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Handhelds Hardware

ZVUE's $99 Video and MP3 Player 202

Posted by CmdrTaco
from the still-no-hard-drive dept.
blackmonday writes "Hand Held Entertainment's ZVUE is an MP3 player, video and photo viewer with a color screen. At the price of $99, I think it might be worth the investment for the hacking potential alone. Uses Secure Digital/MMC cards rather than Compact Flash, but looks very cool. The funniest part - you can buy cartridges (apparently in some propietary format) of low budget wrestling movies and wannabe rapper videos."
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ZVUE's $99 Video and MP3 Player More

ZVUE's $99 Video and MP3 Player

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  • Awsome gadget! (Score:4, Interesting)

    by GMontag (42283) <gmontag@guymontag.3.14com minus pi> on Thursday March 04 2004, @01:55PM (#8466219) Homepage Journal
    Cool! I am still fiddling with the I-Opener [fastolfe.net] from several years ago. Now something else to splice into the Jeep :)

    Maybe I could use it for the OBD-II [obdii.com] display?

    • Re:Awsome gadget! (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Unfortunately, this gadget does not play any video other than the ZVUE proprietary cards. Each proprietary card costs $14.95 plus shipping and handling. If you want a video solution for your car, this is not it.

    • PCMag Review link - also, it plays DivX (Score:5, Informative)

      by blorg (726186) on Thursday March 04 2004, @02:44PM (#8466952)
      Can be found here [go.com] with picture of the thing here [pcmag.com]. Apparently it plays DivX [yahoo.com] too.

      • Re:PCMag Review link - also, it plays DivX (Score:2, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Hi. That is a press release from the company in question. They are trying to generate buzz for their product. Unfortunately, this thing does not play DiVX at this time. It may in the future, but don't spend your money until it does.

        Anyone know what the screen resolution on this thing is & what video output options it has?
      • No, it apparently can't play DivX stuff -- yet. It is in the works to add it. But I am not gonna fork over any money until the firmware is updated. How many projects have been canned in the past few years, leaving current owners with devices that can't be upgraded?

        If you buy one now hoping for the promise of DivX "someday," then I wish you the best of luck.
      • If it's been said once, it's been said at least 47 times:
        "Content is King"

        These 'z-card' folks have found a formula that can't fail.

  • My Own Low Budget Rap... (Score:5, Funny)

    by blackmonday (607916) * on Thursday March 04 2004, @01:56PM (#8466233) Homepage
    After 2 years of tryin,
    I' think I must be dyin,
    Today sure hits the spot
    cuz I got my first article posted on slashdot!

    Can I get a hell yeah?

  • Too much hype... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ackthpt (218170) * on Thursday March 04 2004, @01:56PM (#8466236) Homepage Journal
    Lessee, three links on the same page to "Order Your ZVUE Now!" ... Link to the Player, more "Order Your ZVUE Now!" links, (I see it arrives for the 2003 holiday shopping season, looks like old news.) The FAQ [zvue.com] covers some stuff. This thing probably sucks power when watching video, so "runs for hours on 4 AA batteries" probably means audio, not video. It's probably pretty heavy, too, but I couldn't find weight or whether it has a belt clip.

    Uses Secure Digital/MMC cards rather than Compact Flash, but looks very cool.

    Yet another memory card format to contend with, ugh.

    Pretty hyped site. Little on useful information. :-/

    • Re:Too much hype... (Score:5, Informative)

      by ardiri (245358) on Thursday March 04 2004, @02:01PM (#8466319) Homepage
      > Uses Secure Digital/MMC cards rather than Compact Flash, but looks very cool
      Yet another memory card format to contend with, ugh.

      va? SD/MMC have been out for a LONG time - its not news that they are being used within handhelds or portable equipment. they have been in use in both palm and pocket pc devices for well over two years now - not to mention that there are many cameras, mp3 players that use this format as well. if your going to bitch about a new format, try bitching about XD :)
      • I've got a Digi Cam with CF and an 8-track digital recorder that uses CF- I can swap cards like the day is long.
        I'd like to be able to use my current flock of cards with any future purchases.

        • Re:But I've already got CF (Score:5, Insightful)

          by Kenja (541830) on Thursday March 04 2004, @02:28PM (#8466694)
          And I allready have SD/SDIO cards for my PDA. Whats your point? SD/SDIO is smaller and faster then CF. This is why its getting used more and more over CF. Should we be bitching that this thing isn't supporting six inch floppy disks as well?
      • i don't think he was complaining about it being new, per se, but new to him, something that he doesn't already have plentiful. Most of us have an extra CF or two laying around, but SD or MMCs aren't as prevalent.
        • Agreed. I have two CF cards, two CF devices. For interchangeability reasons, I will give strong preference to any device that uses that standard vs. another standard where I have to maintain two types of memory cards.
      • SD/MMC have been out for a LONG time, and they still only go up to 512MB (and are 1.5 - 2 times as expensive as CF). 1 GB ones now exist, but they're rare and expensive, from what I can find. CompactFlash should have won this battle by now, dammit! I want a sub-$100 1 GB card, already! And yes, xD sucks, although my very nice Olympus Stylus 400 takes xD (wedding present, what can you do).

        • Re:Too much hype... (Score:4, Insightful)

          by harrkev (623093) <kfmsd.harrelsonfamily@org> on Thursday March 04 2004, @03:15PM (#8467391) Homepage
          CF and SD cards serve two different (but overlapping) markets.

          SD is great when the card has to be as small as possible. Some devices that use SD would have to be quite a bit larger in order to use CF instead.

          CF is "memory for the masses." If space is not the issue, then CF fits the bill. Because it is larger, you can fit a microdrive in the case. And if you want solid state, the case will hold a larger die and/or multiple dies in one package for storage galore.

          If both SD and CF were almost the same size, I could see the reason for your gripe. But one is smaller/expensive and the other is larger/versatile/cheaper.

        • Re:Too much hype... (Score:2, Insightful)

          by ichthus (72442)
          CompactFlash should have won this battle by now, dammit!

          It's not a battle, really. It's a question of the device. Sure, it would be nice to have a single [cross-platform] standard that everyone can play with. But, a CF card would almost double the size of my MP3 player (MPIO FL100). In the case of small devices (no innuendos, pls.) the US postage stamp-sized SD is the way to go.
      • Hey! I work for Fuji! Quiet, you're lowering my stock price!

        Seriously, xD isn't a bad format at all. Sure, it lacks an onboard controller, but the pins on xD readers break a lot less than the ones on SD readers (at least in the equipment I work on) and it doesn't have any of that annoying space-eating encryption stuff.
    • but I couldn't find weight or whether it has a belt clip.

      Because even beyond the flavor of embedded OS or Ogg support, the portable device deal breaker for the true geek is whether or not it can be added to the "belt arsenal".

    • Re:Too much hype... (Score:4, Informative)

      by No_Weak_Heart (444982) on Thursday March 04 2004, @02:15PM (#8466531)
      Yet another memory card format to contend with, ugh.

      And yet another video codec [zvue.com]. ugh indeed.

    • 6-8 hours video (Score:2, Informative)

      by hyperventilate (661218)
      When I show it to people they notice that it looks a lot better than video on a PDA. Mine runs 6-8 hours on the AA batteries.

      Doesnt suck power. It is hard to run a flashlight for 6-8 hours and the backlight is just as bright as one- so it uses an expensive LED backlight.

      Specs are 200 MHZ ARM9 with 160x234 screen at 24 bit color. The screen uses fast fluid for video unlike most PDA screens.

      It probably runs linux already.

      Pretty easy to re-encode videos to the DIVX Handheld or portable profile if

    • The biggest problem with SD is it's proprietary nature meaning any non-binary drivers have to be built from scratch. The specs are only availible from the SD Card Association under NDA.
    • Yet another memory card format to contend with, ugh.

      Well if you want to stick to CompactFlash, and you've got a Game Boy Advance, you can get the $40 GBA Video Player [i4u.com].

  • Hmmmm..... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by HullBreach (607816) on Thursday March 04 2004, @01:56PM (#8466239)
    It'd be sweet to wire one of these into the front of a casing & set it up as a secondary monitor for performance data.
    • Hack value, eh?

      What would it take to cut a zvue-sized hole in the front of a humidor and run wires it to a mini-itx inside?

      Or is this painfully obvious? Has someone who Really Knows done something a lot better already?

  • Why can't you just USE the damned thing?? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Trolling4Columbine (679367) on Thursday March 04 2004, @01:57PM (#8466252)
    "At the price of $99, I think it might be worth the investment for the hacking potential alone."

    I bet it could be used as a pretty neat MP3 and video player too!

  • Low Budget Porn Cards (Score:5, Funny)

    by DaRat (678130) * on Thursday March 04 2004, @01:58PM (#8466265)
    Just wait till you get buy low budget porn cards. Then things will really take off.

  • I just don get it... (Score:5, Funny)

    by DeionXxX (261398) on Thursday March 04 2004, @01:59PM (#8466288)
    Seriously, I just don't get why you'd want to watch video's at a resolution so small.

    Hot new music videos, extreme radical sports, wild, action videos that wreak havoc and lay waste

    Who the hell uses the word "radical" anymore? WTF are "wild, action video that wreak havoc and lay waste" ... It sounds like the videos are going to shit on you..

    Ugh.. just lame...

    --D3X
    NeoX3.com: The One Site for Free Adult Entertainment... [neox3.com]

  • Finally ! (Score:2, Funny)

    by stephanruby (542433)
    Something a little bit more convenient for porn.
    • Might be even more convenient if it included a harnes to strap it to your head...you know, just to keep your hands free for....ummm...other things.

  • I hope their video players... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Rikardon (116190) on Thursday March 04 2004, @02:00PM (#8466297)
    ...are more durable than their servers!

    Five comments, and already slashdotted. Sigh.

    =)

  • a bit small? (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I don't want to sound like a troll, but what is with multimedia being handheld. Sound I can understand, but video.
    Does not the detail as such become less apparent. Maybe when it has a bulit in projection device it may become fully useful. So far it just seems a mp3 player.

    • Re:a bit small? (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Golias (176380)
      Add a TV tuner via USB or whatever, and it would be pretty nice for ice fishing. Especially if it had the capacity to "mini-Tivo" a few favorite shows which you could watch whenever you wanted. Ice fishing is fun, but two days of staring at nothing but your radar and your trap flags would be a nice thing to break up with an episode of Alias or something.

  • zvue announced DivX and MP4 compatibility (Score:5, Informative)

    by i4u (234028) on Thursday March 04 2004, @02:00PM (#8466307) Homepage
    Zvue supports DivX video standard [i4u.com]

    • Re:zvue announced DivX and MP4 compatibility (Score:5, Informative)

      by Kenja (541830) on Thursday March 04 2004, @02:10PM (#8466451)
      If by "standard" you mean "pay us another 70$ and we'll let you view DiVX files" then yes, its standard.

      • Re:zvue announced DivX and MP4 compatibility (Score:4, Informative)

        by jbezdek (202293) on Thursday March 04 2004, @02:58PM (#8467180)
        That's a "informative" post? Hmm. Let me give a try at some real information.

        In reality, we subjected the ZVue player to our full battery of DivX Certified tests. There are several dozen test cases that use a large sample of representative DivX video content downloaded from the Internet. We make sure that every DivX Certified device meets minimum standards of quality (e.g., no freezes on high motion scenes, good ff and rew performance, and of course high-visual-quality DivX video playback) before we allow the product to be marketed using the DivX name. A typical product goes through several rounds of testing (with major and minor tweaks to hardware, firmware, etc. along the way) before it passes all the tests. :bez

  • great... (Score:5, Funny)

    by thrillbert (146343) * on Thursday March 04 2004, @02:00PM (#8466309) Homepage
    Now I'm really going to have to wait for a bathroom stall to open up.. portable pr0n.. just what we all needed...

    ---
    How long a minute is depends on which side of the bathroom door you're on.
  • so who was the very first one?
  • With your cool new ZVUE you can view full-color, high-quality video right in the palm of your hand.

    I'd rather have a bigger screen at the cost of some color and video quality. Does it atleast allow me to stream video out to a bigger monitor/TV? The FAQs and other pages don't say anything about it.

  • <i>low budget wrestling movies and wannabe rapper videos."</i>
    <p>
    How would these be any different from big budget wrestling movies and non-wannabe rapper videos?
    <p>
    Though I'm imaging somewhere at a demonic alter representatives of the RIAA/MPAA are asking for guidance on how they can let out the lawyer dogs on this thing. I can see it now... "Well, it can view video and play muisc and well we control all things video and music, but we don't control this, therefore it must be ablitera

  • Loading ... (Score:4, Funny)

    by No_Weak_Heart (444982) on Thursday March 04 2004, @02:01PM (#8466328)

    Are they using this gadget to power their site?

  • A CD-based device? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by AtariAmarok (451306) on Thursday March 04 2004, @02:02PM (#8466329)
    Sounds interesting, but appears slashdotted already. In the mean time, does anyone know of a similar device which is Cd-based?

    Imagine one of those little round MP3-CD players, except it has a small color screen instead of 2 line LCD-readout, and it property display video files, .jpg/etc and text files from the CD (and of course play audio and MP3).

    Does such exist? Am I the only one who would be interested in it?
    • Am I the only one who would be interested in it?

      Probably. The rest of us would be more interested in a portable DVD player, which they have already, and you can actually SEE the screen on. They're getting really cheap too.

      Of course, you can also get a 300 MHz 12" ibook for about $400, and you can do whatever you want with that...
    • The question then becomes is there any SecureMedia card to external CDrom convertors?
      A custom chip and plug in card converts the securemedia requests to cdrom accesses and bammm, you're in business! Seeing how most cd players can be powered by a AA or 2, power shouldn't be an issue.

    • Hasbro has a device called the VideoNow [hasbro.com]

      . It's only $50, but the screen is black and white. It uses mini CD's, but from what I understand from a friend who tried to hack it, the CD-Now's have the boot data written on the inside of the CD further in from where normal burners write.

    • Re:A CD-based device? (Score:4, Informative)

      by Cyberllama (113628) on Thursday March 04 2004, @03:39PM (#8467781)
      Iriver has announced exactly what you're describing -- theres pictures of it on various gadget sites. It's supposed to come out in April. . .

  • For $99 it's definitely (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Gr8Apes (679165) on Thursday March 04 2004, @02:02PM (#8466339)
    a hacking potential, and as for memory formats, who really cares? I have an xD card camera, and the card I have in it is going to stay in it (512MB) and the one that came with it, a 32MB card, is really too small to do anything with. My camera is also not going anywhere, and if it breaks, I'll get another one or one from the same line, as the features are what I want (shameless plug for Olympus Z-50). Granted, I'd prefer a less expensive format such as CF, but if it turns out to be something I like, the memory used for this one would probably also be restricted to just this one device.
  • No specs at all that I can find but at the bottom of their FAQ is this:

    Why does the low battery indicator come on after I put in fresh batteries and use them for only a short time?

    Depending on the type and brand of battery, the low battery indicator may come on while there are still hours of battery life left. You can continue to use the ZVUE until the batteries actually run down. You should also be aware, that when the batteries are low, the ZVUE may not operate properly.

    huh?

  • Wannabe - not quite (Score:5, Informative)

    by WhiteLudaFan (634444) on Thursday March 04 2004, @02:03PM (#8466347)
    For what it is worth, Lil' Jon is a platinum selling rap artist. He currently is involved with 2 songs in the top 20 of the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart [billboard.com] and 3 songs in the top 50 of the Hot 100 [billboard.com].
  • Can we get some specs? Site's already Slashdotted.

    As a side note, this is only good for hacking if the internal components are amenable to it. Would be fun to do stuff with this...

  • Not so good (Score:5, Informative)

    by pcmanjon (735165) on Thursday March 04 2004, @02:03PM (#8466360)
    I've reviewed one of these directly from Hand Held Entertainment and it's not all it's cracked up to be, the design doesn't fit in your pocket (tested in bluejeans) very well and it only supports mp3 (not ogg)

    Additionally, they sent some of the proprietary cartridges to try out, 2 out of the 3 freebie proprietary cartridges we tested did not work.

    I wouldn't pay cash for it.

    Regards
    • Yeah, unlike all those portable video players that do fit in your blue jeans pockets. I mean, if you just want a solid-state MP3 player to fit in your pocket, you can get that. This does more, and it doesn't really cost any more. It may not be useful to you, and that's fine, but don't knock the device itself (admittedly, I know the industrial designers and engineers who worked on this product so I'm biased - but they are an excellent team). If you are into the idea of a handheld portable video player th
  • $99 for a a nice gadget. Seeing videos in this small screen is awlful, but it looks great to show the digital photos of your last trip for your friends while drinking a beer without computers around. It should be cheaper to have just a photo display device. This is usually a good use of color PDAs, but they are expensive. Does anyone here know about a cheap, good, and linux compatible device just to display photos? An internal HD would be better than a compact flash one.

  • ..low budget wrestling movies ... (Score:3, Funny)

    by burgburgburg (574866) <splisken06@ema i l .com> on Thursday March 04 2004, @02:07PM (#8466417)
    As opposed to the high budget wrestling movies like "No Holds Barred" and ...,ummm, "All The Marbles" and ...umm, ...films like that.

  • You can play DiVX stuff too... (Score:4, Informative)

    by garcia (6573) * on Thursday March 04 2004, @02:09PM (#8466433) Homepage
    See here [yahoo.com]

  • ZVUE Development Community (Score:5, Interesting)

    by ElliotLee (713376) on Thursday March 04 2004, @02:12PM (#8466485) Homepage Journal
    The Cybiko Forums [cydevr.net] has had posts about the ZVUE since October 2003. This is where the Stormplayer [cydevr.net] (latest version [cydevr.net]) Cybiko Video Player and other major Cybiko developments were revealed and discussed.


    Cybiko is a low-cost, hackable handheld computer released at the end of 2000. Forum leaders may soon expand the boards to officially cover the ZVUE - it's a logical step from the Cybiko computer.


    Feel free to discuss the ZVUE in the Development boards. [cydevr.net]

  • Page text, for those that couldn't read it : (Score:5, Funny)

    by Glonoinha (587375) on Thursday March 04 2004, @02:16PM (#8466549) Journal
    The page cannot be found
    The page you are looking for might have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable.

    ---

    Please try the following:

    If you typed the page address in the Address bar, make sure that it is spelled correctly.

    Open the www.zvue.com home page, and then look for links to the information you want.
    Click the Back button to try another link.
    Click Search to look for information on the Internet.

    HTTP 400 - Bad Request
    Internet Explorer
  • Since the main website is slashdotted, heres what it says on the home-page (not much for those of you expecting specs)

    ``You can be first to get a new ZVUE!

    The new ZVUE is here now! And it really plays full motion, color video right in the palm of your hand! Order the new ZVUE! and you'll be watching the coolest new music videos, extreme sports and outrageous action entertainment--while you're on the go, anytime, anyplace!

    > Order your ZVUE now!

    For just $99.00 you can be the first to own a ZVUE--the ho
  • Now if only it didn't have a name that looks as if it should be pronounceable only in select African tribal langauges, I could get up the courage to ask a salesperson at the next electronics shop I visit if they're going to carry it.

    I mean the least they could do in this day and age of barely literate slashdotters is throw us a hyphen for clarity's sake.

  • Hackable? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by e.m.rainey (91553) <erik@noSPaM.rainey.name> on Thursday March 04 2004, @02:27PM (#8466679) Homepage
    If it uses Secure Media for storage of said "mp3s and pictures", it's unlikely you'll be able to hack it unless you can crack the content keys, or provide your own "secured" media.

  • Here are specs (Score:2, Informative)

    by AS400 Hacker (662043)
    Here is a PDF with more detail.

    ZVue Specs [bmrd.com]

    It looks a little cheap to me, but for $99 I guess you can't get burned too bad.

  • The IMPORTANT question is: (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Dr.Dubious DDQ (11968) on Thursday March 04 2004, @03:26PM (#8467562) Homepage

    ...how long will it take for someone to reverse-engineer the format so that we can make our own SD/MMC cards with our own video (space-shifted from our legally-purchased DVD's [yes, I'm serious...] or 'home video'.)?

    That is the specific feature that'd make it useful to me. I have no need of a special proprietary-format-only player where the low-quality proprietary video cards cost as much as full DVD's, especially when portable DVD players seem to be obtainable these days for only $50-$100 more than this player is selling for.

    (Hmmm...what's the capacity of the SD cards with the proprietary movies on them? Can they be erased and used as normal SD cards for other applications?)

  • I can't I just read a review of an MP3 player that didn't mention how much memory it ships with!

  • Compgeeks has them for $144.50. CF == minidrive (Score:5, Informative)

    by Linuxathome (242573) on Thursday March 04 2004, @03:54PM (#8468001) Homepage Journal
    Compgeeks has them for $144.50 [compgeeks.com]; you can check the site for the specs. It has MP4 capability, which is nice for you Xvid fans. For those of you who don't understand why we're griping that it has no CF slot, perhaps you'll understand better after I tell you that people have been getting cheap 4GB minidrive CF cards by cracking open devices such as the Creative Lab's Muvo2 [gizmodo.com] MP3 player -- i.e. the higher capacity drives/memory cards so far, tend to be CF cards. It's still up in the air whether or not the 4GB minidrive from the Apple iPod can be used in devices that support CF Type II cards.
  • I wonder if you could hack this device so that it includes a Hitachi mini-hard drive? That would be sorta cool. You could get one cheap by taking it out of a Creative Muvo, like in this wired [wired.com] article.

What does education often do? It makes a straight cut ditch of a free meandering brook. -- Henry David Thoreau