PopBox: A New and Cheaper Popcorn Hour

If you owned and liked the Popcorn Hour of Syabas, then the new, better and cheaper PopBox. Syabas dropped the price down to $129PHP 7,570INR 10,933EUR 123CNY 939 from $300PHP 17,606INR 25,425EUR 286CNY 2,183 two years ago.

This $129PHP 7,570INR 10,933EUR 123CNY 939 Internet-based A/V streaming set-top box (STB) will be out by March 2010.

The PopBox will ahve Netflix on-demand video streaming although Netflix does not service the Philippines. It’s got a native 2GB internal storage for apps and no longer have internal HDD but instead plugs in via USB port.

The re-designed UI now includes an initial 20 apps for services like Twitter, Facebook, IMDB, Photobucket and Blip.tv. The media server functions of the Popcorn Hour has been omitted on the Popbox to make it much cheaper (which makes this device out of the Networked Media Tank “NMT” category).

Specs of the Popbox includes:
667MHz MIPS application processor
512MB DDR2 SDRAM
SD Card slot equipped with a 2GB card
HDMI v1.3a (up to 1080p)
Component video (up to 1080p)
10/100 Ethernet interface
2x USB 2.0 ports

At $129PHP 7,570INR 10,933EUR 123CNY 939 (Php5,900USD 101INR 8,523EUR 96CNY 732), The Popbox will directly compete with Western Digital’s WDTV.