Mustek PVR-A1 media player
- Reviewer
- Charlie Brewer
- Review Date
- 13 July 2004
- Manufacturer
- Mustek
- Price as reviewed
- £120
- Latest price
- compare
Reader review
User: Frankie, London
Date Posted: 17 June 2006
Review: I've had the unit over two years now. Still in excellent condition due to the protective leather case you get with it. Like people say, the battery life is poor and only lasts about two hours. Good point is it's the same as a mobile phone battery, I bought a couple of eBay for £1.99 :-) The unit is handy for storing and carrying data (once you get a 1gb SD card), good for mp3's (get some decent headphones though!!) and handy for voice recordings :-) All in all I only paid £69 for it two years ago and it's still going strong and now with the extra couple of batteries it's gained a new lease of life :-) I would personally rate it 8/10 for features, usability and performance.
Rating:
20 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Bill Inglis, Manchester, UK
Date Posted: 11 May 2006
Review: Was ok for the price and I generally agree with all the other users, except I have one major problem. IT PACKED IN AFTER A FEW MONTHS... all I have now is a distorted screen and can’t see any thing on it. It’s totally knackered!
Rating:
24 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Tristan, Norwich, UK
Date Posted: 14 January 2006
Review: I’ve just bought this. As an mp3 player it's next to useless. Mp3s must be uploaded using it's own software, so Linux users, and people who want to just use USB mass storage (I use a large collection of computers at university and work, and can't go installing weird software on them all...). Battery life is pathetic for something that purports to be an mp3 player, but not too bad for a video player. The screen is quite good, and videos seem smooth enough. However maximum volume is too low. The internal Operating System is, quite frankly, junk. It is not consistent (try getting back to the main menu from viewing a photo) and it refuses to read anything from the card that isn't precisely placed and named. In short, with better internal software (such as the ability to play any mp3/asf/jpg off a card, so cards could be shared with palm/phone/camera/computer would make this a good product. Also moving the jog wheel up the body about an inch would put it where my thumb rests. To use the job wheel you must shuffle the device about in your hand, or use both hands. Awkward positioning indeed. Lack of a video output makes using it as a PVR a bit pointless - as no TB playback is possible. In short, I would not recommend it. I'm off back to the shop to take it back and find something else.
Rating:
6 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Chas, Essex
Date Posted: 6 January 2006
Review: This product is great, it’s compact, small, has a good sized screen and good quality portable case which stops it from getting damaged. Overall it is great.
Rating:
15 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Tom Gitzo, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Date Posted: 4 January 2006
Review: I think this is a great product with some drawbacks. First the battery does not last long at all. Maybe an hour or two is the longest. Photo album feature works great. There is so much detail in the pictures. The MP3 player has one drawback. If the song is copyright protected the song will not play on the PVR. The name of the song will not even show up. All in all, I think this product works very good.
Rating:
14 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Milovan, Kumanovo, MK
Date Posted: 6 December 2005
Review: I will be short and clear. I’ve had this product for almost 3 months and this is my conclusion: Battery: 2/10 - It charges more than 2.5 hours and it lasts less than 2.5 hours-not a big difference which application you use. Light weight Display: 6/10 - Low resolution, alias + 2.5", good precise colours. Sound: 4/10 - Very low output, could be louder. Need of custom EQ. Does NOT read well most 320Kbps Mp3's. EQ presets 6 or 7 Functions and buttons: 8/10 - Full Mp3 name not displayed, it's shortened. Design: 9/10 - The plastic material could be a little more "gummy" (in case you drop it); SD memory slot could be closed. Conclusion: Not bad for the money except the battery life and the memory included is only 32MB.
Rating:
17 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Rick White, Delaware, USA
Date Posted: 5 December 2005
Review: An add-on SD memory card is a must, as the 32MB internal memory is somewhat limited. It is disappointing that there is no AV out feature to play recorded videos on a TV. However, the video record feature seems to work great for recording TV shows. However, the video recordings are in ASF format but the Ulead VideoStudio 6 SE Basic software that it comes with only seems to want to work with VSP format which I guess is Video Studio Project - what's up with this? Has anyone been able to use this software to edit any videos? I find the fast-forward feature on the PVR-A1 difficult to work with as it doesn't advance very quickly. So if you don't finish watching a recording video and want to go back later to finish where you left off it's a pain. It's pretty easy, however, to copy the ASF video recordings to your computer and then use Windows Media Player to scroll to the desired point and go from there. But of course, you loose the portability of the PVR device if you must use the computer instead. I've only messed with the MP3 features a little and it seems as though it will only display the first few letters of the filename and that makes it difficult to determine what you want to select. You must use their software to upload the MP3s to the PVR, but even then, some MP3s don't seem to play correctly; I think it has something to do with the original speed they were recorded at. In any case, despite some of the shortcomings, for the money I paid for it, it seems to be a fun little device.
Rating:
15 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Jonny, London (UK)
Date Posted: 1 December 2005
Review: The PVR-A1 is alright if you want an mp3 or to hold pictures but may I suggest the Goodman DPDR1 if you want something a bit more for the video side, no hard feelings about the PVR-A1 but just try this product instead, I promise this will satisfy all you lot who well, hate the PVR-A1.
Rating:
4 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Harold, Almere, the Netherlands
Date Posted: 23 November 2005
Review: I needed a mobile way to record video from (remote) camera modules. I plan to use this in model airplanes or while skiing. The features I was looking for is compact and no moving parts like hard disk. Video recording works fine for this purpose. Time and quality in high mode is good enough. The asf format is not perfect for post-processing, but easy for publishing on the web. I also use the PVR to convert the big AVI's from my ixus-30 to a format 10 times smaller by doing an analogue copy from the Ixus video-out. Saves PC time and I can't tell the difference. Misses: - No video-out - video conversion software only knows some video formats. Hangs at unknown ones. No sub-directory structure. Plusses: - No Macrovision as far as I can tell. Easy to record from DVD player - easy of use for my purposes. No stutter in recording whether from PAL (25fps) or NTSC like (30fps) source.
Rating:
13 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Scott H, Portland OR, USA
Date Posted: 15 November 2005
Review: I've had this for a long time now and I think it's pretty sweet. Especially cause I got mine for a good price. I have a bunch of Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Family guy on my gb SD card, and alot of mp3s too. I haven't experienced any bugs with it but you have to use the software that comes with it to upload video files or else it won’t work, which is sort of limiting because I lost the CD and they don’t have it on their website. Other than that it's a nice pocket sized video and mp3 player for a good price, I like it.
Rating:
20 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Kwiter Ker, NY, USA
Date Posted: 4 November 2005
Review: I like it, it’s a bit flimsy and the Long Play mode for recording is pretty useless, but I’ve only been playing with it for a few hours. The video quality is a bit soft but fine for such an inexpensive unit.
Rating:
21 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Keith, Maryland, USA
Date Posted: 2 November 2005
Review: Great device for the price. I bought this for its MP3 player and have ended up using it to: Show off a slide show of the grandchild. Record high resolution episodes of "Lost" (which I watch while in waiting rooms of one kind or another. Listen to MP3’s and "Meet the Press" Podcasts. And record audio messages to myself while driving. I must admit the device menu and its software is not as intuitive as I would like, but for the money, not a bad buy. I highly recommend buying an additional 512 of memory if you want to take advantage of features simultaneously.
Rating:
18 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: DonovanDylanTripp, Oregon, USA
Date Posted: 9 September 2005
Review: Yes, there does appear to be some programming glitches. I have had trouble adding songs and removing songs. It freezes up every time I try to record anything and the scrolling button is already loose. It plays songs very well, but I can’t seem to add any new songs. It doesn’t interface with my PC very well. It is recognized as new software on my PC, I can dragNdrop files, I can use the software just fine but when I navigate the PVR menu I cannot find any files that I just moved, very frustrating. This is brand new out of the box. In theory this is a great little gadget. In reality it is in need of some serious improvements. It promises everything that I wanted in a portable media player, but very disappointing. It doesn’t have an AV out feature, so playback onto a T.V. screen is not an option. If you get one that works you could fall in love with it. If you get a lemon, it will break your heart.
Rating:
21 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Brian Pritchard, Somerset, England
Date Posted: 29 April 2005
Review: Hi everyone, I have just purchased the PVR-A1 and so far I have not come across any of the glitches mentioned by the other reviewers. I have downloaded a stack of MP3 songs and played them with no problems. I am a Freelance Photographer, and I will be using this little gizmo to hold a number of my photographs, so I can let new clients have a preview of my work, without having to lug a note book with me. I love the idea of showing my pictures in slide show, I have downloaded a load of pictures already and they look quite impressive even on such a small screen. Other reviewers say that the screen resolution is not great but all I can say is that my pictures look fine on the screen. It’s definitely better than the review screen on my canon camera so it can't be that bad. I must admit that I have not tried to download any video files so far, and I have heard that they are hard to grab and play due to the inadequate software but personally I am less bothered with this side of the PVR-A1. As to build quality, I find it adequate, what do you expect at this money. I own a minidisc recorder by Panasonic and it's a lot more flimsy than the Mustek. I also picked mine up for the give away price of £75 through a trade catalogue, not bad. At the moment I would say if you’re on a budget go for this product as it's not a bad little machine for the money.
Rating:
7 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: MICHAEL SHEFFELS, Not Given
Date Posted: 8 April 2005
Review: I have not actually purchased this product yet, but I am getting many mixed reviews from different sources. It seems that the production of this product is cheap because some people say theirs hasn’t broke at all and some say it broke in 1 month (or 6 days). In addition to that in Amazon (Americas Amazon) this product got better reviews then both the iPod and the iPod mini. Mustek says that the product has only been tested to 512mb which can hold 160 songs (you can find the exact amount if you use iTunes for all your songs you downloaded). With 166 songs you can add about 46 minutes of video, or 4 hours with out the songs. Right now Mustek has a new model with built in memory and is by far a better design. Unfortunately its $400 which isn’t a good deal when you consider the capabilities of the PSP, Zen and many other portable media centers. But this will have to do for me because of my microscopic source of cash. I hope this information helped you decide what to do with your money.
Rating:
15 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Steve, Redditch
Date Posted: 31 January 2005
Review: I recently bought this model and am about to return it to the shop. The player is easy enough to use but has many flaws. The first two pieces of music I loaded on are still there despite 3x formats and deleting all content, it even shows a different track name whilst playing the original music! It doesn’t want to play more than six tracks and locks up if I try to access more. In fact, the device locks up more often than not and is a pain in the neck. The OS is awkward and could be better. If the bugs were fixed then I would recommend this but I cant just yet!
Rating:
19 people have rated this review helpful
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Compare prices
Mustek PVR-A1 (32 MB) Digital Media Player
(32 MB (Built-in Memory), 8 Songs, 3.84 oz., Audio Files: MP3, WAV, ASF. Video Files: MPEG-1. Display Size: 2.5 inch)
