What PMP should I buy?
January 10, 2011 4:55 PM Subscribe
What portable (or maybe not) music/video players is the right one for me?
My Archos 605 has served me well for the past three years, though the firmware has always been a bit flaky, and it now appears to have given up the ghost entirely, it seems I need to replace it. Trying to do a bit of research, I'm now completely lost and wonder if clever mefites can help.
So my situation is, I have (had) it plugged in to the TV and receiver all the time, I don't really use it portably, it's really just a data box. I record and play back to the TV occasionally, but mostly I'm playing music (mp3s). I don't really do photos, or surfing, via it.
I definitely don't want to have to turn the telly on to navigate folders, so I guess it needs a screen, which I think rules out most of the box format options?
So, my requirements:
* not apple, not iTunes (I can't stand that program). On Win7 at home, so WMP or proprietary is fine.
* 80 GB capacity at least , my archos is pretty much full at the moment. Bigger is better. I think therefore a hard drive is needed, not flash.
* output audio in S-PDIF would be a bonus
* prefer to output video in hdmi or component (s-video or composite at a pinch)
* input video in composite or s-video would be very good.
WiFi and surfing, I can see some point I guess, I could stream from the laptop for example, but it's not terribly important.
Price is as always relevant. $350-$400 seems like the most I should have to outlay.
The candidates I've seen don't quite tick all my boxes, the Zune 64 Gb or the Cowon A3. Or i could try another archos, the 5 model? My head hurts and I was only looking for a short while.
My Archos 605 has served me well for the past three years, though the firmware has always been a bit flaky, and it now appears to have given up the ghost entirely, it seems I need to replace it. Trying to do a bit of research, I'm now completely lost and wonder if clever mefites can help.
So my situation is, I have (had) it plugged in to the TV and receiver all the time, I don't really use it portably, it's really just a data box. I record and play back to the TV occasionally, but mostly I'm playing music (mp3s). I don't really do photos, or surfing, via it.
I definitely don't want to have to turn the telly on to navigate folders, so I guess it needs a screen, which I think rules out most of the box format options?
So, my requirements:
* not apple, not iTunes (I can't stand that program). On Win7 at home, so WMP or proprietary is fine.
* 80 GB capacity at least , my archos is pretty much full at the moment. Bigger is better. I think therefore a hard drive is needed, not flash.
* output audio in S-PDIF would be a bonus
* prefer to output video in hdmi or component (s-video or composite at a pinch)
* input video in composite or s-video would be very good.
WiFi and surfing, I can see some point I guess, I could stream from the laptop for example, but it's not terribly important.
Price is as always relevant. $350-$400 seems like the most I should have to outlay.
The candidates I've seen don't quite tick all my boxes, the Zune 64 Gb or the Cowon A3. Or i could try another archos, the 5 model? My head hurts and I was only looking for a short while.
Serious question: why not just re-purpose a cheap or used laptop? You're asking for quite a bit of functionality especially w/r/t input and output options, and a laptop would be upgradeable in a way that no PMP would be.
posted by 2bucksplus at 5:26 PM on January 10, 2011
posted by 2bucksplus at 5:26 PM on January 10, 2011
Response by poster: good question. But my expectation is that it would take ages to boot, and getting the AV connections wouldn't be easy at all. Otherwise I was thinking maybe a netbook.
also, form factor. Not enough space.
posted by wilful at 5:34 PM on January 10, 2011
also, form factor. Not enough space.
posted by wilful at 5:34 PM on January 10, 2011
If you don't care about portability your A move there is a WDTV Live and the biggest hard drive you feel like plugging into it. If you shop around for some decent deals, that should give you two terabytes of media playing through HDMI for under $300.
posted by mhoye at 7:01 PM on January 10, 2011
posted by mhoye at 7:01 PM on January 10, 2011
Response by poster: Thanks mhoye. Unfortunately that requires the TV on in order to play music, so I'm not happy with that.
posted by wilful at 7:34 PM on January 10, 2011
posted by wilful at 7:34 PM on January 10, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Artw at 5:17 PM on January 10, 2011