports, including, Component, S/PDIF, S-Video and HDMI. The device won’t include WiFi, instead they opted for a wired Ethernet port, and they sell a $20 dongle that adds WiFi connectivity to the device.

As you can find a cheap box that will play video files on a TV anywhere, the real attraction for the A-200 is the Popbox software that they’ve added. Their online platform will have a ton of notable IPTV channels, including Revision3, CNET TV, CBS, CNN, and NBC. For audio, they’ve included a ton of audio channels, including podcasts from the BBC, CNN and ABC, as well as smaller-run podcasts. For internet radio, the device will play any SHOUTCast internet radio station, as well as a few others.

The device features a built-in BitTorrent and Usenet client for downloading those legal Ubuntu distributions and other open-source free content. Obviously not, but the BitTorrent and Usenet connectivity is one of the more popular features that these boxes have.

No need to worry about file formats, as the A-200 will play all the big ones, including (for video) MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, WMV, XVID, AVI, MOV and MKV (among others) and as for audio, it has AAC, WAV, WMA, FLAC, OGG and all the MPEG audio formats (including MP3).

The Popcornhour A-200 is now shipping and will set you back a price of $180.