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[blackwind]

I I bought a gameboy micro very recently (and love that damn thing). So as a standard Nintendo prostitute I was considering a Play Yan micro.

Some of my biggest questions are

1. How's the video quality? Will I be able to watch movies and shows on it without feeling that I'm watching it on a loading GIF?

2. Sound quality? Is the sound quality > or = to the ipod?

3. Where should I buy it? Play Asia has it for 69+4ship, is that a good price? How about ebay?


4. I heard that it can play mini games is that true?

5. And finally, probably the oldest question in the book, is it going to be worth it?

...Thanks GAF!

 

[Suite Pee]

Well, considering that iPods don't have good sound quality, it probably wins there.

 

[Blackie]

Yea I was extremely disappointed with the iPod sound quality, it's freakin DESIGNED for music.

Hows the video quality on the yan?

 

[WindyMan]

First of all, read my review:

http://www.planetgamecube.com/reviews.cfm?action=hwprofile&id=606

Here's the deal with the Play-Yan. There are actually two versions of it. The original Play-Yan (which I reviewed) plays MP3 and a funky ASF file format. You can play super-mini games from the get-go, and MP4 files (same as the PSP) with a firmware upgrade. All of that stuff is available at NCL's website.

The Play-Yan Micro replaced the Play-Yan original. There are some differences between the two, but they work the same for music and video. To answer question #4, the PY Micro doesn't play mini-games. (To be honest, they were so "mini" that you're really not losing anything with the Micro version.)

1. How's the video quality? Will I be able to watch movies and shows on it without feeling that I'm watching it on a loading GIF?

I use it mostly for watching anime, and it looks just fine. The video can run at 30fps, so as long as you encode it decently, it'll look pretty nice, despite the lower resolution. It's no PSP, but for the price and portability, you can't beat it.

2. Sound quality? Is the sound quality > or = to the ipod?

It sounds the same as every other MP3 player I've used. No noise or other audio problems that I could hear. Video audio is good too.

3. Where should I buy it? Play Asia has it for 69+4ship, is that a good price? How about ebay?

$70 is about what you're going to pay for it. Lik-Sang has free shipping. Oh, we have a $5 off coupon, too.

Alternatively, I still have the original Play-Yan model in my posession. (After I got my Micro, I was so impressed with the Micro + Play-Yan combo, I bought the Play-Yan Micro version.) I don't recommend using the old PY model with the GB Micro, but if you want it for like $30, I can sell it to you (or anyone) if you want a deal. [edit: Someone took me up on this offer already! No longer available.]

5. And finally, probably the oldest question in the book, is it going to be worth it?

I think so. If you have some decent sized SD cards around (which are not included, of course) it makes the price of it cheaper. I have a 256MB and a 1GB, and generally I can get about 1½ hours of video and three or four albums worth of MP3s on the gig, which is plenty for me.

I love mine.

 

[VOOK]

Whats wrong using the Originial with the Micro

 

[blackwind]

Thanks Wendyman, couldn't have asked for a better response.

Is the original PY larger? worse vid/aud quality?

Also, does the micro version have the mini games I've been hearing about?

 

[WindyMan]

Is the original PY larger? worse vid/aud quality?

The original Play-Yan (PY) is the exact same unit as the Play-Yan Micro (PYm). The only difference is the firmware, basically. The list of differences between the two is outlined in one of the PGC links in my above post, and those are really the only differences. There certainly wasn't a difference between MP3 audio quality between the two versions. They're both just great. Video is basically the same, too, as long as you use MP4.

Also, does the micro version have the mini games I've been hearing about?

To answer question #4, the PY Micro doesn't play mini-games.

Whats wrong using the Originial with the Micro

The biggest change Nintendo made to the PYm was to change how the unit went to sleep. Pressing L+R put the system to sleep and saved mucho battery life. Any face button woke it up. The PY was designed to work with the GBA SP, so it could close to shield the face buttons from accidental pressing. Once it's awake, the buttons might accidently skip songs or change the volume up on you, which is inconvenient.

The Micro has all the buttons exposed, so it can very easily wake up and start draining the battery faster than if it were in sleep mode. The PYm adressed this by having the Start Button be the only thing that can wake it up, and with how the Micro is designed, it's near impossible for that to happen accidently.

The PY works 100% fine with the GB Micro. The only thing that sucks is that it's very hard to use it if you keep it in your pockets. The PYm does not have this problem because of the re-assigning of the wake-up function.

 

[Companion Cube]

Is there a max card capacity for the PYm? I thought I heard something about that before but can't find anything on it...

 

[WindyMan]

Is there a max card capacity for the PYm? I thought I heard something about that before but can't find anything on it...

1GB max. Here are the rest of the tech specs, translate what you can't figure out:

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n08/play_yan_micro/spec/index.html

 

[blackwind]

I have a mac, is there a Play Yan video converter available for OS X?

 

[n-off]

what about a us release? isn't it coming?

 

[radioheadrule83]

I have a mac, is there a Play Yan video converter available for OS X?

You can probably do it with Quicktime, or some other variant.

The video / audio probably have to be in a certain format, once you've found that just set it all up in MPG4 export and you should be good to go.

 

[WindyMan]

what about a us release? isn't it coming?

NOA has never formally announced anything about it coming Stateside. The only thing ever mentioned about it was in a Reggie GDC 05 interview at GameSpot:

GS: Has there been any thought given to bringing the Play-yan out in the US?

RF: The Play-yan is a really neat idea. What we're looking to do is see how we make it applicable for our consumer out of the box. What I mean by that is, to have the Play-yan, to have an SD card, maybe have one or two free music downloads that are built into a package is really what we're trying to conceptualize, because we think that's right for this American marketplace. So more to come at E3 on that.

With how the GB Micro's image is being perceived, if Nintendo doesn't announce something about the PYm at or before E3, it's probably not going to come out here. The PYm is the perfect compliment to the Game Boy Micro, and NOA would be a bit foolish to not try and capitalize on that.

I'll give you the obligiitory "wait for E3" line, but Reggie said that last year, and we're still waiting.

 

[n-off]

THX for the info!
I bought the gbm famicom edition last month and I'm not sure if I should import the PYM or wait a little longer. The main reason for getting the gbm was mp3 playback oh well... I guess I'll wait another month...
I read somewhere that the encode-software won't work on our PCs here. Do you know what format the videos will have to be in so I can encode 'em with tmpgenc?

 

[CreatureX3]

Here is a clip a member of the Lik-Sang forum posted a while back showing his Play-Yan Micro playing back some video footage.

http://rapidshare.de/files/7664292/PlayYanVideo1.avi.html

 

[tedtropy]

Alternatively, I still have the original Play-Yan model in my posession. (After I got my Micro, I was so impressed with the Micro + Play-Yan combo, I bought the Play-Yan Micro version.) I don't recommend using the old PY model with the GB Micro, but if you want it for like $30, I can sell it to you (or anyone) if you want a deal.

I wouldn't mind buying it off of you. Please drop me a PM when you have the time. Thanks.

 

[japtor]

I have a mac, is there a Play Yan video converter available for OS X?

theres this thing, shareware though: http://ipsp.kaisakura.com/iplayan.php

otherwise you could probably do it with quicktime export, or even ipod video export now (i think through itunes if you want), or any number of mpeg 4 encoders. there are a bunch. im hoping it can do h.264 one day, but im not counting on it.

i have no clue how tolerant it is with mp4s though...like the psp is a little bit of a bastard in that sense, im not sure how the playyan is (format, directories, naming, etc). its been one of my concerns about it. can you shed some light on this windyman? and the folder structure in general i guess, is it easy to add stuff or hard/annoying?

and im guessing this is the sd card compatibility chart: http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n08/play_yan_micro/subwin2/index.html
looks like it works with one 2gb card from there at least.

 

[blackwind]

wow that iPlay Yan looks like a sure deal, thanks!!!

That vid of the micro playing a vid is awesome, I can't belive the GBA is capable of this already, just awesome.

Thanks.

 

[Ryck]

How is Play-yan any different than say.............this?

 

[WindyMan]

How is Play-yan any different than say.............this?

We have a review of the GBA Movie Player, too.

http://www.planetgamecube.com/reviews.cfm?action=hwprofile&id=433

The difference with the Movie Player is that files need to be converted to .gbm and .gbs (GBA format files). Everything can be converted to those files, but it's not as simple as a drag-and-drop. Additionally, the interface is less than user-friendly. With the PY, it's just putting MP3s and MP4s on an SD card, and it's good to go (as long as the video files are encoded for the GBA resolution).

The extra cost of the PYm is worth it.

 

[japtor]

How is Play-yan any different than say.............this?

doesnt that suffer from having to use the gba audio output (sorta scratchy)? play yan has its own output jack with much cleaner audio. otherwise the play yan just doesnt stick out nearly as much.

forgot to mention this thing, and didnt see it in the pgc articles:

you can download a different interface (complete with different sounds and stuff). unfortunately i dont know if there are any others available, or if there is a way to homebrew up your own.

 

[WindyMan]

doesnt that suffer from having to use the gba audio output (sorta scratchy)? play yan has its own output jack with much cleaner audio. otherwise the play yan just doesnt stick out nearly as much.

Audio quality goes down the pisser when it goes through the GBA hardware, and it sounds terrible through the GB speaker or GB headphone jack. The GB Movie Player gets around this somewhat by converting the files to native Game Boy file formats, but you lose the ease of drag/drop MP3s. Sound quality isn't as good with the GB formats, but it's better than MP3s going through the GBA.

forgot to mention this thing, and didnt see it in the pgc articles:

you can download a different interface (complete with different sounds and stuff). unfortunately i dont know if there are any others available, or if there is a way to homebrew up your own.

Oh, I forgot to mention that. The Mario interface on the PYm is actually a part of the hardware. You can download an ini file from Nintendo's PYm site that will save your default prefs and let you change over to the Mario interface if you want to. I think there's a button command you can hit on start-up to choose which interface you want, but I haven't figured it out yet.

The Mario interface is neat, the selection sounds change to, to shell bonks and brick-breaks.

 

[Companion Cube]

OOOOO it supports 2gb! I was hesitant at first cause I already carry a 1gb shuffle around. 2gb seals the deal! AAAAH IM SO EXCITED

I can buy the stand alone Play-yan, but I also see Play-Yan with some mediastage software or something for $10 more. I don't need/want that right?

 

[WindyMan]

OOOOO it supports 2gb! I was hesitant at first cause I already carry a 1gb shuffle around. 2gb seals the deal! AAAAH IM SO EXCITED

I can buy the stand alone Play-yan, but I also see Play-Yan with some mediastage software or something for $10 more. I don't need/want that right?

Oh wow, it does support 2GB cards. But only some of them it looks like. I would have got a 2 gig had I known that.

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n08/play_yan_micro/subwin2/index.html

So the Media Stage software. It's basically worthless. It's a Japanese program, so it won't work unless you change your Windows region and language to Japanese. It's a pain in the ass. Don't spend the extra $10 on it.

I use the 3GP converter. A small any extremely easy to use thing that converts files perfectly with the proper configuration files. Check that out here:

http://forum.lik-sang.com/showthread.php?t=9256

Lik-Sang also has a forum dedicated to the Play-Yan if you're curious about anything else.

 

[blackwind]

Oh and one more question about the Yan....
I'll lower my volume when I ask this
Can the PY run Homebrew?

fingers crossed.

 

[WindyMan]

If you mean homebrew games, then no. The garage games (which work on the original discountinued Play-Yan only) take up less than 1/6 of the space of the GB screen. They're tiny, tiny games. It may be possible to reverse-engineer the games, but you're not going to get much out of it.

The PY isn't a PSP by any stretch of the imagination. Don't think of it capable of doing the stuff the PSP can do. All the PY does is play MP3s, ASFs, MP4s and the smallest mini-games concievable.