GBA/DS Mp3 Player. Opinions please.

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Fri Jun 03, 2005 8:52 am

Hi all. I stumbled across this item on Evilbay. I know the PSP will have better looking video since it was originally thought as a multimedia machine and the screen is just kickass. But I'm still interested. 1GB flash cards are easy and cheap to obtain, so my main question if anyone has seen or played this is if the quality of the video is good, not choppy or with lots of compression artifacts (like those Nickelodeon shows on GBA video) and overall if the audio is stereo when playing video and Mp3 files. (Who wants a mono MP3 player, anyway?) I hope we can turn that DS my brother won into a nice little portable media player.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 67973&rd=1

Google hasn't returned much useful information, so any opinion is appreciated. Thanks.

zubiac · Post by **zubiac** » Fri Jun 03, 2005 2:09 pm

I have this one and to be honest: It flocking rocks.
BUT BEWARE: it DOES NOT play Mp3 files.You have to convert them first into gbs files which the movie player understands.Or the better way would be WAV which is also supported and gives you great sound.the converted gbs sound files are compressed(at least 1:8) so the sound isn't as great as in WAV but the filesize is much smaller.I just use WAV files for my songs cause they have CD quality via headphones(I'm using a 1GB card as well btw).
The great thing about the "GBA Movie Player" is that he has other neat feauters too which I'll explain now:
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Play sound files in gbs or WAV format.The packed-in PC software converts every known sound format into gbs.Here's the official statement:

Music is converted into a GBS file after conversion. The GBS file and uncompressed WAV files can be played on the GBA/GBA SP. Supported wav file: Sample rate<=48KHz;Sample bit rate: 8 bit or 16 bit; Channeling: Stereo or mono.
Support for LRC synchronous lyrics files. After putting the LRC file (With the same name as the corresponding GBS or WAV file) and the GBS or WAV file to the same directory on your the CF Card, the synchronous lyrics can be displayed on the GBA/GBA SP while music is playing.

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Watch movies in gbm format. The PC software converts all the most used video files into GBM files.You can also set different adjustments with the software(sharpness etc).After some trying out I managed to get a good picture out of the Movie Player which can be a bit blocky at dark scenes but overall:Good not great....I'm satisfied.
If you are a picture-quality freak you better get the "Play Yan" which has better pic-quality but lacks all the other features the GBAMP has(exept MP3 which Play Yan also supports).Also "PLay Yan" cost about three times more and comes ONLY with japanese software.
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images support(photos,pictures etc):

The GBA Movie Player supports uncompressed BMP format image. It also has image magnification tools and lantern slideshow playback functions. Supported BMP formats are: 32 bit and 24 bit true color, 16 bit GBA true color, 256 colors and gray scale, 16 colors, 4 colors and 2 colors B&W.

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e-book feature: Well,not exatly since it "only" supports txt files which is OK for me.Just put them on the card and let the reading begin.

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NES emulation feature: You will be able to play NES/Famicom games which are smaller than 256kb with the GBAMp which is really a nice feature.
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Here is the official website and here is an awesome forum for all your info needs.

Overall I highly recommend the GBAMP cause it has some really nice features and pic-quality looks pretty good(especialy on DS).

Vexorg · Post by **Vexorg** » Fri Jun 03, 2005 5:06 pm

Apparently there is also an official (first party) peripheral coming for this purpose called Play-Yan, although I've not heard much of it. My PocketPC can do a far better job of audio and video stuff though, so I probably won't bother with one.

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Fri Jun 03, 2005 10:04 pm

Zubiac, thanks a lot! I'm ordering that thing and a 1G card tonight. Thanks for letting me know about the WAVs, I'm a an audio freak too.

Strychnine · Post by **Strychnine** » Fri Jun 03, 2005 10:20 pm

Specineff - if you're an audiofreak, I think any mp3 attachment you're going to get for the GBA/DS is not going to be of that great of audio quality.

I imagine you want to get one for the GBA/DS rather than buy a separate unit because you'd rather not carry around even more gizmos/crap - but trust me, if you care about audio quality - its a much better idea to get a separate and dedicated player. The audio hardware in the GBA isn't that great to begin with, and I seriously doubt that any attachment has enough power in the audio-jack to drive decent headphones.

Vexorg · Post by **Vexorg** » Sat Jun 04, 2005 12:08 am

Quite frankly, the DS is far too big (by about 2-3 inches) to carry in a pocket, even though it does have far better audio hardware in it than the GBA (Electroplankton on good speakers is quite impressive.) The GBA SP may not be so bad, but even that you can get better alternatives to. Best to stick to something more purpose-built, if not just using a full-fledged DAP.

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Sat Jun 04, 2005 12:13 am

Thanks, Strych and Vexorg. Yeah, I already have a minidisc and Hi-minidisc recorder/player so that's what I use. So don't think I'll be using the DS instead of my dedicated players. As long as the sound doesn't suck on that thing, I'm happy. Besides, my main use would be to watch cartoons on the bus while commuting to work.

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Fri Jun 10, 2005 4:43 am

Sorry to bump. I have decided to forego the movie player thing for now. I'd rather watch DVDs on my brother's laptop than bother with all the converting and stuff.

Someone on Ebay is selling a SongPro for GBA which is a simple flash-based MP3 player, for really cheap. Anyone knows if this thing is any good? Thanks if there is any info available. (And no, google didn't turn any responses in 45 minutes of searching.)

EDIT: ACK, Never mind. This is designed for use with the GB color originally, meaning that the GBA and GBASP will take it, but the DS won't.