Need a video mp3 player

[Melena]

That is NOT an Ipod. I'm looking at a 30gb Creative Vision, but wondering what other options out there are good. Only requirments are video playback, 20gb or larger, and not an Ipod. Also, when you give your recommendation, let me know how easy it is to configure/convert videos for playback. Also needs to be able to take some amount of abuse as I'm going to be using it predominantly at the gym.

[Thelam]

The zune is pretty good, doesn't break easily too, converts movies by itself too I beleive.

[Hellfury]

I'd really stay away from the Zen series, mine freezes up all the bloody time, and is neigh impossible to reset unless you carry needles around with you... And doing some minor research on it, I learned that it wasn't exactly an unheard of problem.

Kinda sucks when you have a gazillion hour flight ahead of you :/

[Snowknight26]

I've had both the video iPod and the Zune, and I have to say the Zune is pretty good. Very durable, thich plastic casing, comes with this nice fabric pouch, too. Saw my friend drop his today from about 5 feet above the ground by accident, landed on an edge (probably the worst position) and it wasn't affected at all.

The Zune software can be a bit of a hastle but then again, so can iTunes. It can convert many different music and video files to the Zune's format as soon as you try to synchronize the files.

Zune's 30GB, has a big screen, battery lasts many hours when the screen is off (listening to music) and about 3-4 hours when watching videos. Has music sharing with other Zunes nearby, has an FM (or is it AM?) radio, has a nice interface (shows album art.. etc), and much more.

For having low expectations, not sure why, I found its been quite a nice gadget, though I regret that I can't use it much.

[Zigma]

Zune is good and there is a hack to let you watch divx/xvid movies.

If its movies you want, PSP is also good but they only have I think 4 or 8gb memory sticks.

The PSP has a nice homebrew app called PMPMOD which lets you take a 800mb~ movie down to about 250mb~ with very little loss in quality (AKA no pixelation, chrisp, etc). You can't just throw the video in there though, you have to transcode it (doesnt take long at all!) and it lowers the rez to 480x272 which is the total size the psp screen which imho is very nice in size for portability size. It can also take quite a good amount of abuse. I've dropped it a few times.

[Melena]

i'm not too concerned about movies. I'm more thinking the 25-30 min anime episodes when i'm on the bike or treadmill so i don't get completely bored.

[Zigma]

I'd go with a PSP then, bigger and sharper screen so you can read the subtitles just fine and still portable.

I should mention that I watch a movie everyday on my train ride to and from school.

[jimbo]

http://www.cowonamerica.com/products/cowon/a2/


big screen, 30gb hd

it acts like an external harddrive when you connect it to your pc, so you can just drag your anime files straight in there and watch. dont need converting programs or nothing like that since the player has all the codecs installed in it except for mkvs files

[Melena]

ehh, it looks good, but size wise compared to the zune/vision do they stack up. I don't want to be lugging around a big brick like that, which is why i liked the vision. a 2.5" is big enough for me since i'll probably put dubbed anime on.

[Tyr]

I didn't read other replies, but I can tell you first hand, I have a 30 GB Creative Vision: M (Zen), and I love it.

Easy interface, plays a lot of formats unlike the ipod, and I think it has great picture/sound quality.

The only downside I see for the Zen is that it doesn't have all the accessories that the ipod does, but that's little to sacrifice for what you get.

I say this having never used the MS Zune, although I have used an Ipod.

Zen > Ipod, don't know about Zune.

My Zen's taken a beating before I got a silicon case for it, but the screen is still not scratched. If you're looking for something that you can read subtitles with, don't get the Zen, go with the wide-screen video-mp3 players (I think the Zune is like that), or even the model from Creative.

The biggest up, in terms of video playback, is that the Zen supports a whole slew of files. Straight up avi/mpeg work best, but I do know for sure that mine plays .mp4 among other things. You really don't -need- to convert video files and can usually just drag them, but it's best to just use the software to do so to make sure your files are synched properly and everything's done right.

In closing, I love my Zen, had it for about 6 months now. Very easy to use, great picture/sound quality.


PS: I purchased 2 silicon cases (1 which I don't use), a car charger, a wall charger, and an arm-band from ebay for like 10$ total. It came in a pack, that's pretty much all you'd need for it, and I definitely would suggest getting an arm-band asap if you're going to use it at the gym.

[ircgeek]

I just picked up a 60 gig Zen Vision myself two months ago. I've used Creative mp3 players for about 6 years now, only upgrading because I ran out of space (6 -> 20 -> 60). I haven't had a single problem with it yet, and haven't experience any sort of lockup issues. My previous player is still in fantastic shape, and I handed it down to a friend of mine who hasn't had any problems. Very durable from my experience.

I've never used an iPod, but pretty much just didn't want to deal with the crap that is iTunes.

[Melena]

Ok, after reading reviews and what you guys said, even though it was a tossup, I went with the Zune. video playback is fine, but i'd say a good 95% of my anime and music videos don't appear to be supported. any ideas on some good free programs out there that can maybe convert them to something playable?

[Snowknight26]

Most of them (.mkv, .m2v, .divx, .avi, .mpg, what else?) can be converted with the right codecs and Windows Media Encoder (2nd download). Others like MPEG2 files (.VOB, .TS(?)) can be converted with things like WinAVI.

Would be best if you named some of the extensions/codecs used.

[Melena]

pretty much most of the music videos are mpg with divx codec. my bleach episodes are all avi but i don't remember the codec that is used (i download from dattebayo if that helps)

[Auspice]

I freaking love my Zune. Nifty that widescreen videos automatically change their orientation on your screen so you tip the Zune sideways to watch; say 300. :D