OTHER TECH

X2 Smart styling and an intuitive interface

MEGA VIEW 566

DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 4.625 x 3 x 1 inch WEIGHT 8.625 ounces PRICE $449 MANUFACTURER X2, x2usa.com, 626-810-9995

Plus

•Easy-to-use menus and control interface. •Convenient flash-memory card slot.

Minus

•Lackluster picture quality •Comes with mediocre earbuds

Key Features

•31/2-inch (diagonal), 320 x 240-pixel LCD screen •20-GB hard drive (40-GB also available) •built-in FM tuner •SD flash-memory card slot •spare battery •remote control •video formats records MPEG-4 (ASF); plays MPEG-4 SP (ASF), DivX, motion JPEG, WMV9 SP (ML) •audio formats records MP3; plays MP3, WMA, WAV •digital image formats JPEG, GIF, BMP, TIFF •tested battery life (playback only) video, 3.5 hours; audio, 8.5 hours

The Mega View 566 from X2 sports a 20-gigabyte (GB) hard drive as well as an SD flash-memory slot and a built-in FM tuner that uses the earbud cable as an antenna. It's a slick-looking player, with a textured black and silver plastic case. A hand grip on the right side makes it easy to hold onto and also houses the battery. The LCD screen measures about 2.875 x 2 inches (or 3.5 inches diagonal) for a decent quasi-wide­screen picture.

IMPORTING AND MANAGING FILES My PC recognized the Mega View when I connected it via USB. As with the other players here, moving audio, video, and other files was simply a drag-and-drop operation, and I was able to quickly create a couple of files on the PC and move them to the player. Navigating through files stored on the player was also easy, and I appreciated being able to cut, copy, and paste between music and video files on the player's hard drive. Another nice feature is the ability to display thumbnails of nine of your digital pictures in three rows of three. The supplied CD-ROM provides no PC software beyond a Windows 98 driver and a recovery program, though there's a separate disc with a trial copy of Dr. DivX, which you can use to create videos in that format.

USABILITY The Mega View 566 has a great, easy-to-use menu system. Its interface is very intuitive, with a tiny joystick to move you through the menus, and I never got lost or confused while exploring options or selecting videos or music. I particularly liked the spring-loaded thumbwheel used to change volume. Of course, in the kind of irony I've come to expect from today's consumer electronics, this player that's so intuitive to use without instructions also comes with one of the best owner's manuals.

Having an SD card slot was a big plus for moving images and songs to the player - sometimes it's just easier to pop in a card than hook up a USB cable. On the other hand, I was slightly annoyed that the Mega View's A/V cable uses a nonstandard connector at the player end. If you misplace it, I imagine you'll have to jump through some hoops to land a new one. So don't lose it.

VIDEO PERFORMANCE The LCD screen is large, but unfortunately the picture quality was below average. Color was reasonably good and resolution decent, but some images looked a little grainy. Along the same lines, the resolution of menu graphics was lackluster. On some videos, I had trouble getting good contrast - it seemed like bright areas were always washed out, or the dark areas were too dark. On the upside, motion looked smooth, and I liked its wide screen.

MUSIC PERFORMANCE Sound quality through the supplied earbuds was passable, but quality was constrained by the buds themselves - clarity improved noticeably when I switched to a better pair. The player sports a tiny, rear-firing speaker, but its tinny sound is pretty dismal. When I cranked up the volume, the speaker sounded as garbled as the PA system on an old subway train - very sloppy engineering, especially considering the $450 price. Unfortunately, FM reception using the built-in tuner was horrible. It managed to pull in only a few stations, and their sound quality was poor.

BOTTOM LINE The X2 Mega View 566 stands out for its smart styling and ease of use. Its 20-gigabyte drive, SD flash-memory card slot, and wide screen also get thumbs up. But its picture quality is a notable weakness - which will be a problem if you want to use the player primarily for video.