Blue Raven launches MediaMate "portable" media player / DVR
If you've been on the lookout for a friggin ginormous media player to fill the space of your classic DVX-POD, Blue Raven's got a new device on the scene today, the MediaMate. While the drive sizes aren't too minuscule for storing plenty of video (7040, 40GB for $380; 7080 80GB for $430) and we're feeling the replaceable battery, the 7-inch 480 x 234 display looks downright hideous once it gets going -- and that's to say nothing of the rest of the unit, which is as shoddy-feeling, large, and unwieldy as we've ever seen a portable media device (at nearly 1.5 pounds and 8 x 4.6 x 1-inches). It does play OGG, however (as well as MP3 and WMA), and while we're really into the fact that it does VOB video playback, it also only supports AVI and MPG containers with MPEG-4 ASP and MPEG 2 --- not so good if you don't want to have to transcode your H.264, DivX, XviD, etc., or are thinking of using Vongo or a PlaysForSure service. Our advice: stick with an Archos if you're really looking to record TV to your player and take it on the go, for us this thing's kind would be a non-starter even if you knocked a hundred bucks off the top.
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