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"Just Received Cowon A2 30GB, and VERY satisfied!!" on by Peau
Pros: All the features that you want
Cons: Interface not for the easily frustrated
Summary: First off, you CAN purchase this from cowon's website at cowonamerica.com
I'll start with my con. I have no complaints about this awesome PVP, except that if you are easily frustrated trying to get all functions to work, you might become frustrated. The included manual is trite on explaination, but once you see the player in action, nothing matters.
Also mentionable is that I researched over 25+ hours on what type of PVP I wanted, starting at the ipod video (piece of junk), and finally the cowon a2, which is inches from me playing a full length dvd.
Comparable Products:
Archos AV700: too big (7 inch screen!!) bad video quality.
Creative Zen Vision: has a PDA screen on it...meaning that you have to hold one hand away from the other to view it, and forget about showing it to others, the viewing angle is VERY small.
Archos AV500: a good unit, screen smaller than A2, bulky cables to record video.
MobiNote DVX-POD 7010: poor sound quality.
There are more bad things in the forums, so if you are thinking other than the A2 then check them, but I have saved you the hassle, so trust me.
Now for the good stuff:
The screen is a 4 inch diagonal screen, 16:9 ratio, and a TFT. It is bright even in direct sunlight. The buttons are all strongly built, have a durable feel to them. The buttons on the right, below the joystick, are as follow: back, a, b,and c. The a, b, c buttons are different for each section of the unit, and you are told what each one does on the bottom of the screen.
The menu's background is customizable (meaning you can turn any picture into a background). The menu icons have a sort of mac feel, being large and cartoonish.
The unit includes a cd with loaded software that has a video convertor that can easy convert most video formats (i.e. ripped dvds)and put them onto the a2. It also includes a very nice case, that doubles as a good stand. I've found it does a good job at protecting it while it's in my pocket, such as at work. It is also small enough and light enough (to a point) that sometimes I forget it's there.
The A2 is very smartly built on a file system. Basically if you have a movie, you stick it in the movie folder. And when you go to movies in the A2's menu, there are your movies. There are lots of codexes supported for the player, check their website for a list of them. Also it has a USB host abilty so you can sinc your camera up to it and transfer files to the A2 and free up memory card. The pictures viewed on the screen can be set-up as a slideshow, and look very crisp.
Another neat thing it can do is record tv in mpeg4. Unlike the Archos machines, the A2 doesnt require any tv convetor unit, all it needs is a standard 3.5mm to RCA composite video cable. It can also turn itself on when you set an alarm and it will record whatever you hook it up to.
Also it can export to a Tv. Ive tried this with Finding Nemo (720x480) and the quality does a good job on the 50 inch plasma that I tested it on. (Think of digitized vhs)
The sound output is very good too. I love hooking it up to my car stereo and listening to movies through the car speakers. It sounds so nice, it's hard not to want to watch it also while driving, but that's way to dangerous for me.
If you already have converted movies, or know how, this unit is for you. As mentioned above, the screen is BEAUTIFUL!!! I forget that I'm watching it on something so small, because the quality is so great. This unit is great for kids in the back seat, because it is strongly built and even if it's dropped will probably be fine.
Prices: 20GB=$400 30GB=$450
any questions: peauproductions@gmail.com -
"just as good as AV500, with pluses and minuses" on by Shaye Mahnewe
Pros: Software conversion kept video good; great speaker sound; able to download pics from my camera
Cons: How do you stop a song/video?;
Summary:
Updated
Where's the stop button? You can pause your vid/music, then swap to another, otherwise it keeps playing...oh well...
Sound on the COWON is much much louder and DEFINITELY BETTER than the AV500, whose lt/rt stereo speakers are right next to one another, while the COWON separates them. At it's loudest, the AV500 speakers were only about 1/2 to 2/3 as loud or as good as the COWON.
Concerning video, I kept staring at them right next to each other, and both looked great using the same video. At times I felt the video looked better than the AV500, and at times I thought the AV500 looked better. I kept on looking back and forth then realized that whites looked whiter, greens looked greener, and there was maybe slightly more detail on the AV500....Hence I say the COWON screen is 95% as good...but really... only if you keep staring at them over and over like I did will you notice the slight difference...
Problem with the AV500 was the video conversion utility to make it viewable on the Archos AV500 "pixelated" the video too much, while the COWON conversion kept video in good quality.
Archos had a nice slomo feature, boots and starts playing files a few secs faster, a bit smaller and lighter, but not much....and was a bit more intuitive to use...
COWON has an FM tuner
COWON can zoom pics, but screen blacks for a fraction of a sec as it redraws, and you only have 2 preset zoom levels...Archos has more zoom levels, and can zoom closer...COWON also blacks for a fraction of a sec when you pan lt/rt/up/dn the zoomed pic...Archos panning is cleaner...and on the Archos you can set a time for how long to display a pic during the slide show...and you can rotate pics for viewing...
Pics looked superb on both, but after careful careful careful observation, I noticed there was more "hair" detail on my friends' pics on the AV500 vs the COWON. Like for example, for the same pic on both, on the AV500, for a person in the background, I saw a bright speck/pixel that indicated an earring, while on the the COWON, it was more of a fuzzy speck/pixel. Really, it was super negligable...
Although the Archos says you could connect a camera to it to download pics, it did not work for mine...my camera worked with the COWON...
Originally could not view my 4 megapixel pics on it, but after downloading the new firmware, it did!
Every now and then on the Archos, I'd hear the hard drive "click" as it did its thing...Updated
personal gut-feeling opinion...scores out of 100=PERFECT;I CAN'T ASK FOR ANY MORE!
file compatibility archos=65 cowon=75
sound archos=70 cowon=90
video archos=96 cowon=92
pictures archos=96 cowon=92
intuitive use archos=90 cowon=80
software archos=70 cowon=90
controls archos=85 cowon=80
size/weight/case archos=80 cowon=77
applicable to MY personal uses archos=75 cowon=88
I have not tried recording video...maybe I should and post a review.
Wish they both supported more formats, but from what I hear, some people feel COWON is the more likely to support more formats...
Case for AV500, well, strap covered power light indicator, but at least it protected the corners...BUT...if you press hard on the case, you just might turn it on accidentally...
Battery is non-removable on Cowon, but EVEN IF battery degrades over time, I HOPE it doesn't degrade to less than 6 hours after 3 years...which would still be longer than the AV500.
In the main menu, to make a selection on the COWON, sometimes you have to press straight down on its "thumbstick", ala the XBOX thumbstick...sometimes I ended up going down to the next menu instead...I can deal with it...
In the end, I'm looking to convert MY VIDEO to be shown on the player, and COWON does that best! -
"One Great Device!!" on by kingravan
Pros: Sharp Wide LCD Screen!! Plays most popular formats of audio and video!! Records audio and video without needing any external pod-like units!!
Cons: Perhaps not the lightest of the PMPs... but not much of a con really!
Summary: I originally researched, waited and bought a Zen Vision as soon as that came out. It was a nice device, but the little deficiencies it had were extremely annoying and seemed like a waste of such a nice opportunity... so, it went back to Creative!
I went back online and ended up with two choices - the Archos AV500 and the Cowon A2. The companies both have nice devices to their credit, so the decision was made solely on ergonomics and the fact that the Cowon device is more of a novelty, being brand spanking new!
I received mine on the 14th... been playing with it ever since... and yes, I am now satisfied!!!
This thing can play most things you throw at it!! The LCD is beautiful and bright and sharp and the viewing angle is wonderful, unlike the zen which will give you a headache! My pictures look crisp, videos I've played so far looked smooth and sharp, audio sounds Great!! I have yet to record any video or audio with the line-in, but I am sure that'll go fine... The case is very nice and sturdy... even the earbuds aren't too bad, except they are white and I hate the white earbuds for reasons you will surely understand!
Now... some minor... very minor things nagging me -
1. Non-removable battery. Why?
2. Buttons could have been more intuitive!
3. Manual isn't friendly towards control-craving users!
But I am sure I'll get used to the buttons... and new firmwares will enable one to customize them... and also enable some to tweak their devices to their liking!
Overall, this thing is a great step for Cowon in the PVP/PMP market! I am watching the Asian market closely now for leaps they seem to be taking in this arena. And I love my A2!!! -
"The Best PMP Available!" on by llcooldre3k
Pros: Battery Life. FM Radio. FM Radio Recording. Text Viewer. Hi-Res (800x450) DivX/XviD video. And More
Cons: Battery Not Removable. Only 20gb/30gb available
Summary: Audio support: MP3, WMA(ASF), OGG, WAV
Video Support: AVI, ASF, WMV
Video Codec: DivX 3.11/4/5, XviD, MPEG4, WMV9(MP@LL)
Audio Codec: MP3, AC3 5.1 Downmix, WMA
Video : 10 hours
Music : 18 hours
I have used the Archos AV500 and it is great but it's lack of some features was a letdown.
The A2 definitely packs those features that are missing on the AV500. It even comes with a leather case that folds back at an angle so you can watch your movies hands-free.
The A2 screen quality is amazing and
the audio quality is incredible. Anyone familiar with iAudio products will know that the sound quality is close to(if not) the best out there. The price is also great competing with the av500. Retail - $400 for 20gb and $450 for 30gb. Doesn't have a 100gb model like archos but maybe in the future.
Also iAudio is constantly releasing firmware that continually upgrades the quality of this product.
The only con this has is the non-removable battery(but it still has great battery life).
Conclusion: Though the Av500 is great, the A2 is phenomonal. I have waiting forever for this thing to be released and finally it's arrived!!! For anyone that wants to watch videos and listen to great sounding music cannot live on without this baby!
Check this page: A2/Av500/Zen Vision compared
http://www.cowonamerica.com/products/cowon/a2/comparison.html -
"One of the best PMPs out there" on by tom_2727
Pros: -Great video/audio play quality, Long Battery life, Best video codec support out there.
Cons: -USB host is slow, incompatible with many devices, and one-way. Video recording quality is adequate, but not great.
Summary: Overall, I'm pretty impressed with my new Cowon A2. The A2 has a lot of really cool features, and if they were implemented a little better, this thing would be amazing. I'll list out the features I've tried, and my impressions.
Audio quality: I'm not an expert on audio, but I'm happy with the quality level. Headphones are the way to go with this guy, or else put it into an amp. The built in speakers aren't that great. You need the volume up twice as high to hear it without headphones. I've used my TV's "audio in" jack to turn my TV into a stereo. This works good too.
Video quality: I tried this guy with a very good HDTV ripped video file (Band of Brothers). It looks and sounds great on the small screen. Also looks good when I hook it into a TV using the A/V out jack. Not HDTV quality, but good enough for my cheapo TV.
USB hosting: Leaves much to be desired.
1) Compatibility issues. My Canon S1 camera and pretty much every other Canon aren't supported. I have a link below to a site which is compiling a list of what works and what doesn't.
2) One way transfer only. Can't move files from the A2 to the connected device.
3) Very slow. It took me about 35 minutes to transfer a 650MB directory from my Iaudio G3 to the A2.
This takes away the "killer app" of this device in my opinion. I was hoping to use this on trips instead of lugging a laptop around just to store pictures from my camera. Also, the one-way hosting prevents me from making this guy the "mother ship" mp3 player with my G3 (which has only 1 gig of memory). I really hope they will try to fix these shortcomings in future firmware upgrades, but this isn't there yet (FW rev 1.51C). I'm not even sure that any of these fixes can be done in firmware. I may try buying a compatible CF card reader as a work around for my camera issue.
USB to PC connection: This connection works fine. It's one of the main reasons I buy COWON stuff. It is recognized as a hard drive with no extra software on every PC I've tried (XP, ME, Win2000). Transfer rate is much faster than the USB host. The 650MB directory takes <4 minutes to transfer from my PC to the A2.
Video Codec Support: Supports most of the common video stuff. I have many video files on my PC from various sources (all legal you can be sure of that), and almost all of my good quality stuff works with this player. One big exception is "motion jpeg" which is coincidentally the format that my Canon S1 camera churns out (quite a common format for digital cameras). I tried using the jetaudio software that comes with the A2 to convert the files, but I couldn't figure out how to do it without severely reducing the video quality. It seems like they expect you to only view it on the small A2 screen instead of using the video out jack. This wasn't a big deal for me, because I just ran a batch job on them with VirtualDub. They look great on the small screen in XVID format. However, for folks who don't know much about processing their video files with a PC, this might be a problem. This is another item I'd add to my firmware wish list "motion jpeg support".
Video recording: Tried recording a couple programs off the TV with this guy at the same time as I was watching them on the TV. I played them back through the A/V out jack onto the same TV. The audio is good even at lower quality levels, but the video is noticably choppy even at the best quality level. This is OK for watching on my TV, or watching on the small screen, but I was hoping for better. This guy will do the job when you're on vacation and you just CAN'T miss that favorite show of yours, but you wouldn't want to use it to create a permanent video collection. I tried hooking guy this to the output of my DVD player. I recorded about a minute of "Lord of the Rings". The video out is recorded in 4:3 with bars on top&bottom even though it's a widescreen DVD. Interestingly enough, when it's not recording, it displays the DVD input in widescreen 16:9 (even when this chops off part of the video). Needless to say, the recording is not up to DVD quality. You'd be much better off ripping it on a PC. Also, the ASF files it creates are hard to convert to other types, so you might have a hard time viewing them on a non-Windows PC. Best quality recorded video files take about 10MB of space per minute recorded.
Photo viewing: Another thing I'm planning to use this for is showing off my vacation pix to friends without having to print them or have a PC around. It works OK for this. It allows for slideshow and it has 2 fixed "zoom" levels for looking at details. The pictures from my camera (3 megapixels, JPEG) take about 1 sec to load. This seems a bit long to me, but that's a minor hit. Another minor annoyance is that there's no thumbnail gallery viewing mode. This would be another good thing to add in firmware upgrades. Photos seem to be about 640x480 (not even close to full resolution) when viewed in "video out". My camera's A/V jack out works much better for this (though that's to be expected).
Radio: Reception seems OK to me. Works at least as good as my clock radio. Audio quality for recorded radio seems as good as the original show to me.
Voice Recording: Tried this with recording volume set to 9 (max) and best quality. Set the thing on a desk in the corner of the room with the built in mic pointed up. I talked as I moved around the room and into the next room. I could clearly hear my voice from anywhere in the room, and faintly from the next room. There's a little background noise, but I expect that with max volume recording. Best quality audio files take about 1.4MB of space per minute recorded.
Battery life: Haven't done a formal test, but the numbers given by Cowon (10 hrs video, 18hrs audio) seem to be about what I'm getting. I assume it lasts longer if you're watching the video on AV out mode instead of using the screen.
To sum it up: It's not perfect, but it's one of the best PMPs out there today. It all depends on what you want to use it for.
see http://www.dapreview.net/content.php?review.239 for a very thorough review.
see http://www.iaudiophile.net/content.php?review.58.0 for another good review.
see http://www.iaudiophile.net/forums/showthread.php?t=4998 for USB host compatible devices.
Cowon A2 user reviews (30GB)
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