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Tom's Hardware Guide reviews the Zen Vision
comment: 24 | Friday, August 12 (2005) 12:00PM | Posted by Robert Sinke
Tom took this Zen Vision hardware for a spin, noticed the excellent sound quality (as did IGN), impressive picture quality, adequate video output - mentioning the screen's rather "cold" color temperature - and again, the narrow viewing angle of the screen. Battery life seems a bit skimpy at 3 hours for video and 9 hours for music playback.

He leaves it up to you whether you'd prefer something slightly-less compact (Archos AV400? AV500, rather!) that supports video recording, or drop 400 buckeroos for Vision's compact form factor.

LINK

Thanks, Stinky Weaselteats (Jeez, never thought I'd say anything like that at any given point in my life )
Comments

ThatOneWeirdo

Comments: 46
 		Aug 12 (2005) 12:42PM  

This is not going to sell real well


egloskerry

Comments: 410
 		Aug 12 (2005) 01:50PM  

Three hours of video? I originally heard it was gonna be around nine or something. I'll pass.



theshape

Comments: 44
 		Aug 12 (2005) 01:56PM  

The reviewer kept saying it cost $500, i thought it was only going to cost $400. That's still the case, right? Also, he didn't seem to say anything about the video resolution only being 320x240, so do you think the other reviewer was wrong and it can play video at the 640x480 resolution? Battery life seems pretty bad. I might hold out for the Cowon iAudio A2 and see how that does.



shiftis
Location: Canada
Comments: 369
 		Aug 12 (2005) 02:24PM  

Three hours for video is just unacceptable. It does have user replaceable batteries, but still.



Tony

Guest
 		Aug 12 (2005) 03:00PM  

Three hours for video is just unacceptable. It does have user replaceable batteries, but still.~~

limit of current technology.



Robert Sinke

Comments: 1221
 		Aug 12 (2005) 03:07PM  

theshape - I think it's $ 400 indeed, rather than 500 bucks. About the other stuff - if Creative would decide to be nice and have over a unit for once, we would surely check all of this out for you guys. I know they're reading up on this site but well... what can you do?



Scarpad

Comments: 65
 		Aug 12 (2005) 03:26PM  

My PSP does pretty decent on battery life I can get close to 2 umd movies probably
3-4 from the memory stick



chicubs

Comments: 915
 		Aug 12 (2005) 03:27PM  

3 hours? Wow, I thought it would have been more than that. If any of these players really want to make a splash, they have to do better than that. Thats one, maybe two movies.



Scarpad

Comments: 65
 		Aug 12 (2005) 03:50PM  

I'm not going to write it off till one of our Dedicate PMP Heads puts it thru it's paces, that review is still vague. I want things answered like " I took My 640x480 encode of Spiderman in XVid format and put it on the zen and it looked like this" I want a wide range of Codecs tested to see how it handles. I still would prefer Widescreen but this device could be good. Could be Bad. It's no surprise that Creative's Software blows, the reviewer at Tom's Lost me when he actually praised their Mediasource POS.



Chirality

Guest
 		Aug 12 (2005) 05:58PM  

Hopefully the 3 hour battery life is just an artifact of the brand new condition of the battery. Perhaps with more cycles of usage the battery life would increase to 4 hours for video. Who knows. At least we know that the extended battery would increase the battery life to at least 6 hours. If, with the added bulk of the extended battery, this device is still more compact than the AV400 series, then it is certainly a winner.



Fryhole

Comments: 137
 		Aug 12 (2005) 06:50PM  

Can someone PLEASE give a decent review of this thing?! It could be great....or it could be a big pile of mush, but I'm not about to let an IGN or Toms Hardware review tell me that, I want to hear it from some nerdy big headed kid who knows how to review a piece of hardware!



nym9

Comments: 41
 		Aug 13 (2005) 06:52AM  

Besides needing XP to use this, you also need Creative software to upload media into it.

Look like Creative will never learn.



Dominic
Location: Ireland.
Comments: 2396
 		Aug 13 (2005) 07:28AM  

most devices of this kind need some sort of software to upload data, unless its ums which a lot aren't., the battery does seem pretty crappy,a bit too crappy considering how this things release was delayed by creative....


clevetus

Comments: 52
 		Aug 13 (2005) 07:51AM  

remember also that it takes a good couple of recharges before a battery reaches its full capacity...



clevetus

Comments: 52
 		Aug 13 (2005) 07:53AM  

I also agree with Fryhole, I need a thourough review of this thing, Toms Hardware and IGN don't really tell anything concrete.



theshape

Comments: 44
 		Aug 13 (2005) 09:35AM  

Btw, is it possible that through a firmware update they'd be able to add support for AAC? Or would that have to involve changes in hardware? I have an iPod and all my music is in AAC, foolishly. Also, if they could, do you think they would?



Chirality

Comments: 57
 		Aug 14 (2005) 12:51AM  

Perhaps, AAC is certainly one of the candidates to replace the MP3 standard. But one thing is for sure: no legal firmware update can make this device playback protected AAC files downloaded from iTMS.



Fryhole

Comments: 137
 		Aug 14 (2005) 02:56AM  

AAC a candidate to replace MP3?! What are you huffin!....I mean...I disagree with your position, and shall speak no further on it. Scratch that, AAC ain't ever takin over MP3, for that matter, there is a good likely hood nothing ever will. MP3 is too widely supported, its not about to dry up and go away, using the right encoder it can sound as good or better than any other lossy codec....and I really don't wanna get into that, cuz I know I'll get school by some mpc totin' jock-nerd-hybrid. MP3 ain't ever gonna die (thank you original Napster!) because, well, everyone has too much damn stuff encoded in it.

Oh and...yeah, creative will support AAC the day it turns around and bends over to Apple.



Chirality

Comments: 57
 		Aug 14 (2005) 01:00PM  

The MP3 standard will probably not die for quite some time, but that does not mean it will never die. For one thing, MP3 is 2 channel only. There are some encoding schemes for MP3 that allows for surround sound, but only through matrixed encoding. (Think: Dolby MP) For this reason, and perhaps some others, MP3 will be replaced by some more advanced technology. This is an inevitability, as all computing technology is doomed to be replaced at some point. But I have no idea when it will be or whether anyone would still know what AAC is the day MP3 dies. But I can't help but laugh when you asserted that a technology will never die simply because too many people are using it. I will refrain from making any comments about the nonsensical nature of that claim, though.



Chirality

Comments: 57
 		Aug 14 (2005) 01:19PM  

Furthermore, Mr. Philip J. Fry, you seem to be under the impression that Apple owns AAC. For that, all I have to say is, do your reading before speaking.



Fryhole

Comments: 137
 		Aug 14 (2005) 04:13PM  

WELL...at least you must be somewhat of a futurama junkie to get the name thing, kudos for that. And I must say...I've done plenty of reading on the subject, let me just explain what I meant a little further before you come and try to stomp out my comment like a cigarette butt.

The MP3 codec will NOT be going anywhere anytime soon, we both agree on that...but the fact of the matter is, it may very well outlast all codecs currently out there, be it ogg, aac, rma, mpc, flac, wma, or anything else. It is just too widely supported, that does not mean that it won't be surpassed by some superior format done the road, it just means it has a good chance of being accepted like a...legacy codec, one that, for its overall cheapness to incorporate into a product, that it will just be included for virtually nill cost for decades to come.

The idea that AAC will replace MP3, is one that I don't really see coming true. I mean hell, just look at where AAC has come from. I'm racking my brain trying to remember who killed it....but it might have been REAL. In the early 90's it was ditched as an inferior codec to the upcoming MP3 and competing codecs, so REAL or whatever other company it was...ditched it in favour of newer technology. Apple was the company that ressurected it (Yeah I know apple doesn't own aac...glad to see you give me so much credit....in fact I've tried out the Nero AAC encoder...and well...apple has the best one, hence why I'll refer to apple).

In my opinion AAC is an inferior codec to MP3 (dissagree if you will, I accept that). The only reason AAC exists, again in my opinion, is to offer an alternative to WMA, and its protected counterparts.

Hope that makes you...umm...well not exaclty change your mind...that ain't happening...but try not to stomp out my (admitedly right...you know it....) views.

Oh! and uhh...."a technology will never die simply because too many people are using it," don't write that off so quickly. Just look as far as Microsoft Windows, or even the hardware its running on (PC's)....The time those technologies will last in our culture, barring some sort of nuclear holocast, is so long...that it is damn near acceptable to just say they won't die, at least, not in our lifetimes. Hell, look at electricity, how long have we had that? Do you see that going away anytime soon? I'm not comparing MP3 to lighting...but just don't write out a technology never going away.

Fire anyone?



Fryhole

Comments: 137
 		Aug 14 (2005) 04:14PM  

Sorry for any typos...there's bound to be a few...if only DAPreview had spellcheck...if only.



Robert Sinke

Comments: 1221
 		Aug 14 (2005) 10:38PM  

We'll add the spell check thing on top of our "to-do list" and label it "project 245172c". We're currently working on project "7d".



Chirality

Comments: 57
 		Aug 25 (2005) 12:26AM  

The Zen Vision is up for purchase (not pre-order) at Amazon.com for $413.95. Amazon indicates that it is from Office Depot, but Office Depot has no record of it. That, plus the odd price, makes this quite suspicious. In addition, there is one user review on Amazon's product page, apparently by someone who has used it. Hmmm...



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Personally, I didn't buy any of those clips, great deal nonetheless - enjoy!!!!

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