If you can do without games or the Web, Viewsonic’s 5-inch portable media player could be a good alternative to the impending e-reader and tablet glut.
The MovieBook VDP550T plays video in lots of formats: DAT, MPG, MPEG, VOB, MP4, MOV, AVI, DVD Video, ASF, WMV, MKV, TS, and RM/RMVB, CNet reports. It plays audio too, supporting the lossless FLAC and WAV formats along with the usual lossy suspects. In addition, the VDP550T reads e-books (supported formats aren’t specified), views photos and has some other basics such as a calculator, voice recorder and calendar.
The 5-inch screen has a resolution of 800-by-480, with 1080p video. I’m not sure you’d notice 1080p on a screen that small, but there is an HDMI output for viewing on big screens. Videos can play for four hours on a charge, and the device will last 20 hours playing audio. For storage, you get 8 GB on board, plus a microSD slot.
You’d think a device like this would carry a criminally high price tag, but it’s actually just $200, same as an 8 GB iPod Touch. Sure, you lose the App Store, the games and the Wi-Fi connectivity, but the bigger screen and wide variety of supported formats could make this worthwhile, especially if you’re in the market for a cheap e-reader. The inability to download new content directly onto the device is also a drag — especially as that seems to be the trend with phones and e-readers — but the VDP550T’s relatively low price makes that sacrifice more palatable.
Viewsonic has a few other models in store as well, including a 720p 5-inch player for $190, a 4-inch player for $140 and a 3-inch player that is somehow more expensive than its slightly-larger sibling at $150.
1 Comments
About this category
Media Players
- Do you ever ask yourself how to keep your downloaded music, movies and clips in one place? Of course you can save it on your PC's hard disk, but it might be better to use a media player. There are many different sorts of media player devices out there, so make sure to look around. Some even have a built-in Digital Video Recorder (DVR), and are therefore very comprehensive. More about this
Most popular headlines
Microsoft releases Windows 7 SP1 Beta (5)
- Thu 29 Jul 00:12 by wconeybeer
- Software
Microsoft has officially launched the public beta test for Windows 7 Service Pack 1, an update package for the Windows 7 operating system that includes an array of updates and fixes for issues that have been discovered since the software began shipping.
Seagate: Hybrid SSD-HDDs will rule the future (5)
- Tue 27 Jul 02:29 by wconeybeer
- Hard Disk Drives, Industry
The future of hard disk drives will be flash hybrids, according to a high ranking Seagate executive. The statement regarding the predicted popularity of the hybrid drives coincides with the release of the company’s new Momentus XT drive, which is being billed as the world’s fastest 2.5” hard drive.
CD era one step closer to retirement? (19)
- Fri 23 Jul 00:00 by Randomus
- Music
The music industry continues to struggle as it looks for ways to close the technological gap that has seen CD sales continue to slide.
Foremay ships world's largest 2TB SSD (11)
- Mon 26 Jul 20:30 by Randomus
- Solid State (ssd)
Foremay has introduced a 1TB 2.5" SATA solid-state drive alongside the industry-leading 2TB 3.5" SATA SSD, as the company expects to see an increased demand in SSD products for the enterprise.
