Re: The N800 as a PMP?
 

Thanks again! XxM5xx, what you write about mplayer gives me hope! If you have been using it to play the average crop of ripped video material with satisfactory results that sounds very similar to what I require.

Are there others here that can report on their experiences from using Mplayer on the N800?

It is very interesting what you write as well, GeneralAntilles. So hopefully (I'm not holding you accountable :D ) there is a decent chance of us seeing improved video support on the N800 in the future.

I would love to wait for an N900, but I'm guessing that it will be a bit too expensive to justify a purchase for me.

Tough choice, as always... Well, I guess I will try to collect information as well as wait and see if something happens on the third party software front, and then decide what to do perhaps at the beginning of next year.

Any further thoughts are welcome, of course :)

As I wrote, it would be cool to hear more about Mplayer!

Re: The N800 as a PMP?
 

Mplayer is definitely the best player around, but you shouldn't expect miracles. Most files I threw at it without re-encoding played, but choppy and no way was I able to skip to a scene or anything. I always re-encode all my files and it works great. OK, the re-encoding is a bit of a hassle, but if you do it immediately after you have downloaded something, then it is not that big a burden.

The N800 is not designed to be a PMP and if you buy it now, hoping that future drivers might increase performance, then I would advise you not to buy it, because you will get frustrated (just like a lot of people who are still waiting for video in skype).

All in all the N800 is a great device and it is criminally cheap at the moment. I couldn't do without it anymore and if you re-encode your files than it is one hell of a PMP (albeit with adequate battery life, not the best). If you don't re-encode your files I would advise you to buy something else.

Re: The N800 as a PMP?
 

Personally, I don't understand the 'I don't want to re-encode' crowd.
The screen's small compared to a monitor/tv. Storage is tight. You should be re-encoding for smaller file-sizes and the smaller screen anyway.

IMO the real failure of the n800 as a PMP is the lack of storage and the lack of a good sync'ing program. It's pretty inconvenient for the average user.

It works for me. But I realize that not many people would go through what I go through to catch up on tv over lunch. Heck, half the time I don't even do it anymore. Lately I've only been grabbing the latest off my video\mobile directory once or twice a week.

If you watch primarily streams (UPnP/web), it's far more convenient.
But that's not usually the use-case that PMP shoppers have in mind.

If there were a solid app that I could fire up, that would automatically grab the 'latest' files from a network share and purge 'watched' files - those problems would largely go away. But it doesn't exist.

Re: The N800 as a PMP?
 

Hi, I would love to here from someone with a Cowon A2 and a N800. I have a n700 and it just doesn't compare to the A2.
For the OP, what about an A2? Its a much better device than Archos. I think the 770 works as a media player - definitely its okay because it has a large screen to watch on a commute, etc. but I think it can't compare to something like the A2 and Archos x. My A2 is broken now, so I could never do a side-by-side, but it seems MUCH better than the 770 at least. I think if anyone using a N800 to watch videos tried a better PMP they would say - oh yeah there is a big difference.
Maybe what makes the A2 PMP so much better is: higher resolution, better viewing angle, better image on a non-touchscreen, and the ability to zoom on the fly, which can make a video much bigger when cropping doens't matter.
I haven't tried a N800 - is the screen much better than the 770?

Re: The N800 as a PMP?
 

Sorry I dont know much about this, but how long does it take to re-encode?

Re: The N800 as a PMP?
 

And Cowon is coming out with the Q5W, which includes WiFi, a browser with Flash, document reader software, and (possibly) GPS.

It looks to be pricey, though...

Re: The N800 as a PMP?
 

I've been thinking that something like the Neuros OSD would nicely compliment the Nokia tablets. It records on just about any media and it's Open Source as well.

[homer_mode]
Hmmmm... Open source....Argharggharghl...
[/homer_mode]

Re: The N800 as a PMP?
 

Me either, though I scarce ever watch video. Grew up with no TV, but lots of books, so I generally tend to reading textual resources, or listening to music/audiobooks. So maybe I'm out of touch, but when I used my old IJ-100, I had 2 MP3 libraries in parallel: I set my ripping software to rip, encode as 192kbps joint-stereo for computer, and also encode as 32kbps mono for the IJ. Throw whatever I wanted to listen to today on my 32MB MMC, and I'm good to go. If you handle it at rip-time, or on adding externally-sourced music to your library, it gains you device storage (precious), shortens transfer time, and tailor to mobile listening conditions. (In my case, going mono let me listen with one earbud, without losing a channel. You could also sox earwax it, for headphone use, equalize for poor frequency response of some device, etc.) In the case of video on the N800, it also permits better playback performance. The only loss is a 25% expansion of computer storage (dirt-cheap).
I assume you mean by "lack of storage", insufficient storage to keep entire library on there. Otherwise, I don't see why 2x 16 GB SDHC is not enough.
Not trying to get all

:mad: :mad:
RTFM!
:mad: :mad:

on you. But...

Then make it?

It shouldn't be that hard; I bet I could have a script to do just that working in 2 hours. Of course, you use it a bit, find shortcomings, get frustrated, spend a couple hours fixing it, and repeat, but still a total of no more than 20 hours, I think.
You're saying "solid app," which would require much more time and effort, but I think this is really a problem best attacked by scripting. And, not trying to be harsh, if you run a UNIX system, you should be able to do such scripting. It's one of the things you learn to get things done, by getting things done. I don't know if you can or not, and I'm not saying you suck if you can't yet. Just don't let "can't yet" become "can't"...

Re: The N800 as a PMP?
 

Yeah.

Though even 32gb starts to get tight when you're talking about bringing a few playlists and a couple movies with you on a business trip. Currently I just carry 2x 8g for personal media on trips, in addition to my work-specific cards. Again: the n800 works well enough as-is for me. I'm just saying that I recognize it would be too inconvenient for someone looking for a rounded-corners PMP-first device, like an Archos.

I've developed software long enough to know the difference in time required to make something work and time required to design something to work well for end users.

Anything less than a proper solution isn't going to solve the problem and I don't have nearly the time/desire to do it myself.

Re: The N800 as a PMP?
 

I definitely passed on the A2 and went with an Archos AV500 almost 2 years ago. To be fair, i got a chance to get the AV500 mint new for less than $120 (i work for a retail outlet and get first dibs on stuff). I cannot do without it, it lives in my laptop bag and goes everywhere.
Archos has certainly lost the way ever since their Gen 04/05 series. Now they nickle and dime you into buying stuff that *should* come with such devices anyway. The AV500 was the last great PMP Archos ever made. Played with a 605 WiFi the other day, and took it back in two days. Took 17hrs for battery to charge, meagre included accessories (almost none actually) and a host of issues.

I'm now seriously considering the Cowon A3 when it launches.

Oh yeah, N800's screen vs N770...better.