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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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The DVX-POD: Great Idea, Poor Execution
Product Category: Portable Media Player
Manufacturer: AMA Technologies
Where to Buy: AMA Technologies
Price: $599.99 USD
System Requirements: Windows 2000 or higher. The MManager software is Windows-only, but the DVX-POD should mount as a removable storage drive on a Mac. But don't quote me on that.
Dimensions: 7" LCD screen (6.5" viewable), 16:9 ratio, 720 x 480 resolution. 7.38" wide by 4.38" high by 0.94" deep.
Pros:- Attractive look and feel;
- Stunning high-resolution 7� LCD Screen;
- Driverless access as removable hard drive.
Cons:- Doesn�t play back most video files;
- Awkward controls and poor user interface;
- Long boot time.
Summary:
The DVX-POD was one of the most hotly anticipated media players of 2004: huge, high-resolution screen, support for almost every type of media under the sun, and a stunning, Apple-esque design. When I was sent a loaner unit in October, I had high hopes for it. In some ways it delivered, but in many key areas it fell brutally short. Read on to see why.
Read on for the full review!
First Impressions
The packaging is fairly standard � the DVX-POD comes in a brown cardboard box covered by a green sheath. You can tell they're not hitting the retail channel with this box: there are no product photos on it.
Figure 1: The DVX-POD box.
Figure 2: What�s inside the box.
Unpacking the box revealed the the DVX-POD, a USB synchronization cable, an AC power cable, a CD with the MManager software, a warranty registration card, two composite cables for AV in/out, a soft cloth for cleaning the screen, a pair of iPod-esque white headphones, and a neoprene case for storage. I found the screen cleaning cloth a particularly nice touch. My unit did not come with a manual, but I�d hope the shipping product would. The headphones match the styling of the DVX-POD, but nothing else does � the AC power adaptor and power sync cable are black, as are the AV cables. Given the effort put toward the styling of the DVX-POD, everything that comes with it should match to make the user experience consistent.
Figure 3: The DVX-POD inside the included neoprene sleeve � it�s a very functional case, unlike most of the throwaway cases that come with many gadgets, so you�ll want to keep this one. There�s a small internal pouch for the headphones, but no external pouch for the sync cable.
Figure 4: The DVX-POD held in my hand. That�s one big screen!
The DVX-POD itself is truly beautiful to behold. The screen is a huge seven inches (6.5 viewable), which is massive compared to the 3.5 inch screens I�m used to seeing on portable media players and Pocket PCs. That big screen also means the unit itself is fairy big � the good news is that it�s almost all screen. The bezel around the screen isn�t overly thick, so the focus is mostly on the screen. The plastic shell the wraps the DVX-POD is a bright, glossy white, and looks like it was made by Apple � and I don�t think that�s an accident. ;-) There�s a detachable stand that�s very clever � when it�s attached it folds up so that you can carry and use the DVX-POD without any additional bulk, but it serves the purpose of keeping the DVX-POD upright. Companies making Portable Media Centers, such as Creative Labs, would do well to take note of this stand design. I�ll talk about the buttons and inputs/outputs later on.
Setup & Installation
Setting up the DVX-POD was extremely simple � I just connected the USB sync and AC power cables, and the device showed up as a removable storage drive in My Computer. Curiously, the review information I was given indicated that both the sync and power cables should be connected � I think both cables are required because the screen and hard drive draw significant power, likely more than USB can provide. But this puts a crimp on the ability to easily go mobile with the device � you have to lug along the AC power adaptor in order to connect it to a desktop computer. Because it functions like a removable hard drive, I was able to drag and drop files easily to and from the DVX-POD, and create directories on the device to organize my digital media.
Figure 5: The software interface for moving content to and from the DVX-POD
The software was better than I expected � quite often with gadgets like this, the hardware is killer but the software is weak. MManager, the software used to control the DVX-POD, isn't very complex: it shows you your local hard drive on the right, and the DVX-POD drive on the right. You can move over one or more files, and the software will tell you the capacity remaining on the drive. There's a media preview window that (I think) is supposed to show you a preview of your file, but I was never able to get it working with either files on my local dive or on the DVX-POD.
Another glitch is the mysterious MyList feature. I believe it�s meant to be a folder where audio files are stored for playback during slide shows. Browsing via the desktop, the folder is empty. When browsing through MManager, there were several files in the folder. Exactly how this feature works is unknown because there�s no help file or logical user interface to explain what it does.
On-Device Options
There are several ways to configure the DVX-POD from the central setup screen � the brightness can be adjusted from 10% up to 90%. In my highly-scientific "go into the bathroom, close the door and turn off the lights" test, there was no difference in brightness between 10% and 20%, while 30% and 40% settings produced noticeable flickering that my wife could see from five feet away without her contact lenses in � it was quite bad. Cranking it up to 50% eliminated the flickering, but there was no difference in actual brightness between 50% and 90%. The backlight can be set to turn off after 60 seconds, 180 seconds, or it can be turned off manually. The unit itself can be set to power off after 10 minutes or 30 minutes. There doesn�t seem to be a way to turn off the screen but have the unit keep working � this is something I�ve grown accustomed to on my Pocket PCs when playing music, so this seems like a strange omission.
Figure 6: The icon for the Setup screen shows some of the rough edges on the user interface. This looks like a transparent GIF with the wrong colour made transparent.
There�s a software switch to move between NTSC and PAL output, making this device usable with TV sets all around the world. The setup screen also includes settings for the video recorder: you can select between Low, Middle, and High quality. There was no easy way to see the resolution and/or bit rate � in the sample video file that I recorded at High quality, the resulting video file was 704 x 240 and a bit rate of 1740 kbps. At least, that�s what Windows Media Player was reporting it as. Playing back the file with Windows Media Player and taking a screen shot, I get a resolution of roughly 706 x 483. Playing back the same file with ACDSee 7.0 gives me a stretched file at 704 x 240. The DVX-POD is likely creating malformed headers on the video file which tell media player applications what resolution the file really is.
Audio recording settings are either Low (48 kbps MP3), Middle (96 kbps MP3) or High (192 kbps MP3). The final setting the user can control is the slide show auto advance: 3 seconds, 5 seconds, 10 seconds, or no auto advance.
Video Playback � A Dismal Story
Playing back videos that you�ve put on the DVX-POD is simple enough � you can play, pause, stop and fast forward or go back at 2x, 4x, 8x and 16x speeds. Pressing the next/previous buttons briefly takes you back to the file picker, then it starts up the next or previous video. It would be much cleaner if it just started the video. You can�t build playlists of multiple videos � you can watch the videos one at a time, and you can�t loop the video clip either.
Figure 7: The DVX-POD hooked up to a 51" TV - video playback, as recorded by the PVR component, is decent but not spectacular - mostly due to the low quality of the video source recorded. Click the image for a bigger version.
Figure 8: With higher quality video, the playback is remarkably better - this clip from Ice Age looked excellent! Click the image for a bigger version.
The biggest problem with video playback is that it wouldn�t play back most of the videos I transferred over to it. Although the documentation claims to be compatible with WMV, MPEG2, AVI, and DivX, I had a very difficult time playing my content on the DVX-POD, which is a death blow for a device like this.
So what did I try to play? I first tried some beefy MPEG2 files that were recorded from SnapStream�s Beyond TV3 � they wouldn�t even show up in the file selector! Next I tried playing the WMV files that Snapstream created � it feeds these files through the Windows Media Encoder, so these are 100% compliant WMV files. They wouldn�t play at all. When I pressed the select button, the screen would go black for a second, and then it would come back to the file picker. No errors message, no indication that anything was wrong.
Now here�s where it gets confusing � the DVX-POD came pre-loaded with all sorts of video files (MPEG, AVI, DiVX, WMV), in a variety of different resolutions and bit rates, and they all played back perfectly. So what made these sample files different from my own content? I wasn�t sure, so I decided to throw a variety of different content at it � some that I had on my hard drive, some that I randomly downloaded from a P2P network. I wanted to get a variety of different files prepared using a variety of different codecs. The results were ugly.
Random ASF files: 0 of 2 played (no video, no audio)
Random AVI files: 2 of 10 played (no video, no audio)
Random AVI file: 0 of 1 played (audio, no video)
Random WMV files: 0 of 7 played (no video, no audio)
Random ASF files: 0 of 5 played (audio, no video)
Random AVI file: 0 of 1 played (audio, no video)
Random WMV files: 0 of 31 played (audio, no video)
Photo Story 2 WMV: 0 of 6 played (audio, no video)
Windows Media Encoder WMV: 0 of 3 played
Photo Story 2 WMV: 0 of 2 played
WMV created by muvee 3.5: 0 of 1 played (audio, no video)
In summery, of the 69 different AVI, WMV, and ASF video files I tried to play back on the DVX-POD only two AVI files played back properly with audio and video. In my opinion, this alone makes the DVX-POD a complete failure as a product designed to play back video.
Video compatibility is a much better story when talking about Divx files � I created a Divx video using the 5.2.1 codec and it played back perfectly on the DVX-POD. I then went to Divx.com and downloaded five different videos, and all five played without a problem. If the only thing you'll ever play back on this is Divx, perhaps it's a viable solution, but it should be capable of playing the file formats it says it can.
Voice Recording
Voice recording is accomplished via the small microphone on the left side of the unit. You can record in 30/60/90/120/150/180/210/240 minute presets. The first time I used the recording feature I recorded about 30 seconds, pressed stop, then tried to listen back to it � and the DVX-POD completely locked up. I had to insert a pin into the very small reset hole to get the unit functioning again.
The quality of the recording was surprising good from about one foot away, but at three feet it wasn�t able to pick much up. Worse still, you can�t record audio from the line in, so I view this feature as being unrealistic � how would someone position the DVX-POD within twelve inches of someone speaking? It�s too big for that, and without an option for a more sensitive external microphone, it�s impractical to use this for recording a lecture or presentation.
The quality of the voice recording is set in the settings panel; it records in MP3 format and the quality settings are 48 kbps (low), 96 kbps (middle), and 192 kbps (high). There�s no way to change the file name, move the file, or delete it. There�s also no meta data tagged onto the file � you have to decode the file name (0102230047.mp3) to figure out which recordings are which.
Audio Playback: Clumsy at Best
The DVX-POD is capable of playing back MP3 and WMA audio files � that�s enough for my needs, but I know several people who are fans of OGG, and given the nature of this device it seems surprising they didn�t include support for that format. Within the MP3 and WMA realm, a surprising array of bit rates and sampling rates are supported.
So how well does it work as a player? The interface shows basic metadata, and the volume is very loud. Beyond that, the experience goes downhill fast. There seems to be no way to play all the songs in a folder, or to queue them up for playback. Worse, even if you select a file, the play button won�t play the song � only the action button on the rocker starts playback. Completely illogical! The playback of audio is a bit quirky: you can fast-forward through a song, but the rocker button doesn�t stop the fast-forward and start the playback � you have to press the play button for that. This is the opposite way the video playback works, which makes for a confusing experience. There�s no cross fading between songs, although back to back songs play without much delay. Support for album art is sadly lacking. There�s also no visualization display, which seems to ignore the most impressive asset the DVX-POD has: the big screen. There�s no way to move or delete files on the device, and the song skips when you turn the audio up or down.
As an audio player, the DVX-POD fails miserably: it�s simply too big and bulky, and the controls and features don�t measure up to even the cheapest MP3 player.
Photo Viewing
Given the superb screen on the DVX-POD, you�d think it would make an ideal photo viewer, right? Not exactly. Given the size of the unit, the fact that it lacks a CompactFlash or Secure Digital memory card slot is unforgivable. If it had such a slot, it would be a valuable proofing tool for photo shoots, but as it stands it's only good for viewing them. Once you do get images loaded onto the DVX-POD from your PC, the screen lives up to it�s promise: photos look excellent. The contrast seemed a bit high, images tended to look a touch too saturated, but it was a subtle effect.
Figure 9: A four megapixel image displayed on a non-HD TV set. The image quality is quite good.
It�s unfortunate that there was no portrait mode for images � everything is forced into landscape viewing. The slide show function is boring: there are no transitions, no pan/zoom effects. On the plus side, the anti-aliasing on shrinking of JPEG images is excellent � I couldn�t see any ill-effects of shrinking large (4 MP) images. If you can figure out the obscure MyList function (mentioned earlier) you�ll have music play behind your slide show � whether you want it or not. There�s no way to start the slide show without music. Pressing the stop button during the slide show caused the audio playback to stutter and repeat for several seconds.
There�s also no way to chose a different song or playlist for the slide show � it�s whatever you have in the MyList. I tried to open a 1500 x 1200 BMP file, and the music sputtered while the file refused to load. I tried again with a 1020 x 1000 GIF file � the image loaded, but it was distorted. A 1600 x 1200 JPEG image loaded cleanly in one second, while 640 x 480 resolution JPEGs loaded instantly.
PVR Functionality: Recording Video
One of the cooler features is the ability of the DVX-POD to act as a PVR, but the concept is better than the actual execution. It has an input cable with composite audio and video connections, and it�s a simple matter of connecting your video source and recording it.
Figure 10: I connected the audio and video input ports on the DVX-POD to my laptop and played City of Heroes. It was cool to see the action on two screens. :-)
The DVX-POD can be set to record from 30 minutes up to 240 minutes, although actually starting the recording wasn�t intuitive and there�s no timer. Pressing record starts to display the video source, but you have the press the action button again to actually start the recording � there�s no visual indication that this is what�s needed. The recording quality isn�t very impressive � even the highest quality recordings I made looked pixellated and rough. I connected my laptop to the DVX-POD via S-Video as described above and recorded this sample clip. I'm not sure why the audio didn't record. :?
Battery Life
Battery life on the DVX-POD on paper is 12 hours of audio and 4 hours of video. How did it fare in real life? Fairly close to that. I didn't perform many tests, but in my casual use it seemed to last around that long for video. Unfortunately, it seems that when you power off the unit it doesn't shut all the way off � I left the fully charged unit on my desk for a few days and the battery was completely drained when I tried to power it on. This doesn't make sense to me � the device doesn't have alarms, so it doesn't need to be running real-time like a Pocket PC does. Something kept that unit in a suspended state of power, which eats up the battery.
Another frustrating factor is the lack of any real detail on the battery life remaining � there's an icon on the home screen that goes from full, to half-empty, to empty. How would you like it if your car was that inaccurate? I found that I was using it thinking I had 50% battery life, and five minutes later it was dead. More granularity is necessary.
Conclusion
If you've made it this far in the review, you'll already know what I think of it: from a hardware and design point of view, this is an impressive device. It looks fantastic, and on paper has impressive specs. When I was first sent a unit to review, I was convinced I was going to be buying one - it just seemed so perfect. But once I used it for a few days, I was equally convinced it was one of the most ill-conceived media players I'd ever used. It's like the designers didn't do any research to see what customer expectations are, or what competing devices are capable of doing. The user interface is horrible, the controls are awkward, and most unforgivable of all, it doesn't play the video formats it's supposed to. Look elsewhere for your portable media player: the DVX-POD is a dud.
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