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DigitalCube i-Station V43
comment: 17 | Wednesday, August 17 (2005) 10:12AM | Posted by Austin Vaughan
It's not showing on iStation's Website yet, but AVing Korea is reporting that that a new model is in the works, called the v43, which uses a multimedia processor from AMD. We believe they are talking about the Alchemy Au1200 chip that we saw back in January, at CES (read HERE). That means it supports a variety of formats like MPEG2, MPEG4, WMV9, H.263 and DivX, which it can run at DVD quality. The Au1200 also supports TV output and Tivo-to-Go, but it's not clear yet what features will be implemented.

The v43 will be available in 3 varieties, a standard PMP, a GPS navigation model, and DMB (digital TV) model. Suggesting price will be about 500,000 Korean Won, or $ 491 USD.

"Digitalcube said that with this new model, they can compete with SONY in PSP market."

It looks good, but that might be kind of a stretch...


via i4u.com


UPDATE: i-Station's press release is HERE but we can't get it to translate correctly through Google or Babelfish.
Comments

theshape

Comments: 44
 		Aug 17 (2005) 10:27AM  

Digital TV...interesting. The PMP market certainly seems to be hotting up at the moment. Now i've got to choose between the Creative Zen Vision, Cowon iAudio A2, and this. Or i could wait for the video iPod...



Igor01

Guest
 		Aug 17 (2005) 01:25PM  

OMG, could this finally be the Holy Grail of PMP? You get 16x9 screen, great codec support (hopefully GMC and QPEL too), AC3, OGG and HD support too perhaps? (since it's a new decoder chip, it should be a lot more powerful than the ones used in current PMP's)

It's a good thing I've sold my AV420 that sucked at codec support and its 4x3 screen wasn't good for widescreen content.



Igor01

Guest
 		Aug 17 (2005) 01:42PM  

For those who record TV content on their TiVo - the Alchemy Au1200 media chip is supposed to be able to display the files recorded on TiVo without transcoding (for users of TiVotoGo service).

[Linky]



shiftis
Location: Canada
Comments: 369
 		Aug 17 (2005) 02:30PM  

That V43 looks pretty nice.



timk99

Comments: 5
 		Aug 17 (2005) 02:30PM  

@Igor01 - the current iStations support GMC and QPEL so I am sure this one will too.



1121

Guest
 		Aug 17 (2005) 04:17PM  

Translation:

DigitalCube has announced that they plan to release the 'i-station V43,' a PMP that has a 4.3 inch TFT LCD, sometime in September.

According to DigitalCube, by using the 4.3 inch TFT LCD used in Sony's PSP the new product can playback movies in the 16:9 widescreen format.

Also by incorporating AMD's new multimedia processor, the V43 can play the likes of Divx and xvid along with WMV, making it the PMP with the most supported codecs in Korea.

For this, DigitalCube has completed all related licensing contracts with Microsoft and its WMV. DigitalCube plans to support WMV playback on all its future products.

DigitalCube's head of marketing Mr. Han said, "With the new release, we are reorganizing the portable multimedia device market with movie playback and satelite entertainment, but we are also going to strongly competing with Sony's PSP as a complex entertainment device."

The V43 model will be released in 3 modes: standard, NAVI, and DMB. Suggested retail price is to be around 500,000 Korean Won.



Chirality

Comments: 57
 		Aug 17 (2005) 07:43PM  

Is this device touch-screen? Perhaps DigitalCube would continue this tradition with their new products, which would be great. What would also be great, is if this device comes with a 853x480 resolution screen. However, if having widescreen necessitates a reduction in resolution, to something like 480x272, then I would rather have a device with a VGA screen.



khbaur330162

Comments: 52
 		Aug 17 (2005) 07:57PM  

I heard it is using the same screen as the PSP. I would be surprised if it were touch sensitive if this were the case. Also, if indeed it is using the same screen, can we expect the same problems? I've heard aobut dead pixels and what not. If this PMP has a 4.3 widescreen with True Color and no dead pixels, I can't imagine myself turning this down. It would look marvelous. Even if this didn't support TV recording, I don't think I could resist. That was the only thing holding me back from the i2 and forcing me into the iAudio's arms. I have one last thing to say, although it may be stolen from a certain some one, (Yoda) it is fitting.

Begun the PMP Wars have.



rumos

Comments: 74
 		Aug 18 (2005) 01:08AM  

i am looking for a pmp/pvp which

- has great codec support, dont wanna re-encode half of my collection
- has usb on the go or sd card slot
- can record video
- has a 16:9 screen and is about 2 cm thick

the archos av500 might make it but i am afraid the codec support will not be the best.
the cowon a2 will make it but when is it gonna be available.
this i-station could be nice too.



Fryhole

Comments: 137
 		Aug 18 (2005) 01:32AM  

Hey khbaur330162 about the "Also, if indeed it is using the same screen, can we expect the same problems?" comment....umm, to put it simply, every LCD on the planet has those problems. The only determining factor to if you'll actually see those flaws, is pretty much just quality control. The PSP wouldn't have all those "problems" if Sony would build the machines with at least a basic level of uniformity, and weed out the defective units, rather than shipping them off to the consumers.

"Digitalcube said that with this new model, they can compete with SONY in PSP market." Hey good for them! But you know, it really should all things considered. Look at those icons...that menu reeeeeks of PSP gone vertical.


theshape

Comments: 44
 		Aug 18 (2005) 09:55AM  

I'm guessing the digital TV and GPS versions will cost more, right?



timisme

Guest
 		Aug 18 (2005) 10:29AM  

vaporware.....photoshopped pictures can do wonderful marketing for drooling lipped geeks who have too much money to spend on junk.



khbaur330162

Comments: 52
 		Aug 21 (2005) 10:18PM  

^^^ Someone has something shoved where it shouldn't be. Other wise this person might have had enough common courtesy as to show other people a little respect.



sky

Guest
 		Aug 22 (2005) 11:10AM  

wow...tat's a slim version v43...omg...but i think if got camera function and bluetooth , USB portable and other....waa....all in one...can play and also can send music go true bluetooth....take photo....play vedeo...that's good... but still cannot goto buy v43 yet, coz i think next to v43 will come with more function...hope! money is not a problem, most important is can get more choises to buyer like me. hehe:)



PSP

Guest
 		Aug 22 (2005) 11:00PM  

They think they can dent the PSP market i doubt it.

Yes most of these video players have something PSP doesnt.. codecs.. though us psp owners have to convert video .. but hey mp4 isnt bad. Also these video players also have the perks of huge Hds.. which is nice.

The psp still has game.. mp3 and video .. and internet rolled into it with a small price. Something u wont get bored opf.



funetik

Guest
 		Aug 26 (2005) 05:16PM  

Now, don't flame me, but a small amd processor, nice screen etc and usb. i-station v43+linux+small usb keyboard= tada!

No, but seriously, i think i'll get one of these. It's either this or cowon's offering but this looks prettier and the specs look a bit better.



aussiedave

Guest
 		Sep 01 (2005) 09:05AM  

I like what I see, but I'm an absolute beginner when it comes to "codecs" etc! I simply want to store some DVD movies for a long flight (Australia to UK) and would like to be able to download to a PMP.

Possible or not? Any recommendations as to where I can go to read up on this?



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