The Big Picture on Small Screen Players

Ready for a pocket-size video player? Here's what you need to know before you take your shows on the road.

Portable Media Center: What Files Can I Play?

An advantage to Microsoft's Windows Mobile-based Portable Media Center operating system is that all Portable Media Centers must be able to play the following media file types:

Windows Media Video (.wmv) versions 7, 8, and 9 at 320 by 240 pixels, 30 frames per second (fps), and constant bit rate (CBR) up to 800 kilobits per second. (Note: Windows Media Video content at higher resolutions and bit rates will be transcoded by the Windows Media Player before transferring to Portable Media Center.)
Windows Media Digital Rights Management (DRM)
Windows Media Audio (.wma)
Windows Media Audio 9 Lossless
Windows Media Audio 9 Voice
JPEG image file (.jpg)
MP3 audio file (.mp3)

For Portable Media Centers to store as much video as possible, Windows Media Player 10 can transcode the following file types automatically to the Windows Media Video format--and then quickly and easily transfer the files to the device:

Movie files: (.mpeg, .mpg, .m1v, .mpa, .mov, mp2v, .mpe, .avi, .mpeg2)
Microsoft Recorded Television show files (.dvr-ms)
Windows Audio file (.wav)
Windows Media file (.asf)
Microsoft Photo Story files (.wmv)

Note: In some cases, Windows Media Player converts files to Windows Media Video and Windows Media Audio file formats to play on your device. Plus, compatibility of some file formats may depend on third-party software.