Samsung YEPP YH-999 PMC (20GB) review: Samsung YEPP YH-999 PMC (20GB)

Intro
Creative and iRiver were first to market with a Portable Media Center (PMC), but Samsung took the time to get the design right. The $500 Samsung YH-999 is the only PMC that is nearly as portable as a hard drive-based MP3 player or other single-purpose mobile device, yet it seamlessly handles not only music but also video and photos. The only serious drawback to the YEPP YH-999 is that to shed some bulk, Samsung sacrificed battery life. Portable video players (PVPs) remain an emerging category that appeals primarily to gadget lovers, but Microsoft's PMC software delivers the best mainstream user experience--especially if you also have a Windows Media Center PC--and no other PMC makes it as portable as the Samsung YEPP YH-999. The sleek, silver Samsung YEPP YH-999 PMC stands out from the crowd for two reasons.

First, the basic design is different from that of most portable video players, including the Creative Zen and the iRiver PMP-120. These devices use a horizontal, Game Boy-like design with the screen at the center and navigation and selection buttons on either side. The YEPP YH-999, by contrast, looks like one of those miniature handheld TVs with the screen at the top and the controls and speaker below it. Overall, it seems more like a typical consumer electronics device than a computer peripheral.

Second, the YEPP YH-999 is significantly smaller and lighter than the other two PMCs. At 3.8 by 4.2 by 0.8 inches, the YEPP YH-999 occupies a little more than half the volume of the bulky Creative Zen and iRiver PMP-120 PMCs. The YEPP YH-999 weighs 7.8 ounces vs. 11.3 ounces and 9.9 ounces, respectively, for the Creative and iRiver versions. The YEPP YH-999 is still bigger and heavier than even large hard drive-based MP3 players, but it fits into a jacket pocket and is the only PMC that we would be willing to carry all the time.

The YEPP YH-999 and the iRiver PMP-120 have identical screen specs: 3.5 inches (diagonal) and 320x240-pixel resolution. At 3.8 inches, the Creative Zen PMC has a slightly larger display but the same resolution. Below the screen are the external speaker and most of the controls, including power, play/pause, skip/search, a five-way navigation pad, a Back button, and of course, the signature green Windows Media Center button that returns you to the "desktop." The volume and hold buttons are on the side, as well as the connectors for charging the battery, synchronizing with a PC via USB 2.0, and hooking up the included remote and headphones or, with the A/V-out cable (also included), an external device such as a stereo or a TV.

One of the design oddities of the Creative Zen and iRiver PMP-120 PMCs is that the five-way navigation pad, which you use continually to move about and make selections, is located on the left side of the device. That's fine if you're left-handed, but for the rest of us, the arrangement is not intuitive, and at first, we found ourselves hitting the wrong buttons--a complaint that has also popped up in user reviews. The YEPP YH-999 eliminates this problem by putting the five-way below the screen and to the right in a much more natural position--at least for righties.

Overall, the hardware design is compact, attractive, and highly functional, but Samsung hits a few sour notes. The buttons are tiny and a little tough to control, especially the five-way navigation pad; none of the keys are backlit (the power switch has a charge indicator); and the YEPP YH-999 lacks the handy programmable presets on the Creative Zen PMC that let you jump directly to a favorite video or song. The YEPP YH-999 comes with a nice, thick leather case with a detachable belt clip, but you must remove the device from the case to connect the power and sync cables. Instead, we wound up using the sturdy, spring-loaded kickstand--a key feature not found on all portable video players--to prop it up while the cables were connected. Unlike the Creative Zen PMC, the YH-999 does not have a removable battery, a fact made more dire when you consider its disappointing battery life (see more in Performance).

All PMCs share the same basic specs, including a 400MHz Intel XScale chip, 64MB of RAM, 2MB of ROM, a USB 2.0 interface for synchronization, and a screen with a resolution of 320x240 pixels. The size of the hard drive may vary, but right now all models, including the Samsung YEPP YH-999, have a 20GB drive. In an age of 40GB and even 60GB MP3 players, that's already starting to look a little small, especially for a device also intended to store video and photos. Nevertheless, it should be enough to hold 25 movies, 2,000 songs, and countless photos--once they've been reformatted for a PMC.

Given that PMCs are based on Microsoft technology, it's not surprising that the devices work best with the company's PC software and audio and video formats. Like all PMCs, the YEPP YH-999 is designed to work hand in hand with Windows Media Player 10.0 and optionally with Windows Media Center desktops and notebooks. The YEPP YH-999 plays WMV 7.0, 8.0, and 9.0 files at 320x240 pixels, 30 frames per second, and with a constant bit rate of up to 800Kbps. Similarly, all PMC devices can play back WMA (including protected WMA, lossless WMA, and WMA voice) and MP3, as well as JPEG images.

There are many other popular formats that PMCs such as the YEPP YH-999 can't play natively: AVI, DivX, DVR-MS (Microsoft's recorded TV), MPEG, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, TIFF, and WAV. This has earned PMCs some scorn from enthusiasts who prefer non-Microsoft PVPs from the likes of Archos and iRiver that tend to support a wider array of audio and video formats.

But this misses the point. Windows Media Player 10.0 has the smarts to transcode most of these formats into the specifics required for PMCs or other compatible devices, such as a Windows Mobile smart phone. The original files remain untouched, and in most cases, you won't even know it's happening. AutoSync then automatically synchronizes them with your YEPP YH-999. You can also pick and choose the files and playlists that you want to synchronize, if you prefer. In fact, while Samsung includes an installation disc, you don't even need it--the YEPP YH-999 is plug-and-play. The result is an iPod-like user experience that other PVPs can't even come close to matching.

If you also own a Windows Media Center desktop or notebook, the recorded TV content gets treated exactly the same way. The DVR-MS files are automatically transcoded and transferred to the YEPP YH-999. Even without a Media Center PC, you can record TV and transfer it to the device using a TV-tuner card and third-party software. PMCs are not true portable TiVos; they can't directly record TV, video, or audio the way some PVPs can, but the result is the same. You can also connect your PMC to a TV, but the reformatted video files that appear just fine on the device itself don't look so great on the big screen.

If you don't own a Media Center PC and instead plan to purchase most content for the device, the news is mixed. The good news is that there are tons of digital audio content from which to choose. Aside from regular WMAs and MP3s, you can use any online music store that supports DRM-protected WMA files. This includes the new Napster To Go service that lets you transfer an unlimited amount of music to your device for monthly subscription fee. The bad news is that video content is more limited. You can rent movies from CinemaNow, get highlights from MLB.com, or download a limited selection of clips from the recently launched MSN Video, but for now there's still no iTunes for TV and movies.

The Start menu has five basic options: My TV, My Music, My Pictures, My Videos, and Settings. Once you drill down into a main menu option, you'll be able to instantly categorize your content without much fuss, thanks to the interface's innovative x/y-axis design, which Microsoft has coined twist navigation. For example, within My Music, a horizontal list appears with the items Artist, Album, Songs, Genres, Playlists, or New. As you navigate left or right, the contents of each item spills down below it, including a Play All option. Once you select a track or any other item, it appears along with all the other tracks in the horizontal list. It's difficult to understand without using it, but it makes playing music or adding songs to a playlist a breeze.

Likewise, you can sort videos by New, Name, or Date, and all videos include an automatic resume feature. You can have 10 movies bookmarked and watch them from where you left off. The same goes for My TV; you could have five recorded shows, then watch and bookmark all of them independently--and on your clock. Also, you can move forward in commercial-skipping 24-second intervals and rewind in 10-second intervals. In My Photos, you can set parameters for slide shows and even listen to music while you're viewing photos.

The Settings section includes the equalizer, with seven presets that can be monitored in real time; brightness; audio and video effects; and information on the device and its contents.

With its relatively beefy specs (a 400MHz processor and 64MB of RAM), the Samsung YEPP YH-999 Portable Media Center generally moved easily between tasks. The PMC's animated screen effects, such as text and graphics morphing and sliding, were a nice touch and gave the interface a more responsive feel. As with the Creative Zen PMC, we noticed some delay when skipping between songs and playlists, but this wasn't a major concern. The YEPP YH-999 powered on in a few seconds, and when we turned it off and back on again, it resumed right where we left off.

Images, album art, and videos all look reasonably sharp and vibrant on the backlit, 3.5-inch display. It's no match for the Sony PSP's wide screen, but it still looks great compared to most portable devices such as cell phones and MP3 players. Like the majority of devices with reflective LCDs, the YEPP YH-999's screen images appear dim in outdoor light.

The YEPP YH-999's audio quality is merely average. The device's 85dB signal-to-noise ratio falls short of many top MP3 players'. We tried it with basic earbuds, in-ear noise-canceling headphones, and over-the-ear headphones and were unimpressed each time. The sound quality of the external speaker is quite thin, but that's not too surprising in a device this size. Overall, the sound quality is adequate. It's no match for the best MP3 players, but for casual listening, as well as for recorded TV and the occasional movie, it gets the job done.

The Achilles' heel of the YEPP YH-999 is its battery life. Don't bother lining up a few movies for a cross-country flight. Based on CNET Labs tests, you can expect to get 11.7 hours with audio and only 3.2 hours of continuous video. By comparison, the much larger Creative Zen PMC lasted 22 hours with continuous audio and nearly 8 hours with continuous video. To add insult to injury, the YEPP YH-999's rechargeable lithium-ion battery isn't swappable either, so you can't even bring a spare along.

Whether this is a fair trade-off for a smaller device depends on your intended use. If you plan to use it largely for listening to music and viewing photos, you may be willing to live with the battery life. If you want to use the video features regularly, and especially if you have a lot of recorded TV on a Media Center PC, the battery life will be an issue.

On a more positive note, the YEPP YH-999 posted an excellent transfer rate of 8.2MB per second over USB 2.0 on our tests.