The ZVUE! Personal Video Player

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.hheld.com/' target='_blank'>http://www.hheld.com/</a><br /><br /></div><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/hhe_player_04_color.jpg" /> <br /><br />"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!"<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />Their press release follows:<!><br /><br />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."

[bkerrins]

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.

[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)…

[theon]

"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?

[derosnec]

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

[GoldKey]

I believe we started discussing this product a few weeks back here. (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=14724&highlight=zvue)

[Jason Dunn]

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)…

Agreed, it would be nice if it had CF support, but it's an issue of size I bet...

[Jason Dunn]

At that price I am sure that it will only support rights managed media - now the question is at what cost.

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...

[sundown]

I wonder if incidents of neck pain will increase 8)

[yschang]

Don't you think This archos product (http://www.archos.com/products/fam_photo_video.html?sid=j22o24job2ko22cbf4j4ys) is much more appropriate?

But I would really love to get my hand on this baby (http://www.archos.com/products/av300_series.html?sid=j22o24job2ko22cbf4j4ys) though. 8)

[TomB]

Jason, this is a very good example of coy marketing. The only people who really know this is not a $99 video player are the people on this forum.

A. We know that to get an MPEG4 240 x 160 x 24fps feature film you will need at LEAST a 256MB SD card. We also know that Joe Consumer will probably spend at least $100 more for this.

B. We know that the propietary media films will only be available for transfer to these cards THUS your kids, teens and young adults will all need COMPUTERS with SD readers to transfer the "films" from whatever they come on to SD cards.

C. We know that the proprietary format needed for this device IS NOT what is freely available on the internet...

D. This is premature HOWEVER, the MPEG4 compressions I have seen in real time from others with embedded MPEG4 chips has been terrible. It will be interesting to see how good or bad these videos are.

E. I love the phrase "major films." Major films my foot. We all know how paranoid Hollywood has been about releasing anything small enough to go right to the Internet. If these really are recent "Major Films" from the studios I will eat Jason's hat. Also, who is going to buy something at 240x160 at any price, when most people have access to whatever they want at 320x240 a la P2P?

I would love for this to work, but as you can tell I get mad when marketing types only tell 25% of the story.

[Jason Dunn]

Don't you think This archos product (http://www.archos.com/products/fam_photo_video.html?sid=j22o24job2ko22cbf4j4ys) is much more appropriate?

I doubt the Archos product is $99. :wink:

[ECOslin]

I disagree with SD cards being the 'defacto' media of choice. I currently stick to CF, myself. My camera, my PDA, my desktop.

I also use a USB flashmem 8mb to take files between home and work.

I like the price and its potential as a multimedia device.

Edward

[yschang]

Don't you think This archos product (http://www.archos.com/products/fam_photo_video.html?sid=j22o24job2ko22cbf4j4ys) is much more appropriate?

I doubt the Archos product is $99. :wink:
:lol: no, but don't you think it worth the money to have GB hard disk instead of an expensive SD...

[danmanmayer]

If it doesn't ever stall on video and comes with large built in memory i might have to grab it to free up all the media memory on my pocket pc. Then again I could just put that hundred towards a really big memory card. anyways it is cool and interesting and i know people that would be into it.

[GoldKey]

Since their press release and product information seem a little vague on what you will be able to play on this, I sent them the following question:

"I have a question on your product.

Your information says "almost any video, audio or image can play on the hot new ZVUE"

Your press release then says "Content will be available on postage stamp-sized Secure Digital/MultiMediaCards" and "HandHeld has also developed its own compression-decompression algorithm, known as the HHE Codec, to handle real-time video decompression on the ZVUE! processor."

However, the wording of your press release makes it sound like it will only play liscenced media in a proprietary format.

Here is the bottom line question. Will I be able to play MP3's created from my own CD's? Will I be able play standard .mpeg and .avi files?

Thanks "

Will post when/if I hear back.

[rustywallace]

Agreed, it would be nice if it had CF support, but it's an issue of size I bet...


Why would it really matter if it had CF support as well. Isn't it basically the same as SD/MMC :?: [/code]

[GoldKey]

Agreed, it would be nice if it had CF support, but it's an issue of size I bet...


Why would it really matter if it had CF support as well. Isn't it basically the same as SD/MMC :?: [/code]

CF is alot cheaper per MB though.

[GoldKey]

Got a reply from the company regarding my question above:

"Here are the answers to your questions:

You will be able play .mp3 audio files on the ZVUE! player. It will
function as a full-featured mp3 audio player with top-notch audio quality.
The ZVUE! player's memory will use SD memory cards--not hard disk drives, or
mini-CDs at this time.

For video playback, the ZVUE! player will only play our new HHe video CODEC
at this time. Popular video content titles in the HHe format will be
available on read only SD memory cards. Of note, we have tested many
different types of video, animation, and images, and as we stated, almost
any visual content will play in full color on our ZVUE! player as long as it
is in the HHe format, or a jpeg still photo. You will also be able to
download HHe-based video content and copy it onto a blank SD multimedia
memory card. Of note, the AVI and MPEG video formats require much more
processing power and much larger file sizes than our new HHe format. Our new
HHe video CODEC was designed for pda/handheld processors, and digital media
storage cards. Therefore, to answer your question: No, the ZVUE! player will
not play MPEG or AVI video files--at this time.

Thank you for your interest in the ZVUE! player and HandHeld entertainment.
If I can be of further service please let me know. "

I followed up with the question of whether the Codec would be available to end users to convert their own content for use on this.

[GoldKey]

They must be on a roll answering e-mail, but this is encouraging regarding this product:

"We are considering plans for providing methods for consumers to convert
videos to the new HHe format, and we will make an announcement as soon as we
decide how we will approach a consumer-friendly converter for the HHe video
format.

Thanks for your continued interest in HandHeld Entertainment! "

[ECOslin]

HHe format!

Yipe!! Not another format/codec!

I recently had to re-encode some of my old Avi files to a video Wmp version because they wouldn't play properly otherwise. Now I'm trying to convert some of my old .Mov files to Avi or Wmp without spending another $30 for another version of Quicktime pro. I tried reinstalling the last purchased version of Quicktime pro and found it had expired! I hate proprietary formats(RA,Mov,etc), they often make a $ucking sound.

Edward