Best <£100 Portable Video Player?

[fishybawb]

Hello,

I'm after a reasonably inexpensive portable video player - I found favourable reviews of the Archos 604, but they were from a few years ago. Is there a more recent equivalent that someone could recommend as a replacement? I just need something non-bulky that'll play ripped movies (that I own on DVD, naturally), no other features required.

Thanks

 

[dnlgreenwood]

The Dingoo a320 is supposed to be excellent for video playback. It costs around $80 US, or about 50 pounds. You don't need to re-code the videos specifically for the device, which is great.

 

[fishybawb]

Sorry, should have been a bit more specific. I already have a Dingoo, but I'm after a dedicated media player with a largish touchscreen, no gaming controls required.

 

[foxblock]

I dunno if you had a look here:
http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?/topic/57461-looking-for-a-decent-pmp/

I also recommended the Archos 605 (successor of the 604) in there, which you might get used for <100GBP, but I would consider it being rather bulky.
On the other hand it will play most file formats and video codecs out of the box, so it is perfect (and far better than any Apple product) for playing video on the go.
The Archos 5 is the successor of the 605 and has a better screen, better CPU, but lacks any buttons and you probably won't be able to get it for that price. However it is mostly identical to the 605, except for the better CPU, which enables faster web browsing and better performance in Flash.
The Archos 43 seems to be the most recent one, similar to the 605, but I never heard of it until recently.

I also heard good about Cowon devices (but never owned one), they seem to be superior in audio quality, so this is another alternative.

foxblock out

 

[dnlgreenwood]

I dunno if you had a look here:
http://www.gp32x.de...r-a-decent-pmp/

I also recommended the Archos 605 (successor of the 604) in there, which you might get used for <100GBP, but I would consider it being rather bulky.
On the other hand it will play most file formats and video codecs out of the box, so it is perfect (and far better than any Apple product) for playing video on the go.
The Archos 5 is the successor of the 605 and has a better screen, better CPU, but lacks any buttons and you probably won't be able to get it for that price. However it is mostly identical to the 605, except for the better CPU, which enables faster web browsing and better performance in Flash.
The Archos 43 seems to be the most recent one, similar to the 605, but I never heard of it until recently.

I also heard good about Cowon devices (but never owned one), they seem to be superior in audio quality, so this is another alternative.

foxblock out

I forgot about the Archos. A friend of mine had one a couple years ago, and it was really good. I'd seriously recommend it. I believe his also had web browsing (his was broken) and could play flash games (not very responsive with the touch screen.) His came with a dock and he could record TV or gameplay from his game systems straight to the device. It also had a built-in speaker, which worked well.

 

[foxblock]

I forgot about the Archos. A friend of mine had one a couple years ago, and it was really good. I'd seriously recommend it. I believe his also had web browsing (his was broken) and could play flash games (not very responsive with the touch screen.) His came with a dock and he could record TV or gameplay from his game systems straight to the device. It also had a built-in speaker, which worked well.

Web browsing works for me (you need to get a plugin for that), but it is not as nice and responsive as it is on the iPhone for example.
Flash games also work fine, unless they use a lot of effects and alpha-blending, also most recent Flash games won't work, though there still are a lot of which do and also quite a few fun ones.
The dock has to be bought separately, but works great for recording TV (or from any other source, like an old video tape player) and streaming.
There are also a lot of other accessories, like a helmet camcorder or an additional battery.

foxblock out

 

[fishybawb]

Cool, thanks guys. Think I'll go for an Archos 43