Electronics : Samsung YH-999GS 20GB Portable Media Centre

Rating: - Samsungs enigmatic media player
The Samsung YH-999GS is a rare media player. Very expensive when introduced it flew in the face of the conventional Ipod and other players. With this player Samsung has produced somewhat of an enigma. A startling player that does certain things very well but others less so than other models. It is a device for the non-conformist. This model is durable unlike some I could mention, it is built to last and not designed to break a month after the warranty has expired. It has superb music playback quality as well as good video playback on a large 3.5" screen. Unfortunately Samsung teamed up with Microsoft on this model and whereas the Samsung YP-Z5 had a good interface surprisingly the PMC (Portable Media Centre) interface I find restrictive and lacking a few essentials. The worst thing about owning one of these however is using a version (10 or 11) of Microsoft's dreadful Windows Media Player. Prepare yourself for hours of frustration with albums that don't play due to ID3 tag problems. Messed up/slow synchronisation, corrupt music databases, low quality 200x200 album art that overwrites read-only jpegs that you scanned in at high res. The player doesn't try to encrypt the mp3 though. The PMC interface is clunky and considering it is a mini operating system is surprisingly limited. A wish list for this mini OS might have been:
a) Enable deletion of files within the player
b) Have a clock/alarm
c) Option of UMS on/off
d) Allow purchase/import of codecs to play m4p/aac or mpeg4 files
e) Enable drag and drop of files into player
f) 5 band graphic equaliser
The interface has too few options and is unintuitive. Another unfortunate aspect is the delay when pressing controls before access is made to the hard drive. This means a few presses result in no action and then suddenly it jumps to life. Playback of music is with MP3 or WMA but unsurprisingly no M4P or AAC. Video playback is by WMV or the unheard of ASF. Unfortunately this player will not play MPEG4 files. With storage at 20GB you are a little restricted but this will be enough for most people. Battery life is low at 12 hours with video at a respectable 3 hours. This is surprising as the player is not ultra slim like an Ipod and this sort of performance pales compared to a YP-Z5 with 35 hours battery life. Third party software is almost essential to sort out the album art and convert the video files, only then does the true potential of this player shine. Once all the obstacles have been overcome this is a brilliant player.

For:
Superb sound quality
Robust construction
Good quality video
Lots of accessories: charger, case
Large 3.5" display
Not expensive now

Against:
Microsoft's input
Short battery life
Restricted file formats
Expensive spares
Delay due to accessing hard drive

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Rating: - Samsung YH999
Wow, this is amazing!
It's as simple as that, I was unsure of whether to purchase an I Pod video or not but was put off by the price of the video playback version. Fortunately I managed to get mine extremely cheaper than most places and cheaper than the I Pod, Amazon.com best place with exchange rate if you can ship to UK.
To begin the player looks slightly larger for it to be portable, but don't let looks deceive you, it could fit quite easily into the back pocket of your jeans. It has a much bigger screen than (1" bigger than I Pod) many other players in the range and is a joy to watch from.
What I enjoyed the most are the two basic functions you'd expect from this device. Firstly, Samsung have done a great job and making the YH999 slim and lightweight, but they've also thought of the consumer and when they'd use it. The kick back leg is superb and looks brilliant when you can relax and watch TV or films with a slight angle on the screen, and saves you having to hold the player in your hand when watching a two hour film. The second function that I considered to be `standard' are the built in speakers. It is good to know that with this all you need is your charger and off you go, on a recent holiday it was good to know that I could take my charger and player and that's it, music and films on in the room, easy as that!
It's not just the player but also the contents of the box, headphones with inline remote control, strong leather protection case and belt clip, USB cable, TV out cable and AC charger (which I think is the best as you're not stuck to charging on your computer or buying chargers). The battery is on thing that people always bang on about, this will usually last for around 3 hours on video playback which is good considering (I Pod only 2hours video) the screen is constantly lit and the majority of DVDs are around 2-3 hours anyway. Music playback is around 9 hours and again depends on whether or not the speakers or headphones are being used.

With so many positives are always have to be negatives, but in this case I've only found two, well 1 and a half, well one. The first is with the DVDs, and this is not a fault of the player, in order to get DVDs onto the player they need to be ripped and converted to fit the size of the screen etc. This needs an additional programme that I got off the internet for about £20. It takes ages to do this but if you're able to leave the computer for a few hours then why not!? Once the file has been converted it then has to be converted and transferred onto the player through windows. Again, not a long process but worth it, not sure why there is a need for more conversion but a standard 3GIG DVD will take up about 4-600meg of space, outstanding if you ask me. This is .5 of a fault as it's not the player, the second .5 is if there is extreme sun light it can be difficult to view the screen, but that affects anything, even mobile phones, so not really a fault.
Overall I am chuffed I purchased this and even more so that it was so cheap compared to the I Pod. If someone is wanting a media player for video playback then this is your machine, I Pod is all the rage but there needs to be a line drawn between fashion and user needs. Well done Samsung on their YH999 player a must buy, 10/10.