portable media device suggestions?

[kyzen]

I never really liked the idea of watching a movie on a tiny screen, but after seeing my girlfriends iPod loaded to the bring with CSI episodes, I've changed my mind.

Any suggestions for a good media player? All I require:

--Video & Music playback
--Ability to output to a TV (I don't care if I have to buy a seperate cable)
--Able to play non-DRM encoded media (I'm fine using third party software for this if necessary)
--Decent battery life

Size isn't a huge concern, as long as I can get 5 hours of video on it.

I've considered the iPods, but have heard bad things about their compatibility with media from sources other than iTunes. I've also considered a pocket PC, but don't know if hitting that price point is worth it just to take movies on the go with me.

Any suggestions?

 

[cheapherk]

 

[cheapherk]

Hot- hot -hot!

Wrong place to ask

 

[Devistater]

Try a small laptop, like a 12"

 

[kyzen]

Well I posted this in ATOT, looks like it got moved

Anyways, a laptop wouldn't have the battery life I'm looking for. And video outputs on those drive up the price range, and aren't often as good as I'd like.

 

[Crono]

A cheap Axim with 1GB SD card; they can play a lot of formats using TCPMP.

 

[phreedman]

Creative Zen Vision:M. It gives you about ~4 (maybe 5) hrs battery life when watching video. Has A/V out. Pretty sure it plays non-DRM. Video quality is better than Ipod due to its higher resolution and battery life is better than Ipod too.

 

[weepul]

Originally posted by: kyzen
Well I posted this in ATOT, looks like it got moved

Anyways, a laptop wouldn't have the battery life I'm looking for. And video outputs on those drive up the price range, and aren't often as good as I'd like.

most likely you thought u were posting in ATOT, but was actually in Hotdeals. I'd second the Creative Zen Vision, but you might also want to check out the upcoming Origami devices.

//krunk (^_^x)

 

[SleepWalkerX]

Archos Gmini

 

[EKKC]

Originally posted by: weepul

Originally posted by: kyzen
Well I posted this in ATOT, looks like it got moved

Anyways, a laptop wouldn't have the battery life I'm looking for. And video outputs on those drive up the price range, and aren't often as good as I'd like.

most likely you thought u were posting in ATOT, but was actually in Hotdeals. I'd second the Creative Zen Vision, but you might also want to check out the upcoming Origami devices.

//krunk (^_^x)

yeah i've accidentally posted OT stuff in HotDeals at least 5 times.
you probably thought you were in ATOT

 

[Devistater]

Originally posted by: kyzen
Well I posted this in ATOT, looks like it got moved

Anyways, a laptop wouldn't have the battery life I'm looking for. And video outputs on those drive up the price range, and aren't often as good as I'd like.

Hmm, you must not have looked at any laptops then. Because I'm seeing 5 hours or more battery life on the 15" dell I just got (duo). And thats with the low capacity battery, I imagine the high capacity one would hit 7 hours.

And a 12" laptop should be more battery than that. Last year I talked to someone who had one and he was getting 5 hours on his, and his was an older one, with a battery that was wearing down.

The key is, dont load up the laptop with a high powered video card, etc. And make SURE to get a CPU that's power effecient, like the pentium M. Try to get a 1.6ghz or 1.7 ghz if you can, the higher ghz ones use more power.

I dont know what the ibooks have, but you may want to check reviews.

As for video output, what kinda output do you need? Many laptops nowadays have s-video output, if you need better, then make sure your TV has an vga input.

Or buy a PC card or USB TV thingy to output from that.


Another thing, if you are outputting video to external source, turning off the laptop LCD will save a ton of power. I have a 17" laptop with nvidia 6800 graphics card and even that hits 3 hours battery life. But if I turn the brightness down I can get a significant boost to how long it lasts. The LCD is pretty much the most power hungry component.

Another way to extend battery life, underclock and undervolt the CPU. Its very easy to do with the pentium M, you can do it live without rebooting. I've done that on my 17" laptop for extra battery life.

The specs on the 15" dell I just got for $699:
* Intel Core Duo processor T2300 (2MB Cache/1.66GHz/667MHz FSB)
* Genuine Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
* 15.4 inch Wide Screen XGA Display
* 1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz, 2 Dimm
* Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950
* 80GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive
* Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
* 8X CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
* Integrated Audio
* Dell Wireless 1390 802.11b/g Mini Card (54Mbps)
* 53 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
* 1Yr Ltd Warranty, 1Yr Mail-In Service, and 1Yr HW Warranty Support

Thats the low capacity battery, they have a high capacity battery too, 80WHr I think, 9 cell. So it should be 50% more battery life if I end up getting an extra battery.

If I was going to optimize battery life on a new laptop I'd try for a single core pentium M probably, and 512 megs memory in 1 card, not 2. And if I was going to watch movies, I'd click the shortcut key to cut power to wireless (that saves a fair amount of power), if I needed to browse the net, I could hit that key again and turn it back on.
I'd look for the lowest power hdds around, probably a 4200rpm instead of a 5400 rpm.
Smaller lower resolution monitor the better for power usage, 14" or 12"
Make sure to get integrated intel graphics for lowest power usage, no ati or nvidia.
Play with undervolt/underclock to get lower CPU usage. Lower brightness or turn off LCD for lower power usage. Use headphones instead of the laptop speakers for lower power usage (or output that to a stereo/boombox).