MSI's MT-V660 goes to the Zune HD bank for design 'inspiration'

Well, at least MSI has good taste. We can't fault the company for nabbing a multitude of Zune HD stylistic elements in the creation of its new MT-V660 PMP -- outside of general moral qualms, of course -- because the results are predictably attractive. Such brazen style-lifts aren't a first for MSI, who took quite a few pages out of the MacBook Air book for its first X-Slim. Like we said, good taste. The MT-V660 itself has a 3.2-inch WQVGA screen and a codec-friendly Rockchip RK2806 chipset instead of the Zune's Tegra. No word on price or availability.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 16th 2009 1:04PM]

I wish more people would use tegra so graphically intensive aps could be ported easily from system to system.

[MarcusMaximus Posted Dec 16th 2009 2:03PM]

@(Unverified) Not necessarily true. It all depends on the OS used and what coding style it requires. For example, the Zune HD(and the other zunes with it) use C# with the XNA libraries, the iPhone/iPod Touch uses objective c with whatever libraries specific to those platforms(haven't actually done any development for those so I'm not totally clear on them) and Android uses a kind of java variant with its own custom libraries and compiler. In fact, the only thing common to the Tegra chip would be the shader capabilities, which are a big deal but only if you're doing really graphically intensive stuff, and even then they'll only be about 10% of the actual work(and might even use different shader languages)

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 16th 2009 3:06PM]

@MarcusMaximus Thanks for the info, I didn't take any of those things into account.

[AndroidDoesnt Posted Dec 16th 2009 3:11PM]

@(Unverified) there is nothing special about Tegra, hasn't been for a long time. Do some research and you will see it is far from the latest technology.

Anyway I expect these devices will sell about as well as the Zune HD has. The ones even Microsoft is offering coupons on in an effort to get people to buy them. Unfortunately for Microsoft most people can see what a limited device it is in comparison to the competition. Sure there is the occasional teenager who somehow thinks they are different by buying...Microsoft...but most people have more sense than that.

[CommentSystem Posted Dec 16th 2009 3:53PM]

@AndroidDoesnt

how incredibly stupid of a troll you are

[NohOne1 Posted Dec 16th 2009 3:56PM]

@AndroidDoesnt

So when Amazon was selling the iTouch at a deep discount as a Gold Box deal, when Amazon sells the iTouch for $20-$30 under MRP, when Apple sells iTouch on their web site for Black Friday, that is Apple giving the people what they want (even though it ONLY happens with the iTouch, try doing it with a iMAC and Apple will pull your reseller rights).

Dell gives a coupon that can be used with anything on their site, including the ZHD, and MS is desperate. MS hands out coupons (never heard of these coupons, where can I get one, I would like another Zune HD?) and it is a sign MS can't give them away.

But what should I expect? Just another sad, pathetic, Apple fanboy whore who can't find an original argument if their life depended on it (I guess you are just like Apple themselves) so they just copy and paste the same thing over and over again.

[Mitch Posted Dec 16th 2009 4:01PM]

@AndroidDoesnt
First off, where can I get a coupon?
Second what do you call the technology in the iPod Touch if the Zune HD has old tech? Tegra processor + OLED screen made it possible for the Zune HD to have a smaller battery than the iPod Touch and better battery life.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 16th 2009 5:01PM]

@(Unverified)

I still can't believe that a decent touchscreen player hasn't been released with an HDD. The only reason I haven't bought a zune HD or ipod touch is because I use an MP3 player for convenience, I want the lion's share of my music library to be on my player. I hate having to swap out music, podcasts, et al. I was crestfallen when it was announced that the zune HD would only be offered with flash memory.

I'm sure they made a choice based on things that I don't know about consumers but please, somebody, make one with a GD hard drive already!

[MikeyMike01 Posted Dec 16th 2009 6:14PM]

@(Unverified) That would be the approximate size of a cinder block.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 16th 2009 6:21PM]

@MikeyMike01 I get what you're saying but it would only add a little less than a 1/4 inch to it's thickness. We'll worth it for me.

[anthonypined Posted Dec 19th 2009 5:56AM]

@(Unverified) One of the biggest plan of nvidia is to shift their vid-card manufacturing to chipset fabricating like Tegra. http://bit.ly/msi-mt-v660-reaction - I guess we just need to see 2k10 for that.

[CrankyGeek Posted Dec 16th 2009 1:11PM]

Not sure if I'm the only one, but I'm glad they made this design choice. I am very much a fan of the look of the Zune HD, especially the silver one. I like the look of this

[eminisp Posted Dec 16th 2009 1:11PM]

They must know good quality when they see it.

[Eddie Posted Dec 16th 2009 1:13PM]

wow its kinda silly how similar it is. Even the little tab coming up from the different bottom section on the back.
*looks down at his 32gb ZuneHD*
Meh, still better :P

[infinityPlusOne Posted Dec 16th 2009 2:40PM]

@Eddie

Well, the Zune's GUI is probably better, and the OLED screen is gorgeous, but what about MKV playback? Sounds like the MSI is going to be a swiss army knife of PMPs with all the different codecs it will support. In my books, that's a definite plus.

From the translated page:
"MKV, AVI (DivX 3 \ 4 \ 5 XviD H.264 encoding), RMVB / RM, MP4, FLV (H.264 \ H.263), VOB, MPG, DAT, MOV, 3GP format video playback and MP3, WMA, APE, FLAC, OGG, WAV, AAC "

[Eddie Posted Dec 16th 2009 3:04PM]

@infinityPlusOne I was mostly referring to the look, not the abilities.
That said I can see the desire for the myriad of codecs it supports. However I am not overly inconvenienced by the fact I have to Handbrake (or something) my videos into a "Zune HD format".

[good grief Posted Dec 16th 2009 1:34PM]

This is a total KIRF.

[HardToBelieve Posted Dec 16th 2009 1:43PM]

Nice screen dimensions for video viewing.

[Arkv2 Posted Dec 16th 2009 1:46PM]

At least it seems to have physical playback control.

[Decoy Posted Dec 16th 2009 1:49PM]

Stop the train, where is Jubei on this one?

[PATRICKmcnicholl Posted Dec 16th 2009 1:49PM]

This copied the Zune's design the same way the Hp Envy copied the Macbook's design. i.e alot

[HardToBelieve Posted Dec 16th 2009 1:54PM]

@PATRICKmcnicholl

Doesn't matter. It's different enough to work.

[DaHarder Posted Dec 16th 2009 3:10PM]

They can (loosely) imitate the exterior of the ZUNE HD all they want, but they're never even comes close to duplicating the aesthetics, fluidity, and functionality of the ZUNE HD GUI.

[alicem Posted Dec 16th 2009 3:44PM]

Totally Zunned.

[Extinction Posted Dec 16th 2009 4:13PM]

Didn't Zune HD go to the iPhone bank for design 'inspiration'?

[JJ637 Posted Dec 16th 2009 4:20PM]

@Extinction
if by "inspiration" you mean not really looking anything like an iphone, then yes.