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I just saw this over at Lightinthebox.com while searching for an MP3 player a guy in a electronics store was trying to give me the hard sell on, and found it there along with a bunch of other stuff. I've always been an old school gamer (mostly RPGs, but whatever) and would love to be able to get a device that I could use as an all in one to play videos, music and games on. I was wild about the GamePark32, (if anyone remembers that) but was waiting to see if they could improve the battery life.... Does anyone know if these guys are legit, or where I could find some more information on these types of devices?

LOL get a PSP...I know... I know, but I'm looking for something that I know was already intended to do games and emulation. Also, I'm one of those who made the decision to not buy anything from SONY ever since they pulled the whole rootkit thing a few years back and given that you need to hack the firmware and buy special memory stick cards for game storage... Not interested. Besides, I've already been through an HP 'iPaq' 1915, a Dell Axim x5, and a Zire 72s...while you could sort've get emulated games to run on these they were never as good as they were on my old P133 junker first computer let alone the ones I use today.

LOL get an ASUS Eee... I'd like to--if only they'd come down in price on one that has an Atom processor and some decent battery life! As it is, it looks like we've all been suckered over the SSD helping with battery life thing and with the cheapest ones (a pink Surf 2g) still only getting 2 hours of battery life, it's a no go.

The laptop I have is a no go, being that it's a Dell Inspiron 5100 on its last legs that never got more than two hours battery even brand new with brightness on its lowest setting. Besides with how hot that thing gets I'd have burned a whole through to the seat by the time we got there.

You see I have an eight hour car trip coming up with my parents and sister to go see my brother who lives several states away. I NEED something that will allow me to occupy my mind and unfortunately the battery life on my Zire 72s has taken a huge dive in the last year or so and the Axim x5 keeps freezing up at odd moments. (The iPaq 1915 died a long time ago.) I'm hoping to get something for under a hundred that will keep me occupied during the trip.

So....any one have any ideas?

--bornagainpenguin

PS: If any of the mods thinks this is more of a support thread than a game thread, please feel free to move it where apropriate!

PPS: Links are as follows...

http://www.lightinthebox.com/2-4-in...r-with-Mini-SD-Card-Reader--M4107_p22391.html

http://www.lightinthebox.com/4GB-2-...el--SD-MMC-Card---Black--CAVS014-_p20152.html

http://www.lightinthebox.com/4GB-2-8-inch-MP4--MP3-Player-M4022_p20357.html

Just saw this one: http://www.lightinthebox.com/4G-3-0...e-Pad---Talking-E-Book--YP10-002-_p20159.html

 

If no PSP, get a DS and a R4. R4 can emulate old Nintendo games from N64 back.

 

I'd be suprised if that was legal to sell in the US due to the emulation stuff, or has Nintendo released it's NES and GB stuff to public use now?

Edit: Oh it's Chinese. Yeah they dont care who they rip off nm

 

I was looking at the Nintendo DS, but some of my objections to the PSP also apply to a DS... Basically the issue is over how well it will run emulation given it was not intended to do so? What is the battery life like on a DS if you emulate?

Yep it's China, so they don't care.

Yeah, but that's the thing--I don't have any memory sticks, nor do I wish to buy any. I do have a couple of SD cards lying around. Eventually I'll probably have to start buying miro-SD cards or SDHC if I ever plan to get a netbook like the ASUS Eee, but those are all compatible with multiple devices. Memory sticks are only for...SONY products and I really don't intend to buy anything else if I get a PSP, so that's alot of money for nothing. Plus I'll need to get a memorystick reader, etc, etc...

Thanks anyway...

--bornagainpenguin

 

<_< I still need to find someone with a Hacked PSP to downgrade and hack mine. D:

 

The DS doesn't emulate by itself. You buy something called an R4DS that does all the emulating for you. With an R4, the battery life lasts around ten hours on the lowest light setting. The R4 can also handle emulators for the N64 and back.

 

BAP, considering your interests I'm wondering if you haven't heard of the GP2X and the touch screen equivalent, the GP2X F200.

There are quite a few Youtube videos of people playing around with the things iirc.

 

much lulz...

Yeah, plus like I already said I'm trying to boycott them as much as possible over the whole root kit fiasco.

Hmmm...Lightinthebox.com also has those in a bundle for about $300...

Ten hours you say? How is the Nintendo DS on eBooks? Or would I have to pick up a copy of the Opera browser to get any joy there? Honestly $300 is more than I want to spend at the moment, but if this really gets ten hours and can do eBooks I might add it to the top of my list for near future purchases...

Are they even still around? I've been in serious lust with one of these for a long time now, and then just as I managed to piece together the cash to get one I read an announcement on how the company went under and they were no longer available.

Those do indeed fit my specifications of the kind of device I'm looking for, except the way they eat batteries like candy... Eight hour car trip you know? Even only working for five hours like one of the players I linked above does only barely makes it but I figured I'd just use my Palm Zire 72s for three hours and then switch...

--bornagainpenguin

PS: No one has answered this yet so I'll post the question again--has anyone ever bought from Lightinthebox.com before, or knows of a more trustworthy Chinese importer? Please post so I don't end up a 419 scam or P-P-P-Ppowerbook victium....

 

I've never really bought anything off the interwebz... I'm paranoid that way.
If nothing else use paypal... I know enough to say that thats pretty idiot proof

As to which one you should get...
I say none of the above... They all look like semi rips of the PSP anyway.

I Like the thing, and you don't have to go and break the bank on a super high-duty memory card if you don't want to. There are more than a few varieties, though buying one big one isn't such a bad idea.


What so bad about Sony, I mean its not like there Apple... but if your utterly set against it, have you considered upgrading to the newer iPAQs

They stopped making newer editions, now focusing on the smartphones and gps, but I think HP is still selling its last pda version.

I was thinking about getting it myself.

Edit:

HP iPAQ 211 enterprise edition is a Sexy beast

A bit more expensive but a good investmant for the future
I don't know how many times my Ipaq saved my ass, I'd consider it.

I got myself a ipaq rx 3000 series model. Bought it close to 5 years ago I think, and its served me well since I've definetley put it through its paces, both in mods, drops, dings, and sheer abuse. It still serves me as well as it did the day I bough it.

Plus the Nevo home control feature is a hoot when your over at someone else's house and you highjack their entertainment system.

I haven't needed to buy a new remote control in years, even after my old ones crapped out on me.
I just program my iPAQ and bam, radio, tv, home theater, I even got my space heater set up to it.

 

I had no idea about this myself. It sounds pretty neat.

Yeah, they are still around.

Gamepark made the original GP32. A number of their engineers split off and formed a new company, Gamepark Holdings. Both companies produced competing products.

Gampark went broke just before they were due to introduce a new handheld. Gamepark Holdings on the other hand have released the GP2X and several variants such as the F200.

Of course, that's all irrelevant now, because there's no way I'd buy a GP2X. Not with this sweet baby on the horizon. Check out the specs on the Pandora, due out in September. If it's a bomb, then I'd go back and buy the GP2X, but there's a good chance that it'll be the best li'l handheld emulator ever.

I'd be using high capacity NiMHs with an in-car battery charger. If you don't already have such a battery charger, you'd have to add it to the price, though I'm pretty sure you could pick up the batteries pretty cheaply through a Hong Kong supplier.

The Pandora is apparently going to use a Li-Ion battery instead.

Oh yea of short memory. Don't you remember when Sony secretly hacked our computers with rootkits installed on music CDs? As soon as you played the CD, it was installed. They told no one and it was impossible for just about anyone to remove without nuking their system.

The illegal rootkit was not only the worst kind of DRM, but it also phoned home to Sony to tell them what you'd been up to. It opened up security holes in the computers it was installed on allowing them to be infected by wild malware. The first uninstaller that Sony was brow beaten into releasing not only didn't remove the rootkit, but it also added more software that couldn't be uninstalled.

It was all to protect Sony's copyrights, but it turned out that the rootkit they were using was itself breaking copyrights by stealing code from open source music projects.

Sony got sued in multiple jurisdictions. They were complete cunts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Sony_BMG_CD_copy_protection_scandal
http://www.boingboing.net/2005/11/14/sony-anticustomer-te.html

 

Well that is douche-bagery at its finest...

They're still not apple.

I have a deep seated hate for that company, that goes well beyond Sony screwing us over.

Are you saying you wouldn't buy a bluray or don't already own one...

Sony's too widespread not to have to purchase some of their products.
They got some quality shit, it can't be denied.

 

Apple can be cunts, and the cult of apple are goddam sheep. I wouldn't let that stop me from recommending one to a computer illiterate person though. Apparently they're quite good in that niche.

I'm far too selfish to let something like that get in the way of me buying what I want. If I want to buy a PS3, then I'll buy one. I'm not going to completely boycott them, but I'll never forget what corporations are capable of with their insular insanity.

Now that I think about it, I don't actually own any Sony hardware. Sony used to have a reputation for producing high quality mid-range gear, but the reality of that has faded over the past decade imho and what remains is memories, myth and marketing.

Ah, I lied. I inherited a Sony WEGA TV. The last of the great consumer CRT designs.

You're a technically astute guy, so I figured you would have googled lightinthebox.com. About the fifth link down is this:

Has Anyone Used www.lightinthebox.com - The Wholesale Forums

Buyer Beware. They sell plenty of knock-off gear like fake ipods, non-existant memory cards, etc, and when something breaks they'll ignore you.

To find a reliable Chinese company that sells genuine products you could trawl through Alibaba, or you could do what the rest of the western world has been doing for years: eBay. eBay reputations are as good an indicator of reliability and honesty as you're likely to find.

Buy the product from a store on eBay. There are plenty of Hong Kong sellers there, and with a decent recorded history of transactions at least you know that they've held themselves to a minimum standard. You also have some limited recourse through eBay if a large purchase ends up being a brick in a box.

 

Ten hours is with a full battery at the minimum light settings. The R4 says you can read eBooks, but I haven't had a need to use it yet. The method to set it up is easy though. You plug a microSD into your computer, drag the eBook onto the microSD, then put it back into the R4. That's all you have to do. Also the DS will only cost you $150 w/o tax and the R4 is $40 w/o shipping and handling fees. To actually use the R4, you'll have to go out and buy a microSD.

R4 site

Here's a review for the R4

 

35 minutes out of 5 hours? The battery life cost of the R4DS is less than I would have expected. That's good news. If the 10 hour claim is true for a low-light DS then you'll hopefully get 8.5 or more hours with an R4 plugged in.

If you get the R4 then you should be absolutely 100% certain that it's genuine. There are many knock offs out there and R4 have deliberately made their new firmware (to be released in September) brick not only all fake R4's but also apparently the DS they're being used on. There's going to be a lot of tears from people with dead DSes who thought their R4 was genuine.

I say fuck R4. They're only one clone out of several identical products.

Read more about the R4, YDC, M3DS and how to spot their dodgy knockoffs here.

 

It does look that way, but I'm trying to avoid getting another PDA... I've already had three (four if you count the Sharp Wizard 770 I had before all the others I listed) and have learned as nice as they can be they never seem to live up to their hype.

The only ones I've successfully played games on was the iPaq 1915 (but it was limited to NES, SEGA Genesis--what few emulators existed at that time--and gameboy, SNES and higher simply wouldn't run very well) and the Palm Zire 72s (mostly Sega Game Gear games converted to run from the old Sonic Games) and in both cases the buttons never work very well...

I'm really hoping whatever I end up doing will have been made with the intention of playing games instead of me having to try to retcon things later...

Ahh...I see I only got half the story then...

Well, that definitely goes on the list then! Unfortunately that will be too late for me to get any use out of for this trip, which is in the beginning of August.

Why bother buying a bluray player when it's looking pretty clear people are sticking with DVDs over it, just like they stuck with CDs over Mini-Disc and Digital Audio Tape? Besides as far as I'm concerned the future will be in video files and streaming. I just put together a box (just leftover parts and stuff but whatever) for my parents to use with the XBMC so they can watch all their video files..

I've already filled up the 80GB hard drive with Episodes of Hogan's Heroes and Smallville for them as well as a few movies and stuff. Why should they (or I) hop aboard the DRM train when everyone else is running the other way? DivX; ) and Matroska for teh win!

Ummm...

I actually own no SONY products nowadays. Haven't since my PSX went belly up and I never bothered to replace it. The various PSX emus work good enough as far as I'm concerned and SONY hasn't got anything else I'd want.

I did see that, but most of the ones complaining seemed to be idiots as far as I could tell. I mean really, does anyone think they're getting an actual Apple iPod for these kinds of prices? This is like buying a Rolex off the guy with the coat full of them in the City Park and getting mad cuz they're not genuine...

The bit that DOES bother me is the whole thing about people getting non-functional hardware and being unable to return it.

I never did get in on the whole eBay craze when it started (despite being interested at times) and these days I tend to avoid it due to all the scams and the fact eBay insists on Paypal--which they simulteously own and disclaim responsibility for...

Meh...if that weren't bad enough, go ask some of the SA goons what they think about Paypal and see what they say. Or just read about it here. In any case, I'd be more lost than I am already if I were to try using eBay, at least with a company it's a bit easier to find out about them...

Seems the only retailer for R4 is fundepots.com Has anyone bought from them before either?

--bornagainpenguin

PS: A friend who knows I'm looking sent me this link from geeks.com... It only does Gameboy and NES but it's still enough to make me go HMMM....

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Not quite. eBay might require all sellers to make Paypal available as a for of payment, but it is rarely the only payment method available. You can usually pay via electronic transfer or a money order.

I've been using eBay in a lite capacity for nearly 10 years and I've never used paypal.

Yeah, I remember all of those paypal sucks conversations (not on SA) that started up. It was a part of the reason why I never bothered using them. But 'you can't please all of the people, all of the time'. No matter whether you're Microsoft or Mother Teressa you're always going to be pissing someone off with your actions whether out of maliciousness, ignorance, or the bottom line.

It's not an excuse, it's just something that helps me to accept that there is always faggotry going on. I just accept it and move on.

 

...*Cough*

Playstation 2? Massive list of games? No good emulation for it?

 

Funny I've bought and sold on my mom's account with over 10k transactions, and used paypal on everyone and never had a problem, and I've personally used ebay/paypal to buy/sell over 150 on my own account. You guys should know by now not to believe hype.