Acer MP500 User manual

Acer MP500
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.
All brand and product names mentioned in this manual are trademarks and/or registered
trademarks of their respective holders.

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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 Frequently Asked Questions and Solutions 26
V Product Specifications 27

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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 MP500 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 MP500 Player in the following situations:
While driving a vehicle
Carrying out dangerous work
Walking on the street
Any situation that needs full concentration
8. If you want to format the disk of MP500 Player, please select FAT32 to format it.
Please don’t carry out partition of the disk of MP500 Player.
9. Please don’t use liquid or spraying agent to clean this unit. Please use soft, wet cloth
to wipe this unit.
10.During listening with earphones, please adjust to suitable volume to avoid hearing
from being damaged.
11.Note: Improper use of battery may cause explosion! Please correctly use the battery
as per instruction stated in Section: Battery!
12.Don’t throw used battery into the waste bin, it should be recycled.
II Product Description
Thank you for purchasing this Acer MP500 product. This kind of product is a
high-performance portable multimedia recorder and player with removable Li-Polymer
battery. With the use of Acer MP500 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.
Mass Storage Volume – 1.8” 20GB in-board hard disk, which can store large amounts of
data (30GB/40GB hard disk is optional)
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 MP500. Even if the file follows “MPAG4” format, the file may still
not be able to display by MP500 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 and

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educational texts.
Image Viewing – Supports the JPEG/BMP/GIF file format. You can copy images into the
MP500 for viewing.
Text File Reading – Supports .txt text reading function (e-book function).
Recording – Supports the recording function of video and music. You can use the unit to
record video and music signals from external sources.
AV Input and Output – Supports AV input interface. You can enjoy television programs
through the large screen of MP500, and you can carry out remote control via infrared.
Also supports AV output interface, and you can transfer video and music signals the
MP500 is playing to peripheral music and video output devices (such as television).
USB 2.0 Interface – Supports USB 2.0 Full-Speed and Low-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 nine language modes such as
simplified Chinese, traditional Chinese, English, German, French, Italian , Spanish and
Dutch.
Firmware upgrade – Support firmware upgrade.
2. Button Location
3. Packaging / Accessories
Please confirm the packaging and accessories have the contents below:
9Acer MP500 Player
9Chargeable Li-Polymer battery
9User’s Manual
9Power Adapter
9Installation CD
9AV Cable
9USB cord
9Stereo earphones
9Remote Controller
9Portable leather cover
4. Charging of Battery
This section includes: installation of battery, charging of battery, and the use of external
power adapter.
4.1 Installation of Battery
1) Confirm the power of MP500 player has been turned off, and open the cover of battery
chamber as per the indicated direction.
2) Load the chargeable battery and close the cover of battery chamber.

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4.2 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.
4.3 Charging of Battery
You can use the external power adapter to charge the battery. The charging can be
performed when the power of MP500 Player is on or off. The detailed charging method is as
follows:
1) Load the chargeable battery supplied with this unit.
2) Connect the power cable with the power adapter.
3) Insert the DC plugs of power adapter into the DC input port of MP500 Player.
4) Insert the power plug into the power socket.
Note: Please don’t remove the battery during the charging process.
4.4 Use of External Power Adapter
You can use external power adapter to supply directly power for MP500 Player. The
operation method is the same with the battery charging method.
5. Connection of External Interface

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1) Connect Television for viewing
Use AV cable to connect to AV out socket of MP500 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 MP500
Player through AV cable.
3) Connection of Music Device
Insert the AV cable into the AV input socket of MP500 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.
4) Connection of Computer
Use USB cord to connect the MP500 Player with computer, for data transfer.
5) Connection of Stereo Earphones
Insert the stereo earphones into the corresponding socket of MP500 Player.
6. Use of Remote Control(Optional)
This section describes how to use the remote controller to operate the MP500 Player. The
key functions on the remote control correspond to the key functions of MP500 Player.

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S/N Remote Controller Function
1 ESC Escape (or back to the previous level)
2 MENU Enter into the interface of menu
3 UP Direction selection (up)
4 ENTER Confirm
5 LEFT/LAST Direction selection (left)/previous file
6 RIGHT/NEXT Direction selection (right)/next file
7 DOWN Direction selection (down)
8 VOLUME－Decrease the volume
9 VOLUME＋Increase the volume
10 TV Toggle the screen
11 POWER OFF Power switch
12 IR Infrared sensing port
13 Battery Battery
7. 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 CD provided with this unit into the CD-ROM. Double click the Setup.exe file
under the root directory of CD, and start the installation of driver.
2) Click <OK>, and restart computer. The installation of driver is finished;

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Confirm the USB driver has been installed.
1) Turn on the power of MP500 and use USB cord to connect with computer.
2) Select [Control Panel / System / Device Manager]. The following interface is to be
displayed;
3) Select the hard disk drive 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.
8. Disk Directory Management
1) When the host machine is normally connected with the computer, the disk icon will be
displayed in [windows explorer]. There are six directories, [music], [video], [photo],
[textbook], [VideoRecorder] and [MusicRecorder];

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Note: Please don’t delete manually such default directories as [video], [music], [photo],
[textbook], [VideoRecorder] and [MusicRecorder] under the root directory of 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 MP500 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
VideoRecorder directory: Video record
MusicRecorder directory: Music record
9. 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 [Confirmation] button;
4) Click [Close] button to finish the entire operation;
Note: Abnormal interruption of the connection of this product with the computer may cause

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damage to this product.
10. Power on / Power off
1) Power on: Hold down the on/off key for 2 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 on/off key for 2 seconds, and unit will turn off .
III Basic Functions
1. Selection of 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 “Esc” key to hide the icon of main interface, and the
background will appear clearly on the screen. If the icon of Menu key is pressed, it will be
re-displayed on the main interface. Press four-direction key to select your desired functions
(up, down, left and right), and press Enter key to confirm, and enter into the corresponding
operational interface. Press Lock key for 2-3 seconds to turn on the function of locking
keyboard, and re-press Lock key to turn off the function of locking keyboard.
2. Video Play

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1) Select video function on the main interface and press Enter key to confirm, and enter
into the interface of video file list.
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. View, new, copy, move, paste, delete, rename
c. File 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.
b. Press “up” or “down” keys to adjust the volume of video play.
c. Press “Enter” key to pause playback, and press “Enter” to resume playback.
d. Press “left” or “right” keys to play previous file or next file.
e. Press “left” or “right” 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.
Note: The fast forward or rewind only works with video paused.
f. During the playback of video, press “menu” key to display the icons of function
menu.

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(Pause, ff, rewind, next, previous, repeat mode, and ratio of width and height)
(Repeat mode: single repeat, non-stop repeat)
(Ratio of width and height: 4:3, 16:9, original dimension display, ratio
of width and height)
Note: Use “right” or “left” 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 “right” or “left” 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.

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a. Desktop: Select “Desktop” and return to the main interface.
b. View, new, copy, move, paste, delete and rename: Refer to file operation
description.
c. File 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.
b. Press “up” or “down” keys to adjust the volume of video playback.
c. Press “Enter” key once to pause the playback, and press “Enter” again to resume
playback.
d. Press “left” or “right” 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 video playback period, press “menu” key to pop up the icon of music function
menu:

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(Pause, fast forward, rewind, previous, next, repeat mode A-B repeat reading, ID3
information, EQ function, and background music)
(Repeat mode: Single repeat, non-stop repeat, and random play)
(Music information, and display of LRC lyric)
Note: Use “left” or “right” 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. Use notebook
of computer to open the downloaded lyric file and save as Unicode encoding.
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.

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2) Press “menu” key to call up the file operation menu and the detailed operation method is
shown in description of file operation section.
a. Desktop: Select “Desktop” and return to the main interface.
b. View, new, copy, move, paste, delete and rename: Refer to file operation
description.
c. File 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.
b. Press “left” or “right” 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, and 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 MP500, 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”, “left” and “right”
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

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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. View, new, copy, move, paste, delete and rename: Refer to file operation

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description.
c. File 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.
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.
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.
c. Press “left” or “right” keys to display previous or next file.
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 picture 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 & *lrc, 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

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MP500 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.
b. Select the “RecKind”: “Video”, “Music” (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. Press “Esc” key to stop the recording, and close MP500 and remove AV cable.
e. Press “Return” key to stop recording. Power off the MP500 and removeAV cord.
f. 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 MP500 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 MP500 Player and TV or stereo music device, and set up the MP500 for
normal video or music playback. Eventually press “Suspend” 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 “Suspend” key again will stop AV output, and resume
the display of MP500 Player.
Note: The setup of MP500 TV device shall be in conformity with the setup of TV during
video output period. (The MP500 TV Setup is shown in setup menu, and TV Setup of
TV is shown in User’s Manual of TV device.)
7. File Operation

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1) In the main interface, select “file” and press “Enter” key to confirm that unit has entered
into the selection interface of storage device. You can store the data file or music or
video files in the hard disk or extended storage device (such as SD/MMC card).
2) If your data file or music file or video file is stored in the hard drive, select C drive, and
press “Enter” key to enter into the file directory list interface.
3) 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.