Mustek PVR-A1 - Digital AV player - flash 32 MB - 2.5"
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Mustek PVR-A1 - Digital AV player - flash 32 MB - 2.5"

Overall rating (3): Overall user rating Mustek PVR-A1 - Digital AV player - flash 32 MB - 2.5"

 

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Bargain device, but features take a beating

2 Dec 21st, 2004

Advantages:
Cheap

Disadvantages:
Small, blurry screen, 32MB memory is a joke

Recommendable: No 

Detailed rating:

Sound Level

Instructions

Value for Money

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Vicster1784

About me: Thank for everyone's reads and comments. I appreciate creative critisism as it makes me write better...

Member since:31.01.2004

Reviews:45

Members who trust:5

Review rated by 20 Ciao members on average: very helpful

Personal Video Player (or Recorders) are getting quite popular and are tipped to become the next step in the portable revolution started by the likes of iPod. A PVP is basically a hard drive with a colour screen and the ability to play not only mp3s but also video files. When these devices first appeared early last year I believe, they were quite pricey (well they still are) and the battery life left much to be desired. These days the prices are going down slightly whilst the number of features and battery life are going up. I’d give it a year or so before these things are as common as an iPod (especially if Apple was to release one) I already reviewed one of those devices – the iRiver PMP-120, which was a poor effort to be honest. Here Mustek give it a shot with a budget version.

Design


The design of this device is pretty simple to say the least. It pretty much looks like a blue brick with a screen. It’s body is riddled with different slots and jacks – SD and MMC, AC, USB, AV and of course headphones. The left side holds a Li-Ion rechargeable battery, and the cover for it left much to be desired. It was a clear step down from the quality of the rest of the device, since Mustek opted for the classy “cheap plastic” look and feel on it, resulting in its insatiable desire to open up at unexpected times. The rest of the controls are on the front face of the device, apart from a weird jog-wheel on the right hand side. A jog wheel of some sort is pretty much standard these days, yet you’ll be hard pressed to find one as awkward as this one. The 2.5” screen is quite pleasant, albeit the low and undisclosed resolution that I’m assuming is too low for them to openly admit.

Features


The menu is fairly easy to use, but due to the lack of clarity of the screen it’s sometimes hard to read the screen. The device supports a wide range of formats, including mp3, WAV, MPEG-4 and JPEG for all your multimedia needs. The disappointing fact here is that it only comes with 32MB (that’s right thirty two mega bytes) or internal memory, which is approximately 7 songs, if that. That taints the device’s value for money since on top of its price you’re gonna have to fork out for large SD cards. It comes with a speaker, but unless you have supersonic hearing or are in a quite room all by yourself its no good – plug the headphones in for better, louder sound. When connected to a PC thru USB, you can use Windows Explorer to transfer files between your PC and the device. It is recognized as two external devices when connected – the internal memory and whatever you have plugged into the slot. You can transfer to each one or between the two, however I haven’t figured out how to transfer files from a card to the internal memory just using the device. A cool feature is the ability to record movies and TV shows thru your device, granted it’s connected to a TV or a DVD player. Pretty nifty, however you are going to need a monster of an SD card to be able to record more than 5 minutes of footage. Other cool functions include a clock and a calendar, but don’t expect PDA quality from either. First of all it’s difficult to use since it gives you the dates in a weird format – year, then month, then day. The clock is only there so that you can set the time to record a TV program. There are also two games that come with the device – tic tac toe and a puzzle game, which are not particularly exciting/

Overall


For the bargain price of £90 you do get your money’s worth. But the question is do you want to spend that money for a half baked product, or save up and get a proper one? There are far too many compromises that Mustek had to make in order to keep the price down for you to enjoy using this device. I’m sure it will find its consumer base, but I would recommend to go for something a bit more expensive, yet a lot more satisfying.
 


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Comments about this review
bad_bob00

bad_bob00

22.04.2005 17:08

Nice review, unfortunately i too have one, might review it aswell

Deru

Deru

22.12.2004 02:15

Rather pointless. I'd rather put the money towards one with a 20GB hard drive. I have an iPaq which uses SD Cards so I know that they are expensive. Biggest one Ive seen is 1GB (saw a picture of a 2GB one) but even the 1GB one costs around £50 at the cheapest (A LOT MORE expensive in shops).

MAFARRIMOND

MAFARRIMOND

21.12.2004 21:42

I think I will give it a miss. Maureen

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Mustek PVR-A1 - Digital AV player - flash 32 MB - 2.5" - review by bad_bob00 Mus-tek back to the shops!
  very helpful Mustek PVR-A1 - Digital AV player - flash 32 MB - 2.5" review by bad_bob00 - rated very helpful
Mustek PVR-A1 - Digital AV player - flash 32 MB - 2.5" - review by mark-southside birthday disappointment
  helpful Mustek PVR-A1 - Digital AV player - flash 32 MB - 2.5" review by mark-southside - rated helpful
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