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Hi I have been looking at the Meos range of portable DVD-players. The 2009 models even at 12" have a really high resolution screen - 1280 x 800.

http://www.wedodigital.co.uk/product/2068/12-lcd-tv/meos-dvd123b/

Reading the advertisement for the product (and never having laid my hands on one to test it for sure) it looks like it has an AV socket which you can connect to your camcorder which means it could an amazing portable camcorder monitor, as well, maybe.

I got most of my questions answered to my satisfaction from Beth on the website but I stumped her with this question so I thought I would post it to see if anyone who has got one of those Meos portable DVD-player TVs whatdocallits.

Thank you Beth.

With the MEO DVD-123B functioning in the camcorder monitor configuration and if the camcorder was focused, say, on a clock with a second hand, which describes the display performance best?

The DVD-123B LCD display -

* lags reality by a fraction of second as does the camcorder's integral LCD display?

* lags reality by in excess of one second, as does my PC monitor displaying video with the camcorder plugged into my PC's video capture card?

Can you give an approximate input-video-signal to display time-lag for the DVD-123B? (Hard question, sorry!)

The PC & capture card is not optimal for producing an near-instantaneous real-time camcorder monitor display and this poor, one-second-plus delay-time performance is why I am looking for a product which performs better.

The DVD-123B, too, has a number of functions and because it is not simply a dedicated AV monitor, I worry that, like my PC, the DVD-123B may perform inadequately in this mode.

- Peter

Maybe I did not answer my question simply enough but Beth couldn't answer and so could not recommend the product for this use, but that doesn't mean there would be any problem - it could work brilliantly with no problems at all.

If I had one at home or in a local shop I could test it out to see.

What I want to know, is when you connect your camcorder via the AV cable to the Meos and if you are viewing on the Meos display screen the live feed from the camcorder (not a recording you made earlier) is the display on the screen in synchronisation with the camcorder's integral display, or is there a noticeable delay on the Meos display?

If I plug my camcorder into my PC video capture card, the image on the PC lags reality by more than 1 second. Is there a noticeable delay on the Meos, or not?

You can buy high specification dedicated camcorder monitors with high resolution but the cost oh thousands of pounds because they are made for a tiny market of professional broadcasters. I can't afford one of those.

Whereas the Meos range of portables is priced for the consumer market, selling many more items. I could afford one but I can't test it so see how it works out.

So my question is, could someone with one of those Meos portables test it out as a camcorder monitor and tell us if there is any problem such as a noticeable delay with the picture being displayed. Or if you see any problems at all?

 hi

I am into video and make films for local comminuity and others,i use a Cannon xm2 camera and a Sony handycam.

now i use a 7" portable tv and a 10" portable DVDplayer as monitors using the tv and dvd player AVsockets and get realtime monitoring without any delay,have just tried it out on a clock face and secondhand on tv monitor was in sync with clock NO delay i did this before posting this,also connected to dvd unit and was the same.

i think you will find you will have no trouble with any make of portable tv or dvdplayer that has a AV input.

any more info you require i will help if poss

extra to my post,there should be no delay when downloading from video camera to computer.

what editing program and video card are you using,i use  Adobe Premier and a firewire card in a quad processor 3gig computer

Quote: Originally posted by jeffstu on 08/9/2009

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 hi

I am into video and make films for local comminuity and others,i use a Cannon xm2 camera and a Sony handycam.

now i use a 7" portable tv and a 10" portable DVDplayer as monitors using the tv and dvd player AVsockets and get realtime monitoring without any delay,have just tried it out on a clock face and secondhand on tv monitor was in sync with clock NO delay i did this before posting this,also connected to dvd unit and was the same.

i think you will find you will have no trouble with any make of portable tv or dvdplayer that has a AV input.

any more info you require i will help if poss

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Well that is very encouraging to learn that other people use DVD-portable-players as a video monitor. It wasn't just a mad idea I had then!

It took someone like yourself with experience and hands on similar equipment to able to answer that question. Thanks a lot.

Quote: Originally posted by jeffstu on 08/9/2009

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extra to my post,there should be no delay when downloading from video camera to computer.

what editing program and video card are you using,i use  Adobe Premier and a firewire card in a quad processor 3gig computer

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What I was describing was not "downloading" pre-recorded video from a camcorders internal or card memory but monitoring (or monitoring and simultaneous recording to the PC) of a live video feed from a camcorder.

Also there is no editing involved at this stage I am purely looking at the live feed on a display and there is a delay. Editing involves pre-recorded video which could have been recorded any time - 3 years ago maybe and the delay on the screen from the time the video was shot whether 10 minutes or 10 years is not a relevant consideration!

There most certainly IS a delay in excess of one second on my PC with my capture card capturing a live video feed from my camcorder!

Em, now let me see what I was using

Card - cost around £15 from PCWorld. Yes, found the box

"VIDEOh! DVD Media Center" from Adaptec.

Dunno why they call it that because it is a video capture card. Oh I think because they provide bundled software to help you to write your video to DVD after you have captured it. Most strange.

Anyway the software they provide which I actually use is the program which functions as monitor, displaying the video picture on the PC screen, it records and playbacks the video and it is that which I use to display the incoming live feed on the PC display which has the one second plus delay.

I presume the delay arises from buffering within the capture card itself, then the PC would have to write it into video memory.

I also have a NVIDIA video output card fitted and there may be additional buffering in that which adds to the delay - never noticed any problem playing computer games so I don't think that is the problem.

The PC is a Dell 8300 with a Pentium 4 CPU 2.79 Gz and 2.5 GB of RAM. 

Anyway it is somewhat besides the point since I want a portable monitor and even if I got a new fast PC and capture card it would still not be portable.

The delay with my PC did make me think twice about using a "netbook" or "notebook" or "ultra-portable" PC some of which have 10 inch 1024 x 600 screens I worried about (a) possible delays as with my PC, (b) the time to boot the thing up and load the right program before it will actually function as a video monitor.

So a dedicated video monitor seemed to be the answer but ones with a pixel width native resolution of a minimum of 1024 (which I reckon I ideally want to display a PAL or MPEG2 widescreen signal in full detail) seem mostly to be 15 inch plus and/or require a mains power supply, or if they were small and portable, hugely expensive.

I am sure you get a workable enough picture from your 10 inch DVD portable but I guess that it is limited to 800 pixels native resolution width?

If I can get perfection within my budget I will go for that. Perfect however is not easy to find on a budget.

Then I saw the 1280 x 800 resolution on the MEOS DVD123B and it seemed like the best answer, costing me maybe less than £200 including delivery,

Well unless I hear differently pretty soon I think I will buy that. Thanks again jeffstu.

Quote: Originally posted by riddles on 10/9/2009

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Peter, quick question but does your card allow "pausing" the live feed? It sounds like your 1 sec lag is buffering...

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Hmm a quick question but not so quick an answer.

The software is InterVideo WinDVR 3 and if has various "pausing" type functions which I don't need and try to ignore. I have just had a quick look at them - (Oh look, it has a option for 16:9 aspect ratio, which is nice, never noticed that before) - the time offset type options are

Display

Commerical Skip - (set this in seconds - minimum 1)

Instant Replay - (set this in seconds - minimum 1)

Time Shifting

Normal Mode or Record Mode option

Buffering time - (set this in minutes - minimum 0)

I didn't think any of those setting would matter so I never changed them from the defaults - but since you asked about them I just set them all to their minimums and still the delay on the PC monitor is 1 second plus.

I don't see a way to disable the various timeshifting functions altogether.

For sure, there is buffering somewhere but if you ask for a live feed it ought to be able to provide the most up to date it can and I am sure it is.

Say 1.5 seconds at a data rate of 750 KBytes per second equals a buffer size of 1.1 MegaByte.

Well with the price of memory these days I am sure the capture card designers could AFFORD to devote a megabyte or two for on-card buffer memory - but why would they WANT to?

I suppose the buffering I am seeing could be buffered in PC RAM by the InterVideo WinDVR 3 software. I don't know and I don't much care because my PC is not portable anyway and it is a portable solution I am looking for as an external video monitor. Even if I updated my PC video capture card and used another program which managed a more instant delay it still would NOT be portable.

I want a portable solution, so all these enquires about my PC-screen delay are BESIDES THE POINT! I thank you!

Another product which caught my eye on the internet is this 

Portable Multimedia DVD Player with 12 Inch Widescreen

a simpler, cheaper portable DVD-player, analogue only TV but still with an impressive 1280 x 800 screen resolution.
 
This link is to the Chinese distributor's webpage and the prices quoted are at your own risk, you must pay to ship it back to China to get it fixed if there is a problem with it type prices. Hence the low price of under £100 including shipping.
 
It is a great price for a 1280 x 800 screen but I'd much rather buy it locally with a local company offering a proper no-nonsense warranty.
 
I don't think I am cut out to be an importer and the Sale of Goods Act doesn't cut much ice with China.

Quote: Originally posted by riddles on 11/9/2009

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I would guess than unless it offers a recording function, ANY portable DVD player going to put your footage out in realtime.

I know the twin DVD player we use can (footage is the same on both screens, so unless there is some VERY fancy signal processing going on, 2nd player is putting out feed in realtime), and I'm pretty sure our old little 5" one was similar.

The reason I was bleating on about your capture card was to explain why that WASN'T realtime. Occasionally knowing why a result is negative is more important than getting a positive.

And with that geeky, thought, I'll go now...

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The Meos DVD-123B DOES include a record-from-Freeview function, though they don't claim a record-from-AV-input function.

Quote: From the http://www.wedodigital.co.uk/product/2068/12-lcd-tv/meos-dvd123b/

NEW: Digital Freeview Recorder. Record Digital Freeview TV to an SD card (included), USB memory stick, or external hard drive.

That record from Freeview TV function I could find very useful as well IF  it did not intefere and cause a buffering delay to the AV input video monitoring function.

Quote: Originally posted by Peter Dow on 08/9/2009

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http://www.wedodigital.co.uk/product/2068/12-lcd-tv/meos-dvd123b/

The DVD-123B, too, has a number of functions and because it is not simply a dedicated AV monitor, I worry that, like my PC, the DVD-123B may perform inadequately in this mode.

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Beth from DiddyDigital on Ebay (most likely the same Beth as on WeDoDigital) is now suggesting that

Quote: Beth
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/12v-12-Digital-Freeview-LCD-TV-Portable-DVD-Player-volt_W0QQitemZ350250237383QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_AudioTVElectronics_Video_DVDPlayers_Recorders?hash=item518c8a7dc7&_trksid=p4634.c0.m14.l1262

We advise that you order the item and test the item.
If the item is opened very carefully, and is returned to us in brand new condition as non suitable, within 7 days, a refund can be issued.,

Which is nice. I may take them up on that offer.