The Popcorn Hour A-500 is a Linux based media streamer and a follow up to the company’s VTEN device which, in itself, was the latest in a long line of media players, given that manufacturer Cloud Media (formally Syabas) have been in this product sector almost since the beginning. The product reviewed here is not to be confused with the A-500 Pro, which recently came to market on the back of Kickstarter campaign although they do share many of the same credentials.

On paper, the A-500 is a near holy grail of a product for those that like to stream their locally stored media collections with support for 4K and 3D video, including menus and subtitles, HD audio passthrough and gapless hi-res audio playback among the feature set. All of that functionality comes at a price, of course, with the Popcorn Hour A-500 available for around £168/$252 – so it’s not the cheapest – but if it does all that it says on the spec sheet, it’s a sure fire winner and a more plug ‘n’ play alternative to boxes using KODI as a media player and organiser. Let’s see how it fares.
…
Read full post here:
https://www.avforums.com/review/popcorn-hour-a-500-media-player-review.12623