Vosonic VP8360: A PVP to kill for

Today we're going dive into a golden portable video player pool; a pool that any PVP fan is going to want to plunge into. The Vosonic VP8360 is the most enjoyable portable media device Crave has ever seen, and we'll need to receive professional counselling when we finally send it back to the supplier. It will give your video iPod an inferiority complex, your Archos 604 a run for its money, and your loved ones a strange feeling of neglect.

The VP8360 is feature-packed: it's an 80GB video recorder, a card reader, a backup drive, a movie player, an audio player, an MPEG-4 capture device, a radio, a dictation machine -- take a breath -- a portable hard drive and a photo viewer. It's pretty, too: the grey/black finish and silver details are so attractive you'll be proud to have it on your arm in public.

It'll play back your DivX movies, XviD movies and MPEG-4 videos. It'll let the travelling photographer backup and view his gigabytes of RAW-format digital photographs via the 7-in-1 card reader. It'll store your legions of backup files from your laptop. It'll also rip your favourite home movies right from your camcorder -- without a computer -- and encode it in real time into glorious MPEG-4 quality. Basically it'll have your cake, your neighbour's cake, and bake you four more in return.

There are other great video players out there, but the VP8360 does what it does so undeniably well, along with adding features such as a user-replaceable hard drive and a card reader, that it really stands out from the crowd. The big win is the interface, which even very small children will have no problem with -- Archos, take note.

If you're in the market for such a device, or if you're considering a video iPod or Archos player, do not miss Vosonic's VP8360. You can order from Vtec.co.uk in a range of capacities and with a range of drive speeds -- our 80GB model is around £270. Don't miss our full review of the VP8360, which you can expect sooner than soon. -NL