Player Blog Category Archives: PVP
Olympus m:robe 500 Review
DAPReview has just published a mega-review of the new Olympus m:robe 500 personal video player. It's got everything you could ever want to know about the device. Austin's verdict: 75%
The MR-500 is a cool toy, no doubt. It's fun to play around with the touch-based interface and show it off to friends. Pretty much everyone likes it, and why not? The MR-500 is packing a big and bright, high-resolution color screen. The GUI is stylish and easy to use. It's a 20gb MP3 player, digital photo album, and snapshot-style camera wrapped up into one pocket-size gadget. People who've seen it want one for themselves... until they hear about the price. $500 is a big chunk of money for most of us to blow on a toy, which is exactly what this is considering the limited functionality.
To recap:
- As a digital audio player, it's capable, but nothing special. Playtime is below average.
- As a digital camera, it's not much good. Image quality is about the same as your typical camera-phone.
- As a digital picture-viewer, it's one of the best. Pictures are very sharp.
PVP4U Launched
From the minds behind the gadget site I4U comes a new site devoted to personal video players of all sorts, PVP4U. Also, in addition to the main weblog-style site, they have a PVP discussion forum as well. Best of luck to them on the new site.
Related Links:
PMC Player Site Launches
Archos AV420 Review
Archos seems to have all its bases covered in the burgeoning portable video player field. On the heels of the more compact Gmini 400, PC Magazine has a brief review of its bigger sibling the Archos AV420. Clearly the AV420 is more of a video player than the Gmini 400 (which is essentially an audio player with a color screen):
If you want to be an early adopter of a capable portable media player, the Archos AV420 won't disappoint you. More cautious souls might want to see what's just over the horizon with Windows Mobile-based Portable Media Center players from Creative Labs, iRiver, Samsung, and others.
Related Links:
Spiffy New Archos Gmini 400
Archos AV 400 PVP Reviews
Spiffy New Archos Gmini 400
Archos has announced a pretty neat new device, the Gmini 400. It's a 20GB portable video player with a 2.2" color LCD. Not having the larger 3.5" LCD yields a pretty compact device at 4.17"x2.37"x0.69" (compared with the 4G iPod at 4.1"x2.4"x0.57"") that weighs only 5.64oz (nearly the same as the iPod at 5.6oz).
I'm not sure I would want to watch a movie on that 2.2" screen, but it does play MPEG4, DivX, XviD and AVI video formats.
And of course it can display JPEGs on the color screen. Notably, it has a CompactFlash slot for downloading pictures from a digital camera. If you're camera uses CompactFlash media, this is great. Otherwise, more general-purpose USB Host functionality would be nicer.
At a first glance, the new Archos Gmini 400 seems to have a lot of potential, especially if Archos prices it competitively relative to the iPod.
More bits at Magma (French) DAP Review, Portable Media World, Gizmodo, Gear Live and Engadget.
Mo iRiver PMP Photos (On Sale Soon?)
Chinese site iMP3 has another photo-packed review of the upcoming iRiver PMP-100 portable video player. Also, we've heard the device will be available from the iRiver online store in the very near future.
PMC Player Site Launches
Diane Dumas has launched a new site devoted to Portable Media Center devices at www.pmcplayer.com.
Portable Media Centers are a type of portable video player that are powered by Microsoft's Portable Media Center Technology. Currently, there are 3 PMCs the Creative Zen PMC, the iRiver PMC-100 and the Samsung YH-999. Good luck with the new site! [Via Digital Media Thoughts]
Related Links:
Creative Zen and Samsung PMCs Available for Pre-Order at Amazon
iRiver PMP-140 Preview
Portable Media World has got its hand on pre-release version of the upcoming iRiver PMP-120 portable video player and they've done a photo-filled preview (in both English and French). Unfortunately, the software isn't quite baked yet:
As explained before, I'm not able to provide you with a final judgement on this product because of the version of Beta version of the firmware. But beware, this beast is already very very sexy as it is now. The occasional bugs and crashes did in no way spoil the pleasure I had by playing around with this little device! We predict that the final version will totally blow you away!
Also to be noted is that fact that this PMP will be able to act as a small game console, as 6 games are included in this whole package.
Archos (even with their 500 version) has a serious competitor with this PMP-140, and as end-users, we can only be happy with this, because it will push the manufacturers to keep amazing us with new devices.
MPM-201 Portable Video Player Review
The field of portable video players is becoming rather crowded. Portable Media World has an in-depth review of yet another entrant, the NHJ MPM-201. Like most of its ilk, it has a 3.5" color LCD, but a larger 30GB capacity and slots for reading both SD and CompactFlash media cards.
The one feature that makes the MPM-201 really stand out is its ability to record video directly without having to be attached to a computer. However, great features don't mean a thing if the basics aren't there. Unfortunately the MPM-201's screen quality just wasn't there:
On paper, the MPM is the ultimate device, and it had everything to put the Archos to shame (except for the AV-500) and make the other Microsoft PMCs blush. But a small error by NHJ spoils everything, the screen is really bad and I urge NHJ to rectify this error as soon as possible, as they will get a serious beating when they put the device on the US market like this. You do get an enormous amount of kit for this price, because it's almost 100 Euros cheaper than the first PMCs by Samsung and Creative (which are lower specs).
Do People Actually Want PVPs?
The first big wave of portable video players have recently hit or are close to hitting the market. Whether these devices will be a market success on the level of the original iPod is completely unclear. Apple, the undisputed audio player king, has made it quite clear that it thinks PVPs are going nowhere. And it's the only major MP3 player maker without one (except Sony, for now).
CNet has a nice article on the big questions surrounding this nascent market: will there be content available, are execs being overly optimistic and "the squint factor":
Another problem is making it work for users on the move--and on a screen the size of a credit card.
"There are two obvious sources of video for these devices--TV shows and movies," said Ross Rubin, an analyst with NPD Techworld. "But I don't see consumers having long sessions with these devices."
Archos GMini 220 Review
Gear Live has a new review of the Archos GMini 220 portable video player. With a striking resemblance to a 3.5" floppy disk with a LCD screen, the Gmini 220 has a 20GB capacity measures only 2.66"x3.07"x0.9".
Related Links:
Archos Gmini 220 Review
neoSOL Lineup: 1 Device, 4 Ways
The guys at DAP Review stumbled upon another no-name portable video play maker, neoSOL. Whether these devices actually exist or will ever appear for sale in the US is anyone's guess, but they have an interesting strategy.
neoSOL seems to be covering all the bases in terms of product design. The four devices listed on their website are basically the same under the hood, but each has slightly different form factor. Also the neoSOL players have pretty interesting specs: each only has a 2.5GB capacity, but a 2.2" OLED color screen, can record broadcast TV, plays and records MP3 and WMA audio and plays and records AVI, DivX, XVid and WMV video. That's a nice feature set but don't hold your breath for them to appear on the market.
PQI mPack Portable Video Player
Portable Media World has discovered yet another portable video player (that seems to strongly resemble the iRiver PMP-140), the PQI mPack. The mPack will come with either a 20GB, 40GB or spacious 80GB capacity and the now-standard 3.5" color LCD.
It also looks to have excellent audio and video format support, including MP3, OGG and AAC (certainly not protected iTunes AAC, no doubt) audio and MPEG1/2, MPEG-4(DivX3, 4, 5), Xvid, WMV and MJPEG video. It can even record WMA audio or WMV format video.
The icing on the cake is a CompactFlash slot, meaning you can offload photos from a digital camera CF card onto the larger mPack drive.
iRiver PMP Photos
DAP Review has mirrored a large set of photos of the iRiver PMP-140 from a slow-loading Chinese site. The upcoming PMP line, with both 20GB and 40GB flavors, are one of iRiver's two attempts at portable video player. The other branch, the PMCs, are based on Microsoft's Portable Media Center technology while the PMPs are based on Linux.
A Pair of Sony HMP-A1 Reviews
A pair of reviews on the new Sony portable video player, the HMP-A1, have recently hit the web. The HMP-A1 is one of several new devices from Sony, this one is a 20GB PVP with a 3.5" color LCD. The first review comes from Portable Media World. The review is in French, but they have lots of photos, a video and do include an English translation:
The first moments with the HMP were nice. The design is superb. The materials used give a "luxury" touch to the device, without making too big a hole in your wallet (430 Euros; available from June 26).
The interface is driven by buttons that are really responsive.
The screen is a beaut, with terrific brightness. Watching videos and movies on this device is pure pleasure.
Next up is the review from Gizmodo, who also seemed positive on the device:
So my advice? Wait for one of the new iRiver or Archos players -- or maybe that new DVX-Pod; that looks sort of hot -- instead of paying the importer's premium for a device that isn't much of a video player, isn't much of an MP3 player (and I didn't even try, but I can just tell from the size and interface it's probably not what you want), and doesn't have much hope for firmware upgrades or the like from Sony in the future. It is cool, though, and that's something. I'm starting to warm up to the idea of a video player on my portable hard drive player now just a teensy bit more. It's not that I want one, exactly, so much as I wouldn't mind one.
Creative Zen and Samsung PMCs Available for Pre-Order at Amazon
Amazon has just launched a portable video player section and put two upcoming PVPs up for pre-order, the Creative Zen PMC and the Samsung Yepp YH-999 PMC. These two guys have a lot in common. They both have a 20GB capacity, both cost about $500, but most importantly they are based on Microsoft's Portable Media Center (PMC) technology. Portable Media World has a few new photos of each.
Also, Major League Baseball has gotten into the PMC act as well. They've also teamed up with Microsoft to deliver content to the new devices. We would presume that this content will not be compatible with non-PMC devices, meaning if you want the baseball, you have to get a PMC:
-- Full game downloads. Full game replays of Major League Baseball games.
-- Condensed games. All the action, in a fraction of the time! Complete game replays, minus the pitching changes, between-inning breaks or long at-bats. All the action of an MLB game in about 20 minutes.
-- Extended game highlights. Fans can check out an extended, hosted highlights package from any MLB game in a daily highlight reel.
-- Weekly bloopers and homerun reels. A specially produced weekly wrap-up of the best homeruns and bloopers from around Major League Baseball.
-- The Leadoff Show. A hosted preview showcasing the best upcoming MLB player and team matchups.
-- Classic footage. Fans can relive baseball's greatest moments with full video and audio game rebroadcasts from classic MLB games.
Sounds a lot like over-the-Internet-TiVo-for-the-baseball-junkie-in-portable-form-factor. It'll be interesting to see how well MLB can deliver as it will likely affect how other content producers (even beyond sports) will react to and engage with PVPs.
Archos AV 400 PVP Reviews
A number of appearances of the new Archos AV400 portable video player have recently come out, so we'd like to make mention of them. The AV400 is a 20GB A/V player with a 3.5" or 3.8" color LCD that can playback MP3 music and MPEG4, AVI, DivX and XviD video. Weighing in at 9.9, the AV400 measures 4.9"x3.1"x0.8". The Tom's Hardware gang is up first:
Convergence has been on the lips of OEMs for years, but Archos' AV 400 lends credence to the concept. Here is a nine-ounce handheld device that offers more-than-just respectable digital recording and playback, TV capabilities, music-file playback and more.
We've been waiting for the Archos AV420 with bated breath, and after playing around with it, we can safely say that portable TiVo has officially arrived.
Don't miss the video brief either.
Finally a French Archos forum site has a bunch more AV400 photos.
Dragon PV-330 PVP
The Register has a brief writeup on the new Dragon PV-330 portable video player. The PV-330 has a 20GB capacity and many of the standard features for a non-Windows Media Center device: 3.5" color LCD, plays MPEG 4 and Real video, MP3 music and displays JPEG photos. Also it has USB 2.0 connectivity and acts as a portable harddrive (USB Mass Storage Device).[Via i4u]