January 26, 2005 - Like the Victrola and Zoot suits, MP3 players are so pass�. The new "must-have" in the realm of electronics are portable multimedia devices that let you carry around music, video and pictures all in one handy little box. Sure, PMDs have been around for a while, but we're finally starting to see high-quality products that the average consumer can pick up without taking out a second mortgage, and the newer models are sporting enough features to make any electronics geek drool.

At about 4.5 inches by 3 inches tall, MSI's MEGA View 561 is a portable multimedia powerhouse that not only lets you listen to music, watch videos and view digital pictures, but it also includes full audio and video recording options, FM radio playback and voice recording. Not only can you connect the MEGA View 561 up to your computer and transfer digital music, photos and videos, but you can also connect it directly to audio and video sources and record directly to the device. The 20GB hard drive means you can store literally thousands of songs on the device, and, depending on the file size, hundreds of videos.

The first thing about the MEGA View 561 was the size of the screen. The high-resolution 3.5 TFT LCD screen is actually quite large for a unit of this size, and the picture quality is also quite nice, sporting clear video and easy-to-read text. Video playback looks clean and crisp on the LCD screen, with black blacks and great color separation. As you would expect, the audio coming out of the small speaker isn't great, but the sound quality from the headphone jack is great, rivaling that of the iPod.

I did have a problem with some of my already compressed .avi, .mpg and .wmv files though, as they wouldn't play on the device. Although the documentation said these file types were supported, I'll chalk it up to the mass variance of any real compression codec standards. However, after converting them to DivX with the included trial version of Dr. DivX, they worked fine with the unit. Slightly more annoying was the fact that several .jpg images loaded onto the MEGA View 561 returned a "file type not supported" message, while other .jpgs worked just fine.

Recording with the Mega View 561 was as easy as recording on a VCR or digital video recorder. Where there's no lens to take pictures or video, you can hook up the device to most audio and video sources using the provided a/v cable and record digital video in MPEG4 format. However, the cable only has RCA connectors, so don't expect to get S-video or component quality direct recording. On an up note, the cable does work both ways, so in addition to recording off your TV or other device, you can also play any videos you have storied in the device, which is handy if you're on the road a lot and want to watch a movie fullscreen at your friend's house or in a hotel room.