Customer Reviews

Prime Entertainment Disney Mix Max Plus Media Player - Pirates of the Caribbean

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It's a nice product & the kids LOVE it, but getting movies on it was 3 weeks of hell trying to figure out how. After MANY net searches I finally bought instructions from [...]

First you need to rip the DVD to a WMV ([...] you have 5 free opens until you have to buy, so don't ever close it!), then you need to encode it with special instructions (Below). The process took approx 10 hours total. Not bad if you just start ripping one at bed time & encode it before you go to work. However I had only 4 days before the big day to rip & encode 12 movies for the two players, since the search how was so lenghthy. FYI I got 6-7 movies on the 4 GB SD card with this method.

Now that we know how, it's no problem.

In Microsoft Encoder 9:
Click New Session,
Click Convert a File,
once you pick the Original WMV file location, you need to make a 2nd folder for the destination,
Click Pocket PC,
Click Next,
Give it a Title,
Click Finish.
Once it starts, hit stop then
Click Properties,
Click the Compression Tab,
Click the Edit Button,
Keep Audio at 9.2, but change Video to 9 (Not 9 screen).
Click the 259 Kbps tab
Change the Audio format to 128 kbps, 48 kHz, stereo CBR
Change Video Size to: 320 x 240
Change Frame rate to: 30
Change Key frame interval to: 5
Change Video bit rate to: 384K
Change Frame Interval to: 5 sec
Change Decoder Complexity to: Simple
Click OK, then Apply, then X out of the screen & hit Start Encoding. It will ask you if you want to rewrite the file, Click Yes & You can walk away for the approx 2 hours it will take to encode.

Hope this helps someone. If I can scan the instructions with screen shots, I will add the link later, or you can spend the $7.00 & buy them from sumthin4alloyuz.

My kids absolutely LOVED the ones they got for Christmas. I got 3 different printed ones for my kids, ages 4, 7 and 8 and they all LOVE them! They have been used more than any other toy they got for Christmas. I bought Magic DVD ripper and it has an option for the Mix Max and Mix Max Plus and makes it SUPER easy to rip DVDs in one step for them!!

Games, pictures, music and movies at a great price. You can't beat that. Any device that wants to synchronize is going to be a little bit of trouble. Just remember, load and run the software that comes with the player before hooking it up, especially if you are already synchronizing other devices to the PC like an iPod. If you don't, it may try to hijack the synchronization settings. Next, choose either the Disney sync or Window's Media Player sync. Switching between the two works but it is a headache. Some videos from phones, iTunes or Flip type cameras will come right over, others you have to encode to Simple WMV settings. I had a couple SpongeBobs and The Muppet Christmas Carol on this thing in no time. I'll buy a couple 4GB SD Cards and have 10+ movies ready for the next flight with the kids. This thing is awesome for the price.

I bought Prime Entertainment Disney Mix Max Plus Media Player - Pirates of the Caribbean last Christmas for my 6 yr old daughter for the purpose of car & traveling entertainment. It was one of the best purchases I have made for her! It comes with 2 games installed and we never added any more, she uses it mostly for watching movies, and also for the music. I use a 4GB memory card in it, simple to use if you have a card reader on your computer, drag and drop music and videos. As for the movies that people have had so much trouble getting formatted to work on this player, I use Pocket DVD Wizard, it has a setting specifically for Mix Max Plus (for the regular Mix Max too- along with tons of other handheld video watching devices), you start with 2 options of retrieving the video you want to convert, DVD or video file - now I use the video file option, never tried the DVD option. Anyway, you run through a few options, it generally defaults to the optimal choice for each option so not too much messing with settings, it does it's thing, and done, your vid is ready for you Mix Max Plus. Really simple. The ear buds that come with it are a little tough on small ears, we ended up using ear phones rather then plugs, but it has been well used, dropped, stomped, stickified, and still runs perfectly a year later. Battery life lasts through several full length movies (I charge it by USB on the PC). Once in awhile it gets a little stubborn about turning on, seems to be a dead-low battery thing, so I leave it to charge, come back, no more problems. I put a bunch of photos on there for her to look at too, which she did, maybe once. :)

Overall, excellent buy!!! I would highly recommend. Oh - I ended buying the Pirates of the Caribbean version because it was SOO much cheaper then the girly ones like Tinkerbell and Hannah Montana for the same product, just different covers, and was a little worried she wouldn't take to it because it wasn't PINK, but once she saw what it did, I don't think she even noticed. :)

I've bought two of these players now, and although they were the "girly" versions, I would imagine the inner workings are the same. I hope others may learn from our mistakes.

First, I chose this player because it had an SD slot, something practically unheard of for most MP3 players, and because there were songs and movies that I could purchase. It all seemed so simple. Well, I later learned that the music/movies for sale by Disney are EXTREMELY expensive, if you can find them at all. (I think they only have about 10 movies available.) So we loaded our own--the music was simple, any ripped CD or downloaded MP3 files I had on my computer worked perfectly. The movies were harder, but there are a couple downloadable programs that can rip DVDs that you've already purchased (just like ripping CDs) for viewing on your device. (We like Magic DVD Ripper because it has a "Mix Max" option so it will rip and encode in one step. The Mix Max takes a totally random format, so you will need something like this that will recognize it.) Problem one solved.

The other problem we had was with the battery. The player worked for the first six months, no problem, and then all the sudden one day it wouldn't charge. Plug it in...nothing happens. After researching online, we think this is because we failed to "safely" remove the device from the computer before unplugging it, which reset the battery. A dead device. After all the work to get the movies for it, we decided to buy another one, but this time we only charge it using a USB wall charger, and we only use the songs/movies/pictures that are loaded on the SD cards. Basically, this device has never met my computer! ' It works great, and my young daughter really enjoys it!

Bottom line: This is a cute player for younger kids, due to the disney-ness of it, but you have to have a savvy adult around for the encoding and the loading. I am thinking about getting one for my young nephew, but I'll be giving my sister a detailed instruction list! And get in the habit of "removing" your USB devices before yanking them out of the port! Hope this was helpful!

This device is awesome... I don't know why the others are having such a hard time loading a video onto the device... That's all you need is windows media player 11 or better, and just sync to the device... the original file has to be a .avi or .wma I travel about 1 hour to see my mom... this device keeps my daughter busy the whole trip... I use a 4gig SD card plus the 1 gig of internal memory gives me a total of 5 gig's, and it holds a bout 3 movies and 5 or 6 TV shows, and about 50 songs... I bought a usb car charger at the Dollar Tree for $1.00... In Short I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

We have purchased 4 of these players and have been very happy with them. My kids are 7,5, and 3. The players have held up very well over two years of use and abuse. The battery life on the players is 6-8 hours and if it dies then I they use a mini USB plug to charge. It comes with a mini USB cable to charge and sync with but if you want a wall or car charger then just check the clearance bin at any electronics or bargain retail store and you can find a generic mini USB cable for $1-$5. The screens get some scuffs on them that you can see when not in use but when the movies are playing they are not noticeable. My kids have never even mentioned the scuffs. I have loaned them out to friends who were taking trips and the first response when they return them is always "those are great, where can I get one?"

The hardest part of using the player is getting WMV movies. I use third-party software to rip my own DVDs that I own. There are lots of options out there for rippers but the one I use is Magic DVD Ripper. The players have an expansion slot for an SD card so I can store about 8 movies on the card at one time.

There are only a few complaints that I have with the player. The cover for the mini USB jack comes off easily and is lost. The cover for the SD card slot is also kind of flimsy and my 2-year-old pulled it off. The player is usable but the SD card is exposed and little fingers might push on the card (which is spring-loaded to eject).

Overall, I love these things. I bought one for each of my kids and they love them. Factor in the fact that they run about 10% the cost of an iPod and that sells me. They have been stepped on, dropped out of the car, fallen down the stairs and they keep playing.

The sound and screen size is very good. However, the video feature is not as good due to the fact that it's very hard to load an average joe video clip into the unit as you have to convert it so many times into the acceptable file format. The manufacteurer should have made it to read all types of media clips out there not just one.

I upgraded from the Spongebob 1gb media player due to the sound being so low on that model. This model is very nice, though we have to use the earbuds as sound is very low when using regular headphones. The bigger screen size on this Mix Max Plus model is very nice and the clarity of the screen is great. It comes with 2 preloaded games - Pirates and Tinkerbell which are simple but fun to play. I didn't have any problems syncing music or pictures to the device using my Vista version laptop that has Windows Media. It encoded the music and pictures automatically.

As for movies, I had a small issue, but figured it out quickly. I use Magic DVD Ripper which automatically rips and converts to the appropriate format in one step. You just choose the type of file you want it converted to. In this particular case, you choose "more profiles," then check the Disney Mix Max Plus box and it automatically converts the ripped DVD's to the exact format and resolution necessary to play on the Mix Max Plus. I tried to put just a regular WMV file on an SD card, and it would not play, just to give fair warning. However, I was able to transfer a regular WMV file over to the Mix Max Plus hard drive and it was correctly encoded via my Windows Media Player.

My point is, use Magic DVD Ripper as this program is already set up to format movies for Mix Max Plus and Mix Max players, and you can avoid all of the difficulty of converting other ways. I can fit about 5-6 movies and several songs on one 2gb SD card. On an 8gb card, I've so far put 17 movies and still have 1.2gb left.

So, overall, this player is very nice and for under $20, it can't be beat.

Addendum: I had problems with the games menu freezing up after I tried to download some java games, so don't attempt, but the problem was remedied quickly.

I contacted Digiblue and was given the following information: In order to hard reset your device, plug the device into your computer and open the device under "My Computer." Click on the Disney Mix Max icon. Then, right click on the internal storage icon. On the drop down box, click "format." Please note, that clicking on format will erase anything you have on the device, so be sure and have it saved elsewhere. Then click format and a warning will come up stating that all info will be deleted. Reformatting will only take a few seconds. Once it's down, unplug your device. This solved my problem immediately.

Also, on occasion, her player will just stop playing a movie and jump to the next movie without apparent provocation. Don't know what the issue with that is, but it's nothing fatal.

Hope this helps.

I purchased 1 Priates of the Carribean Mix Max with movie max clip along with 2 of the High School Musical Disney Mix Maxes with movie max clips and the packages all said that you can download video and audio media from the Disney Mix Central website for the device...however after purchasing several episodes of Hannah Montana videos on the Disney Mix Central website, I found that the videos are not supported and will not sync to the device. Disney Mix Central told me to contact Digital Blue for assitance in syncing the videos to the device......Digital Blue in turn, told me to contact Disney Mix Central because the videos are no longer compatible with those devices and they have no control over that...after countless hours of trying to figure out how to put the videos I purchased on the device or on a SD card, and after downloading and installing Windows Media Encoder9 (per Digital Blue)to convert the videos.... I still find that I cannot convert and sync the downloaded videos from Disney Mix Central to play on the Disney Mix Max devices. Disney Mix Central did refund the cost of my video purchases and insist I contact Digital Blue. This is a huge disappointment and I feel that I didn't get what I paid for.
So basically I purchased 3 glorified MP3 players that will play the movie that came with them or other expensive movies prerecorded on Disney Max Clips but I cannot download video from Disney Mix Central as the packages said I could. I call this a huge disappontment and a tremedous waste of my money and my time. The devices are clearly not what they say they are and if you try to contact customer support you will get a run around. I do not recommend purhasing one of these Mix Max devices.