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ZVUE's $99 Video and MP3 Player

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the still-no-hard-drive dept.

blackmonday writes "Hand Held Entertainment's ZVUE is an MP3 player, video and photo viewer with a color screen. At the price of $99, I think it might be worth the investment for the hacking potential alone. Uses Secure Digital/MMC cards rather than Compact Flash, but looks very cool. The funniest part - you can buy cartridges (apparently in some propietary format) of low budget wrestling movies and wannabe rapper videos."

11 of 202 comments (clear)

  1. Awsome gadget! by GMontag · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Cool! I am still fiddling with the I-Opener from several years ago. Now something else to splice into the Jeep :)

    Maybe I could use it for the OBD-II display?

    --
    Eve Fairbanks says I drive a hybrid!LOL
    1. Re:Awsome gadget! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Unfortunately, this gadget does not play any video other than the ZVUE proprietary cards. Each proprietary card costs $14.95 plus shipping and handling. If you want a video solution for your car, this is not it.

  2. Hmmmm..... by HullBreach · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It'd be sweet to wire one of these into the front of a casing & set it up as a secondary monitor for performance data.

    --
    "Hand me the bullet-shooty-thing and a box of little hurts" -Overheard on a USMC Rifle range
  3. a bit small? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I don't want to sound like a troll, but what is with multimedia being handheld. Sound I can understand, but video.
    Does not the detail as such become less apparent. Maybe when it has a bulit in projection device it may become fully useful. So far it just seems a mp3 player.

    1. Re:a bit small? by Golias · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Add a TV tuner via USB or whatever, and it would be pretty nice for ice fishing. Especially if it had the capacity to "mini-Tivo" a few favorite shows which you could watch whenever you wanted. Ice fishing is fun, but two days of staring at nothing but your radar and your trap flags would be a nice thing to break up with an episode of Alias or something.

      --

      Information wants to be anthropomorphized.

  4. A CD-based device? by AtariAmarok · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Sounds interesting, but appears slashdotted already. In the mean time, does anyone know of a similar device which is Cd-based?

    Imagine one of those little round MP3-CD players, except it has a small color screen instead of 2 line LCD-readout, and it property display video files, .jpg/etc and text files from the CD (and of course play audio and MP3).

    Does such exist? Am I the only one who would be interested in it?

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
  5. For $99 it's definitely by Gr8Apes · · Score: 3, Interesting

    a hacking potential, and as for memory formats, who really cares? I have an xD card camera, and the card I have in it is going to stay in it (512MB) and the one that came with it, a 32MB card, is really too small to do anything with. My camera is also not going anywhere, and if it breaks, I'll get another one or one from the same line, as the features are what I want (shameless plug for Olympus Z-50). Granted, I'd prefer a less expensive format such as CF, but if it turns out to be something I like, the memory used for this one would probably also be restricted to just this one device.

    --
    The cesspool just got a check and balance.
  6. ZVUE Development Community by ElliotLee · · Score: 5, Interesting
    The Cybiko Forums has had posts about the ZVUE since October 2003. This is where the Stormplayer (latest version) Cybiko Video Player and other major Cybiko developments were revealed and discussed.


    Cybiko is a low-cost, hackable handheld computer released at the end of 2000. Forum leaders may soon expand the boards to officially cover the ZVUE - it's a logical step from the Cybiko computer.


    Feel free to discuss the ZVUE in the Development boards.

  7. Hackable? by e.m.rainey · · Score: 3, Interesting

    If it uses Secure Media for storage of said "mp3s and pictures", it's unlikely you'll be able to hack it unless you can crack the content keys, or provide your own "secured" media.

    --
    The next remark is false. The previous remark is true.
  8. Re:Awsome gadget! FAT32 no supported?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Hmm... So are you an employee of ZVUE? Why no OGG VORBIS support? Why no non-closed video support yet? This thing looks like an MPAA wet dream, not a consumer desire.

  9. No support for non-proprietary video formats. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    The only format supported by the device is a closed, proprietary ZVUE-owned format. At $14.95 per a video clip, it isn't a sensible purchase.