Does My Multimedia Player Get Outdone By Pandora

[zidane2009]

Well, I'm selling my Xbox360 for a Pandora. I can get 225 for it, which leaves 105 left. I can ask my parents for some more money, or I could sell my Cowon A2

Which one should I do? Heres a link to the Cowon A2 Website. The whole reason I would sell it is if I can get better quality on my Pandora. Otherwise I'll keep both.
http://www.cowonamerica.com/products/cowon/a2/tech_specs.html
Video Playback File Format : AVI, WMV, ASF
Video Codec : DivX 3.11 1) / 4/ 5 2), XviD 2), WMV9 (MP@LL) 3)
Audio Codec : WMA 4), MP3, AC3 5.1 Downmix
Audio Playback MP3, OGG 10), WMA 4), FLAC 10), WAV with 5 bands EQ, BBE, Mach3Bass, MP Enhance, and 3D Surround 5)
Photo Viewer JPEG 6), PNG 7), BMP 8)
Text Viewer TXT (EUC-KR, EUC-JP, GB2312, Big5, ISO-8859-1, UTF-8)
FM Radio 76 ~ 108MHz with preset

Recording TV, Line-in
TV Out NTSC/PAL
DivX Certified Yes
Subtitle SMI Format
Playback Time Video : Up to 10 hours
Audio : Up to 18 hours

LCD 4" 480x272, 0.183mm pitch, TFT LCD (16:9 Wide)
Storage Hard disk (20GB/30GB) 9)
PC Interface USB 2.0 (Max 480Mbps)
USB OTG USB 1.1 (Max 12Mbps)
USB USB 2.0

Audio Output 32mW + 32mW (16ohm), 95dB
Frequency Range 20Hz ~ 20KHz
Size 5.24 X 3.07 X 0.87 inches (133 X 78 X 22 mm)
Weight 10.5oz (298g)
Speaker Built-in Stereo Speaker
Microphone Built-in Mono Microphone
Battery Li-Polymer Rechargeable 4300mAh.
Charging 5 hours using AC adapter
AC Adapter DC 5.0V, 2A

 

[fuzzypinkunicorns666]

In terms of multimedia playback, compared to the A2, the Pandora:
-has higher maximum storage capacity (up to 64gb with the 2 sdhc slots)
-will support even more audio/video codecs (though they'll probably need to be downloaded separately due to legal issues of shipping proprietary codecs)
-will have a higher-res screen, though according to this guy on iaudiophile, worse contrast and viewing angles (the Pandora uses the same LCD as an Archos 605)
-should have similar sound quality, though supposedly higher output (I believe it was about 150mw/channel)
-will NOT have FM radio or TV recording (without some sort of USB dongle)
-may have longer audio playback battery life. 100 hours has been claimed, though that seems unlikely.

So if screen quality, FM radio, or TV recording are high priorities for you, you'll be better off keeping the A2. If storage capacity or support for weird codecs is more important to you, then Pandora all the way!

 

[fischju2000]

The Pandora easily outclasses that Cowon. It will be able to play all the same codecs and maybe more, but the Pandora doesn't have a built in radio or TV recording functionality. The Pandora does have a better DAC, storage options (With dual SDHC) and much higher resolution screen.

 

[cb88]

well the pandora will have VLC and Mplayer and probably a few more and a bigger screen than your cowon


It might also be possible to port the rockbox interface as an application if somebody would work on it

the pandora won't have FM radio or AM for that matter

I don't think anybody really knows if sound will be better on the pandora  (assuming with headphones since the built in speakers probably are OK but definitely not high end )

speculation (heh) indicates that audio playback on the pandora could be up to 100+ hours with video and gaming around 8-10 hours




acourse you could figure that much out and more by reading around the forum and especially the wiki lots of info on there

 

[zidane2009]

Wait, so the overall video quality is higher or lower? I think one of my main uses (other than gaming) is playing TV/Movies

AM/FM Radio and TV aren't too important, I wonder if online radio is still accessible.

 

[Poem58]

You might want to keep your Cowon to record vids for your Pandora!
The Hard part here is that you have a nice PMP and at least right now the Pandora cannot completely replace it. I would try to keep both. The choice though is tough and ultimately no matter what is said here it just comes down to whether you feel you don't want your PMP anymore.

 

[fischju2000]

Wait, so the overall video quality is higher or lower? I think one of my main uses (other than gaming) is playing TV/Movies

I would say higher, more pixels and the ability for higher bitrates/more complex codecs. Even if the resolution on the Pandora is much higher it's still an AMOLED vs a regular LCD, so it may not seem as bright or vivid.

 

[zidane2009]

Also, what the hell is this
http://www.zii.com/Developer/Landing.aspx

 

[trooper]

Also, what the hell is this
http://www.zii.com/Developer/Landing.aspx

It`s already been discussed here.

Trooper

 

[timothee]

I also have an A2 and it has served me VERY well from the beginning. It does have a special place in my heart since it helped my wife keep her sanity when she was bedridden in hospital for a month during a tough twin pregnancy in 2007 (special thanks to "Desperate housewives" and "Grey's anatomy").

That being said, I will retire my A2 nonetheless when I get my pandora. I recorded TV just once with the A2, and never played the radio even once. So these features are of no concern to me. The Pandora will replace the A2 easily for picture viewing (which sucks on the A2), and I have no doubt video with higher res and wider codecs support (h264 player in my pocket, finaly!) will be better. Plus the ability to carry and swap several SDHC cards are going to beat down the A2's limited 30GB HD.

The A2 was a very good purchase I do not regret one bit. The Pandora will just be even better as a PMP (for me), on top of being an awesome gaming machine of course.

 

[danielliu88888]

the pandora's battery is now 4200mah. 100 hours of audio playback looks more likely.

 

[zidane2009]

Also, what the hell is this
http://www.zii.com/Developer/Landing.aspx

It`s already been discussed here.

Trooper

Oh, I didn't see that. Maybe its my stupidself, because it looked pretty powerful

I also have an A2 and it has served me VERY well from the beginning. It does have a special place in my heart since it helped my wife keep her sanity when she was bedridden in hospital for a month during a tough twin pregnancy in 2007 (special thanks to "Desperate housewives" and "Grey's anatomy").

That being said, I will retire my A2 nonetheless when I get my pandora. I recorded TV just once with the A2, and never played the radio even once. So these features are of no concern to me. The Pandora will replace the A2 easily for picture viewing (which sucks on the A2), and I have no doubt video with higher res and wider codecs support (h264 player in my pocket, finaly!) will be better. Plus the ability to carry and swap several SDHC cards are going to beat down the A2's limited 30GB HD.

The A2 was a very good purchase I do not regret one bit. The Pandora will just be even better as a PMP (for me), on top of being an awesome gaming machine of course.

Sorry to here about that rough patch.

I guess I'll sell this too. Just one last thing. Can someone direct me to the preorder page? Also, is 1stBatch really better than 2ndBatch?

 

[gruso]

Email openpandorasales@gmail.com if you'd like to preorder.

First batch and second batch will be exactly the same. That whole discussion about CPU ratings and overclocking means very little at the end of the day. Every Pandora from every batch will be a 600mhz+ device as advertised, and that's all that matters.

 

[openthebox]

-will have a higher-res screen, though according to this guy on iaudiophile, worse contrast and viewing angles (the Pandora uses the same LCD as an Archos 605)

This side by side screen comparison from that thread shows that Cowon has a better video picture. Is it really that much better, or is this just a simple brightness/contrast adjustment?

 

[fischju2000]

That guy has the brightness up and contrast down it looks like. The screen is much more vivid than it appears there.

 

[Vorporeal]

It's a bit difficult to trust non-"professional" reviewers for these kinds of things, because they don't do a great job of leveling the playing field before making a review. It's even possible that he/she tweaked the settings on the Archos before doing the review to make the Cowon look better. You can never really know.

 

[rabidpoobear]

It's a bit difficult to trust non-"professional" reviewers for these kinds of things, because they don't do a great job of leveling the playing field before making a review. It's even possible that he/she tweaked the settings on the Archos before doing the review to make the Cowon look better. You can never really know.

plus you're looking at a compressed picture of a display on another display device. not exactly optimal comparison situation.