MA XIMUMPC NOVEMBER 2005
reviewsTESTED. REVIEWED. VERDICTIZED
W
e can only imagine the conversa-
tions with Microsoft that took place
when Creative decided to ditch Redmond’s
Portable Media Center platform in favor of its
own home-brew interface (“It’s not you—it’s
us”). But it was a smart move. The Zen Vision
is far superior to its Microsoft-powered pre-
decessor in almost every respect.
Creative is learning how to sex up its
products so consumers feel inadequate for
not having them. The Zen Vision’s aesthetic
appeal is seductive—almost slutty, even—
with a mellow finish, chrome detail, and a
gently rippled surface on the back. It powers
up at a flick of the top-mounted slider switch,
and the buttons even illuminate for a brief
interval after any contact, for nighttime use.
The Home menu screen is both attractive and
utilitarian (not Microsoft’s strong suit), pre-
senting all the player options on a single, eas-
ily navigable page. Navigation is controlled
by a five-way rocker switch on the right-side
of the player fascia, which also sports three
playback buttons, a return button for backing
out of menus, and a button that pops up a
contextual menu with options based on the
media you’re viewing.
The Zen Vision’s 3.7-inch screen sup-
ports 262,000 colors at a resolution of up
to 640x480; that’s enough shades to actu-
ally attract a bee should you inadvertently
leave a picture of a clover blossom on the
screen. But, sadly, the screen’s ideal view-
ing angle is extremely limited when viewedin landscape mode—which you’d use
to watch a movie. The optimum viewing
angle is actually slightly off-axis! Granted,
from this angle the video looks fabulous,
with rich color and no artifacts, but who
wants to watch a whole movie in such a
manner? If you turn the player on its side
and view it in portrait mode head-on, it
looks spectacular and every bit bee-wor-
thy. Clearly, the Zen Vision is using the
same screen designed for today’s high-
resolution PDAs, which are intended to be
viewed in portrait mode.
Curiously, the software bundled with
the Zen Vision will only convert video to—
here we go again—Windows Media Video,
and only up to 320x240! What gives? The
player is certainly capable of better: We
had no problem playing back files of up
to DVD resolution (740x480) in Divx and
WMV formats (though not Divx 6, which
will hopefully gain support in a firmware
upgrade). This is a strange quirk, but more
eyebrows will likely be raised by the Zen
Vision’s lack of any video recording ability
at all. (Then again, Sony initially dismissed
the Walkman, thinking no one would want
a cassette player that didn’t record!)
As is customary with players from
Creative, the sound is dee-licious; although
audio playback is slightly tilted toward the
high end, there’s plenty of boom in the
bottom. There are a few extras, such as
organizer functions, a built-in voice recorder,
and FM radio, but none approach the con-
venience of the integrated CompactFlash
slot. While not breathtaking in itself, you can
purchase an optional adapter that supports
five different formats, including SD cards.
You can also purchase a higher-capacitybattery, if three hours and 45 minutes of
continuous video playback just isn’t enough.
Creative Labs did the right thing ditch-
ing the Portable Media Center platform to
become a little more permissive about the
formats it supports. Now we’d like to see the
company push the envelope with a wider
viewing angle and higher volume ceiling. If
we end up buying a competing player from
Archos or even Apple, we’ll just have to tell
Creative—it’s not us, it’s you.
—LOGAN DECKERZen Vision
30GB Portable
Video Player
Creative saw the light, and it was pretty good
The screen is sweet, but take our word for it: If you’re using the Zen Vision to look
at pictures with a friend, make sure you’re the one holding the player.SPECS
VIDEO WMV, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, Divx 4,
Divx 5, Xvid
AUDIO MP3, WMA (including protected
WMA), WAV
HARD DRIVE 30GB
DISPLAY 3.7-inch TFT LCD; 640x480; 262,
144 colors
EXPANSION CompactFlash with optional 5-in-1
memory card adapter
BATTERY Removable Li-IonTilt the
screen just a
little, howev-
er, and you’ll
have trouble
finding him.
(Get it?)
At just the
right angle,
bubbly
Nemo looks
his best.
$400, http://www.creative.comZEN VISION PORTABLE VIDEO PLAYERDVDsBVDs^8
Extremely narrow viewing
angle, no line-in video recording,
and mediocre battery life.Beautifully crisp screen,
good design, and no
stupid video DRM.- 8 "
2.
8 "