Video killed the radio star?
The first thing I wanted to do was check out the spiffy new video features. I'd loaded my hard drive with several MPEG video files to test things out.

As it happens, though, the first thing I saw on my TV was the nifty navigator screen shown below. Compare it to the display on the remote, and you'll see that the video version displays more file/folder entries, even keeping them fairly large so they're easy to read. I should also point out that the actual display looks better than the picture; I didn't have the hardware necessary to capture the image directly, so I had to use a digicam to shoot a picture of it.

Video navigation is a nice addition.

MPEG files (and VideoCD files, as well, I would assume) show up just like MP3s, except a small film logo appears in place of the musical notes. I tried playing back several different MPEG files, some low-quality and some very high-quality. The MPire came through with flying colors, playing all the files without any audio or video stuttering. I was duly impressed with the quality of the video. The high-quality videos played back with a very sharp picture, even on my 32" TV. Given the much smaller screens typically present in automobiles, the MPire should do a great job when it comes to video playback.

To ensure that things pick up where they left off, the MPire features a resume mode for video files. Stop the player before powering it off, and if you power up and press the play button first, the video will pick up right where it left off. Use any other key to cancel the resume.

The audio performance was good, but perhaps not as good as I'd expect in a $900 component. To test audio playback, I converted some MP3s to WAV files and burned them to a disc, then put it in my DVD player. The same MP3s went on the MPire, and I began A/B testing. The DVD player is a three-year-old, mid-level Toshiba, nothing special, yet it had consistently better highs, and a much better defined soundstage. Depending upon both how much you care about audio quality and how noisy your vehicle is, this may not matter to you.

Some may argue that it's unfair to compare a car audio component with a home audio component. Normally I might agree, but this is one pricey car audio component, and given the price tag, I don't think it's unreasonable to hold it to a higher standard.

Although the foam rubber mounts make it unlikely that a physical shock would interrupt playback, the MPire comes with a six-megabyte buffer that Xeenon claims will cache up to six minutes of MP3 playback or thirty seconds of MPEG playback. Obviously, those times depend on the quality of the source file, but it's good to have such a large buffer on-board.