[blessingx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by zaguar Actually, Mp3 is not free for iriver, and flac is. Fraunhoffer (sp?) liscense the mp3 tech, and it costs like $2 per device IIRC. Flac is all good, but mpc or monkeys would be even better.

MPC is better than FLAC in price or sound quality?

I'll take FLAC over Monkeys any day. Course I use ALAC.

And just to add to the mix, isn't AAC license cheaper than MP3 also?

 

[Richteralan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by blessingx MPC is better than FLAC in price or sound quality? I'll take FLAC over Monkeys any day. Course I use ALAC. And just to add to the mix, isn't AAC license cheaper than MP3 also?

can you really compare a lossy format and a loseless format?
I think we are not talking which is better here. But MPC is the most transparent lossy format(compared to lossy format only).

Both MPC and FLAC is free now.

 

[curtain]

Quote:

Originally Posted by zaguar Actually, Mp3 is not free for iriver, and flac is. Fraunhoffer (sp?) liscense the mp3 tech, and it costs like $2 per device IIRC. Flac is all good, but mpc or monkeys would be even better. What do you mean with I have 10gbs of FLAC on my comp, all from CD's. I also have a couple of GB's of mp3's on my comp, from cd's. Whats your point?

We are talking about portable devices and portable media here. Mp3 is the most portable music imaginable and expecting an anchor and chain like FLAC to take off on a portable is silly.

My point is that your FLAC library though nice is no where near as distributable. Can I get a similar library faster for less? Yes.

You've made FLAC important to your player, most people won't. Not while mp3 is around because mp3 does the same job and is much more convenient.

It allows your player to essentially play portable music very well and allows storage for it to do other things, like photos and videos.

The multimedia capabilities of players outweigh the benefits of FLAC for most users on a portable device.

DAP's will grow fast into multimedia (video jukebox, photo / camera) before lossless knows what hit it.

 

[Jubei]

I am using the H320 and have upgraded to the previous firmware, but have never used the video playback feature. Heck, I only tried out the photo browser and showed it off to frineds a few times.

I don't expect a DAP to give me everything my home system can do . . . but I really would like gapless MP3 playback.

Supporting WAV is nice but useless for me if the capacity is only 20 /40 gigs. I am willing to compromise, meaning I'll accept APS but want as much music as I can carry (which is currently not feasable since even at APS I'm still going to have over 80 gigs worth of stuff).

 

[doomlordis]

I like the H320 video playback, i mainly watch simpsons , south part etc, they are originally only 12fps so you dont notice much degradation.
I also have all 5 star wars films on mine and i have watched them on flights and they look fine, even the hoth battle at the beginning of empire doesnt jerk badly.
It is a useful feature and it works , all i want them to do is exclude avi from shuffle and i will be very happy.

 

[curtain]

I like the video playback of the iRIVER too, the 255,000 color screen and audio works really well.

You can now watch movies, cartoons, music videos of your mp3's on a portable device that fits into your pocket.

I recently encoded a CG cartoon and the quality is amazing, and regular cartoons are hillarious!

For movies a few more fps would be nice but its good enough to enjoy.

When the storage capacity, speed, number of colors and ease of use for video on these gadgets gets to a point where you actually enjoy and want this new media on them, thats when it takes off.

This is where I hope Apple will take this industry with the 5G iPod to - iPod Video

The HD storage is now big enough keep 15-20 fps video files.

All they need is a killer iPod Video application, a 256K color screen, get battery life up, placate the movie and TV moguls and the rest is history.

People would jump on it like no tomorrow.

 

[titaniumx3]

I wonder when mp3 players will start to support .cue files. I find them very useful for compilations as the gapless issue is no longer a problem.

 

[Mr Iriver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bangraman You'll have to post us a picture of your liquid nitrogen cooled overclocked rig some time

It also takes me about (less than) 30minutes to get a whole movie into the H320. The screen is of very high quality too. The simpsons look so clear. Great DAP in my opinion.

 

[All-n]

Quote:

Originally Posted by curtain We are talking about portable devices and portable media here. Mp3 is the most portable music imaginable and expecting an anchor and chain like FLAC to take off on a portable is silly. My point is that your FLAC library though nice is no where near as distributable. Can I get a similar library faster for less? Yes. You've made FLAC important to your player, most people won't. Not while mp3 is around because mp3 does the same job and is much more convenient. It allows your player to essentially play portable music very well and allows storage for it to do other things, like photos and videos. The multimedia capabilities of players outweigh the benefits of FLAC for most users on a portable device. DAP's will grow fast into multimedia (video jukebox, photo / camera) before lossless knows what hit it.

this guy gets it.

Shoot, outside of this forum i bet most people even know what FLAC is nevermind desire the feature.

 

[bangraman]

I think the original point may have been missed. iRiver added WAV support. Is WAV support relevant in the context of a current DAP? Not as much as FLAC or another form of lossless compression IMO. People who use WAV will be equally few and far between, if not more due to the issues of practical handling of WAVs. We're not talking about the relevance of FLACs in a wider world.


In terms of a wider relevance, most of you are absolutely right. There will be far more generic geeks who will use the H320 to convert movies at enormous cost in time and to squint at it on a tiny screen, thinking themselves on the cutting edge of tech. Many of my friends are doing the same on the PSP, only that's more watchable.


What I am saying in the context of this thread is that the way they implement these changes and what they implement indicates that iRiver have not emerged from their half-arsed thinking style yet.

 

[halcyon]

My point: If you want a video player, get one! Don't limp around with a good DAP that's been made into a half-assed video player.

Have you seen Toshiba Gigabeat F-series? Now _that_ screen and the Linux core would make a nice ad hoc -video player, if you want small size.

As for real video player (iRiver, Sony, Epson, etc.) there's on comparison...

Let's keep the DAPs as DAP (for size, portability, features and performance in AUDIO) and keep video players separate.

Unless of course, you happen to think that the swiss knife is the best cork screw, the best bread knife, the best file, the best screwdriver and the best magnifying glass all rolled into one (I don't).

 

[Seijang]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bangraman I think the original point may have been missed. iRiver added WAV support. Is WAV support relevant in the context of a current DAP? Not as much as FLAC or another form of lossless compression IMO. People who use WAV will be equally few and far between, if not more due to the issues of practical handling of WAVs. We're not talking about the relevance of FLACs in a wider world. In terms of a wider relevance, most of you are absolutely right. There will be far more generic geeks who will use the H320 to convert movies at enormous cost in time and to squint at it on a tiny screen, thinking themselves on the cutting edge of tech. Many of my friends are doing the same on the PSP, only that's more watchable. What I am saying in the context of this thread is that the way they implement these changes and what they implement indicates that iRiver have not emerged from their half-arsed thinking style yet.

Have you even tried using the iRIver H320 w/ movies? Do you even have a clue how long converting .avi's take?

I convert all my favorite music videos/game previews and watch them on my iRiver when I'm just chilling with some friends at the pool hall @ college. By no means is the iRiver used to watch all my movies - but please watch what you're dissing. You don't even sound like an experienced iRiver user, and here you are, second guessing all the H3xx users out there who use video.

Insulting, to say the least.


The iRiver was not meant to be a video player - the video is a nice little extra. I love my iRiver for what it is (though the company could maybe pick up the ball on the firmware features..) and I'll tell anyone that the video is a nice little gimmick - the rest of the player makes the package.

 

[bangraman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seijang Have you even tried using the iRIver H320 w/ movies? Do you even have a clue how long converting .avi's take? I convert all my favorite music videos/game previews and watch them on my iRiver when I'm just chilling with some friends at the pool hall @ college. By no means is the iRiver used to watch all my movies - but please watch what you're dissing. You don't even sound like an experienced iRiver user, and here you are, second guessing all the H3xx users out there who use video. Insulting, to say the least. The iRiver was not meant to be a video player - the video is a nice little extra. I love my iRiver for what it is (though the company could maybe pick up the ball on the firmware features..) and I'll tell anyone that the video is a nice little gimmick - the rest of the player makes the package.

I've used it, thanks. I know how long conversions from movies takes... around 0.6:1 real time on a decently fast PC. I've used or had nearly every CD or HDD based iRiver since the iMP-350, so I would say I have a better idea than most of how they historically address product issues and also how their operating system has evolved during the last 3 years or so.


As for the audio player 'package', I have a huge range of players which I've experienced or owned to compare it with. I of course have no idea what else you've had to arrive at your decision.

 

[austonia]

that's weird. for the X5, i converted videos using JetAudio at 3x realtime on a medium-low end laptop. of course a 1.8-inch screen isn't optimal for movies but i would use it on a planet trip, certainly. my other players are audio-only..

 

[bangraman]

The "audio sync PC" used to be an A64 3000+ with 1Gb of RAM. A ~100 minute movie took around 1 hour 10 minutes including ripping time as far as I can recall.