ViewSonic Preps HD Portable Media Player

While ViewSonic has been supplying the market with a steady stream of laptops, all-in-one personal computers, media players and monitors, among other things, the company does not exactly have a history of portable multimedia devices. This, however, seems ready to change, with the hardware maker gearing up to launch a portable media player capable of HD video in April.

Known as the MovieBook VPD550T, the device has 8GB of internal storage memory, as well as a microSD slot for expansion. With capabilities of 1080p resolution, the device will be just the thing for consumer eyes to feast upon. Not only does the product have excellent video playback capabilities, but can do so on a rather large-sized screen and for up to four continuous hours.

The MovieBook VPD550T can play back video encoded in a large number of formats, such as DAT, VOB, MOV, MPEG, AVI, MP4, MPG, DVD Video, ASF, MKV, TS, WMV and RM/RMVB. While this in itself is already a high level of functionality, the product has equally noteworthy capabilities on the audio front. The list of supported formats includes MP3, OGG, WAV, WMA, FLAC, APE, AC3, AAC and DTS.

All multimedia enthusiasts who travel frequently will be quite thrilled with this product, especially considering the fact that the 8GB of internal memory, not to mention the extra storage that can be added through the microSD slot, will be able to store a high amount of files. Not only that, but the device's screen will even have touch capabilities. Other extra features include voice recording, as well as e-book and photo viewing.

Set to be launched in April, the MovieBook VPD550T will be priced at only $199. The company will also release a cheaper version, the VPD513, which lacks HD (has only 720p output) and costs $189. The lineup will also feature a smaller, 4-inch VPD403 at $139.