Go Play AV: Portable Audio, Video, Media and Game Players

HiFi Blog reviews Sony’s NW-A3000

It’s a solid MP3 player with rather innovative software features and some goodies (replaceable battery) that you don’t regularly expect from big, arrogant guys like Sony. The lack of a color screen is a bummer, but not exactly a deal-breaker considering we’re talking about a portable audio player. Unfortunately, we guess that the rather high price tag will prevent many people from giving it a shot — which is what Sony needs to bet at if it ever wants to see bigger marketshare.

Read source article: Review: Sony NW-A3000 (and NW-A1000) — HiFi Blog

Technorati Tags: digital audio player, mp3 player, portable audio, portable entertainment, sony walkman, Sony

Ubergizmo report the release of a personal portable DVD player, the Nextbase DVM-235

Korean company NextBase presents the DVM-235, a video/audio player that has a particular small LCD screen: it oriented outwards, which makes the whole device more compact (compared to other DVD players) when closed and in use. The DVM-235 is a little bit thick, but I guess that all the drive mechanics must fit somewhere. Pretty interesting concept, even of the overall design could be a lot better.

Read source article: DVM-235

Technorati Tags: Portable DVD player, portable entertainment

PSP3D report the availability of PSP Firmware 2.6 for , of course, the Playstation Portable

Here are the new improvements as shown on the PSP:
-(RSS Channel) has been added as a feature under (Network).
-(Simplified Chinese(gb18030)) and (Traditional Chinese (big 5)) have been added as options to (Encoding) under (View) in the (Internet browser) menu bar.
-Characters may be indistinct in some cases when these encoding options are selected.
-(Volume ajustment) has been aded as a feature to (Location free player).
-You can now download video data that supports copyright protection using the (internet browser).
-WMA had been added as a codec that can be played under (Music)(This applies to music saved on the memory stick).

Note that you must adjust a system setting to enable playback of WMA format music data, a connection to the internet is required to adjust the setting.

Reports of streaming music through RSS feeds are coming in. More exploitation capabilities?

Streaming video has also now been reported.

Read source article: PSP Firmware 2.6 is OUT! - Home

Lookup on Amazon:

“Sony Playstation Portable IMPORT (PSP) Value Pack INCLUDES GRETZKY NHL Video Game” (Sony)

Technorati Tags: firmware upgrade, playstation portable, portable entertainment, portable game console, portable gaming, psp firmware, software, Sony, Sony PSP

DAPReview report finding this bright red portable video player, the Wolverine MVP:

Found this funny-looking thing in J&R’s big catalogue of MP3 players. It’s the MVP, from Wolverine Data - a 100gb portable media player and media card reader. Priced at only $ 500! Ha.

If you can look past the paint job and bland design, the MVP does have some decent features. Like a 2.5-inch color screen, a 7-in-1 memory card reader, support for MPEG-1/4 and Divx videos, plays MP3, WMA, AAC, and WAV audio, displays JPEG, TIFF, BMP, GIF and RAW images, plus it has voice recording, line-in recording, and TV output. Up to 8 hours of music playback per charge.

In fact, it has the same features found on Vosonic’s X-Drive VP6230… because it’s the same thing. Wolverine rebranded.

Can’t fault it for disk space either

Read source article: dapreview.net: News / Comments / Wolverine MVP: a 100gb PMP in ultra-red

Lookup on Amazon:

“WOLVERINE DATA MVP Portable MP3 MP4 Digital Media Player 9100″ (WOLVERINE DATA)

Technorati Tags: personal video player, portable media player, portable video

Came across this recent review of the popular iRiver U10 by the HiFi Blog. :

Overall, this is a great and (relatively) powerful device but what kills it is the high price tag. 1GB costs $249, this is what a 4GB Nano costs (never mind the fact that it doesn’t play videos). Maybe they should start working on a micro-HDD based device? I could see myself paying the same amount for 4 gigs of storage, even if it meant slightly larger dimensions and a possibly smaller battery life (28 hours are high enough so that a small reduction wouldn’t hurt anyone); both of which are to be expected when going from Flash memory chips to hard drives.

Read source article: Review: iRiver U10 — nice, but pricey — HiFi Blog

Lookup on Amazon: “iRiver U10 MP3/Video Player - 1GB” (iRiver)

Technorati Tags: digital audio player, iriver u10, mp3 player, portable audio, portable entertainment, portable media player, portable video

DAPReview report the release of PSP Advance for free:

PSP Advance has recently been released at version 1.01 for free. I have been checking it out for the past few days, and it is a pretty neat program. Basically it allows you to play back a huge assortment of codecs, while combining a music and video player with a web broswer. It also syncs great with the included software for the computer and lets you easily download trailers and video files.

So far video playback lets you use MPG1, MPG2, MPG4, DivX, XviD, and MOV on the PSP. While the program does what it says, it is plagued with ads as you switch between features, and the web browser didn’t work in the version I tried. They did say that the program should soon be on a UMD, but if Sony forces them to have an updater on the disc, then some of the features lose their value. Either way, it is a good step in the right direction.

Read source article: dapreview.net: News / Comments / PSP Advance released for free

Technorati Tags: portable entertainment, portable game console, portable gaming, playstation portable, software, Sony PSP

Oakley are back for a second attempt at building an MP3 player into a pair of sunglasses, undeterred by the bad reaction to the original Thump. Gizmodo were luucky enough to get their hands on a pair and do see that Oakley have made good progress:

It was the Thump 2, the offspring of the much-maligned Thump which, as we all know, went great with a bottle of Cobra and a mullet. What fiend dare intrude upon my post-Thanksgiving torpor with a pair of potentially NASCAR-inducing sunglasses?

Much to my surprise, however, the retching stopped. I have seen quite a few bad ideas in my day, and the Thump 2s are actually acceptable at first glance. They made me look kind of badass, you know?

Just got back from a run and I can honestly say I forgot I had these on, which is good news. Sure, I looked like a rock hard super freak ninja, but the audio was excellent and the sunglasses were… well… sunglasses. The thing loaded very slowly via USB but once I got it going, it was very intuitive and the big rubber buttons were easy to find. I’ll give it a few more tries, but if you like the shades, then the MP3 player is a nice bonus.

And just in case you forgot why the original Thumps were so unpopular, here’s a pic…

Need we say more. Maybe by gen 3, the Thump will garner some mass market appeal.

Read source article: Oakley Thump 2 Hands-on - Gizmodo

Technorati Tags: mp3 player, oakley thump, portable audio, portable entertainment, wearable mp3 player

Video without Boundaries - yep, that’s their company name - have released a new portable media player, the CoPilot, as Krunker report:

True to their word, Video Without Boundaries did indeed introduce a new portable media player in time for the Christmas shopping season. It’s called the CoPilot and it comes with either 512MB or 1GB internal flash memory. The PMP features a 2.5″ color LCD screen and can record MPEG4 video via an A/V input connection from various sources including DVD players, VCRs, cable, and satellite set top boxes. Other features found on the new CoPilot PMP include a rechargeable battery, support for audio files (MP3, WMA, and WAV), line in audio recording, voice recording, digital image playback, calendar, clock, and an FM Radio.

Not a bad feature set plus memory is expandable with SD cards.

Read source article: Krunker » Video Without Boundaries CoPilot PMP

Technorati Tags: portable audio, portable entertainment, portable media player, portable video

EverythingUSB provide an indepth review of the iRiver U10 portable media player, drawing the same concluson we have. More memory please!

Pros: Multi-function extravaganza; tiny, excellent interface and controls; superb battery life.
Cons: Limited to 512MB or 1GB; expensive; video limited to 15fps in a single format.
Verdicts: Ultra-cool and ultra-capable, but the limited storage capacity makes it hard to justify the price.

Read source article: iriver U10 1GB - Review, Specs, Prices

Lookup on Amazon: “iRiver U10 MP3/Video Player - 1GB” (iRiver)

Technorati Tags: iriver, iriver u10, mp3 player, personal video player, portable audio, portable entertainment, portable media player, portable video

With Christmas only a month away, attention is turning to portable entertainment players for kids. Here Ubergizmo give the Maxfield MAX-JOY MP3 player a quick look over.

Maxfield’s MAX-JOY MP3 player is a 80 x 56 x 26mm package that weighs 50g aimed at kids aged 6 to 12. It comes with 256MB of built-in memory, expandable up to 2GB via an SD/MMC card. The OLED screen and voice recorder adds a subtle touch, and the MAX-JOY is rugged enough to be manhandled by kids who don’t know any better. Get this in time for Christmas for 69 Euros, while a 20 Euro premium will bag you a preloaded SD card carrying Bibi Blocksberg stories

Having spawned the destructo-quads myself, I’d certainly be giving this thing a look based on it’s perceived durability. Of course, I say perceived because they always find a way. Maybe Tonka need to make an MP3 player for kids…
The other great thing about kids’ players is they have such simpler model names - although Max-Joy does sound more like something you’d find at an adult shop.

Read source article: MAX-JOY

Technorati Tags: digital audio player, maxfield max-joy, mp3 player, portable audio, portable entertainment, mp3 player for kids