Iriver H300 series - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The iriver
Iriver
iriver is a consumer electronics company headquartered in South Korea and widely known for its digital audio players and other portable media devices....

H300 series includes two hard-disk-based, multi-codec

Codec

A codec is a device or computer program capable of encoding or decoding a digital data stream or signal. The word codec is a portmanteau of "compressor-decompressor" or, more commonly, "coder-decoder"...

music jukebox players, the iriver H320 and the iriver H340. Each can play music, transfer pictures directly from digital cameras and UMS

USB mass storage device class

The USB mass storage device class, otherwise known as USB MSC or UMS, is a protocol that allows a Universal Serial Bus device to become accessible to a host computing device, to enable file transfers between the two...

-compatible devices, such as flash drives (on the international version), and display digital images on a colour screen. Since version 1.20+ of the firmware, the devices can play movies at 10 frames per second with Xvid encoding.

Features

The features of the H300 series are

2 inch color screen with a resolution of 220x176
Playback of MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...

, Ogg
Ogg
Ogg is a free, open container format maintained by the Xiph.Org Foundation. The creators of the Ogg format state that it is unrestricted by software patents and is designed to provide for efficient streaming and manipulation of high quality digital multimedia.The Ogg container format can multiplex...

, WMA
Windows Media Audio
Windows Media Audio is an audio data compression technology developed by Microsoft. The name can be used to refer to its audio file format or its audio codecs. It is a proprietary technology that forms part of the Windows Media framework. WMA consists of four distinct codecs...

, ASF
Advanced Systems Format
Advanced Systems Format is Microsoft's proprietary digital audio/digital video container format, especially meant for streaming media...

and WAV
WAV
Waveform Audio File Format , is a Microsoft and IBM audio file format standard for storing an audio bitstream on PCs...

encoded sound files
FM Radio with 20 pre-set memories
Built-in 1300 mA·h
Ampere-hour
An ampere-hour or amp-hour is a unit of electric charge, with sub-units milliampere-hour and milliampere second...

Li-polymer
Lithium ion polymer battery
Lithium-ion polymer batteries, polymer lithium ion, or more commonly lithium polymer batteries are rechargeable batteries...

battery
Battery (electricity)
An electrical battery is one or more electrochemical cells that convert stored chemical energy into electrical energy. Since the invention of the first battery in 1800 by Alessandro Volta and especially since the technically improved Daniell cell in 1836, batteries have become a common power...

, advertised 16 hours playback time
Viewing JPEG
JPEG
In computing, JPEG . The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and image quality. JPEG typically achieves 10:1 compression with little perceptible loss in image quality....

and BMP
Windows bitmap
The BMP File Format, also known as Bitmap Image File or Device Independent Bitmap file format or simply a Bitmap, is a Raster graphics image file format used to store bitmap digital images, independently of the display device , especially on Microsoft Windows and OS/2 operating systems.The BMP...

pictures
Viewing TXT files
Viewing XviD
XviD
Xvid is a video codec library following the MPEG-4 standard, specifically MPEG-4 Part 2 Advanced Simple Profile . It uses ASP features such as b-frames, global and quarter pixel motion compensation, lumi masking, trellis quantization, and H.263, MPEG and custom quantization matrices.Xvid is a...

AVI
Audio Video Interleave
Audio Video Interleave , known by its acronym AVI, is a multimedia container format introduced by Microsoft in November 1992 as part of its Video for Windows technology. AVI files can contain both audio and video data in a file container that allows synchronous audio-with-video playback...

videos encoded at 10 frames per second
Recording via internal or external microphone or line-in to MP3
Recording of FM Radio to MP3
USB v2.0 Device Interface
USB v1.1 On-The-Go (OTG) Host Interface (International models)
Motorola Coldfire CPU http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/IriverH3XXHardwareComponents#Motorola_Coldfire_Integrated_Mic

Models

There are two models

iriver H320
- Toshiba MK2004GAL 20 GB
  Gigabyte
  The gigabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage. The prefix giga means 109 in the International System of Units , therefore 1 gigabyte is...
  
  1.8" hard disk
  Hard disk
  A hard disk drive is a non-volatile, random access digital magnetic data storage device. It features rotating rigid platters on a motor-driven spindle within a protective enclosure. Data is magnetically read from and written to the platter by read/write heads that float on a film of air above the...
  
  with a depth of 5 mm
- Size is approx. 62x103x22 mm (Width x Height x Depth)
- Weight is approx. 183 g
  Gram
  The gram is a metric system unit of mass....
iriver H340
- Toshiba MK4004GAH 40 GB hard disk 1.8" hard disk
  Hard disk
  A hard disk drive is a non-volatile, random access digital magnetic data storage device. It features rotating rigid platters on a motor-driven spindle within a protective enclosure. Data is magnetically read from and written to the platter by read/write heads that float on a film of air above the...
  
  with a depth of 8 mm
- Size is approx. 62x103x25 mm
- Weight is approx. 203 g

There are two hardware types for each model. These hardware types are commonly referred to by the locations they are sold. The USA models, predominantly sold in North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

, have a built in DRM

Digital rights management

Digital rights management is a class of access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals with the intent to limit the use of digital content and devices after sale. DRM is any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that...

key, which lets them play music with Microsoft DRM. The International models, sold everywhere but North America, do not handle DRM-restricted content and have the HOST port linked to the battery, which allows them to do USB On-The-Go

USB On-The-Go

USB On-The-Go, often abbreviated USB OTG, is a specification that allows USB devices such as digital audio players or mobile phones to act as a host allowing a USB Flash Drive, mouse, or keyboard to be attached.- Architecture :...

. The International models also support limited xvid

XviD

Xvid is a video codec library following the MPEG-4 standard, specifically MPEG-4 Part 2 Advanced Simple Profile . It uses ASP features such as b-frames, global and quarter pixel motion compensation, lumi masking, trellis quantization, and H.263, MPEG and custom quantization matrices.Xvid is a...

(10 frame/s) video playback.

North American models can be modified to support USB OTG by means of a small internal soldering job, an external modified cable, or a USB transfer box. International firmware is also required.

Preinstalled firmware

There are 4 different firmware editions available for H300's

Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

an - FM Radio tuner is fixed to European frequencies
FM broadcast band
The FM broadcast band, used for FM broadcast radio by radio stations, differs between different parts of the world. In Europe and Africa , it spans from 87.5 to 108.0 megahertz , while in America it goes only from 88.0 to 108.0 MHz. The FM broadcast band in Japan uses 76.0 to 90 MHz...

and the volume is limited as per EU directive. The video icon and mode introduced in v1.29 of the firmware is also not available due to licensing issues in Europe. This firmware is designated by an E appended to the version number. This firmware also ships in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

.
Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

n - FM Radio frequency is selectable between European, Korean, Japanese or Americas standards. Volume is not limited. This firmware is designated by a K appended to the version number.
Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese - Same as Korean but defaults to Japanese tuner region. This firmware is designated by a J appended to the version number.
Americas
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...

- Capable of playing WMA DRM protected music. This firmware has been updated twice since v1.02 (v1.03, v1.04) and does not have video support. It is also not possible to upgrade US firmware to any other firmware (including v1.03 unless it comes on the player) without permanently losing DRM capabilities.

International firmware updates

This firmware applies to the European, Korean and Japanese editions of the firmware.

1.02: First "standard" firmware made for the players when released
1.07: Shipped with new players only
1.08: Shipped with new players only
1.20: Added video playback support
1.25: Video improved (fast-forward and rewind added) and also introduced a bug which reduced battery life considerably
1.27: Battery bug fixed and still better video
1.28: Added clock and WAV playback. Added use of subfolders in "text" mode and playback speed. Use of remote control no longer triggers player backlight. First version that correctly preserves dates on files copied via USB-OTG
1.29: Released November 2005 – Added video icon & mode, JPEG thumbnails, Hebrew/Greek tags, 24-hour clock, resume playlist playback and true shuffle bug fixes, including bug fixes regarding the remote control's backlight. Korean firmware defaults to Korean language for the control panel.
1.30: Released December 2005 – This release is for the European firmware only. Due to licensing issues in Europe, it removed the video icon & mode added in release 1.29.
1.31 Released November 20, 2006 – Added quicklist (playlist) and games. No word on any other additions or bugfixes. (UMS only, not for US M.T.P. players.)

American firmware updates

This firmware only applies to the America's edition of the firmware.

1.02: Shipped with new players only
1.03: Shipped with new players only
1.04: Release November 2005 - Added support for .WAV playback, adjustable playback speed, JPEG Thumbnails, Hebrew/Greek tags, resume playlist playback, TEXT support for subfolders, true shuffle and bug fixes. This is the first version that can upgrade the America's firmware

External links