Using the MEGA View 561 and Features

The MEGA View 561's battery came partially charged, but we left it plugged in for about 4 hours to complete the charge. Using the device is pretty straightforward. The menu screens are easy to navigate and the folder names have huge icons to make it as user friendly as possible. The Navigation directional button works much like a joystick and is used to cycle through the screens, as well as doubling as the fast forward and rewind button during video and audio playback. The Play/Enter button starts the media playback, and the Stop button ends it. Pressing Stop again exits to the upper menu.

Media support is quite extensive, as far as PC/Non-Apple based media is concerned. The MEGA View 561 supports MPEG4, DivX 3.11/4.x/5.x, Motion JPEG, and WMV9 SP@ML formatted videos. As mentioned earlier, a 15-day trial of Dr. DivX is included, and is extremely easy to use, though I'm certain most of you will choose open-source software for your needs. I was a bit surprised MPEG-1 was not supported, and although the MEGA View 561 recognizes the media, it would not play it back.

For audio, the device supports MP3, MPEG-1 Layer 2, LPCM, ADPCM, and WMA9 Layer 2a format audio. This should suit the needs for most of us, and like the video, it's simple to find software to convert audio into a supported format. The device also supports some basic audio adjustments to fine tune the sound.

Along with video and audio, the MEGA View 561 has the ability to view photos (JPEG, GIF, BMP, and TIFF), listen to up to 8 FM radio stations (which can also be recorded into audio files), voice and video recording (which we will discuss later) but one of the most useful features we found was the ability to use the device as a 20GB storage device.

With the included USB 2.0 cable, other than transferring media content to and from your PC, you can store data files or anything else you wish as the MEGA View 561 is seen as a removable storage device from within Windows. From the device itself, you're limited to deleting files and not folders.

Another feature some of you may like is the MEGA View 561's ability to output video through a Composite connection to your TV.

I am not sure if it was a blunder on MSI's part or perhaps Composite cable standards differ in Asia, or maybe it was a problem only with our sample but the cable connections were crossed for our device. For all of my television's Composite connections, the Video input is yellow, but as you can see above, I needed to plug the red connection into the jack. Video quality was decent, though we've experienced better quality with an ATI AIW and Monster Cable cables.

Final Words

Overall, the MSI MEGA View 561 is a very handy device. I'll admit, I'm something of a gadget freak, and this player was something I generally had quite a lot of fun playing with. Prior to the MEGA View 561, my only experience with a personal video player was with an Archos AV420. The Archos provides similar features (with 20GB and 80GB options) but at a higher price point making the MEGA View 561 the one I'd recommend based on pricing.

One of the benefits of the MEGA View 561 is that it is multipurpose. While it's larger than the iPod, it's smaller than portable DVD players. Add to the fact that you can pile on quite a few movies on the 20GB drive, you save the additional hassle of packing extra DVDs. On that note, there are a few gotchas worth mentioning.

The 3.5" TFT LCD screen is fine for casual viewing, but we found the video impossible to view under direct sunlight. It's also not our choice as a device to watch videos for extended periods of time, but to be honest, that is an opinion we share across all portable video players. Nevermind the fact that some movies are simply meant for the big screen, but the small screen on all these devices don't serve many films justice and watching them any further than arm's length isn't very enjoyable. On a trip to Mexico recently, I watched "Time Cop 2" on the plane ride and began to experience some motion sickness. Perhaps it was Time Cop 2 itself, but more likely it was watching a movie for over an hour on a small screen since watching "24" on my notebook on the way home did not cause any dizziness. This will vary with each person though, so make sure you give these players a try in a store to see if it happens to you. One tech editor I spoke with didn't have this same problem, so your mileage may vary.

One rather annoying issue we had with the MEGA View 561 was the fact that we're unable to play back a file from where we left off. If you're in the middle of watching Lord of the Rings: Return of the King and you stop it 3/4 of the way through for whatever reason and shut off the device, you'll need to start at the beginning and fast forward to where you left off. For a half hour sitcom, that's fine, but a three hour epic is sure to test one's patience. On that note, MSI has informed us that their next generation MS-5566 will support resume.

Getting back to video playback, which is what the device is primarily for, the video quality under ideal circumstances is quite good. So long as you view the screen directly, with little to no sunlight or incandescent lighting glaring over your shoulder, you should be satisfied with the quality. The sound from the built in speaker is forgettable though, and it's highly recommended you use the bundled headphones or a 3rd party set.

A few other things we really liked about the MEGA View 561 is the ability to act as removable storage, and is USB 2.0 to boot. Transfers were not as fast as PATA based USB storage devices, but the MEGA View 561 is easily much more portable and acts like an additional drive in a Windows based PC. The other item we liked was the device's ability to record from any Composite video source without the need to connect it through a PC. This can potentially save you a bit of time and effort of hooking up a TV Tuner, recording the show and converting the recording into a useable format for the player. Finally, unless you plan on keeping a high quality original, the MEGA View 561 is capable of outputting video to any Composite video enabled TV or display device. This is handy for playback at a location where you may not have a DVD or other media player and wish to watch on a larger screen, albeit at a lower image quality than a source DVD. Finally, the device is very comfortable to use, and despite being larger than some media devices, it's still compact enough to be considered very portable.

In terms of digital rights management (DRM), we found the MEGA View 561 to be quite liberal. As we've just mentioned, the MSI player can record video directly to the device, which is something most portable video players cannot do (the Archos AV420 is the only one I know of that can). In most cases, content needs to be recorded to a Windows XP or Media Center PC (equipped with a TV Tuner), converted to Windows Media Video format and then copied on to the media player. Given that the MEGA View 561 can skip those steps, as well as playback several formats, this places the device near the top of the list when it comes to convenience.

Whether or not you're even considering the purchase of a digital media player will depend greatly on your needs. This is obviously not going to be a PDA or GameBoy substitute, but naturally, MSI is not marketing the device as such. A portable DVD player (standalone or a notebook equipped one) will have stronger image quality and a bigger screen, but the tradeoff is more bulk and weight. Knowing that, as well as some of the drawbacks of using such a small media player, if you're in the market for such a device, the MSI MEGA View 561 should be given some consideration.

Pros: Multipurpose, good image quality, 20GB of storage, capable of media recording and playback. Loose restrictions in regards to DRM.

Cons: Does not shine in any one area, sound from internal speaker is poor. No resume after power-off. Small screen (though a common complaint with all portable media players).

Bottom Line: All in all, we found the MSI MEGA View 561 to be a very nice gadget. The device can do a lot of things, and is generally very good at them. Most of the issues we've had are commonplace with other media players, so we suggest trying one out to see if it's for you.