HD video player with 5" screen, support for HDMI, subtitles, and good battery life?

[crumblium]

Since I made this thread, my "requirements" have changed somewhat, so I have edited this post.

What I'm looking for now is a 4-5" PVP with support for HD video, and with external subtitle support and HDMI output:

• Screen size around 5"
• Support for 720p playback
• HDMI output (to plug it into my TV)
• Support for loads of video formats/codecs/containers, including DivX, XviD, MP4, MKV, H264, AVI, etc. (yes, I know, some of these are containers, others are codecs, and so on)
• Support for subtitles (.srt or .smi, etc.)
• Good battery life (for viewing videos on the go)
• Should show up as a regular hard disk when connected to a PC

I don't care if it's touch or not.

It should probably support SD cards to expand the storage.

Does the perfect player exist out there somewhere?


Original post:

Hi everyone!

As you can see, I'm all new to this forum, and I'm quite happy that I found it! You see, I'm looking for a new portable video player which matches my criteria.

What I'm looking for in a PVP is:

• Support for loads of video formats/codecs/containers, including DivX, XviD, MP4, MKV, H264, AVI, etc. (yes, I know, some of these are containers, others are codecs, and so on)
• Support for subtitles (.srt or .smi, etc.)
• HD output (do any PVPs have HDMI these days?)
• Good battery life (for viewing videos on the go)
• Should show up as a regular hard disk when connected to a PC
• At least a 4" screen or so, with decent resolution (I want to view HD content after all)
• Should be able to handle full HD videos
• I don't really care if it's touch or not, but it would be nice to be able to use it without having to touch the screen
• AMOLED screen perhaps? Although it probably isn't necessary, it might be a "nice to have"
• Support for SDHC memory cards would be awesome

Of course, I'm assuming that there will be at least some basic support for audio as well

Right now I have an old Cowon A2 which I'm pretty happy with. It seems to support just about anything non-HD I throw at it (except a lot of WMV files for some reason, but that's rare).

Anyway, thanks for reading, and if you have any suggestions, feel free to make them even if it doesn't necessarily include my wishes above. But if a player exactly like this does exist, I would be a happy camper!

[CrowdAds]

[Tommifier]

Cowon V5, I think, matches most what you're looking for. You can look it up and decide for yourself. It's a pretty good PMP.

[crumblium]

Thanks for the suggestion. The V5 looks promising (although I'm skeptical about it using Windows). The only problem is there are no stores anywhere that carry it. And is the (image) quality of the screen affected by being a resistive touch screen?

Just one quesion, in case you or anyone else knows: Isn't 1080p full HD? But the V5 only supports up to 720p?

[crumblium]

It looks like the output on all these devices is 720p...

[leiweiyen]

Wellll if you can wait that long or if it even comes out...the Creative Zii (consumer)
Ziilabs says that it can output 1080p and use SDHC up to 32gb. The screen is 3.5" i think. That is if it does come out as a consumer model though

[crumblium]

Right, the Zii... I remember some talk about that a long time ago. How well do Creative's players handle all sorts of file formats?

[leiweiyen]

Creative generally has a wide range of file format supports. One of the better ones at least

[The DarkSide]

The Zii is a prototype/developer product, so it's not for general usage. I'd personally say go w/the V5 or an Archos myself.

[lestatar]

+1 for the Archos or V5...

But for a $100USD, this might be an interesting elcheapo alternative...thanks to dfkt for link...kinda thinking about this myself...

http://mp4nation.net/catalog/index.p...10916a6cf31823

[crumblium]

The Cowon V5 is looking very, very promising indeed. But it only has 720p output, so should I wait for a bit more and see if a good 1080p device is released soon, or should I get the V5 now and get a new player with 1080p in a few years?

That Nationite device only seems to have support for composit and component cables, not HDMI.

[leiweiyen]

Depends on your TV or output size. If it is a small TV then the difference between 720p and 1080p won't be as noticeable. However, if it is a large TV, then the 1080p is probably the best bet.

[crumblium]

It's a 40". I suppose I won't be able to tell much of a difference a certain range, but still...

[saratoga]

Originally Posted by crumblium

It's a 40". I suppose I won't be able to tell much of a difference a certain range, but still...

http://s3.carltonbale.com/resolution_chart.html

Depends how close you're sitting. Under 5 feet or so and it might be nice to have. If you're sitting further away you're not missing anything.

[crumblium]

Ok, I have watched some 720p content on my TV, and the quality was just awesome. So the Cowon V5 actually is tempting. Except for the retarded user interface... It looks really, really ugly and awkward.

Here's to "V6" with a less retarded UI...

[crumblium]

I have decided that 720p HDMI-out is good enough.

But the V5's UI is really disgusting.

So now that I "only" need 720p on the HDMI port, what are my options?

[crumblium]

Looked at the Cowon J3. No HDMI!

But then the rumors about the D3, with HDMI. Will I have to wait for that?

[crumblium]

Does anyone have any tips about video players with HDMI? I'm still looking for one

[IDvsEGO]

have you looked at the archos 43?

[crumblium]

Originally Posted by IDvsEGO

have you looked at the archos 43?

Thanks for the tip! That looks quite promising, actually.

[IDvsEGO]

no problem. supposed to be out soon. if you get it, give us some impressions, several of us are very curious about it.