Acer MP400 User manual

Acer MP400
User’s Manual
Ver 1.0

Copyright
Copyright 2006 by Acer Inc., All rights reserved. No part of this production may be
reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into any
languages or computer language, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
magnetic, optical, chemical, manual or otherwise, without the prior written permission of
Acer Computer GmbH.
Disclaimer
Acer Inc. make no representations or warranties, either expressed or implied, with respect
to the contents hereof and specifically disclaims any warranties, merchantability or fitness
for any particular purpose. Any software described in this manual is sold or licensed “as is”.
Should the programs prove defective following this purchase, the buyer (and not this
company, its distributor, or its dealer) assumes the entire cost of all necessary servicing,
repair, and any incidental or consequential damages resulting from any defect in the
software. Further, Acer Computer GmbH, reserves the right to revise this publication and to
make changes from time to time in the contents hereof without obligation to notify any
person of such revision or change.
All brand and product names mentioned in this manual are trademarks and/or registered
trademarks of their respective holders.

1
Contents
I Safety Declaration 2
II Product Description 2
1.MainCharacteristics 2
2. Product Distribution Diagram 3
3.PackedAccessories 3
4.BatteryCharge 4
5. Connection of External Interface 5
6.UseofRemoteController 5
7.USBDriveInstallation 6
8. Disk Directory Management 8
9. Safe Movement and Removal 8
III Basic Functions 9
1.MainMenu 9
2. Video Play 10
3. Music Enjoyment 11
4.ViewPicture 13
5. E-book 15
6. Viewing and Recording of External Programs 17
7.FileOperation 18
8. Menu Setup 21
9.FirmwareUpgrade 25
IV FAQ 26
V Product Specifications 27

2
I Safety Declaration
1. Please carefully and thoroughly read this safety guide.
2. Please keep this manual secure for future reference.
3. Please keep the unit dry.
4. Please avoid exposing this unit to sunlight.
5. Don’t pour any liquid into this unit, otherwise it will cause damage or electric shock.
6. Please contact with a professional for handling this MP400 Player if the following
situations occur:
Liquid penetrates into this unit
The unit is affected by damp
The operation of this unit is not normal, or the user can’t return to normal
operational status by consulting this manual
The unit is dropped or is damaged
7. Please don’t use MP400 Player in the following situations:
While driving a vehicle
Carrying out dangerous work
Walking on the street
Any situation that needs full concentration
8. Please don’t use liquid or spraying agent to clean this unit. Please use soft, wet cloth
to wipe this unit.
9. During listening with earphones, please adjust to suitable volume to avoid hearing
from being damaged.
10.Note: Improper use of battery may cause explosion! Please correctly use the battery
as per instruction stated in Section: Battery!
11.Don’t throw used battery into the waste bin, it should be recycled.
II Product Description
Thank you for purchasing this Acer MP400 product. This kind of product is a
high-performance portable multimedia recorder and player with Li-Polymer battery. With the
use of Acer MP400 product, you can play video or music files with different formats, which
will bring you outstanding visual and music experience. And you can record music and
video signals. This kind of product is also portable USB storage equipment and you can
store and manage your personal data.
1. Main Features
Display – Supports 3.5’’ TFT LCD large screen display. Clearly displays picture and
video files.
Video Play – Supports the playing of video files with the formats of MPEG-4 SP, Xvid,
and WMV-9 SP@ML.
Due to constant changes and the variety of encoding and compression methods for
different video file format, some of the video files downloaded from Internet may not be
properly displayed on MP400. Even if the file follows “MPEG4” format, the file may still
not be able to display by MP400 properly due to special format characteristics.
Music Play – Support the playing of music files with the formats of MP3 (MPEG1 Layer2,
Layer3), and WMA (WMA9).
Lyric Synchronization – Supports the synchronous display of sound and lyrics(Unicode)
Image Viewing – Supports the JPEG/BMP/GIF file format. You can copy images into the
MP400 for viewing.
Text File Reading – Supports .txt (Unicode) text reading function (e-book function).
Recording – Supports the recording function of video、music and speech. You can use

3
the unit to record video、music signals from external sources.
AV Input and Output – Supports AV input function. You can enjoy television programs
through the large screen of MP400. Also supports AV output function, and you can
transfer video and music signals of the MP400 to external devices (such as television).
USB 2.0 Interface – Supports USB 2.0 High-Speed and Full-speed operation.
SD/MMC Card Slot – Supports Extended SD/MMC Card.
Battery – In-board chargeable Li-Polymer battery, which can repeatedly charge the
battery.
Video Format Conversion – You can convert unplayable video files into playable format
through video format conversion software.
Multi-Languages –Supports many languages, including simplified Chinese, traditional
Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Dutch and Spanish
Firmware upgrade – Support firmware upgrade.
2. Button Location
3. Packaging / Accessories
Please confirm the packaging and accessories have the contents below:
9Acer MP400 Player
9User’s Manual
9Power Adapter
9Installation CD
9AV Cable
9USB Cable
9Stereo earphones
9Pretection cover
1DcIn 7 Power 13 Up
2Earphone 8 TV/Hold 14 Enter
3AvIn 9 VOL- 15 Down
4AvOut 10 VOL+ 16 MIC
5USBconnecter 11 Menu 17 PowerLed
6SD/MMC Card Slot 12 Esc

4
4. Charging of Battery
This section includes: charging of battery, and the use of external power adapter.
4.1 Power Volume Indication
Battery is fully charged Battery is partially drained Battery is drained
Note: If the power volume indication of battery shows only one block or is empty, it
indicates the power supply is obviously lacking, please charge the battery.
4.2 Charging of Battery
You can use the external power adapter to charge the battery. The charging can be
performed when the power of MP400 Player is on or off. The detailed charging method is as
follows:
1) Connect the power cable with the power adapter.
2) Insert the DC plugs of power adapter into the DC input port of MP400 Player.
3) Insert the power plug into the power socket.
4.3 Use of External Power Adapter
You can use external power adapter to supply directly power for MP400 Player. The
operation method is the same with the battery charging method.
5. Connection of External Interface
1) Connect Television for viewing
Use AV cable to connect to AV out socket of MP400 Player and input socket of signal of
television.
2) Connect Television for Recording
Connect the output socket of signal of television set and AV input socket of MP400
Player through AV cable.
3) Connection of Music Device
Insert the AV cable into the AV input socket of MP400 Player. Connect the music signal
(left/right) of AV cable through “Y” type cable. Insert other end of Y type cable into the
output socket of music device.

5
4) Connection of Computer
Use USB cable to connect the MP400 Player with computer, for data transfer.
5) Connection of Stereo Earphones
Insert the stereo earphones into the corresponding socket of MP400 Player.
6. Installation of USB Driver
USB driver only needs to be installed for Windows98/se operation system. The installation
steps are as follow:
1) Insert the accessory CD into the CDROM and it will work automatically. The interface
shows as follows.
2) Click <Install>, and finish the installation of the drive with clues. The restart of the
computer is needed afterward.
Confirm the USB driver has been installed.
1) Turn on the power of MP400 and use USB cable to connect with computer.
2) Select [Control Panel / System / Device Manager]. The following interface is to be
displayed;
3) Select the Universal serial bus controllers and the installed USB driver will be displayed;
Note: If the USB driver hasn’t been displayed as per the above, please uninstall the USB
drive and reinstall it.

6
7. Disk Directory Management
1) When the host machine is normally connected with the computer and the storage
device such as SD/MMC card has inserted in the removable disk, the removable disk
icon will be displayed in [windows explorer]. There are six directories, [video]、[music].、
[photo], [Ebook], [VideoRecorder] and [AudioRecorder];
Note: Please don’t delete manually such default directories as [video], [music], [photo],
[Ebook], [VideoRecorder] and [AudioRecorder] under the root directory of removable disk
because the deletion of such directories will result in the abnormal operation of this product.
If these directories above have been deleted unintentionally, please re-open these
directories after this unit is shut off, and the MP400 Player will automatically establish such
directories for you.
2) Please store these files into the corresponding directories as per their types.
Music directory: Music file
Video directory: Video file
Photo directory: Picture file
Textbook directory: Electronic book
Video Recorder directory: Video record
Music Recorder directory: Music record
8. Safe Deletion from Computer
1) Select the icon of [plug and play device] in the task column, click right key and select
[safely delete hardware];
2) Select the hardware device needing to be stopped, and click [Stop] button;
3) Select the drive needing to be stopped, and click [Confirm] button;
4) Click [Close] button to finish the entire operation;
Note: Abnormal interruption of the connection of this product with the computer may cause

7
damage to this product.
9. Power on / Power off
1) Power on: Hold down the power key for 3 seconds, and the screen will display the
power on logo of Acer. It will enter into the interface of main menu.
2) Power off: Hold down power key for 3 seconds, and unit will turn off.
III Basic Functions
1. Main Menu
After the unit is turned on, the main interface will be displayed on the screen (as shown in
the below figure). Several icons are displayed on the main interface: video, music, photo,
e-book, record, files, resume and setup. Press three-direction key to select your desired
functions (up, down), and press three-direction（Enter）key to confirm, and enter into the
corresponding operational interface. Press TV/Hold key for long time to turn on the function
of locking keyboard, and re-press TV/Hold key for long time to turn off the function of
locking keyboard.
2. Video Play
1) Select video function on the main interface and press three-direction（enter）key to
confirm, and enter into the interface of video file list.

8
2) Press “menu” key to call up the file operation menu. The detailed operation method is
shown in the description in the file operation section.
a. Desktop: Select “Desktop” to go back to the main interface.
b. New, copy, move, delete and rename: Refer to file operation description.
c. Information: Open or close the file information column.
3) In the video file list interface, use ‘up” or “down” keys to select your desired video file
and press “Enter” key to start play.
4) During the playback of video, you can perform the following operations:
a. Press ‘Esc” key to stop playback and back to the video file list or long press “ESC”
for 3 second to return to the main menu.
b. Press “VOL -” or “VOL +” keys to adjust the volume of video play.
c. Press “Enter” key to pause playback, and press “Enter” to resume playback.
d. Press “up” or “down” keys to play previous file or next file.
e. Press “up” or “down” keys and hold for over 2 seconds to rewind or fast forward and
enable a search with the playtime/progress bar, release the key to resume playback.
f. During the playback of video, press “menu” key to display the icons of function
menu.
(Pause, fast forward, rewind, next, previous, repeat mode, and ratio of width and
height)
(Repeat mode: single repeat, repeat in directory)
(Ratio of width and height: 4:3, 16:9, original dimension display, full

9
screen display)
Note: Use “up” or “down” keys to select the menus above and use “Enter” key to
confirm.
g. During selection of the functions of fast forward or rewind in the above menu, you
can use “down” or “up” keys to change the rate of fast forward or rewind (X2, X4, X8,
X16), and press “Enter” key to resume normal playback.
Note: The fast forward or rewind is performed while the video is playing. This
function will help you to select precisely your desired playing position.
h. This machine has an auto-recording function. If you quit while playing a video, the
player will record the current position. When you want to start playing the video from
where you stopped last time, you can select Resume in the main menu.
3. Music Enjoyment
1) Select “Music” function in the main interface and press “Enter” key to confirm, and to
enter into the interface of music file list.
2) Press “menu” key to call up the menu of file operation, and the detailed operation
method is stated in the description of file operation section.

10
a. Desktop: Select “Desktop” and return to the main interface.
b. New, copy, move, delete and rename: Refer to file operation description.
c. Information: Open or close the file information column.
3) In the interface of music file list, use “up” or “down” keys to select music file, and press
“Enter” key to confirm. Unit will enter into the music play interface, and start to play
music.
4) During music playback, you can perform the following operations:
a. Press “Esc” key to stop playback and return to file directory list or long press “ESC”
for 3 second to return to the main menu.
b. Press “VOL -” or “VOL +” keys to adjust the volume of music playback.
c. Press “Enter” key once to pause the playback, and press “Enter” again to resume
playback.
d. Press “up” or “down” keys to play previous file or next file.
e. Press “down” or “up” keys and hold for over 2 seconds to fast forward or rewind and
enable a search with the playtime/progress bar. Release the key to resume
playback.
5) During the Music playback period, press “menu” key to pop up the icon of music function
menu:
(Pause, fast forward, rewind, previous, next, repeat mode, A-B repeat reading, ID3
information, EQ function, and background music)
(Repeat mode: Single repeat, repeat in directory, and random play)
(Music ID3 information, and display of LRC lyric)

11
Note: Use “down” or “up” keys to select the above menu, and use “Enter” key to confirm.
Press “Esc” or “Menu” keys to resume normal playback.
6) During music playback period, the LRC file of lyric shall be Unicode encoding format,
and the file name of lyric shall be in conformity with the file name of song.
7) Select background music playback from the above menu, and the music will continue to
play on return to the upper level window.
8) This machine has an auto-recording function. If you quit while playing music, the player
will record the current position. When you want to start playing the music from where
you stopped last time, you can select Resume in the main menu.
4. View Photos
1) Select “photo” function in the main interface and press “Enter” key to confirm, and to
enter into the interface of photo file list.
2) Press “menu” key to call up the file operation menu and the detailed operation method is
shown in description of file operation section.

12
a. Desktop: Select “Desktop” and return to the main interface.
b. New, copy, move, delete and rename: Refer to file operation description.
c. Information: Open or close the file information column.
3) In the interface of photo file list, use “up” or “down” keys to select picture file, and press
“Enter” key to confirm, and start to view photos.
4) During photo viewing, you can perform the following operations:
a. Press “Esc” key to stop photo viewing and return to file directory list or long press
“ESC” for 3 second to return to the main menu.
b. Press “up” or “down” keys to display the previous photo or next photo.
5) During photo viewing, press “menu” key to pop out the picture function menu:
(Next, previous, view mode, setup as background, left rotation 90°, right rotation 90°,
zoom out, zoom in, picture display mode, nine pictures, background music)
(View mode: Slide display, pause of slide display)
(Picture display mode: Four pictures, nine pictures, and one picture)
a. You can use the above menu to open or close the slide function. You can setup the
display interval of slide in the setup menu.
b. Desktop Background: Select “setup as background” function in the above menu, and
the current picture will be set as desktop background. In the MP400, the stored
pictures can be set as desktop background by using such function.
c. Under the condition that the picture is zoomed out, use “up”, “down” keys to move
the picture and press “Enter” key to exit the zoomed out status.
d. Select Background Music in the above menu to change background music and
continue to view the pictures.
Note: If you want to play picture and music synchronously, unit will first play music and
select background music in the menu.
5. E-book Reading

13
1) Select “E-book” function in the main interface and press “Enter” key to confirm, and to
enter into the interface of E-book file list.
2) Press “menu” key to call up the file operation menu and the detailed operation method is
shown in the description of file operation section.
a. Desktop: Select “Desktop” and return to the main interface.
b. New, copy, move, delete and rename: Refer to file operation description.
c. Information: Open or close the file information column.
3) In the E-book file list interface: Use “up” or “down” keys to select E-book, and press
“Enter” key to open and display electronic book on the screen.

14
4) During the electronic book reading period, you can perform the following operations:
a. Press “up”, “down” keys to page up and page down the viewing pages.
b. Press “Esc” key to quit electronic book reading and return to file list or long press
“ESC” for 3 second to return to the main menu.
If the viewing pages of electronic book are over 10 pages, press “Esc” key to return
to the display of the dialogue box “Save bookmark?” Selecting “yes” will save, and
selecting “no” will not save bookmark.
5) During reading of electronic book, press “Menu” key to pop up the function menu.
(Previous file, next file, background music)
Select Background Music in the above menu to change background music (if the
viewing pages are greater than 10 pages, the bookmark will be automatically saved).
Note: If you want to play the e-book and music synchronously, unit will first play music
and select background music in the menu.
6) The supported file formats in the e-book are as follows: *.txt, and the file encoding is
Unicode.
6. Viewing and Recording of External Programs
Before powering on this unit, please use AV cable to connect the AV input connector of
MP400 Player, and AV output connector of A/V device, respectively.
1) Program Record:
a. In the main interface, select “Record” and press “Enter” key to confirm that it has
entered into the recording interface.

15
b. Select the “RecKind”: “Video”, “Audio” (only records music) with signal input, and
speech (only recorded by microphone), and press “Enter” key to confirm.
c. Select “Quality”: HighQ, MediumQ, and LowQ, press “Enter” to confirm.
d. Select ”Start” ,press “Enter” to start recording and repress “Enter” to preview mode.
e. Select “Preview”: Only preview the input signal, but no recording.
f. Select “Time” , Use “up” or “down” to set timetable(year、month、day、hour、minute)
and press “Enter” to confirm.
g. Press “Esc” key to stop the recording, and close MP400 and remove AV cable or
long press “ESC” for 3 second to return to the main menu.
h. During recording, you can select “Preview” function (press “Enter” key) to stop the
recording, but the playback function is still active at that time. Press “Enter” key to
continue the recording. Such function will allow you to preview while nothing is
being recorded.
2) Video Output Function:
a. Please use AV cable to connect the AV output connector of MP400 Player and AV
input connector of A/V device, respectively, to enjoy the large-screen video and
stereo music. (For the connection, please refer to the User’s Manual of AV device).
b. Turn on the MP400 Player and TV or stereo music device, and set up the MP400 for
normal video or music playback. Eventually press “TV/Hold” key (don’t press it for a
long time), the video will convert into TV display, and music will convert into stereo
music device output. Pressing “TV/Hold” key again will stop AV output, and resume
the display of MP400 Player.
Note: The setup of MP400 TV device shall be in conformity with the setup of TV during
video output period. (The MP400 TV Setup is shown in setup menu, and TV Setup of
TV is shown in User’s Manual of TV device.)
7. File Operation

16
1) In the main interface, select “file” and press “Enter” key to confirm that unit has enter
into the file directory list interface. You can store the data file or music or video files in
storage device (such as SD/MMC card).
2) Use “up” or “down” key to select the file or folder you want to access, and then press
“menu” key to call up the file operation menu.
a. Desktop: Select “Desktop” and return to the main interface.
b. View: Select “view” to enter into the selected directory. (if the folder is selected, such
operation will appear in the menu).
c. New Folder: Select “new” option. The name character list will appear after selection.
Press “Menu” key to store after the folder is named, and the new folder is OK.
d. Copy: Select the file or folder you want to copy, press “menu” key to call up the
operation menu, select “copy” and press “Enter” key to confirm, then press “Menu”
key under the objective directory to call up the operation menu, select “paste”, the
window “Do you paste?” will appear, selecting “YES” will start the pasting, and

17
selecting “NO”, it will not paste. (If the file is selected, such operation will appear in
the menu.)
e. Move: Rest the cursor on the file or folder to be moved, press “Menu” key to call up
operation menu, select “move”, the hint “Do you move?” will appear at that time.
Select “Yes”, and press “Menu” key under the objective directory to call up operation
menu. Select paste, the hint “Do you Paste?” will appear, then select “Yes” or “No”.
f. Paste: Used during the operations of copy and move.
g. Delete: Rest the cursor on the file or folder to be deleted, press “Menu” key to call
up operation menu, select “delete”, and hint “Do you delete?” will appear at that time.
Select “Yes” or “No”.
h. Rename: Rest the cursor on the file or folder to be renamed, press “Menu” key to
call up operation menu, select “rename”, and the name character list will appear at
that time. Use direction key to select character, and the middle button of square key
will confirm the input. Press “Menu” key to store name, and pressing “Esc” key will
exit and will not perform rename operation.
i. Information: Open or close file information column.
8. Setup Menu
1) Select “Setup” in the main interface, and press “Enter” key to confirm, and to enter
system setup interface. Long press “ESC” for 3 second to return to the main menu.
2) System setup menu includes the following content:
a. Display:This menu setup item includes backlight brightness, text color, focus text
color and focus color.
Backlight Brightness: To setup the backlight brightness: 10% (10% of full
brightness), 20% (20% of full brightness)…100% (full
brightness).

18
Text Color: Color of unhighlighted text. Color values from 001 to 255.
Focus Text: Color of highlighted text. Color values from 001 to 255.
Focus Color: Color of highlight bar. Color values from 001 to 255.
b. Power Setup: This menu setup item includes backlight setup and power off.
Backlight Setup: No operation in non-working state, the player will automatic shut off
of the LCD backlight.
0～255 seconds are available, and 000 will disable this function（default 20 sec).
Power Off: No operation in non-working state ,the player will automatic shut off.
0～255 min are available, and 000 will disable this function(default 10 min).
c. System Setup: This menu setup item includes setups of language, TV Standard,
system information and factory defaults.
Language: To setup the interface language as eight languages such as simplified
Chinese, traditional Chinese, English, German, French, Italian, Spanish and Dutch.
TV Standard: To setup the formats of television: PAL/NTSC.
System Information: To check the company information, production information, soft
revision, remaining capacity.
Factory Defaults: To reset to original factory settings.