other mp4 player options

[cteno4]

Ok as i suss out this little 1.8" mp4 player (http://www.jnsforum.com/index.php/topic,5900.0.html) im now thinking of the other options for larger screens for the sides of buildings. goal are:

 

Inexpensive

something thats relatively inexpensive so that if there is an issue in either tearing it up to mount or it blows out later its not a huge lost investment. the original pvr i did a few years back was a sale item at like $30, first one blew out after 6 months, and got a second at $20 then on closeout. would be nice to have a few spares for later if possible.

 

Remote Control for on/off setup

also want it easy to turn on/set up via a remote or if possible it would have a memory for the playback setup. same issues here of having something that you can remotely turn on and set up w/o having to access any buttons and be cheap. this means either the unit needs to have a remote control like the little 1.8" unit has or just have a screen in the building and feed video to it remotely from a video source. most of the other mp4 players are not great as they require you to access buttons to turn them on and set functions like play all videos and repeat all. this means you need to either try to put in holes to hit the button with a probe or rewire the buttons for remote control and this could get really fiddly to do easily.

 

Easy installation

an internal structure thats easy to isolate the lcd display for either pulling it forward into a hole in the building or mounting just the lcd on the outside of the building. dont want to have to be an ee to try and get it installed.

 

SD card

Use an sd card for memory so its easy to transfer files to the device for use. units with internal memory at times require specific software to load the files onto the internal memory.

 

 

so heres the cheap options ive found so far. noodling on if ill try buying some of these to play with.

 

there is a larger version of the same type car mp4 player at 2.4" for $18

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/190459949212?ssPageName=STRK:MESINDXX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1436.l2649

 

the next option is to use a plain lcd video screen and feed it video. reasonable options for like $21

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-3-5-TFT-LCD-Color-Screen-Car-Rearview-Monitor-DVD-VCR-/150715309597?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2317551e1d#ht_3148wt_1211

 

then its going to need a video playback system of some sort like a tv memory card reader/player or a little dvd player. those will run another $20 or so. things like

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/190467520406?ssPageName=STRK:MESINDXX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1436.l2649#ht_3799wt_977

 

this would give better resolution of 640x480 -- if the specs on the monitor are true, i am a bit suspect that it may only be 320x240, but still pretty good for the size.

 

larger options then go into the digital picture frame and jump to like 7" screen (there are a few 3.5" ones of these out there) and give you playback from a SD card. unfortunately the resolution starts low on the cheap ones (like 234x480) and you have to pay more to get higher res ones. good thing is again you can find these screens with remotes to do the on/off and any setup. they also usually have a better mix of file formats than the cheap mp4/5 players that use the cheapo decoders and more proprietary compression. down side is these start at $30-40. some of these may have the ability to remember the setup so they would power on into the desired program, but its hard to gauge this w/o directly playing most of these. many of these digital picture frames have been really dicy in the past, but are slowly coming of age here and getting better resolution. a 7" diagonal screen would need a good sized building to hold the screen, probably need at least 6-7" wide. the big kato high rises would probably work. other big question would be to see how well they come apart to easily mount the screen into/onto the building.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/7-inch-TFT-LCD-Digital-Photo-Movies-Frame-Alarm-Clock-MP3-MP4-Player-w-Light-/160699034287?pt=AU_Digital_Photo_Frames&hash=item256a68aaaf#ht_4648wt_1141

 

any how some first thoughts to start the discussion.

 

cheers

 

jeff