Nintendo DS Movie Player plays movies and music on your Nintendo DS and GBA

May 17, 2023 0 Comments

I’m always looking for the latest gaming gadgets and accessories. Whether they are from third-party manufacturers or from the creators of the system themselves. But I have to admit that when I first heard about Nintendo’s Movie Player add-on for the Nintendo DS, I was quite surprised.

The reason for my surprise was quite simple. You see, I’ve been watching movies on my Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS, well, since their release date, with a really cool little accessory called the NDS/GBA Movie Player.

After some googling, I’m equally surprised that more Nintendo DS (or Game Boy Advance) owners haven’t heard of this truly unique accessory for their Nintendo DS. It seems that perhaps with all the hoopla surrounding the Sony PSP and its movie-playing capabilities, we’ve all forgotten to take a look at the less expensive Nintendo DS as more than just a portable gaming system.

What really made this accessory a must have for me, was the fact that, in addition to movies, I could also listen to my MP3 music on my Nintendo DS, just like Sony PSP owners. I won’t get into the debate about which handheld system is better or offers more… That would negate the real reason for this article, which is simply to show Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance owners that their fun little handheld gaming system is as well It is capable of playing all types of multimedia files.

The GBA/NDS Movie Player lets you use your Nintendo DS, Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Advance SP, or Game Boy Micro to play video and audio files and read eBooks from standard Compact Flash cards. And before you think that you will only be able to watch movie snippets or short films, let me be clear that you can watch an entire movie with the movie player. You can use your PC and a regular Compact Flash card reader to transfer and convert your media files to Compact Flash cards. The included software even converts files directly from DVD to the appropriate movie player format.

And before you think it’s going to take a rocket scientist to convert your DVD movie to the proper file type, think again! The software is so easy to use that it requires you to do nothing more than insert the DVD movie you want to convert, or the digital file if you have one. While this is not a special format, so to speak, UMD movie discs are for the Sony PSP. In fact, you can take any DVD movie you own and convert it with the included software for playback on your Nintendo DS system. What this means is that you are not required to buy multiple versions of the same movie to watch on the go.

One of the most common questions I get is whether or not the movie player can store and play an entire movie from a compact flash card. I can completely understand why this would be confusing. I mean, let’s be real, DVD movies are several GIGABYTES in size, how could they fit on a small 256 Megabyte CF card?

I always answer that question with the same answer. It can play full movies very well. But in case you’re wondering how that can be possible, let me explain. It has a lot to do with the screen size of the GBA and Nintendo DS. Because the screen is so much smaller, the file size of the full movie can also be much smaller, simply because you don’t have to maintain a very high resolution in the same way you would if you were watching that movie on your TV. In essence, it “downconverts” the DVD movie, so that it fits directly on the GBA or Nintendo DS screen; otherwise, you would have to scroll left to right and top to bottom to see the entire video.

For those of you wondering how big your Compact Flash card needs to be to enjoy a full movie, here’s a breakdown of how much video you can store on common Compact Flash card sizes. And I have to remind you to keep in mind that most movies are no longer than 95 to 110 minutes. This will give you a real indication of how much you can look at on each card.

The following is a list of how much storage you can have on various compact flash cards. 960 minutes we have 1 GB Compact Flash, 480 minutes we have 512 MB Compact Flash, 240 minutes we have 256 MB Compact Flash and 120 minutes we have 128 MB Compact Flash. As you can see, even a compact 128M flash card is adequate to store a whole movie.

To watch a movie in GBA Movie Player, you’ll first need to use your PC to convert the DVD movie to the proper file format for the player. This can be done very easily with the bundled software that comes with the GBA Movie Player. And don’t forget it. You can do much more than just watch movies. In fact, you can listen to MP3 music, read e-books, and even load PDA-like software onto the Compact Flash card, which will essentially turn your Nintendo DS into a very functional PDA.

Rather than wait for the Nintendo DS Movie Player, which Nintendo will release sometime next year, I urge all NDS owners to check out the GBA/NDS Movie Player. It’s packed with functions and features, and comes at a price that simply can’t be beat. Even when you add up the cost of a Nintendo DS and the movie player, you’ll find it’s still on par with, or cheaper than, most good quality portable DVD players.

And let’s face it, you just can’t put a portable DVD player in your pocket, or have it play the latest Mario game.

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