UMPC Alternative for Under $400

Nextar's portable media player does everything the $999 competitors can

Nextar product-line features car stereos, mobile DVD players, MP3 players and GPS devices. I4U is reporting on the company's newest product, the Macvision (ahem, now Nextar) MC3007 portable media player, which boasts combinations of most of those devices in a 8" x 4.75" x 1.3" design.

The MC3007 allows you to play audio files which include WMA and MP3 formats, and also videos of the AVI, ASF, and MPEG4 format. The device also allows viewing JPEG, BMP, and GIF digital images which can be stored on the device's built-in 40GB hard disk drive along with audio and video files.

Additionally, the MC3007 allows recording of up to 160 hours of video from TV, DVD, cable, or satellite sources which are not copyright protected. There is no word yet on whether a larger capacity option is available or if the stock hard drive can be upgraded, but 40GB of hard drive space is more than enough to store a few hours of video captured in the MPEG4 format. The device also has an integrated microphone for voice recording along with audio/video inputs and outputs. Connection to a PC for data transfers can be made by the USB 2.0 interface and also through SD cards.

The MC3007 has a 7" 16:9 widescreen TFT LCD which is large enough to see a clear picture and it also gives the option to output video to a TV for larger audiences. The MC3007 is the successor to the MC1007 which featured a 20GB hard drive in a slightly smaller overall package.

Though the features may be standard compared to other portable media players the MC3007 stands out because of its price. The device can be purchased now at online retailers for as little as $389 at Buy.com.

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