Epson P-2000 Multimedia Storage Viewer
Review Date: March 28th 2005
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Features
The Epson P-2000 Multimedia Storage Viewer has a 3.8" Photo Fine crystal clear colour LCD screen which has a resolution of 640 x 480 (VGA), a pixel density of 212ppi and a total of 921,600 pixels. The Epson P-2000's built-in hard drive is a 2.5 inch model with 40Gb of space. 3.5Gb is reserved for system functions and cannot be used for storage purposes. The Epson P-2000 has bulit-in support for Compact Flash(Type I/II), Microdrive, SD cards via two memory card slots. XD, Memory Stick, Smart Media and MMC memory cards are also aupported via an optional CF adaptor. The Epson P-2000 has dimensions of 142mm x 23mm x 91.5mm and weighs 415 grams when the battery is fitted.
A number of different file types and formats are supported by the the Epson P-2000 Multimedia Storage Viewer. For digital photos, JPEG and RAW files can be viewed. There are a number of caveats that you should be aware of though. The maximum image size is 8.9 megapixels and the JPEG within the RAW file header is used for display (not the actual RAW file). The version of firmware that I tested (1.01) supports RAW files from the following camera models: Nikon D100 / D1H / D2H / D1X / D70, Canon EOS 300D / D60 / 10D / 1D Mark II, Epson R-D1.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Epson have very recently released a new firmware version for the P-2000 (as of March 2005). This increases the maximum file size to 17.8Mb and adds support for the following cameras: Nikon D2X, Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II, EOS Digital Rebel, EOS 20D, Konica Minolta Maxxum-7D, Pentax *istD and*istDS. All new versions of the P-2000 will ship with the new firmware, whilst existing owners can upgrade their devices for free. The latest firmware can be downloaded here: http://www.epson.com.
For digital movies, the Epson P-2000 Multimedia Storage Viewer can playback MPEG-4 (up to 30fps @ VGA) and Motion JPEG (up to 30fps @ VGA) formats. For digital music, MP3 and AAC files are supported at 320kbps max bit rate. A number of other file types are also supported through the supplied Epson Photo 4 v1.8 software.
The Epson P-2000 Multimedia Storage Viewer is USB DIRECT-PRINT compatible, which means that you can print directly on 10 x 15, A4, 5 x 7 or 4 x 6 paper formats on compatible Epson printers, for example the Epson PictureMate. DPOF print ordering is supported so that you can choose which photos you want to print. The Epson P-2000 is not compliant with the PictBridge standard.
The Epson P-2000 Multimedia Storage Viewer uses a 3.7V, 2300mAh rechargeable Li-Ion battery that offers a battery life of 3.5 hours when the device is used in continuous slide show mode. You can also power it via the DC Input 5V 2.3A connector using the supplied AC adapter. The P-2000 has a USB 2.0 Hi-Speed connection for PC and Mac and an Audio/Video out jack which supports PAL and NTSC televisions. For playback of music the P-2000 has a mono dynamic speaker or you conect a set of headphones (not supplied) to the stereo 3.5mm headphone jack.
The contents of the the Epson P-2000 Multimedia Storage Viewer kit that I received for review from Epson France included an AC adapter, power cable, Lithium-Ion battery, user manual, software CD-ROM, USB cable, strap, carrying case that can usefully be attached to a trouser belt, and a stand. Notable omissions from the standard kit include an AV cable for connecting the P-2000 to your TV and a set of headphones for listening to music.
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