vision:ary

second part of the vision:m player review:

- video size on screen depends on how you rip the vcd/dvd. i would suggest against widescreen versions, you can't stretch the video display to utilize the entire 2.5" of your screen. primarily because the black borders are part of the video file itself, and not a display issue. the ratio of vision:m is 4:3. check the dvd case for their ratio, just to be sure.

- haven't tried watching video files from vision:m to tv, wala ko nung AV cord eh. ehem-ehem! (parinig kay je)

- skip-free! but make sure you have a fast pc when ripping the dvds, else, you get the pauses, and "pixelizations", which the player cannot fix on its own. "what you ripped is what you saw." mwehehehe! i copied the video files from my pc to vision:m, and played both. no difference at all.

- for gewi, the subtitles might be a little harder to read because the screen is small, but the letters come out unblurred. i have a wmv file made of picture slideshows and texts, and there was no notable difference in the clarity of the video. please see previous bullet.

- dunno if this was a bug or something. while playing a wmv video file created by Windows Movie Maker, i tried to resize it to stretch the video to cover the entire screen... biglang nag-hang! as in wala kang mapindot. not even the power button. i was so disappointed. we had to make sundot the "reset" button with a straightened staple wire. (thanks to MacGyverism of my hubby) i played the same video file and at the exact moment, i tried to resize it again, it resized ok. i couldn't recreate the "hanging" anymore. dunno if this was just a bug, because i tried the other wmv files, di naman nag-hang. and like i said, i can't recreate the problem using the same file that got into error before. weird.

- if the file type of the video you are trying to transfer is not supported by the player, the software that comes with the player (which you need to install on your pc) will convert it to the proprietary format that the player recognizes. however, once on your player, the codec is modified. so when i tried to copy the files from my player to the pc, the pc can't play it. but the other way works ok, pc to player. i guess they made it this way so that people will buy the AV cord if they want to watch the player's videos on a bigger screen. =P

- you can set the playback speed of the video file. you can only make it play faster though, not slower.

- when you play your audio files in "shuffle" (random) mode, when you hit "back", it doesn't bring you back to the last song played, instead it calls on shuffle and brings you a different song. same thing when you hit "forward". so when you chance upon a song you want while on shuffle mode, better set a bookmark on it.

- i like the bookmarks feature. when you want to start on a certain part of a song, you can set a bookmark to it. for example, you want the guitar-ripping part of the song FreeBird, you can skip the first few boring minutes of the song and go directly to the instrumental part. all you gotta do is play the song, forward or rewind it to the part you want to bookmark, then set it. you can set up to 10 bookmarks. the next time you want to listen to the song from that certain point, access the audio file from the Bookmarks menu. i wished there was a bookmark for video too.

- you can set any of your pictures to be the wallpaper.

- you can make your player shut down automatically when it's idle for a certain period of time. instinctively, it's called "Idle Shutdown", hehehe! it saves battery. i think most players have this feature now.

- it's got a "search" feature. so instead of scrolling up and down your list like crazy, you can do a search for a keyword, then start from the list brought back by the search. it's not a "per word" search, but a string search. i tried searching for "in", it pulled up even "Together Again". hehe! so to those who are bad in spelling, this is your best feature. hehehe! =P btw, you can also do the search for playlist, but only by its first letter.

i know how maloiks feels about her player. i love this one too! except for that minute when it hanged. hehehe! the cool green color wasn't that hard to match with your outfit too. even in a formal office attire, it looks cool. hehehe!

oh, one thing i hate about it, the pouch! i think it's still shedding particles of suede or whatever it was made of. it does protect the player, but it also leaves those little annoying particles clinging to the player. poor zeni. (yep, i named my player "zeni", that's how attached i am to it. hehehe!)