I'd be interested in what you found out. I've been looking at players too - the Creative ones are supposed to play WMV files without recoding on internal memory or external card. I was also looking at the 30 Gig MSFT player when it dropped to $100 over Christmas. But for now I'm sticking to my PSP. It has a nice video interface now (allowing you to preview the file in 1-5 minute increments) and no longer requires arcane folder/file names and codecs to transfer files. If it will play on an iPod, it'll play on the PSP.
On Jan 16, 2008 9:18 AM, Craig Froehle <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Michael, > I appreciate your level of detail, and I also have a bit of experience > ripping DVDs and transcoding shows I've dumped off my TiVo to Xvid and > other formats in various resolutions, fps, and quality levels. For > example, I've transcoded and downscaled nearly all of our Disney vids > (which the kid watches over and over) to VGA, HVGA, and QVGA simply to > match the device it'll be playing on. > > The problem with that approach is, as I've said, (a) it takes up > considerably more disk space than having only a single file (Finding > Nemo at VGA is 680MB, at HVGA it's 411MB, and at QVGA it's 320MB, so > that's 731MB more space taken up on our server than if I had a proper > video player), (b) transcoding all those videos into multiple formats > takes quite a bit of time and attention, and (c) downscaling destroys > video quality and I'd prefer not to give up video quality if I can > avoid it. > > So, what you're proposing I already have extensive experience with and > I'm looking for something better. There *are* VGA-resolution (or > better) devices out there (e.g., some Pocket PCs, Nokia N-series > Internet Tablets, etc.) as well as lower-res devices that will still > play full 480p video without hiccups (e.g., Creative, Cowon, and > Archos units) -- what I'd like to know is if anyone has any experience > using one of *those* and can recommend it. Thanks. > - Craig -- ============================== War Eagle
