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Toodis Mpal 400 Ultra Compact AV Player (cont.)Performance: (based on 1st firmware update 09/14/2004): For the most part, the Mpal 400 performs really well though there are a few things to quibble about. First and foremost, the player is a USB 1.1 device which greatly limits the speed of file transfers.
The LCD screen is very vivid and clear. Indoors, the highest two brightness and contrast settings offer superb brightness, but outdoors the screen is almost completely washed out. Another down point is that movie files need to be converted to Toodis' MMF format before they can be played back on the Mpal 400. Though the quality of the MMF movie file (format: MPEG-4; resolution: 128x144; audio: 3200 Hz MP3) may be horrid on a computer screen, on a 1.8" screen it is very acceptable. In addition, the file size will be much smaller allowing you to fit about 175 minutes of video for every 256mb. The current firmware places a cap of 120 minutes for movie files. Playback of a movie files is slightly choppy, suggesting the MMF format is about 15 fps. One bug I noticed is that the last 3 seconds of all movies are cutoff. Audio from the MMF format is decent, about as good as a very clear radio.
Music playback quality is very good. In addition to 4 preset EQs (rock, pop, jazz, classical), there are also 2 user EQs and a SRS WOW EQ setting. Radio reception is also quite good. The current firmware allows the Mpal 400 to view pictures with resolutions up to 2204 x 1702. There are no special controls (rotating, zooming…) when viewing pictures. With a 2000mA battery, screen brightness set on 5 (out of 7), and playing equal amounts of radio, music, and video, the Mpal 400 lasted almost 8 hours. This is not bad considering that it is only one AA battery powering a colored screen. As mentioned earlier, the Mpal 400 is a USB 1.1 device. Transferring 221mb of mp3s took 7 minutes; that's about 526 kb/sec.
The included ear buds offer decent audio quality and fit quite well. The right ear bud's cord is longer than the left. This design allows the right ear bud's cord to go behind the neck so if the ear buds fall out when your moving, they will not fall far, just hang around your neck.
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