IOGEAR's Too Generic Portable Media Player Lacks Portability, HD Playback

The people over at IOGEAR have released quite a large number of pretty awesome connectivity solutions over time, but portable media playback is not exactly their area of expertise. And this is pretty clear when we take a look at the company's recently announced Portable Media Player, a device that smells "generic" from a mile away, starting with the name and ending with the set of features it can provide.

Before we go any deeper into the features this self-proclaimed PMP has to offer, it's important to point out that the device from IOGEAR is rather far from "Portable", as it measures around 133 mm x 81 mm x 19 mm, at a weight of around 790 grams. Sure, you can take it around with you, but it's not exactly the most lightweight thing you've ever seen. Plus, it doesn't have a display, so you can't actually watch video content while on the go.

Leaving the cumbersome issue of portability aside, the device from IOGEAR is actually a pretty OK media player. First of all, it offers a very wide compatibility range, since it works with dat, mpg, mpe, mpeg, vob, IFO, m2p, avi, divx, xvid, Jpg, Jpeg, mp3, wav files, supports Mpeg-1, Mpeg-2, Xvid codecs and even a fairly large number of DivX subtitle formats, including IDX/SUB, SRT, ASS, SSA, SUB (type II), SMI, PSB.

And if you were wondering just how this thing displays video content, you should know that it can be hooked up to a TV pretty easily, via the included Component and Composite RCA connectors. There's no HDMI, though, but the player does offer the possibility of enhancing standard definition video playback viewing up to 720p resolution on an HDTV. Moreover, it features a built-in 120 GB HDD unit, which offers enough space for around 50 hours of DVD quality video or 9 hours of digital video.

The Portable Media Player from IOGEAR retails for around 350 US dollars, which is not exactly a very small price to pay for such a device, especially one lacking 1080p support and HDMI, two "must haves" in the case of any modern playback system.

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