Epson P-2000 Multimedia Storage Viewer

The Epson P-2000 is a photo viewer and file storage device with an impressive list of features, topped by a fine 3.8" display and MP3 playback capabilities.

The P-2000 is quite bulky, measuring 84 x 147 x 31.4mm. Its sleek black and silver casing felt sturdy and looked great, but it was very hard to keep free of fingerprints. Inside, our review unit had a 40GB hard disk for storing video, audio and images transferred to it via a USB cable.

The P-2000's 640 x 480 pixel LCD screen is among the best we've seen on these types of devices and is excellent for viewing photos. The photos uploaded to the device were all clear and bright, and the colour depth in the menu was excellent and easy on the eyes. The screen was so bright that it was virtually unaffected by sunlight and all types of other lighting conditions.

To the left of the screen is an accessible five-way navigational button that is big enough to cater for those with large fingers. At the top of this navigational button are keys for Print and Menu and at the bottom are keys for Cancel, Display and Home. Generally, the unit's controls were very easy to access, which made using the P-2000 an enjoyable experience.

The unit features AV-out support (for connecting the P-2000 to a television), a headphone jack, DC-in and USB ports--all located on the left side of the device. CompactFlash and Secure Digital card slots are available at the top of the unit. Epson also allows you to print directly from the P-2000 to some models of Epson printers via USB.

Browsing through your files is easy, and the menu is colourful, vibrant and simple to navigate, with the files displayed in thumbnail form. Photos were quick to load and even faster to scroll through. The P-2000 also features a slide show feature, where you can group your photos together to display to friends or family, and play up to three audio files as background music. The response time when quickly scrolling through menu items or photos was also impressive.

The P-2000 supports a range of file formats, including: JPEG and RAW image files, MPEG4 and Motion JPEG video files and MP3 and AAC audio files. The sound quality and volume of MP3 playback is above average, but the external speaker doesn't provide much in terms of audio quality. Headphones would have been a bonus, but it's clear this device is designed more for viewing photos than for playing music.