Ainol's V9000HDX 'Megatron' PMP looks lovely, does 1080p, freezes its enemies in blocks of ice

Ainol's V6000 series had great specs, but sadly rocked a GPS-worthy aesthetic. The V8000 players went for something a little more stylish, but also a lot more vanilla. Now we're up to the V9000 series and we finally have a look that's sophisticated and distinctive -- and a little creepy with that "please help I'm frozen over here" wallpaper. It's displayed on a 4.8-inch, 800 x 480 capacitive touchscreen, though the device is capable of rendering 1080p video out its HDMI port for display onto something a little bigger. The UI seems a little busy but very functional, and with 16GB of storage, an FM tuner, and a 2450mAh battery it should keep you entertained even on the longest of commutes. Price and availability here in the States was not mentioned, but you weren't really expecting it would be, were ya?

Update: We got a comment from voodoo indicating that this is now believed to be a fake. While we're not entirely sure who to believe at this point with conflicting information on a variety of forums, given that Ainol has still not posted any confirmation of this device on its site it's not looking particularly good. If it is a fake we're hoping the company pulls out all the stops to identify the perpetrators -- and then hires them.

[Rumblejazz Posted Nov 17th 2009 8:12AM]

AINOL STRIKES BACK

[duanes1967 Posted Nov 17th 2009 9:24AM]

In the end, they always do!

[Heywood43 Posted Nov 17th 2009 10:10AM]

Do not turn a brown eye to this..

[Herters1893 Posted Jan 8th 2010 11:43PM]

I returned my Ainol V8000HDG to Ownta for a refund, because the V8000 does NOT support HDMI when used with American (NTSC-only) televisions. I tried the HDMI connection on three different NTSC-only televisions and it failed on all three.

Buyer beware: The Ainol V8000HDG does NOT support HDMI on American NTSC televsions.

Buyer beware: Ownta only returned 70% of my payment (and none of the two way shipping costs, which cost me around $50) because Ownta plugged the V8000HDG into a Chinese market PAL television and it worked over HDMI, so Ownta claims it isn’t defective. It is defective, because it only supports PAL (50Hz) signals over HDMI, it doesn’t support NTSC (60Hz) signals over HDMI.

Buyer beware: Don’t buy the Ainol V8000HDG and don’t buy from Ownta if you plan on using HDMI on an American NTSC televsion. It doesn’t work and you’ll lose your money.

[harrykim23 Posted Nov 17th 2009 8:13AM]

...but then again the 16GB storage will not last long with 1080p video (2h 30m, I guess)...

[CtrlBurn Posted Nov 17th 2009 9:05AM]

Yep, which is why it's stupid to put a capacitive screen in a PMP. How anyone can value a capacitive screen over a big HDD, I'll never understand.

[utjeffc Posted Nov 17th 2009 8:18AM]

So...how do you pronounce this company's name?

[machugger Posted Nov 17th 2009 8:32AM]

word is, voice activation will be provided by their proprietary Ainolingus software.

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 17th 2009 8:31AM]

I-NOL

[Special Agent Steve Posted Nov 17th 2009 5:06PM]

I'm pretty sure you pronounce it A-nal.

[badasscat Posted Nov 17th 2009 8:23AM]

Needs a hard drive.

16GB for 1080p video ain't gonna cut it.

[chrisoverseas Posted Nov 17th 2009 9:09AM]

It also has two micro SD slots, giving a possible total of 32+32+16 = 80GB:

http://mp4nation.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/v9000hdx_41.jpg

[voodoo Posted Nov 17th 2009 9:12AM]

Its got two SD card slots for expansion. And just because it is capable of 1080p playback doesnt mean you HAVE to load it up with those. The advantage is that if you have downloaded a 1080p movie and are running out the door, you can load it on and play it without having to have spent hours re-encoding it in advance.

Put it a couple of 16GB cards (or 32GB when the price drops) in there and you'll store a nice mixture of SD and HD content.

[wakeupbomb Posted Nov 17th 2009 9:15AM]

I like the fully legit files that are shown on that link there!

[GingerFox Posted Nov 17th 2009 8:24AM]

Ooh that does look good, could maybe do with a bump in storage though.

[xy Posted Nov 17th 2009 8:27AM]

oh... this will be in the shop list when i visit the mainland.

[Fengwei Posted Nov 17th 2009 8:41AM]

What about supported codecs? Not much info on that?

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 17th 2009 8:53AM]

WTF see.....now that is berautiful...!!

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 17th 2009 8:56AM]

I'm pretty sure that's the scene from X-Men where Iceman makes a wall between Striker and Wolverine and Striker steps forward to touch the ice.

[Abdo Posted Nov 17th 2009 9:05AM]

Let's have an Optimus model, then make them fight.

[UMPCman Posted Nov 17th 2009 9:10AM]

How does this compare to the latest Ramos model?

These seem to be the top two China PMP makers these days (Onda seems to have dropped out).

Which should we buy for holidays?

[duanes1967 Posted Nov 17th 2009 9:23AM]

What!? - They called the company Anal? - They should probably file a DBA name in the Engrish speaking world. In case you missed it, check out http://engrish.com .

[htd Posted Nov 17th 2009 9:30AM]

it will take very long to copy HD video onto it, I dont think it's worth the effort. ion netbook rulez!

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 17th 2009 10:58AM]

they even got the megatron colours right :P

[Joeyjoejoe Shabadoo Posted Nov 17th 2009 11:30AM]

It could only be able to play 720p and no-one would be able to tell

[voodoo Posted Nov 17th 2009 12:22PM]

This product does not exist, it is a photoshop posted on a Chinese forum.

[DnyC Posted Nov 17th 2009 12:49PM]

Sweet looking device, but I'm not so sure I'd want to carry around something made by a company that sounds like a hemorrhoid treatment.

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 17th 2009 1:11PM]

This Christmas, nothing says "I love you" like the gift of Ainol.

[skullivan Posted Nov 17th 2009 1:59PM]

I'm concerned about its retention capabilities...

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 17th 2009 2:07PM]

Major LOL @Skullivan

[slamEVIL Posted Nov 17th 2009 2:18PM]

why does the fan generated content always look better than the actual product companies put out...passion i guess?

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 17th 2009 3:07PM]

ainolrapist

[Majicebe Posted Nov 17th 2009 10:16PM]

Doesn't get much better than Ainol!

[WisdomTooth Posted Dec 7th 2009 11:47AM]

http://img.imp3.net/ainol/web/v9000hdnews/

Isn't that it on their website?