iriver's K1 Smart HD packs MKV video support into 3.5-inch player

The list of devices with native Matroska support is growing rapidly fueled by the preponderance of ripped HD videos living large on the torrents. iriver's hoping to capitalize on this phenomenon by adding .MKV to the list of supported formats (including AVI, WMV, MP4, TP, MPG, ASF) inside its new 3.5-inch (480x320 pixel) K1 Smart HD personal media player offering 18 hours audio / 6 hours video playback. In addition to detailed specs we've also got the official pricing: ₩229,000 (about $204) for the basic 8GB model, ₩279,000 ($248) to add a DMB mobile television tuner, ₩299,000 ($266) to bump things up to 16GB, and ₩349,000 ($310) if you want the full package with WiFi, DMB, and 16GB of storage. Korea-only for now.

iriver's K1 Smart HD packs MKV video support into 3.5-inch player

[juanorfrankie Posted Jan 18th 2010 4:47AM]

hmmm...wifi, not bad.

[egress63 Posted Jan 18th 2010 7:30AM]

@juanorfrankie
It should be more like 'mkv... thats awesome". This will be perfect for watching subbed stuff like anime and foreign movies (most of them are mkv now).

[JakeInDC Posted Jan 18th 2010 4:57AM]

iRiver is JUST getting WIFI into their devices???

Welcome to 2006 iRiver.

[cuby Posted Jan 18th 2010 4:58AM]

did they have to make the power button so big? i like my device power-on experience to be a fingernail affair.

[TareG Posted Jan 18th 2010 5:21AM]

I like the minimalistic design and flush screen...

[chaos Posted Jan 18th 2010 8:01AM]

@TareG It's... beautiful!

[jvenning Posted Jan 18th 2010 5:23AM]

Smart HD? More like Poor SD. Shame about the poor resolution from an otherwise firm brand, my mobile has a better resolution than this!

[JakeInDC Posted Jan 18th 2010 5:43AM]

The resolution is horrible. Most smartphones / portable devices are at least 800 X 480.

C'mon iRiver stop giving us OLD CRAP.

[DAZA Posted Jan 18th 2010 7:43AM]

@JakeInDC You seriously want 800x480 res in a 3.5" screen? It's been done, but I feel you only need that res for larger screens like the HD2.

[Cheesus Crust Posted Jan 18th 2010 11:20AM]

@DAZA Dude, after using the touch pro's 2.8" 640*480 screen, I HATE using low res devices, especially on a LARGER screen. Makes me sick, especially when they're charging that much for it.

[pheer6224 Posted Jan 18th 2010 9:55PM]

@JakeInDC
Materialist much?

[Usta Posted Jan 18th 2010 6:02AM]

The resolution is definitely not from these times any more. Are they trying to mimic iphone?
480p is the minimum you should have. In fact, you get such a resolution already in the modern phones (HD2, Nexus, Deoid, etc...).
I don't see the reason to buy this if your phone can do the same with a capable video player (for example, CorePlayer in HD2).

[Solidstate89 Posted Jan 18th 2010 6:24AM]

Only 18 hours audio? My s9 gets 40.

[qst4 Posted Jan 18th 2010 8:06AM]

It's all about the Wons baby!

[yuichi Posted Jan 18th 2010 8:26AM]

what? this product doesn't come with a korean model?
no thanks.

[willowtwf Posted Jan 18th 2010 9:58AM]

when will manufacturers learn that if they're touting a device as able to store and playback HD video they need to ship it with more than 8GB of storage space?

[NYNY Posted Jan 18th 2010 11:32AM]

@willowtwf They should have at least thrown an SD/microSD slot on this thing. There really is no point to slapping HD an a low capacity PMP.

[Jsensation Posted Jan 18th 2010 10:52AM]

At first glance I thought it was called then Kmart HD

[PerryAJ Posted Jan 18th 2010 11:30AM]

Pretty cool. My Xb360 and PS3 are jealous. :(

[darkNiGHTS Posted Jan 18th 2010 12:09PM]

Why is this much more expensive than the Zune HD? I love iRiver's MP3 players, but they really need to make their devices cheaper. The Zune HD without a doubt has better hardware.

[KennyB123 Posted Jan 18th 2010 1:07PM]

@darkNiGHTS

Not to mention, Zune HD has twice the storage on it's high-end version. And 32GB isn't even enough for MKV's. The minimum STANDARD storage for ANY PMP doing HD should be 64GB.

[Ragarnok Posted Jan 18th 2010 1:25PM]

With a contract my n900 cost me half as much and has twice the storage capacity and twice the resolution, plus it's a smartphone (and it does play mkv files)

[JW Posted Jan 18th 2010 2:23PM]

@Ragarnok
It's also half as sexy.