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11 out of 11 people found this review helpful
4.5 stars
"Dont be like everyone with an Ipod. Be better!"
Pros: Windows friendly, Genius interface, lossless
Cons: Video Res. and format. Side buttons,
Summary: I didn't want and Ipod cause everyone has one. I have been waitting for a Mp3/video player and when I saw this on CNET I bought it that very night.
I have the 60gb (black) and I'm writting this reveiw after owning it for about 2 weeks.
Pros.
IF it can play with windows media player it can play on this player!! Divx hint hint.
Connects perfict with windows media player and Media center Pc's.
The USB cable charges the unit so I leave this at the Pc all the time and the powercable I just leave at work.
Navigation is so simple you can hand the unit to anyone and they will figer out how to find what they want in seconds.
Small size for a unit that can hold tens of thousands of songs and pictures as well as a library of your favoret movies.
Screen resaloution is very good but not excelent.
Turning it on is practicly "instant on".
Connects with Xbox 360. Listen to your music while playing a game and navigate with x's controlers.
Album art can be displayed full screen.
Suports WMA lossless a very high quality audio codec that audiophiles love.
TV out.. Play your music and watch a slide show of your vaca on your TV. Watch movies.
Radio Turner.. extra bonus for when you want something differnt or hear a beasball game.
Unit comes with A/V cables.
Scratch resistant case.
TIVO and Media center Pc TV recordings compatable
I loaded many differnt Dvix formats AVIs on the player and they all work perfectly.
Cons.
Buttons on the right side seams to be silly placement.
Sreen color Res. and well as TV out is not at full capasity its good enough but not amazing.
No way to change screen format for widescreen movies.
Some pictures are misplaced even though they are all loaded on from the same folder.
Some files.. even though I rename them then load them on still retaine there original name.
Very limited accesories available.. Waiting for a good set of powered speakers.
No mass storage mode. (no dumping a file and transfering it to another pc)
Unit dosnt not come with a small Lanyard. (strap for your wrist)
Ok so theres a few things that are not perfict about this player.
*The most important is Video color resoultion. Its been stated that it's 65k for the units screen and for TV out. For the units screen this is perfictly fine and most people wont be able to see the color abnormalities. The TV out on the other hand you will see the graduation of color change in places like the sky and dark back grounds. People who dont know what I am talking about it when you see each color separate in the transtion from darker to lighter. Though you only see this 10 to 20 % of the time. Watching video on a larger screen will make this problem more annoying. The only thing to do about it is ignore it and pay attention to the movie.. Also an important factor is the quality of the video your watching.. If you download a movie and the party who "ripped" the movie did a crappy job well that what your going to get.. a crappy looking movie. So look for high res. movies when downloading.
I have to say when veiwing pictures through TV out isn't nearly as bad. Its Very good.
*This isn't a fully portable HD. Your not going to bring your library over to your freinds house and dump your files onto his PC. (theres other ways to share music anyhow) But anyhow putting work files and spread sheets wont happen.
*Video format. Ok so the movie I am watching is in widescreen mode. The player dosnt have the option to add black bars to the top and bottom so the video is out of perportion. Though if I play the movie on the wide screen TV this isnt a problem.
Inprovments.
*Gray background. For audio a gray back ground is drab. Custumization would be best.
*Infared port. This in conjuntion with a small remote (that and be stored in the player?!) with same face button config for easy control over the device from across the room.
*SD card slot. Mini or mico or standard SD slot would make dumping camera photos easy. And would make the unit a limited mass storge device.
*Remove buttons on the sides. This is silly. Volume should be intergreted with the cross hair control.. I cant see why anyone could see this during the design process.. while I am listening to music and watching movies pressing right or left has a perpose but pressing up or down on the cross hairs dose nothing.. instead I have to look for the volume on the side.
*Color res. Audiophiles will love the lossless codec but videophiles will literaly puke.
*Battery life. I didnt place this as a Con cause its not bad at all. But a longer life is what everyone seeks.
*Accessories. I know these wont develop without sales but I think and hope this player dose.
*Reserved space. So I can put work files and spreadsheets in a reserved folder. Files that wonts be converted to windows format. So the device can store other personal data.
*Power point/ document veiwer. Would take this unit ever farther down the road to success.
*Games. This device has a cross hair controler. Why not develop some games.
I bought this player cause I wanted to have a PVP (personal video player) to bring to a freinds house and play videos, show pictures, and play music.. also some of my own movie maker files.
This device is the answer to the wish for an easy way to share a video or movie with a freind with out having to burn a dvd (which isn't a quick process with divx files)
Everything you load on this PMP (personal Media Player) is converted to its own personal format... And thats everything.. Photos, Music and Video are all changed before being loaded on the player.. Photos are resized.. not the huge poster quality that my camera takes but downsized enough to still have great quality when vewing on a large TV screen. This is to save space on the HD.
All and all. I am Very please with the Toshiba Gigabeat S. I would recomend it to anyone who wants a video/mp3 player. I know if this thing takes off there will be upgraded units.
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