Something we love about Windows 7 is that it has much better native codec support, like H.264 and AAC. But the price might be high: It looks like Windows 7 might block third-party video decoders.
HandBrake has always been the go-to app for ripping your DVDs into MPEG video files for playing back on an iPod or archiving on your network, and now in the 0.9.3 release, the multiplatform app will take any video file as an input source, not just DVDs. That means if you have a tricky video file you need to transcode to play on your PMP, game console or anywhere else, HandBrake has got you covered now.
Once upon time, video codecs and formats were really only the concern of AV nerds, anime freaks and hardcore not-so-legal movie downloaders. Now, even the most part-time of geeks has to deal with them, whether they’re trying to stream a flick across their house with an Apple TV, dump some video onto their phone or just trying to grab last night’s episode of Dexter because they, uh, forgot to renew their Showtime subscription that’ll work in their media player. It’s messy and annoying, but we’re here to clean it up. Take a deep breath.
CNET got their hands on Cowon’s new flash-based PMP, the O2, and they think it’s one of the year’s best dedicated media players. The 4.3-inch touchscreen player has a truly ridiculous list of supported codecs, an SDHC slot to expand its internal 8, 16, or 32GB memory, solid (if not too flashy) GUI, and a surprisingly affordable price: only $US219, $US249, and $US299 respectively.
The Celrun TV multimedia player comes equipped to the back teeth. The HD multimedia player totes Ethernet, WiFi b/g for basic, network accessible storage; digital and analog TV tuners, IPTV support, DVR functionality, 320GB HDD, two USB ports, as well as RGB, S-VIDEO and HDMI outputs. Add to that the ability to playback H.264, WMV, AVI, Xvid, MOV, VOB, MPEG1/2/4 and a whole host of other supported codecs in between, the Celrun TV is certainly a souped up performer on paper. No idea as yet whether we’ll see it Stateside, but if it does make an appearance, we’ll be sure to let you know. [Akihabara News]
