Yes MMP-8 DVD Multimedia Player

Most portable DVD players I’ve come across have a very predictable laptop-style design, which may be bulky, but works pretty well as far as convenience is concerned. Recently, I reviewed the Mitashi portable DVD player that used a tablet PC design to flip and attach the screen to the player so it can be easily fitted to a car’s headrest (using it’s carry-pouch of course).

But the Yes MMP-8 seems like a design that probably will be the best blend of style and ease of use. It looks like a photo frame, but it’s a total multimedia player. Brilliant! Now let’s see what it can really do.

Build
It’s glossy front surface looks very classy with it’s minimalistic appearance. All the buttons are moved to the players sides, so all you see on the face of the player is the screen, and minor brandings along with the remote receiver and the indicator light. The clean glossy surface, as always is highly prone to fingerprints.

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All the player controls are located on the top of the MMP-8. Basic functions like play, pause, stop skip, etc. have individual buttons to themselves, along with a highly functional joystick to navigate the menus. The top also has the MMP-8’s stereo speakers for sound output in stand-alone mode.

The right side contains all the connectivity options, namely — audio/video out, audio in and SPDIF. It also has the player’s volume control, along with the headphone jack and the power button.

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Lastly, on the left you get the USB and memory card slots along with a few advance player options.

CDs and DVDs can be loaded in from the back of the player, right next to the battery attachment slot.

The MMP-8 comes packed with accessories, including a battery pack, a case that can be folded into a car headrest attachment and of course the remote control. All the necessary cables for charging and connectivity are included in the player, making it a complete package in itself.

Overall the player feels sturdy, but I wouldn’t go as far as bumping it around considering the nature of portable DVD players.

Features
Yes aims to provide the ‘One player to play them all’ with this one. Besides the obvious DVD and VCD playback, the MMP-8 also plays DivX movies, which tend to be the format of choice for portable players as you can pack in multiple movies on a single disc. You can also use it as an Audio/MP3 CD player, but I guess you wouldn’t use something this bulky as a portable music player.

As I mentioned before, the MMP-8 provides all the necessary connectivity options for hooking up with your TV, or audio system or even for jacking up to your car deck. In fact, with the headrest attachment and the car power adapter, it seems like in-car entertainment is the biggest focus of this player.

The player interface is simple and pretty much self-explanatory. It’s like the menu-based interface that you can find in any TV set or DVD player these days.

You can even use the MMP-8 as a photo frame, and it works pretty well as that too, but I really can’t imagine a lot of people using it for that purpose.

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Performance
One of the most important features one could want from any form of portable player is skip protection, especially when we’re talking about DVD players. Rest assured, MMP-8 has an excellent shock-protection in place. The movie playback is rock solid. I moved around, drove around, ran around with the player and not once did it skip or jump a scene. The funny thing is that the time it did skip was in the parts where the test disc was a bit scratched.

Screen visibility can easily be changed from the menu. The good thing is that the picture was visible under most lighting conditions, except under direct light, whcich got easily reflected off the glossy screen. You can easily use this screen for in-car entertainment at any time of the game.

The best use of the battery pack would be when you’re using the player as a standalone portable player, where it manages to juice up to a little less than 3 hours of playback. It’s not a lot by any means, as I would ideally expect to go through at least two films on a long journey, but this one may just power-up one or one and a half at its best. The good part is that the battery pack also doubles up as a stand, which really helps free up your hand when you have a table in front of you. It’s weird how a lot of manufacturers ignore this one essential feature.

I wouldn’t call the overall image clarity top notch, but it is pretty good for what you’re paying. Most casual users are most likely going to be content with the screen clarity, but once you’ve been spoiled by some of the PMP’s that we’ve seen in recent times, this seems a bit low-res.

Sound quality from the speakers, as expected was quite inadequate. If you’re in a relatively quiet environment, the in-built speakers would be audible enough, but that’s not the way to watch any movie. This baby needs headphones or a better sound system for the best effect.

One major issue I have with the Yes MMP-8 is that when I tried playing a DivX movie on it, it gave me tiny black bands on the top and bottom of the display, on every film. So no matter what aspect ratio movie I saw on it, it would look vertically squeezed. This, to me is a pretty major drawback. I didn’t notice this in any other video format.

Conclusion
Overall I would recommend this one as a pretty handy DVD player, to use when traveling or simply for in-car entertainment. The aspect ratio issue in DivX playback is what mars this from being perfect. Still, if it’s a portable DVD player you’re looking for, this one’s pretty good at its street price of Rs. 11,000.