Chinese MP4 players is a term used to describe a specific group of digital audio players or portable media players manufactured in China. These players are capable of digital media playback. In Chinese, MP4 is taken to mean MPEG-4 in general, though it is usually taken to mean MPEG-4 Part 14. But many of the various players cant play MPEG-4 format videos and are limited to proprietary file formats such as AMV, and DMV. another reason is because these formats also dont take a lot of file memory. This is good at one reason and that is because many chinese mp4 players doesnt have a lot of file memory. Chinese mp4 players usually have about 1-4 gig memory.
Common features
Most players include a viewer for image files, such as JPG and BMP. They also play MP3 and WMA files. Conversion software is usually included on a disc. Videos are usually played in the AMV or MTV format, converted from other common formats using the conversion software. Most players also normally include an ASCII text viewer, so that e-books can be read. The format for reading files are TXT Some units include a phone book application, a voice recorder, and an FM radio, making it possible to record FM broadcasts. Finally, some units include video games in the firmware.
Hardware
Chipsets
S1 MP3
S1 MP3 players are digital audio player based on Actions chipsets. They are sold under dozens of different other brand names and in a variety of case designs. the bad thing about these action solution chipsets are that they cant get update their firmwire. many mp4 players have this chipsets because is very cheap. Action Solution chipsets occur often in ipod clones and and of other clones of famous players.
Rockchip
Fuzhou Rockchip Electronics's video processing system-on-a-chip 'Rockchip' has been incorporated into many MP3 and MP4 players coming from China starting in 2006.
Rockchip chips enables you to play movies in a better format and quality.
Rockship is good in that way that you can listen to music while reading texfiles on your mp4 player
Ingenic
Some players, like the Onda VX979+, have started to use Ingenic's JZ47xx chipset. An interesting differentiation of these chipsets from others available is the support for RealNetwork's .RM and .RMVB video formats. Ingenic chips i have heard is the best chip you can have. Ingenic chip also occur in ipods.
Design
These players come in many forms, some are very small with 1.2 inch screens and very light in weight. Others are larger and are more robust with 1.5 to 2 inch screens with built-in speakers and two earphone sockets instead of one. Most players also feature an OLED display which produces brighter colored images than normal LCD displays, although the image quality generally suffers because of this.
Navigation controls
In general, it is simple to operate the players; a small amount of buttons can perform multiple actions, like play, stop, enter and etc. Some players have additional buttons, while others provide the simpler 'star' configuration adjacent to the screen, with a single selection button or joystick in the center of the star.
Memory
Players are currently advertised with capacities of up to 8GB flash memory based and up to 100GB hard drive based.
Some of the more recent Chinese MP4 players support third-party expansion flash memory cards, for example, SD/MiniSD/MicroSD, to extend the capacity of the MP4 players.
Connection
These players mostly have USB 1.1 or USB 2.0 support, but FireWire support is rare. Older models only support USB 1.1, while most newer models are able to utilize the capabilities of an USB 2.0 port. Of the players that have USB support, a proprietary cable is usually used for the connection.
Supplied Accessories
Earphones are included with the players, but are usually low quality. A proprietary USB cable with a disc with the appropriate drivers are supplied. Depending on the model, the package for the players may also include a charger. Some players may also be supplied with a special carrying case.
Controversies
iPod Clones
Many of these Chinese manufactured media players have their physical/software design modeled after Apple's line of iPod media players. but they often built on cheap and bad components
Battery
The battery can last for several hours, although this amount greatly varies depending on the model of the player and what the player is being used for. For example, the device could be used to play video files which would drain the battery more quickly than playing audio files. Many new players such as the Glacier or commercialized under different names on Ebay now have Lithium-ion batteries that can last up to 12 hours while older players may have a maximum use of 6 hours. In addition to improved battery life, some of the mp4 players now use a cell phone battery which makes it easy to replace the battery should it fail, although most available players do not have replaceable batteries. The replaceable batteries are all cheap short life generics, and are subject to swelling (sometimes double in size) and can be dangerous. In some cases the battery cover will not close. A true Nokia battery (with the Nokia special identification) will cost more than half the cost of buying the mp4 player.
Firmware updates
Many of the players are sold with a standard user manual, in which the section entitled "Firmware Updates" says: "go to the website for firmware updates," often with no website given. In manuals where a website is given, it may not have the correct updates for a particular player. An incorrect firmware update is difficult or even impossible to undo, and will likely involve dismantling the device and shorting two wires to put the machine into "recovery mode." It is generally considered a bad idea to attempt a firmware upgrade as the benefit is likely negligible and one risks ruining the player if the firmware is not properly installed.
Instruction manuals
The manuals that come with these players are usually considered to be incorrect and are generally difficult for users to comprehend due to its poor translation.Manuals may also refer to features that the particular player model may not possess. And due to the nature of the product, there is usually no contact or website information.
Memory
When a player's memory capacity is advertised it may actually be of a lower capacity because the firmware has been modified to display capacity in bits rather than bytes; it takes eight bits to equal one byte, a difference by a factor of eight. Therefore, the modified firmware fools operating systems into displaying more memory than what is actually in the player and when the amount of data exceeds the real capacity, the flash chip on the player becomes corrupted. There are tools available to the public that will give the opportunity to reformat a corrupted player.
Similar to the above problem, retailers also commonly advertise capacities in gigabits (as opposed to gigabytes.) Deceptive descriptions like this are common on sites such as eBay. Recently, more legitimate MP4 players have been manufactured with the actual amount of memory, but care should still be taken when purchasing a player.
