Any recommendations for a portable media player?

[RickyRicardo]

I'm looking to buy an mp3/video player. There are so many options out there, but I haven't found the one that is perfect for me. Maybe someone on TERB can make a suggestion.

The biggest factors for me are:

1- must be able to play xVid & DivX videos directly without having to first convert on a PC.
2- batter life of at least 3 hours so that I can be certain that I can watch an entire movie without the battery dying on me.
3- size. I want at least a 3.5" screen, but the player should be compact enough to fit in my pocket.
4- storage size isn't that important. As long as it's over 8gb (which most seem to be these days). One feature that would be nice is if it had a slot for an SD card.

Thanks!
Ricky

 

[RickyRicardo]

Thanks! Do you actually own one of these?

The review on amazon is "ok" but some of the cons it lists are:

- Pretty thick at almost an inche thick. (barely pocketable)
- Divx playback (Frame-rate) a bit jerky. Screen not as sharp-looking and colors not as vibrant as Zen M. (I'm nit-picking, you may not even notice the difference...especially if you don't have a Zen M)
- When viewing files on Compact Flash using CF slot, you must first import/upload files over to the Zen W drive first to view.

I can deal with it being a bit bulky, but since I'm going to be using it mostly to watch videos, I don't want to get something that might be "jerky". Also, not being able to play videos off the CF directly sounds a bit annoying.

 

[Berlin]

Zen vision W

I have owned a 30 GB version for about 10 months now. Love it .Pic quality good. Sound quality very good .Gets the job done, always travel with it overseas, very few problems.

Battery lasts long enough for a full feature plus a bit more. No problem playing back divx . If your source material is shit then that'd be a different story. I do convert my own , most of the time there's no problem. Once it came out out of sync ( vox and visual ), but usually a second pass would fix it.

Try to cut the flick in half as part a and part b prior to importing. The fast forward thingy ain't too smooth FYI. It never hanged on me while doing FF or FR though.

The only time it hanged was when I went through the menu too fast. It froze... disengaging the battery and restarting will fix it.

I have brought it to places with high humidity, such as rain forests. Worked like a charm, except at night the fucking screen attracted flying insects ... ah well.

The external flash supprt is CF though, which I have and I rarely use.

The software that came with is fine for file converting, importing, playlist editing.

Was selling at 299 CAD at BB last summer. Ought to be cheaper now. Play with it at FS or BB, it is not for every one. Most of my non tech friends went for iPods ...

 

[RickyRicardo]

Berlin:

Thanks! That sounds encouraging. I'll check it out next time I'm near FS or BB.

 

[dsrob]

Try the samsung P2, works great, there is a samsung store on Victoria Park and Denison they sell refurbs for about $100.00

 

[RickyRicardo]

Try the samsung P2, works great, there is a samsung store on Victoria Park and Denison they sell refurbs for about $100.00

The samsung looks sleek! I'd never heard of it before. Thanks!