Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

before i post my review, i want to say that i spent alot of time going over various mp3 players with video, looking for something that was around $50 or less, but with a decent screen size that your eyes wouldn't fall out from staring constantly at. with this product, the Sylvania 4 GB 3.6-Inch Touch Screen, for the price, screen size, extra memory slot, its more than a deal, its a steal, comparing to all the other players at this price, and its a brand name most of us know. the video aspect was my main reason for purchasing this player, most reviews haven't really covered what it really can do, hopefully i will be able to share some insight, i will list below what i was able to achieve. - this player can play avi/wmv video @ any bitrate, and i mean any bitrate, weather its 1000 or 5,000, the decoder on this player streams it perfect, no stuttering, no lost of sync issues ive found. - the aspect ratio : i had to do a lot of research on this player, since its not listed on the actual video size it can play, at 3'6 inches i assume the playback would be 320x240 (which it does play this just fine with no pixel loss) but i was able to encode bluray video source to 400x240 @ 2000kbps and it was beautiful, sharp, and in sync. - was able to have it play both avi & wmv in both those aspect/ratios just fine in the player, ive read on some players aspect ratio is really sticky because if its too big or too small, it just wont play, and people usually spend hours trying to figure out what's the right size. you can actually throw in 720x480 video (which i did test) there was some slow playback, so i wouldn't suggest it, i would probably keep the video at 400x240 just for the sake of having clear crisp quality. i know this isn't an apple product, or even an Archos, but its pretty impressive, video playback is always a big issue with people for those who want something decent, and not worrying if it will play the right format, sure it would be nice if this could decode .mp4, but im happy with the avi/wmv format. the encoders i tested are : AVS-Video-Converter Xilisoft Video Converter Ultra video joiner - the package did not come with a disc, or any software to encode video, which is fine, because usually those encoders are really bad, and they dont let you tweak or set bitrates/frames/cropping to your liking, and if you cannot afford a decent video encoder, there's alot of open source ones found at video help. i hope this review helps those who are on the fence about this player, as for the music, i had no issues, playback, volume was fine, but the video was my main reason for purchasing this product, and for the price, screen size. you cannot find a better player on the market.