5. Who Brought The Popcorn?

Besides acting as a digital photo album with JPEG, PNG and BMP support, like the rest of the models in the MemoryFrame product family, the PV1 can also play MP3s and MPEG4 video (divX 4.0 and 5.0, and Xvid). Software cleverly called "MPEG4 Movie Converter" is included in the package for encoding other video formats to the necessary .AVI files. This software, while incredibly easy to use, produced generally poor results. With videos over a few minutes in length, the audio and video grew increasingly out of sync. I found that other encoding options like Dr.divX produced much better results.

Whichever encoding path you choose, video can be exported from the unit via a supplied cable in either NTSC or PAL format and can play back at up to 640x480 @ 30 fps (using the video output, of course). Video encoded with the supplied software on the unit itself was more than acceptable considering the price, but when it was exported to a normal television, artifacting and blur didn't make it ideal for regular viewing or extended sessions.

Watching the History Channels' "Decisive Battles" series on the PV1.

The video playing feature is one of the areas where the power issue drags the PV1 down a bit and limits its usefulness. Join me in gritting your teeth and shaking your fist at the energy consumption of LCDs.