07-23-2003, 12:00 AM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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The ZVUE! Personal Video Player
"The ZVUE!, full-color video player that plays movies, music videos, MP3 and more! Why just listen when you can view full-color, high-quality video that plays right in the palm of your hand? The ZVUE! really plays anything! All the latest full-length movies, rock videos, TV shows, MP3 audio, cartoons, photographs�almost any video, audio or image can play on this fantastic new media player from HandHeld entertainment. All for $99! That's correct. A full-motion, full-color hand held video AND MP3 player for $99.00 will be coming soon to a store near you!"
Before anyone says "Hey, my Pocket PC can already do that!", this isn't for many people on this site. Think of the people in your life that like the multimedia aspects of your Pocket PC, but don't care much about the PIM functionality, don't need email, etc. Pure media. At $99, if this thing can actually deliver on what it promises, this will be a very unique device on the market. As you get into cheaper PDAs (Palm Zire), you sacrifice multimedia functionality, but this device focuses only on the media playback.
It's too early to make any judgment calls about the device, but I see big potential here for a significant slice of the maket. My younger brother and sister (both 18+) would carry their digital media with them, but PIM functionality doesn't matter to them.
Their press release follows:
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE <br /><br />HANDHELD ENTERTAINMENT FILLS GAP IN THE PORTABLE ENTERTAINMENT MARKET WITH ITS ZVUE! PERSONAL VIDEO PLAYER <br /><br />Portable high-quality, full-color personal video player is the first available at a consumer-friendly retail price of $99<br /><br />SAN FRANCISCO - July 8, 2003 - HandHeld Entertainment today announced its ZVUE! personal video player (PVP) - the first full-color portable digital audio/video player priced at under $100. Previously code-named "Mockingbird," the ZVUE! will be available at major retailers nationwide in October 2003.<br /><br />The ZVUE! PVP is designed for and supports content targeted at the "tween" (youth ages 8 to 12), teenage (youth ages 13-19) and early twenty-something (ages 20 to 25) markets. The customer-friendly design of the ZVUE! is similar in size, look and feel to personal digital assistant devices (PDAs) and has an ultra-bright 2.5-inch (diagonal) full-color screen. <br /><br />"The portable electronic entertainment market has been waiting a long time for a $99 high-quality personal video player like the ZVUE!," said Nathan Schulhof, president and chief executive officer of HandHeld Entertainment and the credited inventor of the MP3 player. "The market for personal audio devices has been solidified as go-anywhere cassette, CD and MP3 players have demonstrated broad consumer appeal over time. Since portable DVD players have ranged in price from $250 to more than $1,000, until now there has never been a quality portable PVP affordable enough to appeal to the masses - until the ZVUE!." <br /><br />Initial licensed content for use with the ZVUE! PVP will include some of the most recognizable branded entertainment names in the world. Various titles will include animated and live-action programs, chart-topping music videos, sports action videos and content from all areas of the entertainment industry. <br /><br />Content will be available on postage stamp-sized Secure Digital/MultiMediaCards (SD/MMCs) - which are becoming the de facto storage media for handheld consumer electronic devices - and will be priced starting at $7.99. The HandHeld SD/MMCs will be available in sizes ranging from 8 Megabyte (MB) to 256MB capacities and will offer high-quality video playback on ZVUE! PVPs from eight minutes to more than one-and-a-half hours of uninterrupted full-motion video. <br /><br />Each ZVUE! PVP will have one SD/MMC slot, a high-performance media-enabled processor, a USB2.0/1.1 (Universal Serial Bus) port, and the ability to play MP3 files. In an effort to keep retail costs down, the ZVUE! will not include internal speakers, but each ZVUE! PVP will include a speaker jack and a pair of ear buds that will produce one of the highest fidelty sounds in a personal entertainment device today. HandHeld has also developed its own compression-decompression algorithm, known as the HHE Codec, to handle real-time video decompression on the ZVUE! processor. ZVUE! PVPs will operate efficiently on four AA batteries to provide approximately eight to 10 hours of viewing/listening time.<br /><br />"The ZVUE! PVP has a lot of great features, but what will really 'seal the deal' for buyers will be its full-color screen," Schulhof said. "No other company will ship a full-color personal video player with a screen as large as the ZVUE! for under $100 this Christmas season. And that is why we believe the ZVUE! will be the perfect gift for active tweens, teenagers and twenty-somethings this holiday season."
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07-23-2003, 12:06 AM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Aug 2002
Posts: 171
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You're 18 year old brother and sister don't need a PIM?! I've seen the kid next door and he's only in Jr High and he needs a PIM. Kids these days, particularly those in college use a PIM all the time. They track classes, assignments (to do list) and still have friends they need to be able to call,email and IM...all of which are typical features of a PPC.
I'll stick with a PPC since it does multimedia and has other functionality.
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07-23-2003, 12:08 AM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 130
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Well too bad this only supports SD/MM cards: I think they can�t really compete with for instance a 30GB iPod by using such a limited and expensive storage solution (a 512MB SD card sells for about $250)�
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07-23-2003, 12:12 AM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 100
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"Follow us in the news. We will be making announcements soon about when and where you can purchase our new, ZVUE! personal video player in national retail stores, and the hottest video content from major music labels and media channels."
Correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I can read from their site, I get the impression that this is probably going to play only licensed format media... Makes sense though if they're going to sell it for under $100.
What do you reckon?
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07-23-2003, 12:23 AM
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Pupil
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 44
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At that price I am sure that it will only support rights managed media - now the question is at what cost. I'm hoping that a full length movie etc will be at least half the price of the equiv. in dvd format.
Actually - maybe we will see SD with _secure_ media on it
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07-23-2003, 12:35 AM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,264
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I believe we started discussing this product a few weeks back here.
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07-23-2003, 12:57 AM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Reza
Well too bad this only supports SD/MM cards: I think they can�t really compete with for instance a 30GB iPod by using such a limited and expensive storage solution (a 512MB SD card sells for about $250)�
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Agreed, it would be nice if it had CF support, but it's an issue of size I bet...
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07-23-2003, 12:59 AM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by derosnec
At that price I am sure that it will only support rights managed media - now the question is at what cost.
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If I can't play MY media on this device, it probably won't be very useful to me. We'll have to wait and see...
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07-23-2003, 01:58 AM
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Theorist
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 302
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I wonder if incidents of neck pain will increase 8)
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07-23-2003, 03:36 AM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 57
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Don't you think This archos product is much more appropriate?
But I would really love to get my hand on this baby though. 8)
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Linear Mode
