Popcorn Hour has announced a new enhanced version of their popular A-100 model called the Popcorn Hour A-110. Major features and improvements with the A-110 include the following:

• Support for 2.5 inch/3.5 inch SATA Hard Drives
• USB Slave functionality
• Support for HDMI 1.3a
• Full support of HD Audio pass-through for DTS HD-HR, DTS HD-MA, Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby TrueHD (ha.. you know what this means!)
• USB port moved to the rear
• Optical S/PDIF instead of the co-axial S/PDIF connector in the first model
• Hardware reset button

As before, the A110 allows you to play content stored either directly on the device or streaming from the network. The device supports playback from PCs, NAS’s, digital cameras, USB mass storage devices, internal SATA HDDs, and even via the Internet through the Media Service Portal.

The supported codec list is just too long to write here.. so make sure to check out the webpage at popcornhour.com. I’ve yet to directly play with the device but a friend of mine has the A100 and absolutely loves it. The asking price for the A110 is $215. Well worth it when you consider what it’s capable of.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Popcorn Hour A-110

Creative Japan has a new portable media player out called the Creative ZEN Mosaic. One half of the ZEN Mosaic is covered by the 1.8 inch LCD display while the other half is covered by a patchwork of square and rectangular patterns (which also double as control and navigational buttons).  Spec wise, this is a flash based media player with storage options ranging from 2GB,4GB, and 8GB. Other specs include:

• Measures 79.5 x 40 x 12.8mm
• Weighs 43 grams
• Supports MP3, WMA, WAV, JPG
• Built-in speakers
• FM tuner

The ZEN Mosaic will be due out in August.

[Check it out via Akihabara News]

Technorati Tags: Creative ZEN Mosaic, Portable Media Player

Prices are set for the new Creative Technology ZEN X-Fi media player here in the U.S. The 32GB model has an MSRP of $279.99, the 16GB an MSRP of $199.99, and the 8GB goes for $149.99. Not familiar with the new ZEN X-Fi? It’s the first Creative media player to feature their X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity Audio technology designed to help restore the quality of compressed music. There are basically two models - one with wireless LAN and one without. The 16GB and 32GB models feature Wi-Fi while the 8GB lacks it. Here are the major specs to the player:

• Measures 3.3. x 2.2 x 0.5 inches and weighs 2.4 oz
• 2.5 inch TFT display with a resolution of 320 x 240
• Video support includes MJPEG, WMV, MPEG-4, DivX, and XviD
• Audio support includes MP3, WMA, AAC, WAV, Audible 2,3,4
• Picture support includes JPEG support
• 802.11 b/g for 16GB and 32GB models
• FM radio with 32 preset stations
• Equalizer with 8 presets and 5 band custom EQ
• Calendar, Contact, Task List
• USB 2.0

[Check out the ZEN X-Fi with wireless LAN]

[Check out the ZEN Xi-Fi]

via SlashGear

Technorati Tags: Creative ZEN X-Fi, Prices

Now here’s a truly interesting new product from Kodak. It’s the new Kodak Zi6 Pocket Video Camera which is Kodak’s first dedicated pocket digital video camera. This unit is designed to make video capture fun and simple to perform as it captures 720p 16:9 video at 60 fps. According to PluggedIn Kodak blog site, the Zi6 features:

• 2.4 inch TFT LCD screen
• Comes with dedicated ARCSOFT video software
• Built-in USB connector
• SD/SDHC card slot
• Cables for viewing videos on an HDTV
• Pre-charged AA Ni-MH rechargeable batteries and battery charger
• Play back video in slow motion

The ARCSOFT video software allows users to quickly edit, personalize, and share videos as well as easily upload videos to YouTube. It’s due out in September although no word on pricing.

If the price and the video quality is right, this can truly be a compelling product for the average consumer.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Kodak Zi6 Pocket Video Camera

Sony announced that the mylo COM-2 Personal Communicator has a new video upload tool that allows users to capture and upload MPEG-4 videos without the need of a PC. Videos can be recorded using the built-in 1.3 megapixel camera and then uploaded using the built-in Wi-Fi support.

With the mylo, users can listen to digital music, video videos, and play games. However, when they’re near wireless hotspots, they can also view multimedia content online, chat with others using Skype, IM with users using AIM, Yahoo!, Google, and Skype, and read/write email through AOL Mail, Google Gmail, and Yahoo! mail.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Sony mylo COM-2 Personal Communicator, video upload

Sony brings noise-canceling and Bluetooth technologies to three new Walkman video MP3 models here in the US with the new NWZ-S710F, NWZ-A720 and NWZ-A820. All three of these players feature Sony’s EX series in-ear buds with 13.5 mm drivers which passively block out ambient noise. Common features include:

• Sony clear audio technology are included which improve sound quality when playing back digital music files
• QVGA LCD displays that show video at 30fps
• Support for WMA, AAC, Linear PCM, MP3, JPEG, AVC(H.264/AVC) Baseline profile and MPEG-4 files

NWZ-S710F

• 33 hours of battery life for music playback
• 9.5 hours of battery life for video playback
• Built in noise canceling system which can reduce 75 percent of ambient noise
• Five clear audio technology built into device
• 1.8 inch QVGA (320×240) LCD screen
• FM tuner with 30 presets
• Comes in two different capacities and three colors:
• The NWZ-S716F player has approximately 4GB of internal storage; comes in silver, red and black and will cost about $150.
• The NWZ-S718F player has approximately 8GB of internal storage; comes in black and will cost about $200.

NWZ-A720

• 36  hours of battery life for music playback
• 10 hours of battery life for video playback
• 2.4 inch QVGA display
• Slim body
• Comes in three different capacities and two colors
• The NWZ-A726 player has approximately 4GB of internal storage; comes in black and pink; and costs about $150.
• The NWZ-A728 player has approximately 8GB of internal storage; comes in black and pink and costs about $200.
• The NWZ-A729 player has approximately 16GB of internal storage, comes in black, and costs about $300.

NWZ-A820

• 36  hours of battery life for music playback
• 10 hours of battery life for video playback
• Same look and feel as the A720
• Bluetooth technology
• 2.4 inch QVGA LCD display
• Users can manually delete videos directly from the device’s internal memory without connecting to PC
• The NWZ-A820K comes with EX-Series earbuds and the DR-BT21G Bluetooth headphones
• The NWZ-A828K comes in black, has approximately 8GB of internal storage, and costs about $270.
• The NWZ-A829 comes in black has approximately 16GB of internal storage, and costs about $320.

The new models will come out in March with presales beginning now.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Sony Walkman, NWZ-S710F, NWZ-A720, NWZ-A820

Could wireless sharing be on the horizons for the next Creative media player offering? According to the folks at Sky News, that’s indeed very possible as rumors are circulating that a new Creative device will soon be released called the “Zen Share”. The “Share” moniker implies that the new media player will allow users to share content between devices although it’s not clear how this sharing will be implemented at this time. The new player is rumored to be targeting the May/June timeframe with a possible announcement in March at the German CeBIT show.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Creative, Creative Share

LaptopMag has published a review of the new Samsung P2 portable media player here on their website. The P2 is Samsung’s answer to the Apple iPod touch and according to LaptopMag, it’s a real “serious contender.” Before we get into their verdict, here’s what you need to know about the P2. The unit features:

• Three inch widescreen touch-screen display with 480 x 272 video resolution
• Video playback at 30 fps
• Supports MP3, WMA, WMA-DRM, MPEG4, and WMV9
• Supports Napster, Rhapsody, Yahoo! Music, CinemaNow, Vongo, and Amazon Unbox
• Bluetooth support
• Available in 4GB or 8GB of memory
• 30 hours of audio and 5 hours of video
• Integrated FM tuner with 30 station presets. Scans entire FM range in less than 60 seconds
• FM recorder
• 0.39 inches thick (overall measures 3.4 x 2.05 x 0.39 inches)
• Available in black, white, and burgundy
• Integrated text reader
• Supports datacasts
• Comes with file browser, built in alarm clock, calendar, world clock, etc
• Customizable menus

Ok.. so here’s the verdict from LaptopMag:

Samsung has crafted a fine portable media player with the P2. The Bluetooth integration is top-notch, and the P2 offers very good audio and video playback. If you can live with 8GB of storage and can do without Wi-Fi, this is one multimedia device that’s worth a look.

Probably the only real drawback is the lack of Wi-Fi on the P2. That’s one area where the iPod touch excels in and quite frankly, makes for a slightly more compelling device. With Wi-Fi, you can have applications that make use of the network capabilities such as an email client and a browser. Now of course you could do this with Bluetooth (paired to a mobile phone or a PC) but that’s just one more painful step to deal with. Overall though - this is one sexy portable media player.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Samsung, P2, LaptopMag, Review

What’s this I see from Coby? A touch-enabled media player? Yet another touch oriented device? (OK perhaps it wasn’t a good thing that Apple released the iPhone eh?) Yes.. It’s the Coby MP-835 media player and it comes with a three inch high resolution touchscreen display. Features of the MP-835 include:

• Intuitive touchscreen controls
• microSD card slot
• Integrated FM radio
• USB 2.0
• Integrated rechargeable battery
• 3 inch widescreen TFT color display with 480 x 272 resolution
• Supports Audio: MP3, WMA, OGG; Video: AVI, WMV; Photo: JPG, BMP, GIF; Text: TXT
• Supports WMDRM 10
• 3.5 mm headphone jack
• Measures 2.04 x 3.82 x 0.41 inches

The Coby MP-835 is available in 2 or 4GB configurations and comes only in black.

[Check it out via Chip Chick]

Technorati Tags: Coby MP-835

You have to love competition folks. Last week, Apple introduced the new 32GB version of the iPod touch and priced the device near the stratosphere at around $499. In response to this, Creative has lowered their already low-priced 32GB version of the Creative Zen media player to $299 which amounts to a $30 dollar price cut. Now granted, the Creative Zen isn’t as “cool” as the iPod touch and it certainly lacks the touch-screen user interface and various other PDA-like applications. However if you simply want a portable media player, the 32GB Zen is certainly hard to beat from a price-perspective. I saw the Zen back at CES 2008 and was very impressed with the color display on the media player. While nowhere near as sexy at the more expensive iPod touch, the Zen is certainly worth a look over.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Creative Zen, 32GB, 9