brite-View Playtime (BV-3100) 1080p HD Multimedia Player - white

I also purchased for someone another media player from Amazon, called, USB Full Hd 1080p HDD Media Player Hdmi VGA MKV H.264. See my JustMe review in June on the product. This brite-View player had many more features than that previous HDD player. a) the remote control has a huge angle, almost like it's hearing the signal rather than having to perfectly point it toward the unit. [the other unit requires a straight on pointing for the infa-red]. This remote is tiny, about 1.5in x4.0in. b) It has file editing, like copy/del/remove/rename ~ neat for deleting files that are stacked up in the file listing. [non available on the other player]. When you have too many files on the flash dirve, viewing any of them requires you to scroll up/down lots of files. c) it has a zoom feature where you can zoom into the screen to enlarge around the center, 2x,3x,4x,8x [cannot do this on the other] d) has a screen info, that indicates what you are watching,the size, time elapse and total. [The other player does not show anything except the file name in the file listing.] A button on the remote displays the info. I like this. f) has a jump location button, its the > or < that allows a 10sec jump of the player. Really neat, rather than just using the fast fwd. [this function does not exist on the other] g) the fast fwd/back allows 1.5x, 2x, up to 16x but this one allows you to hear the sound and see the images very clearly. [the other has similar fwd/back factors but you CANNOT hear the words on the faster speech]. The images on the brite-view scroll is much better and the sound is neat when you want to speed thru some dead section of video. h) when setting up the USB/options for viewing the files (have done mp4 and flv's) you can choose either thumbnails, listing, or PREVIEW w/list. The Preview will flow your media in a quarter screen preview box, where you can see the movie clip and scroll through the listing. Great for seeing portions of your clips to see if you like it or have already seen the clip. [ the other media player definitely does not have this function] i) has a USB eject. [the other does not have an eject] j) the files on the USB gets played one after the other unless you stop. It uses the file name and a hierarchy for the different parts of the clip. So, the multi-part clips need to be in a sortable ascending format. Sometimes you get a different sort and you need to request a re-read/sort of the files. [probably the same with the other player] k) when you power off, it shuts down [the other goes in standby] l) they both have a Restart feature if you interrupt your viewing and you return. Allows picking up where you left off Some Not as good features in this unit compared with the other player: m) has a screen Aspect Button to adjust the picture to your TV. [the other media has many more Fits of screen sizes] n) there does not seem to have a pixel option like the other. Try's to get the best display up to 1080i at least. Most online streaming films are a 720 anyway. Lots have to do with the TV that you are using, does it support 1080i or more? o) does NOT have a SD card reader like the other player. Just USB port (located on the back) and an HDMI to the TV. Has jack cables too. p) you should use a USB extension cable that will allow repeated insertion of USB flash drives.

This unit was easy to set up and use. However it seems to have a software bug preventing it from displaying subtitles for .mkv videos -- possibly this bug exists for other types of videos too, but .mkv is the only one I've tried. I bought this unit to watch exactly these types of videos, so I'm very disappointed. The Brite-View user forum has other people complaining about the same issue, with no apparent response from Brite-View. Be careful with this (and if you're planning to use it to watch .mkv files with subtitles, DON'T BUY IT).

I read some several good reviews on this product and I was thinking of replacing my 5 year old WD mini player which has already logged about 6,000 hours or so (because I keep it cool with a small fan). However, after using brite-view for two days I started to appreciate my old WD mini player and its simplicity. I needed a simple media player without all the internet/wifi connections and brite-view seemed like a good replacement for my old WD. I didn't like the full zoom feature of the brite-view and preferred the option of partial/full zooms on my old WD. the projection and the sound system were about the same quality on both players. If my old WD goes kaput some day, then I am not sure what I would do because all the new media players are loaded with stuff I don't need and none of them seem to have partial zooms which helps on my large movie projection screen.

Unit has a major issue playing from jump drives of any size! Hooked up a 80 gig USB2.0 FAT32 hard drive and it improved the play back slightly, but you will see the screen flash when the buffer clears and re-fills the MINIMAL BUFFER, which stops the video (mpeg 4) cold on a jump drive and restarts playing about 30 second later making the viewing a bit JERKY to say the least. Tested with even a 1 gig USB jump drive with the same results,stops video then reads more and starts playing Documentation is as Generic as you can get with Zimwell as the "manufacture" name. when you check the brite-view website NO LISTING OF THE MODEL thus no NEW software I guess as a joke, BUT THEY DO SAY that it is upgradeable, LOOKS LIKE THIS IS A ORPHAN PRODUCT that is being sold for $50 by Amazon with NO support or even a web site..... You u can get Micca units for less that I have been told by trusted friends that play MPG4 files from jump drives with NO PROBLEMS like the BV-3100. Had enough of trying for the last couple of days, ON IT WAY BACK TO to Amazon for a refund, and ordering the Micca mini.

I bought this little player to hook up to a TV out in the garage to do my workout videos and play movies while on the treadmill. The unit is compact and lightweight and can be placed anywhere. So far it plays all my video formats, some even our existing EVA cannot play. The price was right at around $60 bucks too. My only complaint is that I wish they would have included an HDMI cable with the device as well. Overall, I'm happy with it.

I've been looking for a media player to play my movie collection and home videos. Searching "media player" at Amazon returned brands like Micca and NBox at the top of the list with many positive reviews. So I decided to give them a try. First I bought a NBox. Despite claims of playing most of the video format, the unit did not play HD home videos saved as m2ts files. After returning it, I purchased a Micca, only to be disappointed that the shipped product was a used one with cosmetic damages on the unit and did not work at all. After these couple of bad experiences, I finally digged out the brite-View Playtime BV-3100 on the third page of the search results on Amazon. There was only one review at the time, and against all odds I placed the order. Boy, did I make the right decision! Unlike most of the other players, the unit is white and looks attractive. Hook-up to TV was easy - I didn't get to push any buttons as with the other two players; just plug and play. Remote is very cute and colorful, and reception is really good from a distance and at different angles - this is in stark contrast to the remotes of the NBox and Micca (just see how many complaints about their remotes in the reviews). User menu is simple and straightforward. So far I've thrown at it m2ts, flv, mp4, rmvb, vob, mkv files and all played well. The only exception is the flv files: I have a list of flv files; the unit plays the very first and very last one and skipped everything in between; the same flv files play well on my computer. Haven't figured out what's going on. Beside that, I've had it for two weeks now and no problem yet. Overall a good buy for the money. I am surprised why there are not more buyers and positive reviews for this product.

Worked great for 60 days, now useless and no warranty

Pros: small size. You can put it in your pocket to bring it to any TV. Cons: it does not convert VRO files, the format produced by my camcorder. I had to buy a video converter. This,of course, is a manufacturer's defect, but had Amazon.com informed customers of it, I would have searched for the device that does work with this format. Likewise, the advertisement did not mention the cables supplied. Amazon.com's advertisements are, in general, too brief, which may create unnecessary retirns, as it happened once with me.