Venturer 40GB HDD MP3 Player £49.99

DGARRAGHTY

DBore wrote:

Dandare,
If you're still looking for the firmware update, you should try here:

http://www.arwservices.co.uk/

Looks like it's at V3.0.2

HIH

DB

Still looking at getting one myself, not sure, so many things to buy!

Bought mine just a week ago and it was still on 2.9.5 (?) dated last September! Would be nice to have the latest firmware on this kind of gear, especially when 3.0.2 has been available for over 3 months. Shows how old the stock is!

The biggest problem with the old version was that it sometimes wouldn't spin down the hard drive after it had filled the buffer. This happened mostly when you kept clicking next track a number of times. Eventually the buffer would run out (buffer appears to be about 8Mb - enough for a couple of tracks) and would then fail to refill because the hard drive was still spinning and in a 'lost' state since the last fill. At that point the track would just stop playing. Only way to sort it was to move to the next track then back again. However, a quick check of version 3.0.2 and this appears to have been sorted. I've just tried to get it confused by skipping quickly through lots of tracks, and it spun down the hard drive correctly every time. When you select a new folder/etc. to play from you will feel the hard drive start to spin (unit vibrates a little) and after around 8/9 seconds you will feel a little 'kick' as the heads park and the hard drive spins down.

Supernova

mcek wrote:

headphone socket, just plug in stereo connector or headphones.
no line in, just a built in mic.
wav files recorded should be standard, and can be read by a pc.

I have heard that the headphone socket doubles as a line in.

However, the WAV files it records cannot be played back anywhere else. Shame if that's true.

DGARRAGHTY

Mus wrote:

I have heard that the headphone socket doubles as a line in.

However, the WAV files it records cannot be played back anywhere else. Shame if that's true.

Just tried a recording. Creates the files in a folder called 'Record'. I was able to copy the .wav file back to the PC, but on trying to open it just got a 'missing Codec' error. Seems to be recording it in some non-standard format. According to the manual, the headphone socket does indeed double as a line-in.

Supernova

OK, thanks.

Shame. Still, the prospect of a 100Gb MP3 player for £150 is quite tempting. Does it have some kind of case that you can clip to your belt or shorts?

catalina66

DGARRAGHTY wrote:

Just tried a recording. Creates the files in a folder called 'Record'. I was able to copy the .wav file back to the PC, but on trying to open it just got a 'missing Codec' error. Seems to be recording it in some non-standard format. According to the manual, the headphone socket does indeed double as a line-in.

Hi, just found this response from Venturer:

"I am sorry but what you have found is correct. The codec is proprietary to the chip manufacturer and they will not release it as they say that recorded conversations should not be transferable as a security measure as this is used on other products which rely on the files being secure. The wav format is used only as a wrap around for the file but the internal file structure is different to Windows wav files."

Have forgotten exactly which site I saw it on, but this link probably contains the link I followed! http://www.dvd.reviewer.co.uk/forums/thread.asp?Forum=223&Thread=571049&Type=1

Cat

catalina66

PS Am I right in understanding that the pause/resume works when the player's on, but then e.g. place in audio book would be lost if turn it off?

DGARRAGHTY

Mus wrote:

OK, thanks.

Shame. Still, the prospect of a 100Gb MP3 player for £150 is quite tempting. Does it have some kind of case that you can clip to your belt or shorts?

No case at all. Fits OK into your pocket (just!) but is quite heavy.

DGARRAGHTY

catalina66 wrote:

Hi, just found this response from Venturer:

"I am sorry but what you have found is correct. The codec is proprietary to the chip manufacturer and they will not release it as they say that recorded conversations should not be transferable as a security measure as this is used on other products which rely on the files being secure. The wav format is used only as a wrap around for the file but the internal file structure is different to Windows wav files."

Have forgotten exactly which site I saw it on, but this link probably contains the link I followed! http://www.dvd.reviewer.co.uk/forums/thread.asp?Forum=223&Thread=571049&Type=1

Cat

What they're really saying here is 'we're too cheap to pay for a license to use the standard wav file codec'. Their excuse is laughable. All my flash mp3 players record to standard wav files.

DGARRAGHTY

catalina66 wrote:

PS Am I right in understanding that the pause/resume works when the player's on, but then e.g. place in audio book would be lost if turn it off?

This appears to be true. There is a 'resume' but this seems to play the last track you were listening to from the start again.

catalina66

DGARRAGHTY wrote:

This appears to be true. There is a 'resume' but this seems to play the last track you were listening to from the start again.

Thanks, good to know, especially with it being 40gb (loads of language learning mp3's I want to put on it, but being able to start at the last track would be fine).