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366 of 374 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Device but not perfect, October 5, 2006
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)
One last thing, the viewing angle on this player is great, unlike the first model zen vision media player that came out a few years ago. And since the screen resolution and dimensions are the same as the PSP, so you can buy a screen protector for the Psp and use it on this baby :) Cool huh?
Update: For those of you interested in a case for the Zen Vision W 30GB version, the Nintendo DS lite is about exactly the same size as the 30GB Zen Vision W so many of the cases for the DS lite work pretty well for 30GB Zen W as well. However the 60GB Zen W is a bit thicker and the cases probably won't work as well for it.
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140 of 144 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing!, September 30, 2006
I just got my Zen Vison W yesterday. Pulled it out of the box and had it up and running within 30 minutes. The entire package is well thought out with an AC adapter, decent earbuds and a well designed software package for importing content into the player.
I took about one hour to import my music to the player and also used the Zencast service to import Rocketboom and other video broadcasts to the player with zero problems. The import process for RSS-driven videocasts (no, I won't use the i*od word, since a certain fruit-based company is using legal tactics to go after anyone who even utters the word now). The Zencast service that Creative sponsors is just great and really is simple to use for both the Zen Vision and Zen touch players I have. I hope Creative extends the service with more functionality and features over time.
I'm still working out how to load videos from my Directv Tivo, but overall, this is an amazing package. The only weak area I see is that the FM radio is a bit insensitive for folks like me who live further out in the boonies. I was able to pick up stations and feel that if I were closer in to the city, I'd do just fine.
Powerup switch is sort of unique with a momentary contact switch that takes a little getting used to. At first, I thought I had a broken switch and then it became clear that this was all designed in. I'm going to be careful when turning the unit on and off, since I never have liked momentary spring-driven switches - They just seem to break unless you are very careful. I would expect that Creative used high-quality components for the switch.
Powering off uses the same switch with a momentary hold to signal the system to shutdown. The system powers off and on in a matter of seconds and despite complaints about similar units being slow, I don't see what the big deal is. Where else can you get this kind of performance, quality and sheer information storage? If it takes a second to get things to work, so be it - Frankly, I think it is a very good balance that Creative achieved with technology, form, function and limitations. In other words - They did great!
I was surprised that the sound w/o earbuds, using the inboard speaker was as good as it was. It can overdrive a bit, but honestly, it is just fine for watching videos in quiet locations and the sound is clean and just loud enough for most needs.
I was very pleased with the video quality. The screen quality is outstanding and the angle of view is *very* good. I have yet to try hooking the output to my Westinghouse LCD, but I'll bet it'll be amazing.
The photo section is great too - I was able to transfer all my photographs quickly and the ability to play through the pictures is just great. Very nicely done. I also took one picture and zoomed in on a spot I liked and used that zoom picture for my wallpaper. Yep, they have wallpaper that can change just like on a PC and it really is pretty cool.
Getting data into the system is easy and just involves a USB cable and plugging into a standard Windows XP box. I was up and running in minutes. The battery charge time states 3 hours on the box, but it seemed like I was topped off in far less time, so I'll have to see how it goes over time.
The only weird thing is how to set the time and date. Takes a bit of fudging to work the menus and figure how to do it, but overall, it was pretty easy. The alarm feature was interesting too... I'd guess you really need to set the volume high to make it work and I'd suggest future versions of the Zen incorporate a small buzzer or pleasant chime to make this feature shine more.
Creative hit a home run with this unit and this should be the standard for all portable video. Huge screen, easy to operate menu and high quality. I'm glad I've always stuck with Creative - they always give exceptional quality and functionality for a great price. I recommend this player highly and think you'll be glad you bought it if you go for it.
By the way, all my friends and family were blown away when they saw it... ;>) I'm happy with the product and will be using it for a long time to come.
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44 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The best PMP I've seen, November 6, 2006
I'm a semi-professional photographer whose dSLR takes Compact Flash cards, and so I was very excited at the prospects of using the Vision W as a way to offload images from shoots (using the compact flash slot) and to free them back up so that I could continue shooting.
I was hopeful that I would be able to even use the W as a proofing device to hand off to clients directly after the shoot so that they could immediately delete the photos that they didn't like.
I also was looking for a new MP3 player and was very interested in having a video player.
After using all components of the Vision W, I have the following observations.
Good
-Almost everything about this player is good! It's very sleek, reasonably priced, it excels at almost everything it does, and is pure joy to use.
-The screen is gorgeous. It is easily viewable from any angle. Pictures and movies alike look great.
-I love the organizer feature and am syncing the device to outlook daily. This has gone very well.
-The options for video play back work well. If you're not watching something in 16:9 format, you can zoom in to fill the whole screen with a portion of the video, stretch it to fit the full screen, etc. I've used this more than expected.
-The formats of video that are supported are great! It's nice not having to worry what format it is. I appreciate that the software handles converting the video into a format that it can handle.
-The interface is very intuitive. I haven't yet picked up the user guide and have been able to navigate successfully around on it.
Bad
-Photos copied over from Compact Flash cards take a long time to transfer to the device and are very slow to load when cycling through them on the player. Granted, they're coming directly out of an 8.2 MP camera and so they are huge files, but I had hopes that they would load much more quickly. Also - the thumbnail icons for these photos look distorted and load slowly, too. Photos copied to the device via the software (rather than directly from the compact flash card) do not have any of these problems.
-The headphone ear buds are too large to fit my ears. They literally fall out immediately because they don't fit. I had to buy a new, smaller set. (Note: I do often find that headphone ear buds run a little big - these were even bigger than normal. If you generally don't find this to be the case then it shouldn't be a concern for you).
-Like another reviewer, I wish it had a stand for watching movies so that you don't have to hold it in your hand. It would have been nice to set it down on the tray table during a flight. (Update: I've had wonderful luck with a business card holder like <a href = "http://www.amazon.com/Sparco-Products-Business-Holder-SPR90202/dp/B0006HW3SO/sr=1-9/qid=1164669434/ref=sr_1_9/002-4136204-2135236?ie=UTF8&s=office-products">this one</a> that I bought for just a couple bucks at an office supply store - I now have two of them - one for my desk at work and one for my desk at home! It works perfectly - the angle is great! I wouldn't recommend it on an unstable surface, but for most of the time it is perfect).
-When connected to the device from your computer, you can't interact with multiple directories at once. For example, I was copying over a large video file and wanted to recategorize images in a separate folder. I was not able to do so until the video had finished copying.
-I had hoped that there would be a setting to auto-rotate portrait orientation photos so that they would automatically show up sideways (thus making better use of the viewing area on the screen) but haven't found this feature. Instead, I manually rotate each picture.
-Deleting photos is not easy and intuitive enough for me to be able to hand the device off to a client. Overall, it's just not a robust enough photo viewer to reasonably plan to use it as a proofing device as I had hoped.
-There may be a way to do so, but so far I haven't found any easy way to quickly check what time it is on the device. Instead you have to go into the date/time submenu.
A couple other things that would have really put this over the top if they'd been able to successfully pull it off, but that I didn't really expect:
-Two headphone jacks, with one on each side for when two people are watching a movie together. We bought a splitter and that worked OK but a jack on each side would have been much easier and neater.
-AM radio tuner
-Slightly thinner body
-Inputs for other memory cards than Compact Flash.
Despite some minor complaints, I'm extremely happy with the device and strongly recommend it to anyone, especially anyone who uses a camera with a Compact Flash card.
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