Nintendo taking preorders for Play-Yan
by James Ransom-Wiley 
{ Jan 20th 2005 at 1:59PM }
What's a Play-Yan? The device seems like Nintendo's best effort to match some of the PSP's multimedia capabilities—oh, but they're not competitors, right? Right.
For now, the Play-Yan is only available through Nintendo's Japanese website, and is being offered alone ($49) or bundled with Panasonic's Windows-based MediaStage 4.2 software ($59). It supports 5 hours of movie playback, 20 hours of music on the DS—4 & 16 hours respectively, on the GBA SP. Continue on for the complete specs…
Name: Play-Yan (Model AGS-006)
Size: 58.5mm x 43.4mm x 11mm
Weight: 16 grams
Media: SD Memory Card (64MB to 1GB)
Headphone output: Stereo Minijack
Battery Life, GBA SP: Movie - 4 hours; Audio - 16 hours*
Battery Life, DS: Movie - 5 hours; Audio - 20 hours *
* Battery life calculated with use of earphones; may differ depending on environment and SD card.
Compatible Files:
Video
File Format: ASF (SD-VIDEO Standard)
Video Format: MPEG-4 Video
Screen Resolution: 128x96 (Sub-QCIF), 176x144 (QCIF), 240x176, 320x240 (QVGA), 352x288 (CIF)
Bit Rate: 64kbps to 1Mbps
Frame Rate: 6fps to 30fps
Sound Format: Bit rate - 32kbps; Sampling rate - 8kHz
Audio
File Format: MP3 (MPEG1 Layer-3)
Bit Rate: 32kbps, 40kbps, 48kbps, 56kbps, 64kbps, 80kbps, 96kbps, 112kbps, 128kbps, 160kbps, 192kbps, 224kbps,
256kbps, 320kbps, CBR, VBR, ABR
Sampling Frequency: 32KHz, 44.1KHz, 48KHz
ID3 Tag: v1, v1.1, v2, v1/v2 mixed, v1.1/v2 mixed
Examples of Recordable Length on a 512MB SD Card:
Movie Recorded on a DIGA DVD recorder:
Superfine Mode (320x240, 15fps), 1050kbps: Approximately 1 hour
Fine Mode (320x240, 12fps), 430kbps: Approximately 2.5 hours
Normal Mode (176x144, 12fps), 300kbps: Approximately 3.5 hours
Economy Mode (176x144, 6fps), 100kbps: Approximately 11 hours
Movie Recorded on a PC Using MediaStage:
512kbps 240x176 (30fps): Approximately 2 hours
384kbps 240x176 (30fps): Approximately 3 hours
256kbps 240x176 (15fps): Approximately 4 hours
Audio:
128kbps: Approximately 9 hours (accomodates about 170 three-minute songs)
[via GameSpot]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tim? @ Dec 18th 2005 9:58PM
Excellent. So now, for an extra $60, you can watch video on either the tiny screen of the GBA, or the equally tiny screens of the DS.
Maybe if they added voice activation, or a rhythm game.
Ahh, I don't know what I'm saying. I'm drunk.
funkonaut @ Dec 18th 2005 9:58PM
How awesome would it be to copy programs from your TiVo onto an SD card for playback on your GBASP?!
movieadvance @ Dec 18th 2005 9:58PM
Nice, but I prefer the media and functionality of the GBA movie player. See: http://www.movieadvance.com/
Kamalot @ Dec 18th 2005 9:58PM
Is the MediaStage 4.2 software easy to use?
Can it rip DVDs to fit on SD cards?
Any idea if they plan on a Nintendo DS version of this that uses the touch-screen for an interface?
Danny @ Dec 18th 2005 9:58PM
Does anyone know if Nintendo has announced a US release for this product? I would order one from Japan if it came down to it. However, I'm not discounting the possibility that Nintendo would make improvements for a release here.
norebonomis @ Dec 18th 2005 9:58PM
i thought this WAS the GBA movie player. nintendo bought the company that made it. i swear i read this somewhere
I talked to Nintendo @ Dec 18th 2005 9:58PM
Hey, I talked to Nintendo. They said no plans for selling it in the US. Nope. Makes me upset. They must not think people will buy it.
Donnie @ Dec 18th 2005 9:58PM
Nintendo have said since late February that the Play-Yan will be released in the US and Europe. That comes straight from the vice president of marketing Regginald Fils-Aime. It will be officially announced/shown, at E3.