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Abstract
It is portable, however, which makes the PMC7230 and all the other little mobile media players -- that, unlike the video iPod, can record your favorite programs, free -- so fascinating. The PMC7230 is run by Windows Media Center. If I hadn't seen the little Windows logo on the menu button between the device's two controllers, I still would have known: It crashed the first time I tried to make a video recording using the PMC7230's timer.
Full text
At its first family reunion, the Philips PMC7230 Portable Media Center will reconnect with a genealogical tree loaded with televisions, digital video recorders and digital music players -- maybe even an iPod or two.
The $350 PMC7230 has a little bit of each running through its blood. It's built like an oversize iPod, or maybe a junior iPhone, with a 3.5-inch screen and 30 gigabytes of memory. It can store music and photos like a digital music player. It also can store video, as in TV programming, like a digital video recorder.
And that family reunion? Wait till the PMC7230 finds out it has an identical twin, the Tatung Portable Media Center. Philips says it shares portable-media-center development, design and the user interface with several companies, including Tatung. For marketing purposes, Philips has simply put its name on the Tatung player.
This little beauty (4 inches long, less than 4 inches wide and not even an inch thick) does a lot of things, but every one of them more crudely than its more specialized forebears. Yes, it records live television, but the source -- the TV or cable box -- must be left on. Yes, it stores your music, but not with the ease and functional dexterity of an iPod. And, yes, it has a shiny LCD screen -- but it's only 3 1/2 inches, measured diagonally, an inch bigger than the iPod screen.
It is portable, however, which makes the PMC7230 and all the other little mobile media players -- that, unlike the video iPod, can record your favorite programs, free -- so fascinating. The PMC7230 is run by Windows Media Center. If I hadn't seen the little Windows logo on the menu button between the device's two controllers, I still would have known: It crashed the first time I tried to make a video recording using the PMC7230's timer.
It was, however, easy to sync digital photos and music -- even from my iTunes playlist -- using Windows Media Player. The only problem I had was a control pad for navigating the menu that frequently didn't work.
The PMC7230, a shiny Nano black with silver trim, obviously can't download tunes from iTunes. (It's that Windows vs. Apple thing.) To buy music, you must use services compatible with Microsoft's PlaysForSure such as Napster, Musicmatch and, for video, CinemaNow.
The PMC7230 records up to five hours of MPEG-4 video, but there's no way to label each video file. So if you have a big collection, it's a guessing game. It's also a deal-breaker, if you ask me. Imagine an iPod that could identify songs only as Track1, Track2 or Track3. It's unacceptable.
Not even the 30-second advance, a feature that allows easy fast- forwarding through commercials, could make up for it.
Video quality varied from decent on an episode of "CSI" to so-so on an NFL playoff game when it was difficult to decipher informational graphics. This is not a hi-def screen (320x240 pixels), but it's big enough and usually clear enough to accommodate two viewers. The little kickstand pops out from the back side to turn the PMC7230 into a mini-TV.
Philips says the lithium-ion rechargeable battery lasts 16 hours for audio and three hours for video -- OK, but nothing spectacular.
Though it has tiny built-in speakers, the PMC7230 is best heard through headphones. With music, the PMC7230 sounded about as good as my Nano through iGrado headphones.
Someday, most of the PMC7230's functions will be built into a cell phone. I still love a little device that records TV, though, whatever its flaws.
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PHOTOS 2; Caption: PHOTOS: See a resemblance? If the Philips PMC7230 ($350, left) looks remarkably like the Tatung Portable Media Center, it's because they are the same player.
(Copyright 2007 by the Chicago Tribune)