CREATIVE ZEN VISION 30GB PORTABLE MEDIA PLAYER REVIEW

ToggleHead · TWEAKGURU Joined: 03 Mar 2004 Posts: 4360 Location: Jersey

sweet zhen...thanks...=D
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NoXify · TweakNOOB Joined: 27 Oct 2005 Posts: 1

Hello! Very nice review, Zhensem! You go down to the smalles detail and describe everything very good. A review for those who are more than average interested in the Zen Vision. Without a doubt the best review I have read on it :)

I just have a simple question. The ZV uses the earplug as FM-antenna. Are all types of headsets compatible with this? Or does this only count for the ones who comes with the player?

I am new to this site and forum, and must say that although I am a little unused to the design of the main page, I really love this community

I will probably buy a PMP when the prices drops a bit, hopefully in the spring some time. It will be good to have one for the holidays

And one last time, thanks for a great review, Zhensem

zhensem · Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2005 8:26 pm Post subject:

Hello and welcome to TN, be sure to stick around - one learns a lot around here!

Big thank you for praising the review, I must admit I did try my best in this review.

To answer your question, yes, you can use ANY headphones/headsets/earbuds you wish. The FM radio just needs a bit of wire really to act as an antenna and any set of headphones can provide this.

Bye for now.

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brunalarru · Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2005 10:53 pm Post subject: Photo Viewing

zhensem · Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 2:25 pm Post subject:

Hi! Welcome to TN!

What I mean by "occasionally viewing photos" is that while some photographers like yourself may use this function all the time but the majority of users who buy this device for the music and video will not want to view photos everytime they listen to music. There is no problem with this function it works great, however, I have personally noticed that if I have an extra long song (like a 1 hour recording) and I try to view a photo thats 7megapixels the device "hangs". The music continues playing but the screen goes black. I think I mention this in the review itself. I think the processor isn't powerful enough or there isn't enough RAM to be playing a large track and loading up a large image at the same time. 7mp images with normal length tracks work fine.

I can't test this myself because I don't have a CF card but I'm pretty sure that it will copy the RAW files, but as you said, it won't display them. If you want confirmation go to the forums.creative.com forums and post there.

Finally, I want to ask you a few things about photography. Since I want to keep this thread talking about the Zen Vision only, I've started a new thread here that I would like you to have a look at.

http://www.tweaknews.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=73014

Thanks!
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brunalarru · Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 9:29 pm Post subject:

I need your help again!

I contacted Creative about downloading the RAW images from the Compact Flash to the hard drive of the ZV. I told them I knew I wouldn't be able to view the images but I wanted to be able to transfer them. They told me that you can't download onto the hard drive from the Compact Flash card. Now does that mean I can't download anything from the Compact Flash card? Or does that mean the images download to the portable media side? They aren't really being helpful so I thought I would see if you had an idea about this. I know you aren't sure about the actual RAW files but now I'm confused about downloading at all.

Thanks!

zhensem · Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 9:59 pm Post subject:

Right, before I post anything I'll get down to the bottom of this. Check back soon for an update.
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brunalarru · Posted: Wed Nov 16, 2005 4:33 pm Post subject:

Creative finally wrote me back and said that the ZV will store the RAW images but I couldn't view them (which I figured). They still haven't told me if the images will download from the card. I'm assuming they do but I just want to make sure. Any news on that front? Thanks!

moonfog · TweakNOOB Joined: 18 Oct 2005 Posts: 10

Hm, I was gonna buy my Zen Vision today on the Creative site, but hit a bump...

I got up a selection to pick from a Zen Vision Black. OR a Ven Vision Black 3 PIN?
Eh, whats a Black 3 PIN?

moonfog · TweakNOOB Joined: 18 Oct 2005 Posts: 10

Never mind my question above. I called them. Heh, the 3 PIN was just an indication of the plug type (3 PIN being england).

Just ordered it! Woohoo, cant wait.

I have justified this purchase by calling it a "Christmas Gift" to me from me. Very Happy

zhensem · Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2005 1:57 pm Post subject:

zhensem · Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2005 1:58 pm Post subject:

ArsenalFan · TweakNOOB Joined: 05 Dec 2005 Posts: 2

Hey, great review by the way! I am very interested in this media player, but have one question. i am a noob in the whole ripping DVD's and downloading TV shows and whatnot. I am asking you how you get the video content to put on teh player. Thanks

[TN] Nathan · ALMIGHTY PWNER! Joined: 14 Feb 2002 Posts: 7406

ArsenalFan · TweakNOOB Joined: 05 Dec 2005 Posts: 2

okay fair enough, dont want to get anyone in trouble. Do you have any ideas on legal ways to find media content?

vkkim · TweakNOOB Joined: 13 Dec 2005 Posts: 1

First of all, zhensem, great review.

However, I am a tad bit concerned--you seem to be too enthusiastic about the product to be accurately reviewing the product. Nevertheless, I am still seriously considering buying this product, as no other product (as I can tell) in the marketplace competes with the Zen.

One thing I must ask before I go ahead and hand over my money, however, is something I read from this review. Here is the quote in question: "Now, there is a big catch to playing video files on the Creative Zen Vision. First of all, it does not support your typical MPG, .AVI, .ASF file, although the system says it does. We had to convert most of our files using Windows Media Player 10 before they would play on the Zen Vision. This can take quite a long time to do so, and would have been nice if we could have kept the files in their native format. A lot of DivX and Xvid files use the .AVI extension but we had to convert them before using them on our Zen Vision. Talk about a pain in the butt."

Now one of the big selling points (in my opinion) of the Zen is its wide range of codecs supported natively by the player--however, if what the reviewer said is true, I might as well spend my $400 on a 60 GB iPod video, since I'm going to be encoding everything myself. (Obviously, the iPod has an inferior screen and video playback battery life, but it does have the added 30 GB. I'm just using it as an example.)

Please help clarify this for me, as I really want to buy this wonderful product.

zhensem · Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 4:26 pm Post subject:

Apologies for the very late reply. I've been kinda busy these past few weeks, not anymore so here goes:

Bearded Kirklander · TweakNOOB Joined: 02 Jan 2006 Posts: 1

Does anyone know what KBPS the FM radio can record at?

My Samsung YP-MT6Z can record to 128kbps MP3 stereo, for example, right from the FM radio.

I would like to know what the Zen Vision 30 gig can do. Is it limited to WAV file recording? Or does it record to MP3 format? If MP3, is there a limit, like 64kbps, or 96kbps? Or can it do 128 or maybe even higher, like 160 or 192?

Any helpful info would be appreciated.

wyneken · Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2006 5:48 pm Post subject:

Thanks, zhensem, for such a comprehensive and outstanding review!

I have two areas of concern I'd like some additional details if possible:

1. Does the AC charger that comes with purchases within the USA have a standard two flat blade prong 110 volt plug only? A new Nikon battery charger I bought with a Nikon camera from a USA company came with a European plug with two round prongs and an kiudgy adapter that had to be slipped over it to change them to two flat blade prongs. I only want the standard 110 volt USA plug with no other adapters.

2. Re the photo slideshows on the PC, are these created with software bundled with the Zen Vision? Does it allow for any special effects like fading from one photo to another or adding captions and similar features? My Nikon camera sequentially numbers the photos and this is the order in which I normally view them. When viewing an entire folder, will it allow you to start with the lowest numbered photo and then progress through all photos sequentially? Can you manually move through the photos or are they only presented in a timed slideshow manner that cannot be paused? Lastly, I take all my photos in 2048 x 1536 pixel size and output them to a TV from my notebook computer. Is there a noticeable delay when moving from one photo to another when the images are on the Vision itself (rather than the CF card) and output is going to a TV, or should it be as fast as with a notebook computer?

Thanks for any info you can provide.