Portable video player?

[HarveyH42]

I bought a new digital camera about a month ago, and takes good video. The bummer is that I have to use the camera to play them back away from home. Mostly videos of my new puppy (8 months and over 60 lbs).

I looked at the Ipod Nano, as the camera stores in Quicktime (.MOV), but $150 for the 4 Gig version, almost what I paid for the camera, which has a much larger screen. A little pricey, and not really what I was hoping to find.

I'd be thrilled to find something about the size of a pack of cigarettes, SDHC card slot, 3 inch screen, and intended for viewing pictures and video clips. I can convert the pictures and movies to most any size/format. I'd be more willing to spend the $150 on something I could pull the card out of my camera and plug into, then a gadget I wouldn't use 80% of the features, and spend an hour transfering files over USB.

Has anyone seen such a video player, or something better suited then the Ipod type players? So far that is all I was finding while searching, basically MP3 players that do video. I'm not too concerned if its a child's toy, something I have to modify, maybe build (doubt I have the tools or skills for SMD, which is likely needed).

I do have a portable DVD player for in a car (no battery of it's own), but no DVD burner. Mostly my video clips are under 10 minutes, so kind of a waste to get a writer.

Any suggestions on what to look for when searching, kind of tired of finding MP3 players...

 

[HarveyH42]

I did a lot of looking, and went with the Creative Zen.

**broken link removed**

Probably as good as it gets in the price range. Will have to convert the Quicktime files. Has a 2.5 inch, 320x240, 16.8 million color screen, same as my camera. Got free shipping, about $8 tax, and should be here in about a week.

 

[Thunderchild]

why not try a digital frame that plays Mpeg4 video and can use a USB drive I have a texet one and use a 80 gig drive on it you can power it with a 12 Volt battery, only problem is my texet one distorts stuff by 1.33 so I have to counter distort when encoding the video

 

[HarveyH42]

I got the ZEN yesterday, and it's got a very sharp, clear picture. Movies play good. It's got some problems, but easy enough to work around, maybe I need to just read the instruction (really hate that). So far, only video encoded using the software that came with it, will play. Tried three different formats my video editing software exports, but no luck. Just an extra step, takes a while too. Might just need to tweak a few settings, haven't done video in a few years, might just need an update.

The SD card works, but is kept seperate from the internal 4 gig, and doesn't seem to be any transfer between the two. There's a lot I haven't looked through, maybe I just haven't found the options yet, always the manual...

I really impressed with the screen, very good detail and color for something only 2.5 inches. It would have been perfect if i could just drop in my SD card from the camera, and play the video. The photos work great that way, and will play them as a slide show.