Customer Reviews

Creative Zen Vision W 60 GB Widescreen Multimedia Player (Black)

5 star:		(52)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

The first thing you'll probably notice about this player is it's gorgeous widescreen. How big is it? Well, technically speaking it's 480 x 272 resolution, 4.3 inches wide diagionally, and capable of displaying about 262,000 colors(same as Zen M). For those of you who now own a Zen M, to illustrate how big the screen is on the Zen W: You can lay an entire Zen M on the Zen W, and the entire area of the Zen M is about the size of the screen of the Zen W. For you Psp owners out there, the Zen W screen is exactly the same resolution and size as the screen on the PSP. Although, the PSP screen is actually more advanced and can display over 16 million colors. Though both of these screens are much better than the screen on the video Ipods(which is only 320 x 240, and only display 65,000 colors). The screen on the Zen W does the job very well, and you can adjust the brightness levels. Even at %50 brightness, it's adequate. Though it outshines the Zen M in screen size, I noticed that it's not quite as sharp and the colors are not as vivid as on the Zen M. Also, I noticed that while playing Divx video, the Zen W doesn't play the video as smoothly as on a computer. The video frame-rate seems to look more jerky and less smooth. Although the pre-installed videos looked fine in Xvid, so this may only apply to Divx videos. Some other great features about the player are it's built in FM radio, voice recorder, custom sound equalizer, built in speaker, and Compact Flash slot. The built-in speaker can get surprisingly loud and is adequate for watching videos... But if you're an Audiophile, it's not good for listening to your music. It's sounds quite tinny and is only a single speaker. One huge improvement over the Zen M is that you no longer need to carry a stupid adapter to charge or upload songs or media. The mini-usb power, and A/V out ports are already built in to this player. Also the magnesium casing seems much sturdier than the Zen M's plastic casing... and probably not as prone to scratches. The thing looks and feels very solidly built. The interface is also simple and easy to figure out and very similar to the Zen M interface.

The only big difference is that the Zen W uses buttons instead of the touch thumb-pad on the Zen M. I think they should have tried to integrate the thumb-pad somehow because it worked so well on the Zen M. In this respect, the Zen W buttons seem like a step backward in progress. However, I do like the fact that they made all the buttons on the right side so you can effectively use the player with only your right hand. (sorry lefties).

The built in Compact Flash slot is also a very cool idea. You can backup your compact flash or microdrive photos onto the player with the slot. The only thing is that you can't use the compact flash as a secondary hard-drive... meaning you can't just slip a compact flash card with video on it and watch it straight from the card. You must import it onto the player first before you can play the media. You can't play mp3s or browse photos straight from the CF card either. All the files must be imported onto the hard-drive of the Zen W first. This seems pretty lame to me because you're not using the slot to it's full potiental. Hopefully there will be firmware upgrades that will let you do this in the future. Another thing about the player that needs to be improved is it's thickness. The second thing you'll notice (after the lovely huge screen) is how thick this thing is. I mean, it's barely pocketable. So it's not quite as portable as the Zen M. How think is it? Well, it's nearly an inche thick... a little less thick than a PSP. If they could cut the thickness in half, it would make this player much more portable.(not to mention sleek and sexy). Here's a quick run-down on Pros and Cons.

Pros:

-Gorgeous 4.3 inche (480x272 resolution) screen that displays up to 262,000 colors. Movies look so much better than on a 320x240 (Ipod)screen. And if you like to watch Anime, you'll have no more problems reading subtitles.

-Built in mini-usb port, power, and Audio/Video out port(for tv output).
-Sturdy magnesium casing and solid feel.
-Lots of extras like FM radio, organizer, calendar, voice recorder -Audio/Video cable included, plays Xvid and Divx files.
-Built in compact flash/microdrive slot for photo backup.
-Removable battery (yes, finally!)
-Optional wireless Remote control available (built in IR reciever)
-ZenCast organizer (allows you to download/organize Podcasts to Zen W)

Cons:
- Pretty thick at almost an inche thick. (barely pocketable)
- Divx playback (Frame-rate) a bit jerky. Screen not as sharp-looking and colors not as vibrant as Zen M. (I'm nit-picking, you may not even notice the difference...especially if you don't have a Zen M)
- No video line-in for video recording. It would be great if they had this built in and you could record from any video source... don't know why they don't.
- When viewing files on Compact Flash using CF slot, you must first import/upload files over to the Zen W drive first to view.

In conclusion, this player packs alot of punch for the money. And almost everything it does, it does very well. If you love movies and music like I do, you will definately enjoy this device. It's very impressive and looks and feels sturdy. The biggest flaw/turn-offs to me is it's thickness. A device made for portability should be ... well, more portable. In a world where other mp3 competitors are sizing down their players, creative seems to be sizing their's up. If they could somehow cut the thickness of this player to half while not sacrificing any of it's other features, it would be perfect. Still with it's minor imperfections, this player is still worth every penny and outshines it's competitors. If you value portability over video capability, I'd go for the Zen M. The Zen M still plays video... but on a smaller screen.(And it's cheaper too)

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Just got my Zen Vision W a couple days ago, and I have to say I am very impressed. This is my first MP3 player purchase after shopping around to find the best one for me. My friends of course all have the IPod videos but I needed a player that works with Napster-to-go(an absolutely awesome service, you can download basically as much as you want from Napster all for the incredibly low price of 14.95 a month). I have held out of buying an MP3 player until I found one that can hold all my music, over 45 gb, and would still have room to fit my favorite tv shows and maybe a movie or to. The Zen Vision W does all this and more! They include all these great features as well as picture, radio tuner, and an organizer.

Pros:
Absolutely brilliant display. Hard to believe but the display is actually bigger than you think (display probably as big as an IPod video by itself). Put a couple videos on it and am blown away by how crisp the colors are and how good the resolution is.

Great for music. Keeps all your files organized the same way your computer does. Able to work with all types of online music using Windows Plays-For-Sure technologies as well as Audible and stuff like that. Syncs up easy with your computer. Just drag and drop your files onto it from your computer. Also has a built in speaker so you don't always have to have headphones. All sorts of EQ effects for different types of music.

Videos are a breeze. Almost too easy to put videos on it. Will play most avi, divx, and mp4, but will easily convert other types of video to make it compatible. Comes with A/V cables so you can move files off your computer onto the player and then watch them on your own tv.

Lots of options you can change on it to customize it for you. You can set up playlists easily and change most settings for other situations that come up.

No touch-pad! Sorry but I hate touchpads. Glad there are actual buttons to use, and remarkably easy and fast to find your music on it with the buttons.

Cons (yep there are some):

Pretty big: Almost too big. I don't like putting stuff in my pants pockets anyways so I don't care about the size. But beware it is about the size of a psp(about an inch thick) so I just put mine in my hoody pockets where it fits better or in a backpack or cargo pockets.

Power charger: This is based off region but mine did not come with a regular power adapter, I got the european one so I can't plug it into the wall to charge, I have to use the usb which takes about six hours to charge compared to three. Creative offers one for $35 bucks, not happy about that.

Accessories: Not a whole lot of accessories for it yet. Pretty hard to find a case for it.

Battery life: Not a great battery life. Long enough for me but still not very long.

In conclusion, absolutely amazing media player that plays almost all types of files and looks and sounds great doing it. The size will hold a lot of people back looking for a more portable device compared to the standard IPod.

Creative did it! They fixed the issues with their 30GB model and created the device I've been hoping for!

PROS
- The navigation is very easy to understand and this new model boots and navigates very fast, compared to the sluggishness of the older model.
- The audio is excellent, and the colors and video sharpness remain crisp and clean.
- The improved screen is excellent from all viewing angles.
- The 60GB capacity is a serious plus.
- The file management software is straightforward to install and use.
- The unit is well constructed and feels good in the hand, and even though it's bigger (to support the widescreen), it uses lighter-weight construction which feels only slightly heavier in the hand.

CONS
- accessories are important for this kind of gadget, and Creative doesn't seem to understand this. The 30GB model had a cradle which was very useful since the device can get heavy through a 2 hour movie. There doesn't seem to be a cradle for the new 60GB, at least not yet, and this is a big flaw. It can also be hard to find accessories like the extended battery.
- my photos don't look good in their original high res form. ipod will optimize your photos, reducing the file size so they look good on the small screen. With Creative, looks like I'll be "optimizing" myself. I guess this is no different from downsizing my movies, but since I know ipod can do it, I challenge Creative to do this next time around.

To get my DVDs onto this device, I use a two-step process:

(1) rip the DVD onto the PC hard drive (I use "DVD Shrink" freeware, takes about 20min)
(2) convert that ripped file, which is usually between 2-7GB, into a portable movie file using "Video Vault" software. This creates a small movie file of about 400-800MB. This step takes 1-3 hours per movie, so I run it overnight.

The resulting small movie file is easily transferred from the PC to the Creative device using the software that comes with the device.

To get TV onto the Creative, it's helpful to have a Media Center PC with a DVR. This way you can move recorded TV shows to the Creative and watch them on the go.

For me, the results of all this digital transfer are worth the effort. It's a blast to have this on a trip, especially when so many United Airlines movie screens are broken! Thank you, Creative, for making all the improvements. This new Creative Zen Vision is a terrific product and a fun toy for the electronics enthusiast.

I already own an older Creative MP3 player -- the Nomad Zen Xtra, and I thought the sound on that was excellent. As any audiophile worth his salt knows however, sound quality is never as good through a headphone out jack as it is through a dedicated line-out jack. So, as good as the sound quality is on the older Zen Xtra, my mp3s really kicked when I played them on my car stereo through the A/V out jack on the Zen Vision. Not only louder, but cleaner, crisper, better separation and punchier. And in my opinion, that's pure gravy. Like another reviewer mentioned, I got this baby because I can upload my pictures to it when I'm out shooting, rather than having to lug around my laptop all day. For my purposes as an avid amateur photographer, that alone justified the purchase of this beauty. Photographs are surprisingly crisp and bright, and I can tell immediately if a shot is a "keeper", something it's very hard to do on the tiny display of the camera itself. I've played around with watching videos on it, and as others have said they are surprisingly crisp -- more so than I would have thought, given the relatively low screen resolution. I personally won't be using it for that very much, though. Now that I know how pretty the sound is, I'll be using this as my primary mp3 player.
Of course, there are a few cons associated with this device, but in my opinion, they're relatively minor. First, since I *am* a left-hander, having all the buttons organized strictly on the right-hand side does make it awkward for me to navigate. But most products are made for right-handers anyway, and I've long since learned to adjust. But something that is slightly more annoying is the spacing of the buttons. They're all crammed together into a small space, and are hard to reach for a person with larger hands -- not unlike the spacing when you're trying to text on your phone or a Blackberry. If they were a little larger, and a little more spread out, it would be much more comfortable. As it is, your thumb will start to feel cramped if you are navigating through a lot of photos or trying to create a playlist.
Also, one final thing which may be a glitch, but has seemed to turn out well for me. Since I play my mp3s mostly through my car stereo, I'm using the A/V out jack. Apparently, Creative thought that people would only be using the jack to connect to video sources, overlooking the obvious fact that the line out provides superior sound quality when connected to an external stereo as well. Anyway, the display screen, once it senses that you've connected to the A/V out jack, completely blacks out, so you can't see what song is playing, time elapsed etc. If you want to add a song or change what's playing, you must first disconnect the A/V out jack for the screen to come back on. The geniuses at Creative just assumed that the display info would show up on whatever external video source you've got the thing connected to -- but most stereos won't display video. As a workaround, what I do is build my playlist, make all my EQ settings, randomization settings, etc, then plug it in and play. The screen turning completely off is a boost to battery life, so I don't mind so much, though it would be nice to hook it up to a stereo and be able to see the album art and song info on the player. Hopefully Creative can address this oversight with a firmware upgrade. It would be nice if you had the option to turn the screen off to preserve battery life, rather than having it black out with no recourse except disconnecting the jack.
All things considered, it is well worth the investment, especially for what I intend to use it for, and the excellent sound quality comes as an unexpected bonus -- I'd intended to keep the older Zen Xtra in service for a bit longer!

Let me first say that I am so glad that I did not go the IPOD route because of it's MANY limitations. This player is amazing. It will take SO many different types of music or video files which makes it far superior to IPOD.

Screen clarity is great for videos, love the EQ options and the ability to customize your own. I have the 60GB Zen W model(it's been out about 3 months now) which has currently about 2000 songs and close to 125 hrs of vidoe on it, and I still have 20 gigs to go. Have fun filling it up, it's taken me almost 3 weeks of nonstop work. Rips a song in about 20 secs from CD, and a 2 hr video in 90 secs (using Video Vault after conversion for Vids).

I bought the wireless remote, and the buttons vs. touch pad is no big deal. Earbuds are good but I upgraded to Creative's $99 in ear phones which are AWESOME (I also have Shure's comparible in ear model and Creative's is far superior). I also purchased a spare battery which is easily interchangeable and relatively cheap. Avg batt life so far is about 2 1/2 hrs for video, and who knows for audio b/c I've let it play all day on audio w/ a full charge and it didn't die, however that is with the switch in lock mode which turns off the screen. Player charges with USB cable (included) or AC adapter (included).

The out options are incredible, I can hook it to any TV or projector and surprisingly the picture is pretty good using full screen mode. (3 way Cable is included)

It also has an external speaker which works pretty good.

When it comes to you it has a protective plastic over the screen DO NOT THROW IT AWAY it keeps your screen from scratching and works well. (A replacement costs about 14 bucks)

So what are the cons?

1. It doesn't handle static well and rebuilds the drive every time you pop it so I recommend purchasing the SKIN which is made of silicone from Creative it totally eliminates static and is great for protecting your player from accidental drops.

2. It is pretty big so don't look to use it on your person while aggressively excercising (just for walking) It does however fit in a suit coat inner pocket with SKIN on and in it's velvet pouch (included).

3. It doesn't have all of the IPOD gimmick options yet (it's not been out long and Creative assures that more options are coming)but for around $25 you can purchase a Belkin FM digital transmitter which will allow you to listen to it anywhere that has FM. (GREAT OPTION)

So far that's all I find, mabye because I'm very pleased.

Overall, it's durable, well made, and very easy to use even if you are somewhat computer illiterate.

Again let me stress that IPODS confine you to Itunes or Ivideo. If you want freedom buy this player, you won't be sorry! And if a larger video screen is important to you the Zen Vision W is the player for you. It is worth every dime I paid for it, and more!!

I sold two iPods - a 30GB and an 80GB - and used the cash to buy the Zen Vision W. I just got it yesterday and I am glad I finally broke loose of the Apple/iTunes monopoly.

Main reasons to sell your iPod and buy a Vision W instead?

1. iTunes/iPod is a CLOSED system - you can only buy music from iTunes, not from any other subscription service. The Vision W allows you to use any of the PlaysForSure music services. My favorites are Napster and Yahoo Music.

2. iTunes does not have a "To Go" option where you can pay a single monthly fee and download unlimited entire albums. Napster and Yahoo Music have amazing services that allow this.

3. The Vision's screen is almost twice as big as the iPod, and MUCH higher quality. If you are really into watching movies, PLEASE get the Vision or you will be disappointed with iPod video.

4. The Vision has Outlook sync for your contacts, tasks, and calendar!

5. The Vision has alarms that are actually useful, since there is an external speaker!

6. The external speaker is very nice to have so you aren't always tied to headphones.

7. I am personally tired of spinning my finger around and around on the iPod wheel. The Vision's buttons are more natural to me. The iPod wheel is oversensitive sometimes and it can be hard to select what you want.

8. CF cards! You can plug in CF cards to carry around more stuff, or to help load your photos or music onto the player! The iPod has no card slots at all.

9. You can connect the Vision to a TV and view your stuff on the big screen.

10. Removable battery! If you need to, you can swap batteries and never run out of power while you are on the go. The iPod has no removable battery.

11. You can allocate up to 32GB of your player's hard drive as a removable disk, so it's basically acting as a portable hard drive and backup system!

Well, that is all I have so far, and it's only my second day with the Vision. I would definitely recommend it for anyone instead of an iPod UNLESS you prefer a smaller player and don't really care about quality as much, or if you never watch videos.

I completely recommend the 60GB unit - it holds my entire music library, my complete Outlook address book, reams of pictures and about 20 + movies as well as oodles of podcasts! I recommend DVDFab to convert video for the playback, as I've had no problems with it; and you get free upgrades forever.

One of the smartest buys I've ever made. I've hooked it up to the TV and it works great. One hint: when you are converting video - hike the audio up a bit and you won't get as much 'hiss' on playback.

Leave the protective film on the screen, this helps protect the big screen and is well worth not monkeying with it. I hook up the unit to my computer to charge up; and after 3.5 years I still get hours of playback time.

Well worth the money. Good job Creative!

YOUR FAVORITE MOVIES ... IN YOUR POCKET ...
WIDESCREEN PLEASURE ..... 4" SIZE

I just purchased this babe ... not even 48 hours ago!
I LOVE IT ....

I'm a NYC hypnotist by trade. Always watching updates,
following my peers DVDs and since I run a full-time
hypnosis practice in New York, I have a lot of training
videos (running a business .. taxes ... computer
training programs)I have to keep up on.

Well, life catches up on you ... and I just don't
have the time to watch them or even to be in a location
where I am near to a computer where I can view them ...
and carrying a bulky laptop is out of the question.

I was upstate NY last week, being driven by a friend
to teach a class. He had his apple ipod in the front
seat and said, I was watching your training video
just before you got here .....

I said, "At Home?"
He said, "No .. here .. and lifted up his ipod."

I was pretty amazed.
I said, "The picture's so small.'
He replied, "One plug ... into my wide screen tv
at home .. and this little unit carries 250 hours
of video."

I was blown away.

Went to J and R music ... consulted Amazon reviews ..
I saw the Creative Unit but owned the Creative Zen
Sleek ... and although it is a great, durable, almost
unbreakable unit (MP3 Player) ... it had the worst
filing system. It dumped all your files on the hard
drive and then it was a nightmare, despite Creative's
best efforts at writing a piece of software to compete
with Apple.

The J And R Salesman, a very old Lithuanian immigrant
with an immense knowledge of electronics .. told me
hands down .. the Zen was the best ... it had more
codecs ... could play more videos ... music files ..
without the hassle of fumbling through the apple
priority operating system and a mass of conversions.

Well, more research ... Amazon .. I bit the bullet.
Close to 400 big ones for the 60 gig ... and
I love it.... The quality is excellent ...
the tinny speaker is perfect for me .... the
build in radio ... wonderful organizer and
recorder ... are all wonderful extras that
Apple charges a fortune as add ons ....

And Creative products that I have owned
are solid, feisty little devils.

I plugged this unit into my 32 inch
Sony TV this morning and was blown away
with the quality ... playing a video
through it. This feature alone makes
it worth the price ... for showing
film clips when I do hypnosis trainings.

Check this out .... If you have to
view a lot of videos ... for pleasure
or business .. would like to keep a mess
of fun photos (a whole lifetime worth) ..
in your bag ... a radio ... an organizer
whose screen blows away my Palm Pilot Treo..

This unit may fit all your needs ...
So ... don't thank me all at once ...

P.S. Buy the skin for the extra 20.
You'll be glad because it will keep
your new baby .. nick free.

regards

John Petrocelli
New York Hypnosis Center LLC
http://www.healthwithhypnosis.com

I received the Zen Vision W 60 a little over a month ago. It took me awhile to figure out how to download music (the best format) and movies because I am not savvy in this area. Trying to find and download movies in a safe manner was especially challenging for me. But once I figured everything out, I downloaded music, pictures and movies like crazy. The Creative Media Source Organizer and Zen Vision W Media Explorer made ripping and organizing easy. Creative also provides hundreds of free Zen Cast (pod cast) downloads. The picture quality is fantastic. The navigation buttons situated on the right side of the unit were easier to use than I anticipated. Although, I think I still like iPOD's navigation method better. It is loaded with features and came supplied with almost everything I need. I appreciate that the battery is replaceable and that the unit supports downloads in several formats. I did experience static in the earphones supplied with the unit so I contacted Creative and they quickly sent me a new pair. I also found the unit to be a bit large to carry but I manage to fit it in the glove/mp3 pocket of my fleece jacket. I would not recommend it for use during vigorous activity. If you want a unit loaded with features and a large, sharp picture, I would not let the size turn you away. Overall, I recommend this product.

I own a 30GB Vision:M, but I decided the screen wasn't big enough for a lot of video watching, and I needed more hard drive space, the 60GB Vision W was the answer. This is the 3rd player in the Vision product line that I've owned, so I already knew what to expect from it, and how to best organize and prepare content for the player. I've found Xvid to be the best codec to use, with MP3 audio, I used a program called AutoGK to encode. For audio files, it's important to have the ID3-Tag organized (MediaMonkey is good for this), as the player does not support file-tree browsing, it's completely based on the tags. Installation went smoothly, and I got everything transferred over easily. The screen on the player did not disappoint, it's great, a huge improvement over the screen of both the Vision & Vision:M, absolutely no viewing angle problem, vibrant and easy to see from all angles. Videos look great on the screen, and it accepts a wide variety of codecs, resolution, and bitrates. The sound quality is great, I can tell no difference in that area from my Vision:M, Creative remains consistently among the best in terms of sound quality on their players.

There are a couple issues with the player, the photo viewing isn't great, it doesn't do a very good job with large photos, but it's good enough if that isn't the main function for you. Another issue, a bigger one, is that it only saves the position of one video, so if you start watching something else, you would have to seek to where you left off in a previous video. These aren't major issues for me, no player is perfect, this is as close as I've seen though, hence the 5 star rating.