Epson America Inc. on Thursday introduced its P-4000 Multimedia Storage Viewer. Epson is positioning the device for digital photographers, though it’s also capable of playing music and digital video. The P-4000 is Mac and Windows compatible and costs US$699.
The P-4000 features built-in flash media card slots compatible with CompactFlash Type I and II media, and Secure Digital (SD) memory cards — other cards are supported with third-party adapters. It also touts an 80GB hard disk drive and 3.8-inch LCD display. It connects to a Mac or Windows PC using USB 2.0, and can also connect to select Epson printers.
The built-in memory slots enable digital photographers to insert a memory card, download its contents to the P-4000, clear it and then begin using it again. Files stored on the P-4000 can be transferred to a computer for later review.
Featuring Epson’s “Photo Fine” technology, the P-4000 displays a pixel density of 212 pixels per inch and uses a processing technique that delivers three colors per pixel.
The P-4000 can view JPEG image files and RAW image files from select digital SLR cameras, MPEG-4 and Motion JPEG (MJPEG) video, and MP3 and unprotected AAC audio files. The 80GB storage capacity makes it possible for the P-4000 to store more than 75,000 images, 25,000 songs or 90 to 300 hours of video according to Epson, depending on how the content is encoded.
The P-4000 can be attached to a video monitor, television or projector — it’s NTSC and PAL compatible. It’s powered by a Lithium Ion rechargeable battery that lasts for about three hours of continuous slide show viewing or two hours of continuous downloading from a memory card. It comes with a charger/AC adapter and USB cable.