1src Forums - Cheapest PDA for intensive Video playblack

01-07-2005, 06:44 AM	#1
Esquilaxer Registered User Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 60	Cheapest PDA for intensive Video playblack I want to play videos, like entire 1 to 2 hour videos. Can anyone suggest me what I should get. Mind you, my budget is around 300 Canadian dollars. As I see it now, it's between the Zire72 or the Tungsten E. Zire72 Pros: Fast CPU Cons: Peeling blue paint (ugly) dont take pictures dont care for bluetooth Tungsten E Nice Pro. look same stuff to other new palms Cons 126 CPU = horrible for movies = needs overclock = wasted batt. life Please help me choose

01-07-2005, 08:51 AM	#2
Cyker Registered User Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 3,188	A cheap PPC might be better, although I suspect you'd be hard pressed to get 2 hrs continuous playback on one battery charge. The TH55 could do it, but they ain't cheap now that they are becoming rare. If you want to play standard moview formats without conversion, the only Palm PDAs that can handle it are the high-end Palms, e.g. T\|C, T\|3 and T\|5, whereas almost all PPC's could probably do it. If you don't mind video conversion/must use PalmOS, the TH55 or NX80 are the best options IMHO if you can find a cheap one, else... mmm... maybe the Zire 72 or a cheap T\|3 (Will need charging half-way 'tho I reckon). I'd avoid the T\|E - It's definitely more work and less play.

01-07-2005, 03:26 PM	#3
Esquilaxer Registered User Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 60	Err, I don't trust those companies, Sony and iPaq. I don't like the idea resorting to a PPC (all my fav. software is on PalmOS). Is it worth to get a PPC? in terms of its software. I'm looking at FREE software, and lots of it. www.freewarepalm.com has a lot of palm only, bujt i havent see free ppc docs. PPC are out of my concern as of now. And you really serious? The t\|e is really that BAD? that bad? If i were to watch an xvid video on a te with mmplayer, would it skip. Would it be disturbing, such as loisin sync between video and audio? And does anyone know if the Zire72 is good for videoplay back. Im quite sure it is, it has a special media cpu with 300mhz!

01-07-2005, 03:40 PM	#4
mike p WebMaster Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Pittston, PA Posts: 981	dell axim x30 __________________ Palm TX with 4GB SD (Not SDHC) card, ThinkOutside Bluetooth keyboard Clie NX70, 128MB MS, 2GB MS Pro Duo, Wl110 WiFi card

01-07-2005, 03:53 PM	#5
jjesusfreak01 Custom User Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Raleigh, NC Posts: 3,942	A TH-55 could definitely do it, but a used one has probably never evne been sold for your budget. The TH-55 is unique among Palm devices, as it has a DSP (Digital Signal Processor), to decode movies and audio, and so it uses drastically less battery doing the same work as a higher powered pda. The only comparable PDA is the Dell Axim X50v, which has a full fledged graphics chip, and with the included WMP 10, can play many types of video very fast, at high framerates, however, the TH-55 can play 15fps 320x480 video perfectly, and with headphones, its completely engrossing. The Zire-72 does not seem to have a media processor, from what I can see. It does have a 300+mhz processor, which is good for media, but since it is limited by the Real media player, I doubt its media capabilities are that great. __________________ Brad Green - Enthusiast Extraordinaire... Sony TG-50, Sony TH-55, Palm TX...TH-55 still the best Last edited by jjesusfreak01 : 01-07-2005 at 04:00 PM.

01-07-2005, 03:57 PM	#6
RMCF Registered User Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 200	Older Pocket PC (with SA 206mhz processors). Fast and cheap if to be found.

01-07-2005, 04:00 PM

Esquilaxer

Registered User

Join Date: Jan 2005

Posts: 60

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike p

dell axim x30

This one uses the same CPU as the Zire 72.

Btw, how does it feel watching movies like "the Matrix" on a pda. Is it decent?
I mean a fight scene at 15fps, imo, must like horrible, utterly horrible. Maybe not, I havent seen such display on a pda in my life.

I still dont understand why ppl here dont think Zire72 is a good option. Well, I still want opinions. Like, does the Palm zire 72 sitll have poor paint, that wears off?

01-07-2005, 04:07 PM	#8
jjesusfreak01 Custom User Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Raleigh, NC Posts: 3,942	Dont get me wrong, the zire looks like it could handle most media players. Its just that once you have experienced widescreen video on a clie, there is no turning back. And by the way, 15fps is not that bad. Some movies are done in only 24fps. Thats only 9 fps more (to save you the math). __________________ Brad Green - Enthusiast Extraordinaire... Sony TG-50, Sony TH-55, Palm TX...TH-55 still the best

01-07-2005, 04:12 PM	#9
RMCF Registered User Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 200	24fps = PAL 30fps = NTSC

01-07-2005, 04:17 PM	#10
jjesusfreak01 Custom User Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Raleigh, NC Posts: 3,942	I believe you are correct, but I think the movie producers have some control over the framerate, as they do with the aspect ratio. __________________ Brad Green - Enthusiast Extraordinaire... Sony TG-50, Sony TH-55, Palm TX...TH-55 still the best

01-07-2005, 04:23 PM	#11
RMCF Registered User Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 200	Really? I am from the UK, and have never seen a movie here that doesn't have 24fps. Maybe in the US there are some 24 fps movies, don't really know.

01-07-2005, 04:23 PM	#12
Cyker Registered User Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 3,188	IMHO, if you don't want to do conversion, the TH55 is the worst because it can't handle any other movie-playback formats - It's just too darn slow. The T\|E wouldn't cut it - You'd want at least the Zire 72 to be able to use something like mmplayer/Kinoma3 at a decent speed, preferably something even faster like a T\|3 or T\|5. If you do go down the conversion route, then most of the recent Clies have some sort of hardware video decoder which makes them play longer and smoother. I bet the TH55 is the only one that you could watch a 2 hour movie on without a recharge 'tho. Another cool thing about the video DSP is that it does a smoothed stretch like modern video cards so you can watch the film, in full 480x320@15fps - This is something you can't (AFAIK) do with mmplayer as even the T\|3 and T\|5 aren't powerful enough to do it brute force with their main CPUs. Video support on PPC is much better, but as you have PalmOS stuff already this is not a fantastic route to go down (The way you wrote your post, I thought you were new to PDAs and were starting from nothing!) I'm still thinking the Zire is a better route for you. And yes I am serious about the T\|E - For normal PDA activity the T\|E is adequate, but for multimedia stuff, forget it - It has all the bad points of a TH55 with none of the good points. If you can't get a TH55 and don't want a T\|3 or a PPC, then the Zire 72 is probably the best one to go for... But obviously YMMV - If you can, try and demo some of them at a store or something... Last edited by Cyker : 01-07-2005 at 04:26 PM.

01-07-2005, 06:16 PM	#13
Esquilaxer Registered User Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 60	Excellent! Zire 72 it is. Any outlook on price drops :P? Well, as I am poor, after buying a zire 72, i wont have enough for a keyboard. Are there any 3rd party CHEAP palm zire 72 compatible keyboards on there? 100 bucks Canadian is the cheapest i've seen. Im not sure what's compatible with a zire72 since it doesnt have this "universal connector" every1 talks about. p.s: Id still like comments from user experiences who own n use the Zire 72 or the Tungsten E in the field of media and games.

01-07-2005, 09:21 PM	#14
rcxAsh Do you Gentoo? Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: GTA/Waterloo Posts: 1,315	Hope it works out for you. Remember that you will need to buy an SD card for your Zire. Since you want a lot of video, you will want a large card. SD cards are often cheaper than Memory Sticks; but they will still run you some money. I haven't checked out prices at FutureShop, BestBuy or Staples lately, but you may want to check out TigerDirect.ca (You're in Canada I assume?) They have 256MB SD cards for under $50 Canadian. There is even a 512MB SD card for under $60. If you really want to watch hours and hours of video, you will really want a few really big SD cards. Or you will end up being forced to reencode the video down to lower resolutions, bitrates and framerates. Here's the memory card page: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicati...egory_flash.asp So before you go out and buy a keyboard for yourself, you may want to make sure that you have a card for your videos... edit: Oh and regarding the keyboard.. if you can afford it, I'd recommend that you get one of those universal IR keyboards. That will remove the issues of universal connectors and what not in the past, present and future. __________________ /* rcxAsh / SJ20 ..> TG50 + WiFi MS ..> UX40 + SGH-E730 ..> SE P990i ..> Lifebook T4010D* + Nokia 5800 XM Let's hope that's the end for me... Last edited by rcxAsh : 01-07-2005 at 09:24 PM.

01-07-2005, 10:19 PM	#15
Esquilaxer Registered User Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 60	So you recommend a IR keyboard? Those are the most expensive, I believe. Yes, I do need an SD card, unfortunately. Oh well, 25 bucks CND for 128 mb . But wait a minute. "If you really want to watch hours and hours of video, you will really want a few really big SD cards. Or you will end up being forced to reencode the video down to lower resolutions, bitrates and framerates. " I dont understand. Let's say I have 1 gig SD card. This doesnt mean I can have high res (320x240?) Xvid, hit bitrate, 24FPS movies on my PDA. My PDA, even better PDAs like the T\|5, can't play such video formats. Correct me if I am wrong, it would be great if I am wrong.