Personal Video Player

[Dream Street Rose]

I am looking for a personal video player. I want something hand held but not too small. Does anyone have any input?

[BILLW]

Originally posted by Dream Street Rose:
I am looking for a personal video player. I want something hand held but not too small. Does anyone have any input?

My iPod does a great job with music videos, and TV shows. I haven't tried a movie yet but I don't see why not.

Bill

[Dream Street Rose]

Thank you Bill. I will check that out.

[johnfowles]

Err Umm just how "small" IS "small"??
Nevertheless an interesting question Rose,but rather like"How long is a piece of string" and subject to many considerations for an answer. I have recently been researching small gadgets in order to illustrate my passion for my current pet gadget the seemingly obsolete mini-notebook "handheld" HP Jornada 820 computer from 1998

click the picture to go to a page on my website
And in so doing I realised quite what a complex subject the current "convergence" of small devices has become.I well remember an April Fool's Day spoof advert in a UK National Newspaper only a few years ago depicting the then unimaginable idea of a mobile cell phone that included a video camera, and now you can purchase a single gadget that combines the disparate abilities of a mobile phone; still camera; video camcorder; an internet browser; stereo mp3 player plus increasingly sophisticated video watching modes whether live from the internet or stored on a small inexpensive memory card;add to that the imminent availability via the internet of a wealth of "on-demand" streaming television channels. thereby almost rendering a home television set superfluous; Global Positioning by Satellite devices which provide "spoken" directions (even if you miss a turn or get lost)

The $439.99 Plenio 7" Touchscreen GPS Navigation Device with 7" Wide Touch Screen TFT LCD Panel, DIVX Video Player, audio player, photo slide show, puzzle game supported, 2D and 3D maps supported plus day /night view settings, AV input port, SD Slot Available.

Not to mention the ability to emulate a small computer. it all brings the science fiction of my youth to life!! (remember when even the idea of a video telephone semed to be far fetched??)

And I haven't even mentioned portable DVD players that allow you to carry around your very own cinema

good selection at:-
http://www.alphalion.com/index.php?m...index&cPath=14
So what to buy at this time boils down to the extent of your imagination and the depth of your pocket!!!
I subscribe to a most comprehensive and useful UK magazine

http://www.webuser.co.uk
sample issue at
http://www.zinio.com/express?issue=111624361
(you might have to install the free and
brilliant Zinio reader to see it)
and yesterday I received the current fortnightly issue which pointed out the existance of


the US$400 range Nokia 800 Internet tablet PC
click picture above for a review

and there is a range made by Archos

the $550 Archos Pocket Video Recorder AV420

Therefore with all due respect to my friend BillW getting a simple ipod (or Zune even) like everybody else just might not be your best solution
Indeed talking of the ubiquitous ipod I just found on ebay:-
http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-359-jWIN-i10...QQcmdZViewItem

buy it now only US $168.97
into which an ipod fits to provide a much larger viewing image
Anybody else have any ideas/suggestions??

[ February 23, 2007, 10:49: Message edited by: johnfowles ]

[Dream Street Rose]

Thank you Sir John for the information. I printed the info and will try to digest it over the next few days. Since I am not really sure what I am looking for you have given me food for thought.

[johnfowles]

Originally posted by Dream Street Rose:
Thank you Sir John for the information. I printed the info and will try to digest it over the next few days. Since I am not really sure what I am looking for you have given me food for thought.

Warming to my original theme a few more ideas for Rose to ponder
I am just wondering how her thinking is going and to further muddy the water bear in mind some other gadgets that you might like to consider
1.7" Widescreen LCD Digital Picture Frame 7” Widescreen LCD With Hi-Resolution And Hi-Brightness, Supports SD, MC and Memory Stick Flash Memory Cards, Internal Flash Memory to Stores up to 20 Pictures and can run on AA Batteries (x6) for portable use.

Special Price US$68.00
from one of my favo(u)rite online shops ecost.com
http://www.ecost.com/ecost/shop/deta...l,EWB022707AT2
or on sale for @89.99 from target online at:-
http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html...S&frombrowse=1
at the other end of the cost scale is Sony's smallest notebook
A UMPC Ultra mobile PC

their regular notebooks are getting smaller and lighter too

the Vaio TX SeriesVGN-TXN25N/W
which weighs in at 2.84 lbs and and "offers 4 to 10 hours of standard battery life"
bu is way over US$2000

although to be honest I will never recommend buying anything bearing the obscene four letter word "Sony" after the disgusting treatment I received from their San Diego so called "Service Center" in 2003 regarding repairs to my exceedingly and criminally underengineered old Vaio Notebook
Sorry bear with me I feel the need to rant a liitle
.In a nutshell.:-
After only 3 years one of the lid hinges broke (I consider I only gave it fair wear and tear , certainly nothing to justify such vital part stiffenning then snapping, fortunately I had against my usual practice and usually better judgement splurged on a fairly expensive extended 3 year warranty from the UK suppliers, so off it went, just inside the warranty limit to the fair city of San Diego, where it received new hinges on both sides and a new battery. The fact that it took many rude emails to the UK insurance clowns before they coughed up in full was not of course Sony's fault. Naturally I handled the simple task of opening and closing the lid from then on with extra care, but nevertheless a mere eleven months after the repair the same hinge side as before became stiffer and broke.I persuaded one of the nameless morons who took my initial phone call of protest to send me a prepaid mailing box and sent it back to the Pacific coast. Soon after I was sent an unwelcome repair estimate for several hundred dollars. No way Jose I thought and proceeded with the thankless task of phoning anonymous toll free numbers. all seemingly answererd by a representative basking in the Floridian Sunshine (never anywhere near the action place in California).And Sony's corporate and pathetic excuse for not repairing free of charge an obviously defective part (probably both in design and manufacture)unbelievable but unhappily true..................
They claimed that parts used in the repair of their bloody products only have a 90 day warranty,and no amount of remonstration on the telephone would budge anybody from that unbelievably crass position.Furthermore a few months later the hinge on the other side broke in a similar fashion.It is Sony's loss in the end,because although I have bought simple things like blank CDs that have no badly designed components I waste no opportunity such as this to try to disuade anybody I can from buying a Sony product.
They have now lost possibly twice as much profit on lost sales as doing the honourable thing and repairing my notebook whilst they had it in their hands, I know from complaints by many others that I was far from alone in suffering this inexcusable failure of product and human decency


Now held together with a pair of bulldog clips. Pathetic!!

Anyroad I am getting over it slowly. helped yesterday by winning an ebay auction for a mere $31.51 USD,including $5.00 shipping and handling (£16.45 GBP)
for a copy of the APPT CD the Reno DVD AND a Songbook box set can't be bad eh!!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...7765&rd=1&rd=1
Any offers over US$100-- please???

I have previously atempted a review of gadget convergence both in this topic:-
and on my web page that I started in tribute to the HP Jornada 820 at:-
http://www.johnfowles.org.uk/jornada/
In addition I have just found some time to investigate the range of games machines such as the
Sony (there's that swear word again) PSP (Play Station Portable)
the Microsoft XBOX 360
and the oddly named Nintendo Wii
but I believe they can play DVDs as well as encourage you to waste time on doom and other mindless pursuits.
I am not immune to those. In 1999 I wasted many precious hours whilst addicted to the great Free Cell solitaire alterrnative that came with my first Windows 98 setup
Note well that I have so far made no reference above to further complications in the form of widescreen and high definition formats/standards. Let alone Blueray etc
try understanding:-
http://uneasysilence.com/archive/2006/11/8303/
which is an article entitled
"Hacking the XBox 360’s HD-DVD for the PC"
which includes this
"Seems like Microsoft has unwilling** created a cheap HD-DVD drive, for any Windows user"
** I suspect that should be :"unwittingly"
You have been warned!!

I also googled for "PSP DVD" and found
Jake Ludington's MediaBlab at:-
http://jakeludington.com/ask_jake/20..._sony_psp.html
where I think he answered the relevant and simple question
"How can I watch my DVD movies on my Sony PSP?"
Moreover the US discount chain bestbuy on:-
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....&type=category
has this to say
"Turn your PSP into an on-the-go movie machine with these Universal Media Disc (UMD) movies. Thanks to the PSP's widescreen, ultracrisp display, these flicks will look good no matter where you watch 'em."

To complete this survey I then googled for "Nintendo Wii DVD"
And found:
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6161611.html
Where I read
"When Nintendo dished out its final specifications for the Wii, there seemed to be one glaring omission--DVD playback. With the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 touting built-in multimedia players, the Wii seemed to be only next-generation console unable to provide movie playback."
and
"it has been confirmed that the Wii will eventually get DVD playback.....
the new version of the Wii is expected in "the latter half of 2007.""
However after trying for ages to find a picture of a Nintendo Wii screen display, I gave up because as far as I can tell the Wii only plays through an external monitor/television set and therefore does not meet Rose's basic criteria of
"a personal video player. I want something hand held"

SUMMARY
So there you have it do you want it combined with a computer a games machine a camera a cell phone or a DVD Player,
and with or without GPS capability, not of course forgetting a draining board (to go with the kitchen sink) etc

[ELizabeth]

John you amaze me with your hi-tech know-how. Thanks for sharing! :D 'Lizbet

[Dream Street Rose]

Dearest Sir John,

I am still laughing about the kitchen sink comment. The men here are so witty. I love it. :D I have a very high tech (my favorite brand Dell), laptop. The last one I had got to old (2 years) for me so I gave it to my wonderful husband because he needed a new one. We are very high tech in our house. I bought a dedicated DVD player only, last year. Now I am so spoiled I want something smaller that I can hold in my hand. Mostly to watch recorded television shows and movies I will probably download off the internet for a fee. We travel a lot and having something smaller(I don't care if it is bulky and doesn't fit in a shirt pocket), is what I am looking for. I have been looking at the Creative Zen W or something like that. Also, the brand I can not remember right now. I am going to put things on hold for a while. I will let you know what I end up doing.

Thank you again for the help.

[Jesse Joe]

It's like a lot of big name companies so often do. Once the product is 'SOLD' there happy, and best of luck w/ your warranty...

DSR, I too have a Dell Computer, wouldn't want anything else. Plus their Tech department gets a 100% from me...




Click the photo for a Dell page...


Elizabeth, John is a Computer Wiz, I know he probably doesn't like me repeating this, but never the less, he is a Very Smart Man...


"They claimed that parts used in the repair of their {bloody} products only have a 90 day warranty,and no amount of remonstration on the telephone would budge anybody from that unbelievably crass position." :D Now there's a British accent... I love it.

[ March 01, 2007, 16:05: Message edited by: Jesse-Joe ]

[johnfowles]

QUOTE]Originally posted by Dream Street Rose:
Dearest Sir John,


I am still laughing about the kitchen sink comment. The men here are so witty. I love it. :D
Thank you again for the help. [/QUOTE]


Dear "Rose"
I am inordinately pleased that you found my piece of kitchen sink drama "witty" as it appears from previous postings and responses that my native Brit wit is not always so well appreciated.
In recognition of this I shall henceforth dub you (no not dubbya)Dame Rose Street***
I do rather enjoy being referred to as "Sir John"
an entirely honorary title as the queen has never smote my shoulder with her sword (not yet anyway).
In fact I am assuming that it this title being used on this forum to recognise my baronetcy, "my what" you say
per the inevitable wiki at:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baronet
"A baronet (traditional abbreviation Bart, modern abbreviation Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (abbreviation Btss),
is the holder of a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown known as a baronetcy
"The name baronet is a diminutive of the higher peerage title baron. The rank of a baronet is between that of a baron and a
knight.
A baronetcy is unique in two ways:
it is a hereditary honour but is not a peerage and has never entitled the holder to a seat in the House of Lords; and
a baronet is styled 'Sir' but a baronetcy is not considered an order of knighthood"
of course those of you who endured last Sunday's Oscarathon (we gave it a miss for once) should now be aware that the female
equivalent of a knight is no not a siren but a *** Dame a la Helen Mirren.
I have thanks to google just read the following in a Malaysian online newspaper
"Helen Mirren denies royal invitation

Recent Oscar winner Helen Mirren has dismissed reports that she has been invited to visit Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham
Palace, after her Best Actress win for her role in The Queen.
"No - not a true story. Not a true story. We will never (hear a response from the Palace), I don't think. And if we did, I
wouldn't tell you anyway," Mirren said in response to the rumours."
I had previously hugely enjoyed the Oscar night comment that
"Mirren, 61, saluted the queen in her acceptance speech for maintaining "her dignity, her sense of duty and her hairstyle"
for more than 50 years"
An idea I had never previously thought about

Helen and The Queen
we simply must go and see the film now

The Queen
a 1952 portrait
the earliest (1953) stamp design
revised high value 1980 stamp design
a 1980 engraving by the designer of the 1980 stamp
There were reports saying that Mirren, screenwriter Peter Morgan and director Stephen Frears have been invited to have tea with the British monarch."

And talking of telephones which I was but it was buried in my musings,my imagination has just been fired up again by this new gadget

click the picture for details of this little marvel
It is wonderful just what you can plug into a USB (Universal Serial Bus) port.I recently bought a pair of cheap ($9.99) USB to IDE/SCSE adaptors.

click the picture for details of the NEW USB to IDE/SATA/ATA adapter
It is now an exceedingly simple task to to attach any old hard or optical drive (including the smaller 2.5 inch drive from my disgraceful
friggin' VAIO) to one of these adaptors and its AC/DC power supply which very economically converts the drive to a fully
readable "external" drive thereby obviating the need to mount the drive inside the case and sort out the wiring.
Magic!!

Originally posted by Jesse-Joe:


Elizabeth, John is a Computer Wiz, I know he probably doesn't like me repeating this, but never the less, he is a Very Smart Man... Now there's a British accent... I love it.

Blush Blush I won't deny it! Thank you J-J for the endorsement, your cheque is in the post !
Like many computer fans I am always willing to offer help to both maidens and dames in distress
John Fowles Bt
Finally a good (and relevant) example of British schoolboy humour
"Once a knight always a knight but twice a night is too much!"

[ March 01, 2007, 11:24: Message edited by: johnfowles ]

[Dream Street Rose]

This is to you Sir John from "THe Dame".

I don't know much about British humour but if the laughter some of your posts brings me is an example, I love it. Some of your posts are too technical for me but I always want to learn so I print them out for my husband to read and explain.

Thank you again for being all that you can be and sharing your knowledge with me. :D

[ELizabeth]

JJ- I think that Sir John is put out with me for what I don't know but I hope he gets 'unput out' soon. I always like it when he writes something for me on the Board and he hasn't in ages. 'Lizbet :D

[Jesse Joe]

Ah yes Lizbet, Sir John is a fine chap...

[johnfowles]

Originally posted by Dream Street Rose:
This is to you Sir John from "THe Dame".

I don't know much about British humour

Buy But But how can you say such a thing Dame Rose??
I even started a topic cunningly entitledBritish Comedy/Humo(u)r continued
featuring links to a pair of UK beer commercials then acknowledging that I personnally liked Jay Leno's American "highlights" humor.
I had previously gone to considerable trouble to bring another good example of Brit style US humor to your attention with a complete expose of Bob Newhart's hilarious "To-Back-oh" sketch
and have also given you details and screenshots of the funniest ever UK comedy sketch The Two Ronnie's great Hardware Store/Fork Handles/Four Candles mangling of the English language
in yet another largely self explanatory topic that I started called with my characteristic prescience
Topic: British Humo(u)r on youtube
in which I gave you a WARNING
This is very serious comedy folks so before watching it please put on waterproof underwear or failing that sit on something waterproof!!
You know the States and the UK are as famously observed by George Bernard Shaw:-
two nations divided by a common language
I noted that the eminent Australian student Joveski had responded thus:-
"thanks... i love ronnie barker. he was great in Open all hours

so, how do we save the videos?. i thought they only stream"

And of course I have since revealed my superlative tutorial on doing just that see:-
http://www.youtubetutorial.notlong.com
for absolutely idiot-proof instructions.
thinking about it I never replied to Mende's mention of "Open All Hours"
which certainly highlighted the late Ronnie Barker's superb acting ability as also demonstrated in the prison series "Porridge"
to which MR Jovesjki,again replied "open all hours was better"
I have to disagree there because Ronnie's co-star was the silly (Sir) David Jason who put me off his comedy in a(to me) exceedingly unfunny series Only Fools And Horses about the antics of "del boy" Trotter who drove an equally stoopid three wheeled "Plastic Pig" Reliant Robin

Somehow this sitcom series apparently was voted as the top UK sitcom ever
which is surprising given the existance of to my eyes and ears far worthier gems such as Benny Hill, Monty Python and Fawlty Towers to name just three with which most Americans including Grand Dames should be familiar.
and what about the internationaly renowned Goon Peter Sellers
There have also been many other comedy double acts and for me The Two Ronnies good as they were pale in comparison to the long running duo of Eric Morecombe and Ernie Wise both mow amusing punters in Heaven, Oops no religion too as Mr Lennon sang
I have found that there is a great deal of great British comedy videos available on youtube. so I will return ASAP
with some pertinent youtube links
starting with the classic M and W Andre Preview sketch
Watch this space

[johnfowles]

OK OK
since I last looked at this topic I have started another on my pet interests entitled "technology" at
http://www.corfid.com/ubb/ultimatebb...395;p=1#000000
and on the "pet" theme I posted pictures of my last two pets at the retitled by J_J topic "Kittys" at
http://www.corfid.com/ubb/ultimatebb...c;f=3;t=000267
I have just refound this topic and noted that I had promised some more Brit comedy links specifically (Eric) Marecombe and (Ernie) Wise (the latter being the one with the hairpiece .. "You can't see the join" and short hairy legs as UK TV watchers will well know.)
I doubt if many Americans know much of this long playing duo?
their forte was in inveigling a succession of big stars onto the show then merrily extracting the Michael from them
a simple search on youtube for "morecombe and wise" only reveals 4 videos at the moment the first two of which are classics
1 Andre Previn at the time the very respected Principal Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO), serving in that post until 1979.In this brilliant sketch Eric insisted on calling him Mr Preview then proceed to murder a piano concerto by Grieg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQNYUJIW4sw

Another musical "guest" was the Beatles

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQNYUJIW4sw

where Eric constantly refers to the hapless Ringo as "Bongo"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADkjJoA9c4A

and talking of the Beatles, as I was, another great UK comedian was the late ex-Goon and superb actor Peter Sellers
who reallytook the micky out of the Beatles in his Laurence Olivier/Richard III inspired version of A Hard Days Night followed by The Beatles - We Can Work It Out. This was from a Granada television special on Lennon & McCartney. Sorry about the sound quality

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_sKAotTJiI

and then again the Beatles inspired some of the Monty Python gang to parody them on a special once shown on Saturday Night Live "All You Need Is Cash" a documentary about the "Rutles" so named as being the stars of Rutland Weekend Television where Rutland used to be Englands smallest county
and there was a real London Weekend Television channel
The Rutles Intro
03:53
Post Monty Python, Eric Idle had a tv show about the Rutles, aka the Prefab Four: Dirk, Nasty, Stig and Barry, who were quite a lot like the Beatles, only sillier. Here, Eric Idle introduces the phenomenon and shows some of their highlights

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RFxencNmZw

plus a (to me) very authentic Beatles tune parody that just might be the best ever parody
"I Must Be In Love"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=297zDxqzUJo

amazingly there is an Austin Tejas based Rutles tribute band called "Ouch"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQUcEQRVBow

My final link today is to another of Eric and Ernie's tours de force
about Singing InThe Rain

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCQP8WGeGuk

[ April 04, 2007, 11:53: Message edited by: johnfowles ]

[Dream Street Rose]

Hi Sir John,

It's me, Dame Street Rose. You were so helpful and gave me a lot of information when I was searching for a personl video player. I wasn't really sure what I wanted, but since I figured it out I wanted to let you know. My new Creative Labs Zen Vision Wide screen 60GB Personal Media Player(also know as the Zen W), should arrive next Tuesday. I am so excited. :D

Thank you again for all your help and the knowledge you share with us.

:D

[johnfowles]

WEll done Dame Rose
it looks like an excellent choice

"Complete with a thumbnail gallery,"
"You can also connect the Zen Vision W to a projector or TV with the included AV cable"
FM radio / Voice recorder
Functions as an external hard drive
I read some good opinions and tips at
http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Vision-Widescreen-M... May you have many happy viewing or listening hours

[Dream Street Rose]

Thank again Sir John,

If I need any help using it I might ask you.I know you don't have one but you are so good with the technology of today. I plan to record some DVDs of Gordon's concerts and watch them all the way to Texas and back. :D :D

[johnfowles]

Originally Posted by Dream Street Rose

Thank again Sir John,

If I need any help using it I might ask you.I know you don't have one but you are so good with the technology of today. I plan to record some DVDs of Gordon's concerts and watch them all the way to Texas and back. :D :D

Oops in a recent posting I refered to Shirley Hoggard as the "Grande
Dame" entirely forgetting that that title belogs to Dore here!
anyway I just refound this intersting old thread and am naturally wondering how your "vision" is nowadays??

[Dream Street Rose]

Hello Sir John,

Naturally I will forgive you for your mistake. After using my Zen W for many months now I can let you know it is perfect for me. My husband loads my DVD's for me and off I go. When I first asked you about a personal video player I had no clue about what I wanted. With your help and some research on my part I got lucky with my choice.


Dame Rose

[johnfowles]

I had intended starting a new thread with the catchy subject line
"Do I want one and what would I do with it department"
but in googling for something else I found this old thread
and thought my latest sight of an intriguing gadget would fit here very nicely.
found on:-
http://content.techrepublic.com.com/...11-185755.html

caption:-
" Look, no more tether: Suitor flies a Thunderpack on its maiden flight in Half Moon Bay, Calif., on October 24, 2007."

The Thunderpack model TP-R2G2, created by Thunderbolt Aerosystems, just might be the closest thing available to the rocket-powered jet pack of your childhood science fiction fantasies. Sure, it can only fly for 75 seconds--and that's the upper end--but its creators hope further research and development may make jetpacks a viable solution for everything from forest fire control to business commutes. In fact, Thunderbolt claims that its original Thunderpack (model R1G2) was sold to an undisclosed company specifically for emergency and earthquake rescue operations.

For about $100,000, Thunderbolt Aerosystems says you can have a TP-R2G2 this summer.

Meanwhile I trust that very soon I will be meeting Dore and seeing her Creative wisdom device. and zen for life !!
With regards to my mentioning the Nokia 800 tablet above a current emailed offer on my favourite on line computer store is one for a mere $229.99
BUT Hurry the sale email was a month end clearance and was supposed to end yesterday , but is as of this posting is apparently still available
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...&sku=N529-1086

[Jesse Joe]

Imagine if this one day could be used to go mostly anywhere. Taking off from Moncton, NB. to Massey Hall Toronto Ontario, or Roselle New-Jersey... The birds eye view would be great.

[Jesse Joe]

http://www.thunderman.net/products/TP-R2G2.php


http://www.thunderman.net/gallery/videos.php

YouTube - Rocketman ThunderPack Solo Test