ViewSonic "HD" PMP The ShowGirls of PMPs
ViewSonic seems to have leapt into the foray of portable media players ill equipped to do the job. They have created, by all accounts, a very capable 8 GB media player the VPD400 MovieBook HDâ€ڈ. Unfortunately they have completely ruined it by only equipping it with controls that are shoddy even by monitor standards. The inspiration for this torturous device seems to be the nauseating controls we all have to decipher when we want to change the brightness or contrast of our monitors. Usually the only time we are forced to figure out the rubik's cube on the side or bottom of our favorite LCD screen is when they are brand new. By the time you figure out which button does what, you never want to touch them again. Brightness is up, contrast is down, contrast twice is the color balance sub-menu, etc... ViewSonic seems to think those controls are adequate and that's all you get on their VPD400 MovieBook HD.
It's moderately priced for the market at $119, and plays most of the current video standards. The only notable absence is DivX support. It has advanced features like USB host functions and an MicroSD card slot to allow for great memory expansion options. Not that you will want to sort through any number of files with the 90 uncomfortable top button clicks it will take you to scroll down to your intended album. Videos should look fine played on the 800x480 4.3" LCD screen and you also have the option to output to TV with its AV output. All in all a full featured player that you will never use after the first day. We'll hope a 2nd gen. comes along with a tiny D-pad very soon and stops embarrassing the venerable display maker.
Permanent Link
Read More ...
No comments:
Post a Comment