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- Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 36 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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7 out of 8 people found this review helpful
4.0 stars
"Great design but has some flaws"
Pros: Form factor, features, sound quality
Cons: Video playback, touchscreen sensitivity
Summary: I just bought this player yesterday on sale at Bestbuy for the very cheap price of $150 (the 4gig model).
Already I can pinpoint a few problems with the player and some great advantages. I'll begin with the cons and move on the the pros of the device. The software that's provided with the device is slow and not very user friendly. Moreover, there is very little you can do in the way of options or customization with the interface or features. Converting video is a pain! I'm a pretty proficient computer user with years of experience with peripheral devices including varioud MP3 players and PDAs, but I tried numerous times with numerous file types and file sizes but could not get the file to transfer to the player and play. The device is very limited in terms of video playback and though it is primarly and audio player, video should be just as big an asset on such a beautiful screen. I'm still trying to figure out how to transfer videos and I might just have to call Samsung for assistance. The other disadvantage to point out is it's touchscreen. The touchscreen is not accurate what so ever. On numerous occasions, I had to repeat my inputs to get the player to perform the desired actions. The bright LED light at the bottom of the device is nothing more then decoration and doesn't serve any practicle purpose. It would have been nice if it would be used as a "home" button like on the Touch.
On the plus side, this is an audio player and the sound quality therefore should be the most important thing. I'm happy to report that the sound quality is bar none. Samsung's sound engine technology is really impressive. If you're an audiophile, this MP3 player can't be beat (take that iPod!). The look of this palyer is also a huge pro. It's sleel and stylish and is the perfect size for everyday use being neither to big or to small and the player does have a nice heft to it. The screen is bright, clear and crisp. The included videos on the MP3 player played beautifully (if only I could get mine to work) and the included pictures were displayed beautifully. The GUI is nice, but I'm hoping that in time Samsung will release more options for themes and icons. The music player itself is well designed with many visualization effects including album art and track info. My favorite feature of this device and the primary reason I bought this over other players is the P2's ability to navigate through files through a file browser. I sort my music by folders and for me accessing that folder hierarchy is important becuase it's how I organize my music. The automatic library features of most MP3 players (including the iPod) really pisses me off becuase often, my music files are not properly organized because of missing ID3 tags. With the file browser I can organize my music how I want.
Over all the player does music very well but I'm still trying to figure out how to transfer videos. The touchscreen is a little bothersome but I blame that on a necessary learning curve and besides, the many dedicated tactile controls really ease the operation of the device.
- 4 replies to this review
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There is a java program that I use with my T10 to convert flv's to svi's called "jSVIcoder" . If you search google for it, you will find it sitting at sourceforge.net . Anyhow, it is dead simple to use, it uses mencoder on the backend so any video format mencoder understands it will handle. I use it in Ubuntu to convert videos, I've got 150 music videos on my T10 that I watch while working out. However to get my T10 to work with Ubuntu I had to load the Korean firmware (1.8) which I'm providing here http://www.chann3lz.com/ypt9 for the t9 and t10. This firmware will turn off "playforsure" support so its a step backward if you plan on using a T9 or T10 for audio books or music services like rhapsody.. But when you can rip any music video from youtube just by looking into "/usr/tmp" on Ubuntu, what's the purpose of getting a DRM protected audio file?
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Hey there, if ur still having trouble with getting your video files into your Samsung P2 MP3 player, just try to download GOM Encoder. It converts whatever files into ".svi " for Samsung P2 . It has like presets for Samsung and other players. You can check it out and see if that works for you :o) gd luck
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FYI, the video converter is very simple. Follow these few steps and you will be able to playback your video files
1)Open Samsung Media Studios.
2)Do not plug in your P2 into the computer.
3)Click on the video tab in Samsung Media Studios.
4)Import your video files.
->These are the supported formats of the video files you can import
1) .avi
2) .svi
3) .mpeg
4) .mp4
5) .rmvb
6) .mov
7) .asf
8) .smf
9) .wmv
5)Update your Samsung Media Studio to the latest version to 5.2.14 whereby you can set the quality bit rate and the frame rate.
6)Now right click the video file and click convert file.
7)Once the conversion is done you can transfer to the portable device.
For a normal .avi full length movie, which is 700mb, you can convert to around 150+mb for lowe bit rate, but with stil clear video playback.
What I've mentioned above is 200% guranteed that it can playback your video files.
Enjoy! (: -
I own this player, and I absolutely love it. With the recent firmware upgrade, the touchscreen controls are greatly improved, and the added bluetooth phone support make this quite the awesome portable media player! As for converting videos, I use a free program called Media Coder, which has a preset for the samsung p2. Able to convert pretty much any type of video, it completely replaces the samsung media studio. Anyway, I love this player and would take it over the ipod touch any day!
Where to buy
Samsung YP-P2 (8GB, black):
$89.95 - $279.99
| store | price | in stock? | rating |
|---|---|---|---|
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Amazon.com Marketplace
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$279.99 | Yes |
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$89.95 | Yes |
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