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Zen Vision Questions?

 
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Martin64
TweakNOOB


Joined: 23 Oct 2005
Posts: 2
PostPosted: Sun Oct 23, 2005 10:04 am    Post subject: Zen Vision Questions? Reply with quote
First of all - fantantic review! Thanks. I know you say pick what you want to "do" with your player and then decide on which one to get. But my problem is I started out wanting "just" an mp3 player and thought I was going to get an iPod (new video one) But after researching and finding the Zen Vision ($399)and IRiver's U10 ($249), I'm leaning towards the Zen. Honestly though, I love the D-click on the U10 and the really cute "TV looking dock". I know, you don't buy for looks! I also like the U10's ability to play flash games. Hey, I may be a 40 something mom, but waiting in car pool lines and music lessons and all those sports practices can get pretty boring! But the real down side to the U10 is the small (1 gig - what were they thinking) size and the 2.2" screen at 320 x 240 res. (but I hear it is awsome).

So my questions: 1) Can the Zen play any games? Flash? Do all those codecs listed mean any games can be played? Understand - I'm not looking for Doom or Halo, just a few time killers. 2) Movies seem like another way to kill some time. I searched for DivX movies but no good sites that seem legit. All seem shady to me ($14 for unlimited download of new releases?). I don't mind paying for good legit stuff. If I have Media Center on my pc. If I save a TV show, can it be "easily" downloaded without all that conversion you speak of. I'm pretty computer savy on the "routine" stuff, but not video (I still haven't transferred my home movies from my digital tapes to DVD). 3) Any way it will now - or possibly in the future be able to read electronic text (e-books)?

Thanks for your help. If I like your answers (please tell me it can play simple games and I can get video on it "simply"), I'm sold.

Thanks,
Monica
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zhensem
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Joined: 01 Mar 2004
Posts: 1399
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 23, 2005 2:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Martin64 wrote:

So my questions: 1) Can the Zen play any games? Flash? Do all those codecs listed mean any games can be played? Understand - I'm not looking for Doom or Halo, just a few time killers. 2) Movies seem like another way to kill some time. I searched for DivX movies but no good sites that seem legit. All seem shady to me ($14 for unlimited download of new releases?). I don't mind paying for good legit stuff. If I have Media Center on my pc. If I save a TV show, can it be "easily" downloaded without all that conversion you speak of. I'm pretty computer savy on the "routine" stuff, but not video (I still haven't transferred my home movies from my digital tapes to DVD). 3) Any way it will now - or possibly in the future be able to read electronic text (e-books)?

Thanks for your help. If I like your answers (please tell me it can play simple games and I can get video on it "simply"), I'm sold.

Thanks,
Monica


Hello and welcome to TN!!!

Thanks for praising the review!

Now to answer your questions:

1) The Zen Vision can't play any games, no. It's aimed at being a audio/video/photo entertainment device.

The codecs means that the Zen Vision can support video (or audio files) encoded using certain technologies, depending on which codec you're talking about. Codecs have nothing to do with games. For example, the ZV supports the DivX codec, this means that you can grab a DivX movie (that falls within the spec the ZV can play) that has been encoded using DivX drop it on the ZV and play it without having to convert it because the ZV can understand and decode the file. Confused? I am! LOL. Just kidding.

It seems to me that you are leaning heavily on passing your time playing games, in which case I don't really think this is what you should be looking at. I would recommend a Sony PSP in this case. This plays games and has movies and audio "on the side" whereas the Zen Vision concentrates on movies and audio and the U10 does the same as the ZV but has Flash games as a gimmick "on the side".

2) If you have a media centre PC then it'll probably be recording in WMV format in which case you can simply drag and drop the shows and play them on the Zen Vision, DRM permitting.

Zen Vision supports PlayForSure which means you can purchase music and videos from legit stores that also support this (and have the PlayForSure logo) and it'll work fine on the ZV.

3) Finally, the ZV can't read e-books. Many people have requested this feature but whether it is ever going to be included in a future firmware upgrade is up to Creative to decide. All we can do is just sit tight and wait in hope.
From personal experience though with past Creative products they wouldn't add a large feature such as e-book support but what they MAY do is add simple text file support for reading *.txt files. Don't take my word for it though, we can only wait and see.

P.S. Since you're new here, it's okay, but next time please post in the correct section.

Meanwhile, if you have any more Qs don't hesitate to ask. Good luck!
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Martin64
TweakNOOB


Joined: 23 Oct 2005
Posts: 2
PostPosted: Sun Oct 23, 2005 4:36 pm    Post subject: Thanks! Reply with quote
Thanks for that quick reply! And I'm sorry, I didn't realize I posted in the wrong forum. I'll try to figure out what I'm doing before posting any more questions!

Thanks,
Monica
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fussnfeathers
Lord of the Tweak


Joined: 14 Dec 2004
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 23, 2005 6:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I dunno............seems like the right place to post. A/V gear, A/V question.
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[TN] Nathan
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 23, 2005 6:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
fussnfeathers wrote:
I dunno............seems like the right place to post. A/V gear, A/V question.


I moved it here.
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fussnfeathers
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 23, 2005 7:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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