MP4 player

Archos Jukebox Multimedia, the first commercial portable media player, was also the first to be coined as an MP4 player.^[1][2]

The name MP4 player is a marketing term for portable media players that comply with certain standards and formats.^[3] The name itself is a misnomer, since most MP4 players are incompatible with the MPEG-4 Part 14 or the .mp4 container format. Instead, the term symbolizes their status as successors of MP3 players.^[4] In this sense, in some markets like Brazil, any new function added to a given media player is followed by an increase in the number,^[5] despite there being no corresponding MPEG-5 standard (as of 2010^[update], the current standard, still being developed, is MPEG-4).

General features

These players can play video in a multitude of video formats without the need to preconvert them or downsize them prior to playing them. Some MP4 Players possess USB ports in order for the users to connect it to a PC. Some have memory cards to expand the memory of the player instead of storing files in the built-in memory.

Technical information

Some MP4 players include a FM transmitter.^{[citation needed]}

Anyka

Anyka is a chip that's used by many MP4 Players. It supports the same formats as Rockchip.

Rockchip

Fuzhou Rockchip Electronics's video processing Rockchip has been incorporated into many MP4 players, supporting AVI with no B frames in MPEG-4 Part 2 (not Part 14), while MP2 audio compression is used.^[6] The clip must be padded out, if necessary, to fit the resolution of the display. Any slight deviation from the supported format results in a Format Not Supported error message.

Other chipsets

Some players, like the Onda VX979+, have started to use chipsets from Ingenic, which are capable of supporting RealNetworks's video formats.^[7] Also, players with SigmaTel-based technology are compatible with SMV (SigmaTel Video).

AMV

Another MP4 player from Newsmy, a major PMP manufacturer in China

Main article: AMV video format

The image compression algorithm of this format^[8] is inefficient by modern standards (about 4 pixels per byte, compared with over 10 pixels per byte for MPEG-2 / DVD video). There are a fixed range of resolutions (96 × 96 to 208 × 176 pixels) and frame-rates (12 or 16 frame/s) available. A 30-minute video would have a filesize of approximately 100 MB at a 160 × 120 resolution.^[9]

MTV

The MTV video format (no relation to the cable network) consists of a 512-byte file header that operates by displaying a series of raw image frames during MP3 playback.^[9] During this process, audio frames are passed to the chipset's decoder, while the memory pointer of the display's hardware is adjusted to the next image within the video stream. This method does not require additional hardware for decoding, though it will lead to a higher amount of memory consumption. For that reason, the storage capacity of an MP4 player is effectively less than that of a player that decompresses files on the fly.

See also

• Memory card
• Personal video recorder
• Radio receiver
• S1 MP3 player

Notes and references

1. ^ ""MP4教父" 爱可视全球总裁访华力拓中国市场". NetEase. http://tech.163.com/05/0603/14/1LB2B7TO000915BD.html. 
2. ^ "爱可视VS苹果：从MP3到MP4". 致信网. http://www.mie168.com/marketing/2007-06/209707.htm. 
3. ^ "MP3≠MP4！区别和认识MP3与MP4的不同！". Beareyes. http://bj.beareyes.com.cn/2/lib/200510/26/20051026011.htm. 
4. ^ "走出MP4误区：跟视频沾一边的播放器就是MP4". 西北IT网. http://www.cps365.com/news/200608/06/0712_0000021657.shtml. 
5. ^ http://lista.mercadolivre.com.br/mp12 retrieved Nov. 22 2009.
6. ^ "Leading Chinese MP4 IC Design Houses' R&D and Product Strategies Research Report # MIC1324". Electronics.ca Publications. http://www.electronics.ca/reports/multimedia/mic_mp4chips_design.html. 
7. ^ "Teclast announces the M series". haomp. 2007-11-28. http://www.haomp.com/page/2/. Retrieved 2008-03-18. 
8. ^ Israelsen, Paul D. (1993-09-21). "United States Patent 5247357". http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5247357.html. Retrieved 2007-12-07. 
9. ^ ^{a b} voroshil (2007-10-15). "AmvDocumentation". Google Code. http://code.google.com/p/amv-codec-tools/wiki/AmvDocumentation. Retrieved 2008-04-06. 

External links

• MPEG-4 Software at the Open Directory Project
• MyMPx.org is aimed at providing owners of unbranded or ’not so well known’ branded MP3/MP4 players with more information on their players and resources to help make them get the most out of their MP3/MP4 players.