iRiver PMP-120 Portable Media Player (20 GB)

Rating:
Summary: 5 out of 5, Just go out and try it.
Review: Actually I was waiting for the portable media player from Microsoft. But I heard unfortunately it won't come out soon. And I found out that iriver is in partnership with Microsoft for the portable media player.

Anyway, I've been using this little surprise for a week. I think it beats any portable media players in the market.

The battery hour is very long. I roughly guess it lasts at least 3 times longer than my wife's Ipod. The lcd display could be bigger, but still quite large as a portable player. Speaking of the quality of sound, you know irivier has superior sound quality to any other players.

I'm a digital camera mania. This device not only save files through the usb fort but also host usb port. So you can read all the image files directly from the digital cameras. This is fantastic.

It also has a FM tuner. One thing I found really great is that you can record the music directly from the radio, and you can control the quality of sound files. It may be some kind of music piracy. Not sure though.

In sum, believe me, this one is a killer toy. I hope the price will be lower so that I can buy one for my brother.

Rating:
Summary: Ugly device with short battery life
Review: Even though the manufacturer claims "up to" 5 hours of playback time with video files, in actual usage it's more like less than 3 hours. Audio playback is comparable to the iPod's battery life.

But the PMP120 is ugly and childish in styling. I don't understand why, for $400, they force you to carry something people will laugh at you for. It's also heavier than "pocketable".

As many people have pointed out, you cannot record DVDs directly. We know that ripping DVDs is illegal in the U.S. Whether recording directly into an inferior quality format is legal or not, that I don't know, but at least with products like Archos Gmini400 and Archos AV320/340/360, you can simply hook up your DVD player and record to the Archos without hassle. The PMP120 forces you to rip first (committing a crime in doing so) before you can transfer the video.

Lastly, the screen is no good on the PMP120, as it's barely visible outdoors, even on an overcast day. It's strictly for indoor use.

All considered, this is a poorly implemented device. If it were under $200, I'd given it two stars. But it's an insult to consumers for them to charge so much money for so little usable features. If you want a portable multimedia gadget, check out the aforementioned Archos products. (No, I don't work for Archos, or any other electronics company.)

E-mail me if you have questions about portable multimedia.

Rating:
Summary: Finally a PVP that I can tolerate
Review: I had bought Creative PVP sometime back, but had to return it bcoz it uses Microsoft Media Player. Wrong media player choice. It makes the whole process of uploading media very tiresome and slow. So i returned the Creative. I checked iRiver at the store and found that it did NOT use Windows Media Player. So I bought it. I have been playing with it over the past couple of weeks. It provides a DIVX codec software and associated media converter software, that makes importing videos easy. Use the Portable Media Center DIVX profile, when coverting videos.I use the AVI format to upload videos onto the player. It is also a full featured mp3 player, voice recorder and a fm tuner. The speakers are little bit low in volume, so have to use headphones in noisy situations. The fit and finish of the hardware is not as nice as Creative. The software has some spelling mistakes such as "FM Tunner" instead of "FM Tuner". But at the end of day, it does what it is supposed to do. And it provides all the software and cables right out of the box. I am in process of creating a PC based DVR solution, to capture and record live TV. iRiver will then become my portable video system. iRiver can also send video signal's to TVs through a provided port and cables.Provides USB Master port capabilities to interact with other USB port capable devices, without using a PC. It comes with a nice hard case, that U can use to carry it around and to even prop it up while watching it on an airplane. Battery is removable type, so u can buy an extra one, if U are on a really long flight. PVP space is still evolving fast, so expect to see lots more new models coming out in next couple of months. If like me, u want one right away, iRiver is an reasonable choice. You will need some experience in media conversion to successfully import videos in a watchable format. Experiment with video sizing, audio mixing etc till u get it right. iRiver has also released another PVP that uses Windows Media Player. Do not buy that, unless you have a full featured Windows Media Center PC.

An update to the review. Using Pinnacle Dazzle DVC 80 Video capture device (USB based) and excellent Pinnacle Video Capture Software, I have been able to successfully capture TV output and import into iRiver. I had to reconvert the Dazzle AVI output files to iRiver AVI using the iRiver media converter software. Now I have a complete portable video solution. I am a bit surprised it all actually worked. I was even able to capture HD channel outputs from my DISH TV satellite box using the AV components in the back of the satellite receiver.

Rating:
Summary: iRIVER PMP
Review: I have had my media player for about 3 weeks and it is great once
you figure out how to work it, the user manual is a piece of trash!Converting dvd to the formats that are supported takes a bit of time and finding a freeware program to do it is a little hard but can be done.Picture quality is very good audio quality is good battery life is great.I also wish that you could record video directly to the hard drive.Would make loading movies alot easier.

Rating:
Summary: Annoying! Avoid, avoid, avoid!
Review: I was very excited to get this player as a holiday gift. I was looking forward to watching the TV shows I recorded using Windows Media Center edition on it. But this turns out to be impossible - the PMP-120 runs a Linux operating system and does NOT convert recorded TV files (*.dvr-ms) and moreover it won't sync with Windows Media Player 10, which would in fact convert such files.

I spent five hours trying to set it up to watch TV and only learned this sorry fact through extensive Googling. Certainly I could not learn this from the embarassing manual or from the poor automated help service at iriver itself, nor from the 800 number (I spent 45 minutes on hold then gave up).

Apparently the PMC-120 (PMC not PMP) is in fact Windows Media Player compatible, but at this point I'm not sure I'll trust another Iriver product, because their support is so poor.

Stay far, far away from this!

Rating:
Summary: Before you decide to buy...
Review: I've done extensive research in trying to find the perfect portable video player. From all the magazine reviews, sites like CNET and suchforth, customer reviews, and hands-on experience, I decided to purchase the MSI MEGA View 561. The MSI Mega View was one of TechTV's finalists for most innovative products at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2005). If the features of the iRiver PMP appeal to you, consider taking a look at MEGA View 561 (Check out the product page for more info). It has almost identical features and at least $50 less (you may be able to find it elsewhere cheaper).

Like the iRiver, the MEGA View 561 can play mp3, wma, wav, divx (avi), mpg, and your digital photos. It has a built-in FM tuner, voice recorder, an A/V Input and Output with composite video to record video from TV or other sources and so you can view files on your television set. You can rest the player on the tripod that is included. Since playing with the unit a few weeks ago, I can't get enough!

If you're still making up your mind about which player is right for you, take a minute and check out the MSI MEGA View 561.

Rating:
Summary: Ugly device
Review: It is slow, you cant see a thumbnail of your photos. It does not read mp3 songs with extension Mp3, only with extension mp3 and I dont know why is that.
And whorst of all you dont have an email in the Iriver page so you can complain or get help about it.
I am very dissapointed with it.

Rating:
Summary: Quiet a nice device for watch movies
Review: It's been two weeks since I bought this movie gadget.
My primary usage for this PMP is to store my DVD libraries into the HDD and want to watch movie whenever I go.
I made backups from my dvd lists (Lord of the Rings III, Love Actually, Last Samurai, etc)to PMP. Now I can watch movies whenever I go, (Subway, in my car with FM Transmitter from iriver :-) It gives me new life experience. It's totally different then portable audio. So, I strongly recommend it for hugh movie fans.



Rating:
Summary: Great Product but no movie recording capability
Review: This is a geat product that I have been waiting for. But, the fact that this device could not record any movie (comparing to: Lyra RD2780, Archos, and more are coming with movie recording capability) really make this product inferior.
I have called the customer service and they told me that they don't have any plan to support the movie recording capability.
I hope they can oversee this weakness and change their mind to support the movie recording capability on the next firmware release.

Rating:
Summary: Overall i-river quality
Review: This is a warning about i-riverI do not have this specific i-river product, but I have purchased two of their products in the past, and the quality of both began to deteriorate within months. Both of them damaged numerous sets of headphones, wearing the connectors to the point that only one earpiece would work. On one of my players, the backlight on the LCD stopped working, and on the other the connection between the player and the USB chord no longer holds properly, preventing me from changing any of the MP3's on a 64 MB player. When I contacted the company about these problems they gave me the good ole runaround, basically vouching for the poor qaulity of their products. I will not being buy any of their products again.