My O2 review: It's a crippled D2 at the moment

[keal]

Being a D2 user, I'll give a general comparison review here for anyone interested. I'll update this review as I find new things to mention, or when other users correct my mistakes!
This review has been updated since I've installed firmware 1.14A.

SCREEN: It's big enough to watch a subtitled video while running on a treadmill, and I could increase the font size of the subtitles while I was in motion. Very, very easy to watch videos without straining the eyes. It looks like the same type of screen as the D2, just that it's a LOT bigger.

SOUND for music: For music files there's a 10-band adjustable EQ, and of course the usual presets, and there's a screen dedicated to EQ frequencies and band widths - for all 10 bands! It's a very technical tweaking screen for audio freaks. Also you get the typical Jet Effects - BBE, Machbass, enchanced MP3, etc...

SOUND for video: The only sound enhancement for videos is a '3D stereo' effect, which didn't improve the weak sound, it just spread it around a bit. This is really sad, as the D2, even when first released, had great sound for video, as the Jet Effects worked with music and video files. I contacted Cowon's technical support and they acknowledged that the sound for videos is a problem, and a message was sent to the Korean development team. Whether they work on this is anyone's guess.

VIDEO: I have a couple of .MKV files that have sound but the video lags and skips. I found other .MKV files that do work, so it's a tricky format on the O2 as it depends on what codecs are used in the MKV. Other than that I've tried various .AVI, .WMV and .MPG files and they worked just fine. EDIT: Aspect ratios auto-adjust for all videos, and if you have some 4:3 videos with black bars at the top and bottom (widescreen) such as videos you've converted for your D2, they'll appear on the O2 with a black border on all 4 sides of the screen. you can adjust the 'Pan & Scan' setting to expand the video and make it fill the screen. The player has a short 'loading' screen when changing videos, and it doesn't matter if it's a 2-hour movie or a 3-minute music video. You get the loading screen. I guess the O2 has to figure out what codecs are in use.

NAVIGATION: With your fingers, many of the clickable areas are hard to hit. You often have to use your fingernail, so you can't just thump away at the screen like you can on the D2 with its bigger buttons. In the music section, you can't browse by ID3tag info. You can only navigate through folder directories and filenames, much like on a computer. When you have a long list of files, You can't flick through the list using finger gestures like on the D2 - you have to touch the slider or the up/down buttons on the very edge of the screen, which is hard to do with your finger - you really have to use your fingernail. It's as if the OS was designed with using a stylus in mind. Apparently the D2's development team had no part of the O2. Both operating systems are so different. Why they didn't just copy the D2's menu styles is beyond me.

DOCUMENTS & PHOTOS: Text files are easy to read, and you can tap the edges of the screen to slide the documents or photos up/down/left/right. When it comes to scanned comic book pages, the words are impossible to read. So if there's anything you want to read that's been scanned, it'll be really hard to do on the O2. Text files seem to be the only way to read stuff.

WALLPAPERS: EDIT: As of firmware 1.14, you can now set your wallpaper with any size picture you want. I've tried up to 1600x1200 and it worked fine, although you'll get black borders on the edges of the screen if the picture's aspect ratio is different from the O2's screen size (480x272).

MENU OPTIONS: You can set your own wallpapers for the O2's background, but there's no options to change text color, and you have thin blue text in all the menu areas. It's hard to read against a dark background. You can't alter the fonts in any way, so your choice of wallpapers are sort of limited.

BUILT-IN SPEAKER: A great feature! How often will you be watching something, and someone will want to join in. You just switch from headphone to speaker and off you go! It sounds like a cheap portable radio, but it's enough. Sharing a video with someone and not having to carry around extra speakers or cables to do it is just awesome! EDIT: Firmware 1.14 has made the rear speaker sound a little cleaner and louder. Yay!

LINE-OUT TO TV: Works like a charm! I put on a widesreen Japanese TV show with an .SRT subtitle file, plugged the cable into the O2 and the other end (video, left and right audio cables) into my Vizio HDTV, then switched the player to line-out mode. The video came up on the TV in perfect widescreen, The audio isn't true line-out - it's much like the headphone output. You can adjust the volume on both the player and the TV. The player's volume can be adjusted with the volume buttons on the side of the case while you're in TV mode. You'll see the volume indicator on the upper right-hand side of the TV screen. In order to scan through the video or to pause it, you need to tap the screen of the O2, and it turns off the line-out, and you have to scan through the video or pause it there. To continue playing, you have to switch it back to line-out mode. What this means is that when you're watching a video on your TV, that's all you can do - watch it. Anything like fast-forwarding, rewinding, pausing - you have to go back to the player to do it. It would be nice to have the player's screen on while the line-out is enabled, so you could navigate and not have to switch back.. But videos look nice enough!

TRUE AUDIO LINE-OUT: I don't think there's a way to get true line-out audio, for those who wanted to use the player in their car. You can only use the video-out cable for videos. You can't use it when in Music mode.

PLUSES over the D2: The screen is bigger, there's a handy built-in speaker, line-out to TV is nicer, and... that's about it.

MINUSES over the D2: Navigation is a LOT harder with fingers on the O2 despite its screen being bigger than the D2. Videos have flat, untouched sound, whereas videos on the D2 sound great. Also, the O2 has no radio. I don't use the radio, but it's just another feature that's available on a cheaper, older player like the D2.

If you own a D2 and are looking for a bigger screen, you'll be disappointed by the weak sound when watching videos. The D2 is probably the only media player on the market with great sounding video files (thanks to Jet Effects). Other than that, the O2 seems just like a bigger D2. My advice is to wait for them to fix the sound settings for video before buying.

If you just want an audio/music player a D2 is a wiser choice. It sounds just like the O2, is smaller, and cheaper. Aside from the 32GB internal memory of the O2, you can get a 16GB D2 and SDHC memory cards. Music lovers don't need the bulky size of the O2, where a tiny D2 (or the upcoming S9) should be more suitable.

If you want a video player this is a good choice if you're not concerned about the sound. No transcoding for most videos... just drag and drop and you're set. Videos look great, but sound flat like on an iPod. If you're an audiophile looking for a video player with great sound, the D2 is much better, but with a smaller screen.

Basically, if you've never used the Cowon D2 player, you'll probably be very happy with the O2. If you have experience with the D2, you're likely to find a lot of flaws in the O2.

Hope this review helps some of you out. I'll be happy to answer any questions about the player

[breakankles]

thanks for the review. lack of video sound enhancement is too bad. i overlooked that one. so are you satisfied with you purchase or do you wish you had waited?

[keal]

breakankles, I'm pinning my hopes on the O2 development team adding sound enhancements to videos in the next couple firmwares. It's just my guess, but since the O2 seems to be marketed as a video player, I would think the video's sound will take priority over other bugfixes or added features. I know through owning other Cowon players that it's not good to pray for firmware fixes as that seems to jinx things, but I just have a feeling!

I despise the video sound, but will use it for my gym sessions while hoping for new firmware updates. If I didn't own a D2, I don't think I'd mind the O2's video sound. I'm just spoiled by Cowon's previous players. The screen size is just so outstanding, and videos look really, really good! I guess I'll say I'm neutral about the O2 right now. The player was just released, so I'm not blaming the developers. Yet. Haha!

Here's to future firmwares!

[Loba]

SOUND for video: The only sound enhancement for videos is a '3D stereo' effect, which didn't improve the weak sound, it just spread it around a bit. This is really sad, as the D2, even when first released, had great sound for video, as the Jet Effects worked with music and video files. I contacted Cowon's technical support and they acknowledged that the sound for videos is a problem, and a message was sent to the Korean development team. Whether they work on this is anyone's guess.

<== This applies to Cowon A3 as well.

VIDEO: MKV videos don't play correctly yet. All the MKV videos I have play with sound but the video lags and skips. Aspect ratios auto-adjust for bigger videos, but if you have low-res videos, like videos you made for your D2, they play small on the O2 and you have to adjust the 'Pan & Scan' setting while playing the video jjto maximize the viewing area. The player has a short 'loading' screen when changing videos, and it doesn't matter if it's a 1GB movie or a small 30MB music video. You get the loading screen. I guess the O2 has to figure out what codecs are in use. On the D2, videos play with no real loading time. Understandable as all videos have to be converted for the D2 beforehand.

<=mkv is just the container. What is inside that container matters more than the container itself. Let us know what kind of mkv files you tried to play.

WALLPAPERS: Strangely enough, if you have hi-res pictures, like, say, 1600x1200, and you try to set it as a wallpaper, you get a 'Resolution is too high' error. The pictures can't be too big. On the D2, you could use ANY picture, and it would be automatically resized if you set it as your background. A step backward for the new O2.

<==Welcome to another ported over 'feature' from A3. You have to manually configure the wallpaper to native resolution(480x272 for O2?) for it to work.

BUILT-IN SPEAKER: A great feature! How often will you be watching something, and someone will want to join in. You just switch from headphone to speaker and off you go! It sounds like a cheap portable radio, but it's enough. Sharing a video with someone and not having to carry around extra speakers or cables to do it is just awesome!
<=sucks juice real fast.

If you own a D2 and are looking for a bigger screen, you'll be disappointed by the weak sound when watching videos. Other than that, it seems just like a bigger D2. My advice is to wait for them to fix the sound settings for video before buying.

<= I assume the 'sound settings for video' will never be fixed or I will eat my A3 =X

If you just want an MP3 player a D2 is a wiser choice. It sounds just like the O2, is smaller, and cheaper. Aside from the 32GB internal memory of the O2, you can get a 16GB D2 and SDHC memory cards. There's absolutely no reason why an MP3 lover would want an O2.

<= Well duh. D2 or S9 for music lovers.

[DaremoS]

Originally Posted by keal

Being a D2 user, I'll give a general comparison review here for anyone interested
...

PLUSES over the D2: The screen is bigger, there's a handy built-in speaker, line-out to TV is nice, and... that's about it.
...

Hope this review helps some of you out. I'll be happy to answer any questions about the player

Thanks for the comparison among D2 and O2 in fact gives a complete picture of what both players are.

I would add to the PLUSES that O2 handles lots of audio formats that D2 don't... as it's MPC, TTA and MKA (I'm not in the video fans dept.).

and I would add in the MINUSES that O2 don't have nor even half the features that D2 has... themes, flash support and some more.

You didn't do a comment about the navigation in music... it's seems that O2 works like the option "folders" of D2, so no ID3 cataloging, anyway O2 did use ID3 as it display cover art...

BTW how it's the size of cover art displayed?

Thanks again

[Thasp]

does what you are watching really sound so bad that, without some BBE exciter shit or EQ it downright "sucks" ?

Just curious.

Also keep in mind a lot of that shit makes it louder as it effects it. If you A/B level, after the effect is almost always louder. It tricks people into making terrible decisions about what they are doing.

[Zimetric]

I think Keal has just been spoiled by the likes of the D2. As he touched on, if you haven't had your standards blown out of the water by D2, you wouldn't really feel that anything was wrong.

That's just my take. A case of spoilt D2 users.

[Dalmane98]

Originally Posted by keal

If you just want an MP3 player a D2 is a wiser choice. It sounds just like the O2, is smaller, and cheaper. Aside from the 32GB internal memory of the O2, you can get a 16GB D2 and SDHC memory cards. There's absolutely no reason why an MP3 lover would want an O2.

You hit the nail right on the head and drove it all the way in with just one blow...Well done...

Minor point though:

You really do need to change MP3 player to Audio/Music player, though. The D2 plays more than just MP3 files...

[keal]

Originally Posted by DaremoS

I would add in the MINUSES that O2 don't have nor even half the features that D2 has... themes, flash support and some more.

There is a 'user program' icon on the O2, which currently has a calculator and notepad. On the player the files have an .O2 extension, but they could very well be just flash files. A software development kit was just released today for the O2 so we'll probably see some users doing custom stuff pretty soon

Originally Posted by DaremoS

You didn't do a comment about the navigation in music... it's seems that O2 works like the option "folders" of D2, so no ID3 cataloging, anyway O2 did use ID3 as it display cover art...

Sorry I didn't mention the ID3 tagging stuff. The O2 shows cover art and artist/album/song from the tag as the songs play, but navigating is through folders and filenames. There's no options to navigate by tag info.

Originally Posted by DaremoS

BTW how it's the size of cover art displayed?

The cover art is 1.5 inches square, and the layout of the music screen is much like the D2's

Originally Posted by Loba

<=mkv is just the container. What is inside that container matters more than the container itself. Let us know what kind of mkv files you tried to play.

The only .MKV files I have are a couple of music videos off the internet. I haven't opened the containers to see what's inside, but from past experiences with anime .MKV files that didn't work properly, I just assumed that MKV's a tough format to deal with. I've just gone ahead and converted the few files I have to .AVI format.

Originally Posted by Loba

<==Welcome to another ported over 'feature' from A3. You have to manually configure the wallpaper to native resolution(480x272 for O2?) for it to work.

Yes, the O2 is 480x272, and I converted a couple wallpapers to that size last night.

Originally Posted by Loba

<= Well duh. D2 or S9 for music lovers.

I actually got the D2 as a music video player, and I've rarely used it for music files. So I don't see the D2 as Cowon's site puts it a 'premium MP3 player'. I think it's a PMP

With that said, the only thing the O2 has going for it is that it's supposed to be a 'premium video player' which at this point it isn't, due to the flat sound in videos. Since you're pointing out the A3 is the same way, I'm taking a guess that the exact same software developers who worked on the A2/A3 also worked on the O2. So if they improve the video sound on the O2, I'm sure it'll happen for the A3 at the same time. But I doubt it's going to happen for the O2 since the A3 hasn't been dealt with yet.

This makes me wonder... what are the D2's software designers working on? Whatever player they're doing next, might be the player I'm looking for

[Loba]

Originally Posted by keal

The only .MKV files I have are a couple of music videos off the internet. I haven't opened the containers to see what's inside, but from past experiences with anime .MKV files that didn't work properly, I just assumed that MKV's a tough format to deal with. I've just gone ahead and converted the few files I have to .AVI format.Yes, the O2 is 480x272, and I converted a couple wallpapers to that size last night.I actually got the D2 as a music video player, and I've rarely used it for music files. So I don't see the D2 as Cowon's site puts it a 'premium MP3 player'. I think it's a PMP

With that said, the only thing the O2 has going for it is that it's supposed to be a 'premium video player' which at this point it isn't, due to the flat sound in videos. Since you're pointing out the A3 is the same way, I'm taking a guess that the exact same software developers who worked on the A2/A3 also worked on the O2. So if they improve the video sound on the O2, I'm sure it'll happen for the A3 at the same time. But I doubt it's going to happen for the O2 since the A3 hasn't been dealt with yet.

Misconception about mkv being a 'tough' format. Like I said, if you put a H.264 HP inside the mkv, it will be tough to play. If you a xvid or divx inside mkv, it will play with no problems. D2 mini-pmp then.

If it can be fixed in O2, it will already be fixed in A3 a long time ago. Besides, Germany just stopped distribution of O2 due to some 'trademarks' rights or something, player totally gone from the site. Check it out over at ABI.

[yotaiji012]

how is the video playback quality on the screen? I have seen it in the store but it just didnt impress me much. Of course the only things I sampled were the Commercial videos that came with the player.
I have an istation V43 and that screen is awesome. I had a archos 604 and that screen was kick ass. Archos 604 wifi was not that great but the output on the TV was really really really really kicking. It looked so good on tv output. But since there is no RGB out for the o2 i wouldnt expect that great output on the tv. But how is the Native Video on the o2?

And yes I know I owned alot of PMP. I lost and dropped my archos'. What kind of company doesn't put a freaking wrist strap hole on the unit.
Seriously Stupid

[Thasp]

Is the O2 screen, at the very least, on par with the A2?

It would be the cowon thing to do, to give the superior, more durable player, a shittier screen.



Hopefully not.

[DaremoS]

Originally Posted by keal

...
With that said, the only thing the O2 has going for it is that it's supposed to be a 'premium video player' which at this point it isn't, due to the flat sound in videos. Since you're pointing out the A3 is the same way, I'm taking a guess that the exact same software developers who worked on the A2/A3 also worked on the O2. So if they improve the video sound on the O2, I'm sure it'll happen for the A3 at the same time. But I doubt it's going to happen for the O2 since the A3 hasn't been dealt with yet.

This makes me wonder... what are the D2's software designers working on? Whatever player they're doing next, might be the player I'm looking for

I don't know if O2 it's a "Premium Player" as I consider it as a popular version of A3, a new concept from Cowon in order to release a powerful device at lower prices... a step between D2 and A3... in this aspect won't replace none of them... so long life for D2 and for A3.

For the moment I've received some bad news about O2, like this of poor audio for movies, despite I am a music oriented users I like to have some video clips in my player and I wouldn't enjoy them with such drawback. Anyway as a music lover I still have some hopes in O2.

The only thing I'm waiting about it is the review that have promised a member of this forum who will publish it in another site (here) and that will deal with audio quality and surely will decide if I go for this device.

Your review have been a great help in my decision and I thank you again...

[yotaiji012]

The o2 is not a premium player. Thats not how it is positioned or marketed in korea. It is one of most affordable players out here. Definitely for the mass audience. They are selling very briskly here also.

[keal]

Originally Posted by Thasp

Is the O2 screen, at the very least, on par with the A2?

I've never seen the A2/A3 players, but from what I've read before purchasing, the A2/A3 screens look better than the O2. Because I own a D2, I can only say that it's the same quality, but bigger