Commodore 30 GB Multi Media Player PMC30

briman1983

www.ibood.com, just ordered two

Commodore 30 GB Multi Media Player PMC30

* Audio support: MP3/G726/ADPCM/WMA
* Photo support: JPEG/GIF/BMP
* Memory Size: 30 GB
* Interface: USB 2.0
* Display: 3.6” TFT Colour LCD Screen
* Battery: Rechargeable Lithium
* Weight: 325 grams
* Battery duration: Video 5 hrs / Audio 9 hrs
* Dimensions (WxHxD): 136 x 78 x 26.5 mm
* Material: Stainless steel
* Video support: MPEG 4/DivX 5.0/WMV9
* SD/MMC support: Yes
* TV recording support: MPEG4
* Audio/Video record+playback: Yes
* Composite video output to TV: NTSC/PAL
* MP3 encoding: 16~160kbps
* Firmware upgradeable
* Included:Headphones/USB Cable/Quick start Guide/Composite video input-output cable/AC/DC Adapter/Carrying pouche/Installation CD

Price: € 99,95
More Information
Who isn`t familiar with the good old Commodore 64? Luckily time didn’t stand still at Commodore and with this PMC 30 they’ve made a beautiful Multi Media Player with a capacity of 30 GB! (about 60 movies in MPEG4). The portable media player is not only capable of playing MP3 and WMA music files, but with its 3.6” TFT screen with a resolution 320 x 240 pixels, it’s also capable of showing pictures (JPG, GIF or BMP) and playing videos (MPEG4, DIVX5 or WMV9). Files can be loaded onto the player through the USB 2.0 connection or through copying them from an SD or MMC card. You can also connect the player with your television and record your favourite programmes!

Basq

Kinda like a lesser known Archos... great value all the same.

My Archos AV400 is currently out of operation and practically unfixable, so my Zen Vision:M 30GB has taken it's place.

briman1983

Ya buy you can record live tv as well nice feature.

looking at reviews here. software is supposed to be a bit buggy but i supppose thats what firmware updates are for

Royale with Cheese

Doesn't support xvid?

Nunu

Just ordered 1 - my first ibood!
Doing a lot of travelling this summer so a portable jukebox is a must....massive upgrade from my 512mb iriver:o

Fantastic fecking price!

briman1983

just to let you know, ordered off them once before myself took about 4-5 days.

briman1983

Can anyone find a price for these online other than ibood. can't myself

mal1

Ordered one as well. Bought a 4GB iriver clix after my 20GB Iriver H320 got stolen. This will be a good replacement for the H320 for when i go travelling etc.

neacy69

just placed an order great deal was gonna pick myself up a creative zen in england next week but this is a much better deal!!!!

good review here
http://www.xtremecomputing.co.uk/review.php?id=259

godtabh

Can you download the stuff you recorded to your laptop/pc?

If so would be interested in it but the pitcure quality probably wouldnt be the best

godtabh

Review

event

anyone having trouble getting in?

aidankk

shearched the web and this is the same product as the Neuros 442... which is a Linux based open source product., gets generally good reviews, also the neuros firmware seems to work with the comodore..


Ive ordered one thanks a bunch..

Sniipe

I ordered something over a week ago, I've still not seen it. I would have bought this but I'm worried about the length of time it takes for an item to be delivered

aidankk

this Neuros 442 product sells for $350 on amazon.com so this looks real value..

Scruff

according to the neuros website the 442 is discontinued. Also the Commodore brand is just focusing on High spec gaming pcs so dont expect there to be much support or firmware updates in the future.
Is 65k colours decent enough for video playback these days?

still for €99...hmmm.

/edit
interesting tidbit:

The new interface and expanded features most have asked for are only going to be on the 442V2

Neuros discovered early on that the current 442 hardware would not really support the open source direction they wished to take.
They then decided to put there time and resources into a new hardware platform that would support open source rather than attempt to port linux to the current 442.

Neuros is offering reasonable priced upgrades to this new 442V2 when when it releases around early summer.

There doesnt seem to be any mention of V2 hardware since last year so i doubt the pcm-30 is based on that and is based on the discontinued 442. explains the price.

/edit 2
MY MISTAKE
the forums have just moved here and are alive and well

aidankk

the neuros is just a name attached to a generic player like the commodore, still for what it does record tv, in good quality mp3 and divx its easily worth 99.

There are a few other brands of the same player, and all seem to get fairly reasonable reviews... at the 350 price point about 9 months ago..


Ill post my toughts when i get it, but accoring to other treads i could be waiting a bit for this....

johnp

Quick question. Video support is for MPEG 4/DivX 5.0/WMV9.
Most of my videos are AVI.
Are there good free convertors out there from AVI to MPEG 4/DivX 5.0/WMV9?
I have Nero at home, but can't remember if this will do the job. Could check when I get home, but if anyone knows it'd be appreciated.

Mr E

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I don't see any mention of XVID. Does it have XVID support?

johnp

TmB wrote:

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I don't see any mention of XVID. Does it have XVID support?

Says Video support: MPEG 4/DivX 5.0/WMV9

http://www.ibood.com/site/eu/iboodSpecs.php

loyatemu

very few players explicitly say they support Xvid, but most do if they can play Divx. I think Xvid is less standardized - some files may play, some may not depending on the encoding options.

balkieb2002

Yeah I'm very tempted by this especially for that price and that review seems positive about it but have to check around to see if there any new firmware released as reviewer was having issues (though thats a nearly year old review).

johnp

It seems to have a couple fo quirks, but for €99, how far wrong can you go?

Kristok

briman1983 wrote:

Who isn`t familiar with the good old Commodore 64? Luckily time didn’t stand still at Commodore

This has nothing to do with the original commadore company just the brand name being used by someone else ?

blastman

johnp wrote:

Quick question. Video support is for MPEG 4/DivX 5.0/WMV9.
Most of my videos are AVI.
Are there good free convertors out there from AVI to MPEG 4/DivX 5.0/WMV9?
I have Nero at home, but can't remember if this will do the job. Could check when I get home, but if anyone knows it'd be appreciated.

AVI is just a container, it's not an actual file type. There are different flavours of AVI, with Divx and Xvid being just two of them. I'd be willing to bet most of your AVI files are already actually Divx or Xvid, so no conversion necessary.

johnp

blastman wrote:

AVI is just a container, it's not an actual file type. There are different flavours of AVI, with Divx and Xvid being just two of them. I'd be willing to bet most of your AVI files are already actually Divx or Xvid, so no conversion necessary.

Superb, ta for the help.

yknaa

Might be a silly question but could this record from your PC - I'm thinking of youtube videos etc? I presume they would need to be saved to the hard drive first and then copied?

Looks great as a back up storage device/player for people worried about taking pricey ipods etc on holidays, nights out etc.

blastman

johnp, no probs

yknaa, short answer is no. It is possible to download clips from YouTube, and with a bit of conversion and manipulation on the PC get them into Divx format, though.

balkieb2002

In the review he is recording himself playing games on his pc, assuming you had a tv card i would think that recording of the net would be the same process?

(i'm more than likely miles off though)

godtabh

I'm having some doubts about this.

€400 reduced to €99 and its still not sold out

spooydermot

the review mentions that there DRM on the machine, I assume that you could load non-DRM music onto it though? i.e stuff that you have ripped from your own CDs?

How do people feel that this stacks up against the Zen:Vision M (on play.com for €232 at the mo)?

I know theres a price difference, but do ye think the zen is the better machine?

I can't find the machine on the Commodore site itself which leads me to believe that there might be no more firmware updates for it.....

Dingatron

Just bought one! I'm going to have to stop looking at the bargain alerts forum it's costing me a fortune.

blastman

balkieb2002 wrote:

In the review he is recording himself playing games on his pc, assuming you had a tv card i would think that recording of the net would be the same process?

(i'm more than likely miles off though)

He does say it's not designed for this, though. And I did say no was my short answer..

It can be done, but you would need additional cables to connect via your TV and your graphics card would need a TV out connection. For YouTube, the end result probably wouldn't be as good as downloading and converting on the PC, in my opinion anyway.

Scruff

no but you can use Neuros 442 firmwares cause the pcm30 is a rebranded 442.
but there arent any more firmware updates for the 442 cause they've stopped making them cause they're consecrating on the 442v2

i think i've talked myself out of buying it.

godtabh

Scruff wrote:

no but you can use Neuros 442 firmwares cause the pcm30 is a rebranded 442.
but there arent any more firmware updates for the 442 cause they've stopped making them cause they're consecrating on the 442v2

i think i've talked myself out of buying it.

So there wont be any future updates?

Scruff

thats just what i take from that thread on the 442's forums and when you take into consideration that the last update was sometime early 2006

so ye gotta ask yerself is it worth €99 for a (quirky?) 30gb PMP that wont be supported? still wondering the same myself.

GreenHorn

Plus, the 99blips is ex-VAT I think...

missingtime

I just bought one aswell and for some reason I am beginning to regret it.
€112 euro including delivery.

Hmmm, well see I suppose. I have to cut up my MasterCard.....

alastair_doom

Hope this helps anyone trying to make up their mind

User manual for the 442 (which appears to be the same with a larger HD)
http://neurostechnology.com/pdf/NEUROS442%20User%20Manual.pdf

And support forum for 442
http://forums.neurostechnology.com/smf/index.php?board=49.0

No guarantee these are the same, but they appear to be.

podgeandrodge

bought one too, how bad can it be for 99 euro - an external 30gb harddrive with a screen...!

opus

Don't really need one but couldn't resist at that price

Kristok

I was going to get this but its off the site now is there any way to get it if youve missed it that day ?

Basq

Kristok wrote:

I was going to get this but its off the site now is there any way to get it if youve missed it that day ?

Nope.. might have it back in a few weeks for even cheaper though.

Will post here if it is (as i check iBOOD 11pm religiously thanks to my RSS feed) so keep an eye on the thread.

hopeful

Just my experience but I would be wary of this site. I ordered an item 3 weeks ago and still have not recieved it. Have fired off a few emails to all the known email addresses but have yet to get a single reply...I am not the only one if you read through some of the forum posts on the site.

As I say...just my experience...I hope yours are all better

Dingatron

I had heard that alright. I thought the 1-5 work days delivery was being very optimistic. Not in that much of a hurry so we'll see what happens. Just hope its as good as it looks.

mawk

i orderd one o' these and whilest im not panicking yet, ill get cranky at a week, ive had the same "in progress" msg on my ibood since i ordered.

never orderd from ibood before and i was just wondering will that change to "shipped" or some such? or is it just to keep me guessing?

hopeful

Just to update you's all....still waiting for my item ordered on the 11th March. Phoned them yesterday...after the chap giving me a large amount of bull about all their systems being down he eventually 'managed' to find my account and admit the item had been shipped. He then phoned the courier company who said my item has been delivered...to an address in Belgium! He said they will ship another today and will send an email to confirm plus a tracking number.

I ain't going to be spending any more money with these folks. They never did reply to any of my emails.
Incidentally...their phone number is: 0031 20 6811388 which is something they don't make easy to find.

daveg

Anyone know which courier company they use? Do they ever supply tracking numbers apart from hopeful's case above?

slayerking

I believe Interlink deliver Iboods stuff here. Had to ring them once about an order.

event

my CC was charged yesterday evening, id imagine that they are now being shipped

event

just called them on teh number that was put up

got straight through, nice gentleman asked me for my order number, and said they should be shipped tomorrow, and i would receive it by the end of the week