Syabas Popcorn Hour A-110 HD Media Tank review

Popcorn Hour is made by the little-known Syabas Technology, which produces firmware for other media streamers.

Unlike many of the devices here, Popcorn Hour has only an Ethernet port, although you can buy Syabas’s Draft-N WN-100 adaptor for around £40. It has a good selection of outputs, including composite, component, S-video and HDMI.

When we updated the Popcorn Hour’s firmware, we received a host of new features, including improved internet radio capabilities. The A-110 also has excellent support for online video, with a built-in client for legal BitTorrent downloads from the Vuze network as well as clients for YouTube and other video services.

The interface is clear and easy to use. The Media Source screen lets you browse your network for shared files and folders. You can also browse content stored on a USB drive. We reviewed the diskless version of the A-110 but you can fit a SATA hard disk or buy one with a 500GB hard disk for around £60 extra, which makes it better value than Netgear’s EVA9150.

In menu screens, the remote control’s volume adjustment buttons allow you to page up and down through the menu. Coloured buttons at the bottom of the remote let you switch between modes that filter files into video, audio and picture content. Frustratingly, no thumbnails are shown for photos and flicking through images at full screen was sluggish. However, you can pan and zoom, and slideshows played fine.

The Popcorn Hour supports more formats than almost any other device here except Netgear’s EVA9150, and its video support is particularly impressive. However, adding WiFi and a hard disk pushes the price up considerably. If you don’t need a hard disk, the A-110 is much better value than the EVA9150. It wins a Best Buy award.