Hacha PC20s

David99 · #1 (**permalink**) 25th Jul 2008, 12:19 pm

Has anyone heard anything about the new Hacha PC20s or tried it out for that matter? I ordered a sample unit which should be here next week or early the week after that.

Hacha seems to have fallen under the radar over the past 8 months or so (after being very successful last year) due to quality problems with the PA20 I believe and perhaps taking forever to get the PC20s to market.

The PC20s is a Rockchip 2706 version of the PC20. I have also confirmed that it does come with the FM radio. That's all I know about it folks. I believe that the Hacha website page on the PC20s is not up to date.

makd511 · #2 (**permalink**) 25th Jul 2008, 12:41 pm

blimey, i thought Hacha had ceased to exist

this was touted about around 5-6 months back when all the new rockchips were coming out of the woodwork, i thought they had given it up as a bad job

They eem to have seriously been left behind in the MP4 race, with Ramos, Onda etc all overtalking them at breakneck speed

where are you getting your sample from

n fact i never even see Hacha mentioned on any of the chinese MP4 sites i vist

so not sure what they are really up tp at all

David99 · #3 (**permalink**) 25th Jul 2008, 2:02 pm

Yes, Hacha certainly has been left behind but perhaps they might
make a comeback.

I corresponded with a sales rep at Hacha originally back in December (back when the PA20 and PC20 were big sellers) and I also met with them at the CES show in Las Vegas back in January. They showed us some product samples of some upcoming products including some very rough mockups of their disc mp3 players. They even had a larger screen version of the PA20 that looked to have a 3.5" LCD but it was only a mockup and was not working - that was the last I heard about that model.
(as a side note - a Rockchip 2706 version of the PA20 with a larger screen might make a very compelling product)

Anyway - I've been periodically corresponding with their sales rep from time to time and they finally worked out the hardware and firmware bugs on the PC20s so I ordered a sample of it from them, of course it was supposed to be finished back in the winter but better late than never if its product specifications hold up (late in this industry can be the kiss of death to a product).

I'll post a review when I get it and try it out. The outside is supposed to look exactly the same.

David99 · #4 (**permalink**) 28th Jul 2008, 7:27 am

Ok, I just got word from Hacha that there are actually two new PC20 replacements: The PC20s and PC20a. The PC20s has a SD card slot but poor battery life (3hrs for continuous video playback I think). The PC20a does not have the SD card slot but has much much longer battery life. I guess that removing the SD card slot allowed for more room to add a larger capacity battery.

:?: Question: What is more important - battery life or the SD card slot? I'll wait on my sample order based on responses here.

makd511 · #5 (**permalink**) 28th Jul 2008, 8:08 am

hard one - i want both, especially as Hacha will probably only release 4GB version, in which an SD card slot would be needed, but 3hrs quoted means less in real use so that is appalling life for battery

rather than developing 2 player work on a power management system instead

This is a shame, 2 thing that i have noticed form prospective buyer is that they want expandability and good battery life and i do not think the Hacha option is a good one at all

The only saving grace here is that you can run the player on external battery pack, but this is no real solution to me, just adds extra baggage when all you want is portability

sorry to be so negative, but there are solutions i am sure that can be made,

why is this BTW, are they trying to make the player too thin now to follow trend???, i would prefer an extra mm or 2 to accommodate an SD card reader and bigger battery

David99 · #6 (**permalink**) 28th Jul 2008, 8:41 pm

The power issue for the PC20s was a big issue for Hacha and probably the main reason it took so long to release this product. Apparently the Rockchip 2706 consumes much more power than it's predecessor the Rockchip 2608A, but hey, you have dual 400MHz cores running in the 2706 so more power consumption is kinda expected. Apparently the LTPS LCD is a bit of a power hog too. I agree that expandability and battery life are both important. I'll probably opt for the sample of the PC20a instead of the PC20s.

(I noticed some other slim RK2706 players without card slots too, this might explain why)