Posted Tue Aug 18, 2009 at 07:00 AM PDT by Mike Attebery
Recent leaks involving the Zune HD have provoked a huge amount of misinformation about the device, spurring Microsoft to correct it by delivering the full Zune specs.
For a mobile device, it’s pretty impressive. The 32GB Zune HD will hold up to ten hours of high definition video, or 48 hours of Zune optimized video, and sport a battery life that offers 8.5 hours of video playback on one charge.
While the 480x272 display isn’t going to send any videophile into frenzy, the Zune’s ability to output HD video at a respectable quality makes this a good piece of hardware to have around. With the addition of a docking station, the Zune HD will be capable of outputting HD 720p video at 30fps with a peak bit rate of 14Mbps. The docking station will also output optical digital audio.
It’s not Blu-ray quality by any means, but it will enable a fairly robust playback of high definition content from an incredibly portable device. Taking a Blu-ray player traveling, even a portable one, may be a bit prohibitive, but the Zune HD will provide HD playback capabilities anywhere it can plug in.
Of course, the Zune HD does audio too, boasting a 33 hour battery life for audio and a ridiculous amount of space to hold music as well as an FM and HD Radio tuner. Official specs are available in PDF form here.
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