Group test: Video MP3 players

Modern MP3 players are orienting themselves more and more towards video playback with each release, offering features and performance that make it genuinely appealing to watch such content on the move. Most offer some pretty impressive and fairly large displays to make browsing and viewing far easier, but actually getting content on-board is one of the biggest problems most users encounter. In comparison to audio and photos, which usually work straight away after simple drag and drop, multimedia players are notoriously fickle when it comes to video standards. We took a look at four recent players that have made a name for themselves through their video-oriented designs to see how they fare both as all-round players and specifically for video playback. Overview Price comparison: Cowon D2 More info: AdvancedMP3players Size (WxHxD): 78x54x17mm Weight: 91g Capacity: 4Gb Screen display/resolution: 2.5in (240x320) touchscreen File support: MP3, OGG, WMA, FLAC, WAV, APE, MPEG4, JPG, Max battery life (audio/video): 52 hours/10 hours Cowon D2 Cowon's D2 offers an FM Radio, photo and text viewer and voice recorder as well as video and audio playback. The most distinctive feature here is undoubtedly the touch-screen controls, something we've seen gathering momentum in portable players recently but we're still a little cynical about how effective they actually are. If you have a stylus, or something you can use as a stylus to hand, it's fairly easy to navigate around. Many of the on-screen controls are extremely small though, in some cases it's almost impossible to hit the right buttons using a finger or nail. The D2 was also the most successful in terms of getting content onto the device, but even though some formats, notably .avi and .rmvb were recognized, they wouldn't play after copying via drag and drop. In contrast, using the supplied software was actually quite a painless experience, it only took just over ten minutes to encode and copy 250MB of data, by far the fastest on test. The display quality is also extremely impressive; the large 2.5in screen is great for watching video content with a surprisingly wide viewing angle, vibrant colours and crisp lines. You'll also find an SD-card slot for upping the capacity, which considering the size of video files is a very handy addition. Cowon's player performs well but you're paying a bit extra for a rather ineffective touch-screen display. Regardless, the range of features here makes it a pretty versatile offering. Verdict Plus points Large, impressive quality display, fast file transfers, decent range of features, impressive battery life Minus points Touch-screen operation is very awkward, interface could be better

Overview Price comparison: IRiver Clix 2 8GB More info: iRiver Size (WxHxD): 80x47x13mm Weight: 54g Capacity: 4Gb Screen display/resolution: 2.2in (240x320) File support: MP3, WMA, OGG, MPEG4, JPG Max battery life (video/audio): 24 hours/5 hours iRiver Clix2 iRiver's Clix2 is part of an impressive line-up so far this year that focuses unashamedly at video content as well as traditional audio support. The Clix range uses some innovative controls around the display that involve depressing one of the four sides to navigate and view content. There are a few additional buttons mounted around the outside of the casing but in general we found this to be an extremely effective way to navigate. It's feature packed too, with an FM radio, alarm, text viewer, voice recorder and a range of games in addition to audio, photos and music. There's also a ton of options for customizing the interface or changing the theme with a number of very stylish effects. Display quality is excellent, the best on test, and surprisingly we were also bowled over by the quality of the audio, on a par with the high standards set by Sony. Of course it would be too much to ask for this near-perfect performance not to be marred by one or two minor issues, and unfortunately these centre around getting video content on-board. You can drag and drop audio and photos easily enough but video is a bit of a nightmare, something that's not helped by the painfully slow and rather glitchy iRiver Plus 3 software supplied. However, in this instance we're so impressed by the rest of the package we feel it's worth the wait and consider this player to be one of the most desirable we've seen.

Verdict Plus points Effective design and controls, excellent audio and video quality, massive range of features Minus points The worst performing in terms of getting video content across on test

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