Mp4 Knowledge

MP4 Players are Flash memory based digital media player which generally carry either 256MB, 512MB, 1GB, 2GB, 4GB or 8GB of flash memory. These media players are able to play audio, video, FM radio, viewing images, reading TXT files (such as eBooks), playing games and voice recording.

MP4 Players main feature are their ability to play videos, however, unlike their name states, they are unable to play MP4 video file format, but are able to play formats such as MTV, DMV, MPV and AMV. The most commonly used is the AMV format, on average a 30 minute video file will take up approximately 60MB.

Screen types:

MP4 players either have 1.5" or 1.8" screens. With ever changing technology 2" screens and larger are becoming more and more common. The three main types of screens used on these players:

LCD: This is the most commonly found type screen, it is also sometimes referred to as OLCD and can display a maximum of 65,000 colors.OLCD screens are vibrant, pictures and videos are displayed in great clarity.

CSTN: Stands for "color super-twist nematic" a form of passive matrix LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) for electronic display screens. CSTN provide sharp and crisp images and videos, they are not as common as OLCD or TFT screens, but are becoming more popular as they cost half as much as TFT screens.

TFT: Thin Film Transistor active matrix screens are commonly used on laptop computers. Active matrix LCD provides a sharper screen display and broader viewing angle than does passive matrix. TFT MP4 players are capable of displaying up to 2.5 Million colors, they provide by far the sharpest and most impressive display. TFT players are usually priced more than CSTN and LCD players.

How do MP4 Players compare to a iPod Nano:

MP4 Player Vs iPod Nano Comparison Feature MP4 Player iPod Nano MP3 Player YES YES Photo Viewer YES YES Rechargeable Battery YES YES Plays Videos YES NO FM Radio YES NO Voice Recorder w/built-in Microphone YES NO Phone Book YES NO E-Book .txt Viewer YES NO Play Games YES NO USB 2.0 Flash Drive YES Plug-N-Play YES Need Special Software Display 1.5" - 1.8" 1.25" File formats supported:

The following is a list of media format that almost all MP4 Players are capable of playing:

Audio: MP4 Players are generally able to play MP3, WMA, ASF, WAV and ACT audio files types. MP4 Players are not able to play WMA files which are encrypted such as those downloaded from such services as iTunes or Nastier. Encrypted music from such services can only play on devices supported by those services, such as Apple iPod's or Creative Zen. MP4 Players usually also support ID3 tags and are able to display lyrics of a song, if a lyric file is present for the song.

Video: There are 2 main types of formats supported AMV and MTV file types, of the two, AMV provides a far better video and its compression rate allows a 30min video file to be about 80mb, while a MTV file can be twice as big. MP4 Players, currently, do not support standard video files types, such as avi, mpeg, rm etc, however the AMV conversion tool can quickly convert normal video types into AMV file types in a short amount of time. Some of the newer MP4 Players that are coming out and many PMP players are able to play Divx, mpeg 2 and WMV formats.

Picture: Most players are able to display (and usually with great clarity and beauty) JPG file types, some are capable of showing BMP file types also.

Mass storage: The above file types are what the actual MP4 Player are able to read and play or display, however MP4 Players also double as mass storage devices and can hold any file types and are only restricted to the size of the available memory on the player.

File formats supported:

The following is a list of media format that almost all MP4 Players are capable of playing:

Audio: MP4 Players are generally able to play MP3, WMA, ASF, WAV and ACT audio files types. MP4 Players are not able to play WMA files which are encrypted such as those downloaded from such services as iTunes or Nastier. Encrypted music from such services can only play on devices supported by those services, such as Apple iPod's or Creative Zen. MP4 Players usually also support ID3 tags and are able to display lyrics of a song, if a lyric file is present for the song.

Video: There are 2 main types of formats supported AMV and MTV file types, of the two, AMV provides a far better video and its compression rate allows a 30min video file to be about 80mb, while a MTV file can be twice as big. MP4 Players, currently, do not support standard video files types, such as avi, mpeg, rm etc, however the AMV conversion tool can quickly convert normal video types into AMV file types in a short amount of time. Some of the newer MP4 Players that are coming out and many PMP players are able to play Divx, mpeg 2 and WMV formats.

Picture: Most players are able to display (and usually with great clarity and beauty) JPG file types, some are capable of showing BMP file types also.

Mass storage: The above file types are what the actual MP4 Player are able to read and play or display, however MP4 Players also double as mass storage devices and can hold any file types and are only restricted to the size of the available memory on the player.