The PMP market has received a bit of a boost recently and, following our early glimpse of i-Station’s T4 HD, a rather unlikely contender in Viewsonic is looking to take a slice of a market that is traditionally dominated by rivals such as Archos and Cowon.

Two new models, the MovieBook VPD400 and VPD500, have just been announced for European and US release, and both offer HD playback via the video-out, though in this case it’ll only be 720p. The players sport 4.3” and 5” 800x480 LCD displays respectively, offer 8GB of internal memory, micro SD slot and a high-capacity 1900mAh battery with up to four hours of video playback of fifteen hours for music.

Support for a range of popular video and audio formats includes AVI, RMVB, FLV, MP3, WMA and WAV, APE and FLAC, and additional features such as a voice recorder, e-Book reader, integrated stereo speakers and a remote control add further appeal.

The slim and stylish designs are pocket-friendly (13.8/14.5mm thick and weighing just 134/200g) and, best of all, are priced quite reasonably as well.

Though European and US pricing is yet to be confirmed, those in the UK can expect to pick up the VPD400 for just £105 (USD$173) and the VPD500 for £115 (USD$189) when released this October.