[mythtv-users] OT:Portable Media Player

[Brian Wood]

James Pifer wrote:
> We occasionally go on road trips so I've been looking for something that
> would allow me to take along my kids mythvideos and recordings and be
> able to play them on other monitors, like a TV in a minivan or at
> grandma's house. I found the following device. 
> 
> http://www.coolerexpress.com/by2pmptvoute.html	
> or with hard drive:
> http://www.coolerexpress.com/by2mipmppome.html
> 
> Before purchasing I thought I post and see if anyone has seen this or
> anything similar, or might have any suggestions. What are other people
> doing besides putting shows on DVDs?
> 
> Of course I have no idea what the interface will be like, but I thought
> I might give it a shot. I can transcode shows for my PDA so I assume I
> can transcode them to play on this device.

Probably, but it's a question as to how easily.

I'm not familiar with those specific devices but my experience is that
such units can be extremely picky about the format of the video files.
DiVX is a somewhat proprietary thing, but XViD is not. MPEG-4 covers a
*lot* of possibilities. You have to be concerned with the file format,
the container type, resolution, aspect, bitrate and the video and audio
codecs. Chances are that even if you were to contact the vendor they
would not know the answers to all of these things, tough they might
claim to.

I notice they mention "Linux" only under the "Mobile Hard Disk" section.

So like most marketing types they are trying to sell you a unit, not
really tell you about it.

I'd try and make sure you have return rights, in case it doesn't do what
you want, but I guess you;re really not risking too much for that price.

If you need it to be operated by kids a portable DVD player might have a
higher "CAF" (Child Acceptance Factor). The last thing you need to worry
about while driving is trying to teach a kid an interface.

I use a GP2X to do what you describe, but that costs a little more. It
does run a user-controllable version of Linux, and you can get an
expansion board to connect a KB, mouse, network adapter and any other
USB device.