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Zara, Shiny Towers' PMP queen, takes a look at the 4360 media player from Polaroid. With 60GB of storage and Wi-Fi, will it impress her Archos fangirl heart? (If you fancy watching the video on YouTube, click here).
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It doesn't look like the sexiest gadgets you'll ever buy, but the Mvix MV-2500U HD multimedia drive could be one of the more useful.
This mini drive comes in at just 5- x 3- x 0.8-inches, with room for a 2.5-inch drive and able to store video files encoded in MPEG1/2/4, DVD (VOB, IFO), DivX, XviD, BivX or VCD (DAT) for both PAL and NTSC systems. And there is support for AC3, MP2, MP3, WMA, OGG and M3U audio formats, as well as JPEG photos - which can be shown in 720p / 1080i.
The casing itself retails for $149, with a drive up 250GB costing extra.
Press release (via Engadget)
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Figure 2.0 (that's the graph above but I'm trying to sound all mathma-analytical about it - just play along) Figure 2.0 shows the projections of the trends in the portable media player market.
As you can see, the y-axis represents market penetration - no sniggering at the back please - while the x-axis represents years one to six. The red line, clearly marked, shows the increasing popularity of wireless technology in PMPs from 9% in this year to a healthy 22% in 2012 when I shall be holidaying with my wife in Dorset.
In addition to yesterday's In-Car Holder GPS unit for the 605 WiFi, Archos announced a couple of other additions to their popular PMP, including a firmware update allowing for Adobe Flash Player 9 support, Windows Media Video 9 compatibility, a plug-in enabling access to Web TV shows and radio stations, an update to Archos TV+, and a content distribution deal with Paramount Pictures and Deutsche Welle. Phew!
Touting their 605 WiFi and 705 WiFi models as being the market's only PMP supporting Adobe Flash Player 9, the upgrade for both that and WMV 9 can be downloaded for free if you already own one, however if you buy one now, you'll find it's automatically loaded with the update. These two supported players means you can now stream video from a wide range of sites.
Archos is holding a launch event in London this afternoon, however I think we've discovered ahead of time what they're announcing, due to all the US blogs reporting on...the new GPS In-Car Holder for the 605 WiFi!
You may remember the 605 WiFi is the PMP that wowed Gary and I in our video group test the other week. Archos' new GPS In-Car Holder enables you to connect the PMP to your car windscreen, and update you on GPS information, including voice navigation.
We haven't heard the exact pricing for the UK, however in May it will be available at $130. Expect more information and a video, when we attend the London launch event this afternoon.
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Not a portable media in the traditional sense, the IOGEAR Portable Media Player stores your music and movies.
It stores standard definition pictures, movies and music for playback on a TV, as well as offering 720p HD upscaling for playing back on a HD-ready TV. Content can be transferred from a PC via USB, with full connectivity for hooking up to your TV.
Capacity is up to 50 hours of DVD quality video or 30,000 MP tracks. No price as yet - we'll keep you posted.
IOGEAR (via Akihabara News)
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Colourful circles aren't the only feature the Egoman PMP has in spades, oh no. With a 480 x 272 resolution, it can play a bunch of file formats plus radio and even record audio. No word on whether it can make you a prawn schezuan dish for dinner, though.
The 4.3-inch touchscreen display houses 16.7 million colours, and can play WVI and RMVB at 30fps, along with MP3, WMA, ADPCM, WAV, APC, FLAC and display JPG, BMP and GIFs. Recording audio into ADPCM or WMA codecs, the MP810RSTD-43 can also do TV out, has G-sensor capabilities and is USB 2.0 compatible.
(via PMP Today)
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In case you haven't been suckered into it, Lost has left our screens for a four-week hiatus, so I thought it was high time to review four of the best PMPs for storing the last four seasons of the addictive show onto, for watching when you're on the train to work, at the football, or waiting for your colleague who's in a sex shop.
Take a look above at the video, which we just filmed on the streets of London's Soho district, for our thoughts on the Archos 605 Wi-fi, Sony PSP, Creative Zen, and Apple iPod Touch.
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Reigncom has updated the original iRiver NV, offering much the same in a smaller package with the iRiver NV Life.
It's a more sleek design, shifting the controls to the side and improving the WVGA LCD screen. Media-wise, it offers a TV tuner, FM radio and audio/video playback from either the built-in memory (2GB or 4GB) or SD card. And there's navigation using the built-in SiRF Star III GPS receiver.
No news on price or availability outside of the far east as yet.
Reigncom (via Akihabara News)
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Apologies, this is turning into a Philips-themed day!
The company has just announced the GoGear SA52 PMP, which plays MP3, WMA and AAC music files, along with WMV video. With 4GB of storage and a 2.8" QVGA LCD display, it also features some controversial audio 'upscaling', where the Digital Signal Processor adds 'quality' to the compressed audio tracks.
I'm always hesitant to recommend products that enhance audio files, adding in sounds when they weren't there to begin with, but for the average consumer, I'm sure they could be quite happy with this entry-level PMP.
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A huge boost to both Channel 4 and iTunes has been announced today, with the teenager-friendly UK TV network now offering its premiere shows on the UK iTunes.
Classics such as Spaced, Teachers, Peep Show, Black Books, Shameless, Monarchy and newbie Skins will be available for download, at £1.89 per episode, a far cry from the $1.99 the US market pays.
Polaroid isn't exactly renowned for its PMPs, but this 60GB MPU-43315 player looks set to give Archos a run for its money. Maybe.
With specs including a 4.3" LCD screen, a lithium ion battery that'll give you four hours of video playback and 16 of audio, plus the old favourites like WMV, MPEG4, MP3, WMA and WAV playback. There's apparently scope for a DivX plug-in at a later date, which will complement the Wi-Fi connectivity nicely. Priced at £200, the release date hasn't been confirmed as yet.
Polaroid (via Shiny Shiny)
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MP4 watches! It's basically the technology we thought we'd be using by now, back in 1996. "Imagine the day you can - how's this for laughs, Doogie - watch video on your wristwatch! Oh man, imagine that! Porn on your wrist!"
Porn, indeed. Feast your eyes on these seven contraptions that will not only give your wrist a strange sweaty odor when you take it off each night, but allow you to watch MP4s on the move as well. Oh, and tell the time too I suppose...
1.) Firebox watch (top left) - with 2GB of storage capacity, not only can you watch movies on its 1.5" 260K OLED screen, but also listen to MP3s and view photos. Charging is completed by plugging the watch into your USB slot on your PC, giving you eight hours of video playback. £59.95.
2.) Vavolo watch (middle left) - as with the Firebox watch, it's got 2GB of memory, and allows for video playback and photo-viewing on the 128 x 128 pixel screen. MP3 and WMA playback is also a feature, as is digital recording. $99.99.
3.) GeekStuff4U metal watch (bottom left) - it's metal, it's got a 1.8" display, and yes, it can play MP3s as well. It's got one thing the others don't have, however - the initial 2GB capacity can be boosted to 4GB for a tiny bit extra dosh. $167.40.
At the end of last week, the Beeb's iPlayer passed a significant landmark: it is now available on a portable device for the first time.
If you've read the headline, you'll know that the portable device in question is Apple's iPhone, but even without that advantage you could probably have guessed from the BBC's utter lack of originality when it comes to naming its player that a similarly i-prefixed product was the obvious first port of call.
Interestingly, the BBC's development team opted not to use the new Apple SDK for the iPlayer. Nor are the programs going to be played in Flash format, currently the most popular means of distributing video content on the interwebs. Instead the iPlayer streams in H.264 format and you'll need to have your Wi-Fi connection fired up because poor old EDGE ain't up to the task by itself.
We'll either have to wait for the inevitable 3G iPhone to be announced or for Auntie to enable downloading as well as streaming before iPlayer has a shot at true roaming playback.
The program is currently still going through final testing so the quality might be lower than the final version and there'll be less content to browse. However, early reports suggest that both the picture and sound quality is surprisingly high which is good news.
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Never mind downloads, Sony is still concerned with that mass of silver discs you have lying around the house, launching the DVP-FX720 portable DVD player for movies on the go.
Features include a long battery life (five hours), a seven-inch LCD screen offering true 16:9 widescreen, embedded speakers, remote control, a twin headphone jack and a choice of colourful finishes - White, Blazing Red, Indigo Blue and Glamour Pink. It's also good for playing audio CDs and MP3 music files, viewing photos stored on CD or accessing media files via USB.
No news on price as yet - but you can expect it in the coming weeks.
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Hauppauge Digital, stalwart in its insistence that computers and TV watching should be merged in blissful unison, has revealed its latest attempt at the PMP market. The imaginatively named Hauppauge pMP sports a 3.5", 320x240 display and is designed to sync up with any Vista or Media Center PC. It measures in at 12 x 7.8 x 2 cm and the rechargeable Lithium battery should give you around four hours of playback.
Connectivity is handled by USB and content is then stored on a SD/MMC card. The player supports MP3 and WAV audio, MPG, VOB and AVI (MPEG4 ASP, XviD, DivX 4.0/5.0) video. If you haven't squirreled away enough legitimately recorded or illegitimately downloaded TV shows, then you can fall back on the built-in mobile Freeview TV reception, which boasts a high-sensitivity tuner, EPG and text functions.
The Hauppauge pMP will be available from April at 149 Euros, or around £115.
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A few of these of these devices competing for your cash right now, with the iRecorder the latest to offer an easy way to convert your film and TV favourites to MPEG-4, which means TV and movies on the move.
Just connect to your TV and portable player and you can use your player as a DVD recorder - one you can take with you. It will also record from analogue TV, cable, a set-top box, satellite receiver box, DVD or camcorder and with an AV OUT, you can watch your recording back on any TV too. How you can record depends on how much space you have spare on your iPod/media player - for every 1GB of storage that your iPod has, the iRecorder will give you 3 hours of footage.
Available now, it retails £99.95.
IWOOT
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Portable DVD players - yes, they're still appearing. In fact, Toshiba has three new models on offer - the SDP71, DP91, SDP120DT - each with support for DVD, DVD-R/-RW, CD and CD-R/RW, DivX playback, JPEG picture viewing and MP3/WMA compatibility.
The SDP71 features a 7-inch LCD widescreen, a 480x234 resolution, a contrast ratio of 300:1, brightness of 250 cd/m² and a battery life of up to three hours. The SDP91 has a 9-inch, 180-degree swivel screen (like a tablet PC), 640x200 resolution, a 350:1 contrast ratio, 200cd/m² brightness and a five hour battery life.
Imagine the scene - in the distance, you see an A-lister leaving a restaurant with C-lister - and rather than wearing your SLR, you're wrapped up in the latest tunes. If your media player happens to be the Babiken International BI-LV2008, you've nothing to worry about.
Ok, it's only got a 1.3MP camera, but it does have a long lens to capture your intended celebrity prey at distance. Not only that , it's also a dual-band phone with 3.2-inch touchscreen display, dual sim slots, music and video playback, GPRS, WAP, Bluetooth and e-book reader capability and seven speakers.
Price? Not available as yet.
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The Top Up TV+ digital TV recorder (DTR) isn't a new concept — we were talking about it last year and it's been on the cards since late 2006 — but now Top Up TV has announced a 250GB version, meaning even more space to record Freeview programmes.
By now, I'm assuming everyone knows what the main features of a DTR are (if not, go back to that last article and read). Suffice it to say that this model does all the things you'd expect a dual-tuner Freeview DTR to do. It also continues to give you access to the PictureBox service for £5 a month, offering a choice of seven blockbuster movies each day, plus the usual benefits of the Top Up TV service.
This 250GB model will give you up to 180 hours of recording, which suggests that there's some fairly decent compression going on in there, though it will depend on the encoding of the original broadcast.
Argos are now selling three flavours of TUTV+ DTR. For £129.99 you can get the 250GB model with a month's trial of Top Up TV Anytime. For £149.99 you also get one month of Setanta Sports. Alternatively, the original 160GB box is now £99.99.
They should also be available to buy from the Top Up TV website
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