New Gadgets Provide Home Entertainment Centers In Miniature

Dec 28
15:34

2007

Julia Hall

Julia Hall

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One of the most fascinating new types of gadgets on the market is the portable video device. Portable video devices are also called portable media devices and sometimes portable entertainment devices, and are direct descendants of the MP3 player.

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One of the most fascinating new types of gadgets on the market is the portable video device.  Portable video devices are also called portable media devices and sometimes portable entertainment devices,New Gadgets Provide Home Entertainment Centers In Miniature Articles and are direct descendants of the MP3 player.  In addition to the digital audio that MP3 players could provide, portable video devices can play video on built in color LCD screens, display digital photos on the same screen, and many models can even be used to play video games as well.  These gadgets have a lot of features built into small packages and come in a tremendous variety of different models that range from very basic models all the way up to home entertainment systems in miniature.

On the lower end of the portable video device spectrum are models that are about the same size as many audio only digital devices, yet have a surprising capacity to store video.  These gadgets can easily fit in the palm of one's hand and display video on a screen only an inch or two across, depending on the model.  These gadgets can cost as little as fifty dollars and are available anywhere.

On the larger end of the spectrum are some really impressive portable video devices.  These gadgets have hard drives that are bigger than the hard drives in the computers that many of us are still using, and can store anywhere from dozens to hundreds of hours of video depending on the format that the video is stored in.  Archos is a major manufacturer of these gadgets and builds a ton of features into its higher end models. For example, Archos makes one model that has a screen that's over four inches across that has touchscreen functionality.  This model has built in WiFi capabilities that enable it to access the Internet in a variety of different locations that have wireless hot spots.  It even has a built in Opera web browser and the ability to zoom in on specific parts of a web page in order to allow its user to read the page better.  It can also display the contents of its screen on a normal TV set in order to provide better visibility.  It can also display PDF files that it has downloaded from the Internet as well.

Archos also provides an impressive array of accessories for its higher end portable video gadgets.  For example, it's possible to get various docking stations for the devices that enable them to record video that other devices play.  This, combined with the ability to display video on a TV screen, can make an Archos portable video device the DVR component of your home entertainment center.  This is especially useful because it provides the option of watching anything on the gadgets hard drive either on the full sized TV set or on the go, and the decision can be made on a moment's notice.  Archos also supplies video cameras that can be mounted on bike helmets so that its portable video devices can essentially be converted into camcorders.  Plus, with options of recording video in MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 formats, these high end gadgets give their users a good deal of control over how video is recorded.

If you're a busy person who loves TV and video, these entertainment centers in miniature are the perfect gadgets for you.