yusakugo's Full Review: Creative Technology ZEN Vision:M (30 GB) Black Dig...
I received this as a late Christmas gift (the order from Crutchfield wasn't filled till early April 2006) from my brother. He paid a total of $130 with S&H (Originally $299 with -$50 coupon from Crutchfield, -$20 gift certificate, -$120 in referral rebates, and add S&H). I'm writing this after almost three months of use. I have to say that this device is very impressive. It has replaced my 60GB video iPod in many respects in particular the video playback and photo viewing aspects. For a pocket device, this has the best screen I've seen to date and is probably the best bang for the buck in a compact package!
Short Take
Overall, I think the Creative Zen Vision M is one of the best portable media players on the market today especially for the price! However, if your interest in primarily for music playback, the Video iPod is a bit easier to use and iRiver's offerings have a wider range of music formats that it can play back.
That being said, the video playback at under $400 media players is second to none (unless you have a notebook computer!). I've been able to play back most of my video files with minimal or no conversions (I have a huge anime collection over the years) before transferring to the Vision M. The 2.5 inch screen on the Zen Vision M is spectacular... there is no comparison to the Video iPod. The Zen Video M simply blows away the Video iPod's screen. I would even dare say that the Zen Vision M screen beats higher priced players from iRiver and Archos! The screen has a rather wide viewing angle, is bright and crisp, and refreshes at a rapid rate (less blurring than on the Video iPod). I would even dare say that the screen is as good as the one on the Sony PSP.
With this kind of screen, photo viewing is a pleasure as well. On top of this, the Vision M also has a pletora of additional features including voice recording, FM tuner, limited PDA functions, and the ability to output audio and video to a TV. Space wise, you have nearly 30GB of space available for $299!
The Zen Vision M does have a few downsides however. You can no longer replace the battery in the unit like in previous Zen models. The video playback life is fairly short at 4 hours max for video playback and 12 hours for pure music playback (under my use... Creative lists 4 hours pure video playback and 14 hours pure music playback). Although the Vision M can be used as a hard drive, you cannot use this space for videos, photos, or music for playback on the Vision M (the iPod does not have this limitation). Charging the player requires you to attach the mini-dock adapter through the bottom of the player. In fact, without the mini-dock adapter, you can't charge the Vision M, download files to the Vision M, output to an external monitor, or transfer files. Accessories for the Vision M are few and far between. Voice and FM recording takes up alot of hard drive space... a ridiculous amount of hard drive space.
The Vision M is definitely one player you should keep at the top of your list.
Price
The average price for the Vision M is $299 and comes in five colors. I got a black unit. To be honest, most places should be discounting the unit to $249. As I said above, I purchased my Black Vision M for a base of $249 (after code PA440 which is a coupon for $50 off the Vision M) at Crutchfield.com. I'll have a few money saving tips at the end of the review.
Specs
The Vision M has dimensions of 4.1 x 2.4 x 0.7 inches (104 x 62 x 18.6mm) and a weight of 5.7 oz (163 g) making it thicker and slightly heavier than the 60GB Video iPod. The unit curved edges and a two toned color scheme. The back of the unit is always white with the Zen concentric circle design molded on the upper back of the unit. The front of the unit has the 2.5 inch 320x240 color LCD capable of 262,144 colors and pretty much all the controls. The front of the unit comes in one of five colors (black, white, pink, light green, and light blue). The top of the unit has the headphones port and the power/hold switch. The bottom of the unit holds the dock connector which you have to attach the mini-dock adapter to transfer files or power/charge the unit. The mini-port adapter has the mini-USB port, A/V out port, and the AC adapter.
The controls for the Zen Vision M are concentrated on the bottom half of the front of the unit. The center of the panel holds the vertical touchpad which you can navigate through menus by sliding your finger/thumb up and down the pad. Tapping the touchpad acts as an accept/ok button. Note the the touchpad can be pressed to the sides (the whole touchpad unit not sliding side to side on the touchpad) for certain features like video and music playback. The panel surrounding the touchpad consists of 4 pressable areas that act as play/pause, menu, go back, and my favorite. These four areas also light up in a nice bright but soothing blue glow.
The Vision M has a good solid feel compared to a 30GB iPod and even a bit over the 60GB Video iPod. Your thumb should easily reach all the controls (unless you have really small hands). I should note that the black front of my Vision M has a number of scratches although to a smaller degree than my 60GB Video iPod (before I put on the invisible shield protector on it). The back of the unit is much more scratch resistant. The LCD on the Vision M is brighter, more colorful, seems sharper, and has a much wider viewing angle compared to the current Video iPods.
The full specs of the Vision M are:
Audio Battery Life:
-Up to 14 hrs playtime (MP3, 128kbps, 4mins/ song)
-Up to 8 hrs playtime (WMA, 64kbps, 4mins/ song)
-Up to 14 hrs FM playtime
Video Battery Life: Up to 4 hrs video playtime
Supported Audio formats: MP3, WMA (inc MS PD DRM), WAV
Support Video formats: DivX 4 & 5, XviD5, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG4-SP, WMV9, Motion-JPEG
Supported Photo formats: JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF
Signal-to-Noise Ratio: up to 97dB
FM & FM recording: 32 preset stations
EQ settings: 8 presets & custom 5 band EQ setting
Organiser: Calendar, Contact, Task list
Power Charging: Charges via Power Adapter (2.5hrs only) or PC thru USB (6hrs)
TV Out: Yes
Photo with Music: Yes
Voice Recording: Yes
Removable Disk Storage: Yes
Album Art: Slideshow, Thumbnail, Zoom, Pan
Connectivity:
-Docking connector (USB2.0 with Sync Adapter)
-Stereo headphone out with Wired Remote Support
-Composite AV Out (NTSC and PAL)
-Built-in Microphone
In Use... Video Playback
To be honest, I use the Vision M mostly for photo and video playback. In this respect, the Vision M completely outperforms the Video iPod. This is due to a combination of the brighter and sharper screen on the Vision M and the wider support for more video formats. I have quite a bit of video files encoded into several video file formats including DivX 3, 4, and 5 formats, XviD, and MPEG-4. Where I had to convert many of these files to a more compressed format for my Video iPod, the Vision M was able to play a majority of these files without any further conversion. Those files that needed conversion, the Zen Explorer software made it relatively easy to convert (although it was a very slow process) with little effort needed on your part. As long as the DivX, XviD, and MPEG-4 encoding was done in simple format of advanced simple format without GMC support, the Vision M should be able to play back the files on its screen or through the A/V output jack. Note that there is a couple of seconds delay before playback starts.
The video playback was excellent with no stuttering either on the 2.5 inch color LCD or through the A/V output jack. I didn't notice any blurring on fast motion on the LCD screen or on A/V output! Colors were bright and accurate. Overall, watching video on the Vision M was pure pleasure... going back to the Video iPod to watch videos became disappointing. Once the playback started, the Vision M was completely smooth.
However, there are a few disappointments with the video playback... but they aren't due to Creative's fault. Apple has more available content through iTunes to access and purchase if you're wary of encoding your own video files. It's currently not as easy to purchase the latest episode of Lost and play it back on the Vision M compared to the Video iPod. Hopefully that will change soon.
My only worry is whether Creative will continue to expand the formats the Vision M can play back as new formats emerge. Creative frequently releases patches so I hope this is the case!
Photo Viewing
The Zen Explorer software allows you to transfer your photos pretty easily. When you compare the same photo on the Video iPod versus the Vision M... there is no comparison. Just due to the screen itself, the Vision M is a pleasure to watch. You have the slideshow, music in the background, blah, blah, blah. The screen on the Vision M is the big difference. The Video iPod screen looks dull in comparision to bright, colorful, and sharp Vision M screen. For media players of this size and price range, the Vision M is currently the best there is for photo viewing. I should also note that the screen has a much wider viewing angle than the Video iPod. Again, there may be a second or two delay before the photo is displayed.
Music
The music playback for the Vision M is excellent as well. The use of the touchpad to navigate through hundreds even thousands of songs isn't quite as accurate as the Video iPod's click wheel but it's acceptable. The overall user interface is quite good and maybe slightly worse than the iPod if at all. Unfortunately, the file formats supported as limited to MP3, WAV, and WMA (with and without DRM) compared to the iPod's MP3, WAV, and ACC (with and without Apple's DRM encoding). Note that the Vision M is listed as Janus compatible allowing use of Napster to Go with the Vision M.
The Vision M has a wealth of features available in audio playback especially due to Creative's years of experience in the field. You have all your standard features like shuffle, and various methods of organizing the songs by album, song title, genre, etc. You also get 8 equalizer presets and 5 custom presets as well.
The included earbuds do a decent job but when you attach better earbuds or quality external speakers, the Vision M really shines. Coupled with my Logitech mm50 was awesome. At least the equivalent if not better than the iPod.
The only major weaknesses of the Audio playback is the less streamlined syncing to your main PC like the iPod has with iTunes and the lack of playback of some higher quality file formats like .ogg (Ogg Vorbis) which you can find in iRiver's offerings. These aren't deal breakers but may be important if you're specifically looking for these features. Subscription services like Napster-to-Go are a much better fit with the Vision M since the iPod has no similar service.
FM tuning
As can be expected, the tuner isn't great but adequate for a player of this size. It's very dependent on how far away you are from the point of transmission. I get relatively few problems in NYC but more problems when I'm in Long Island near the Hamptons. Otherwise, the tuner is rather quick and has 32 presets available to you. The Vision M can auto detect and fill up those presets for you though.
A bonus is the FM recording feature. If you have a favorite FM station that you absolutely can't miss, this is a neat feature to have. However, you can't place the recordings on a timer and you have no real control over the quality of the recording (as of the current firmware, this could change in the future!). All FM recordings are saved as 4-bit, 22KHz WAV files which take up quite a bit of space... thank goodness you have a nice large 30GB hard drive.
Voice Recording
This feature is more for direct dictations than recording a lecture but it does have its uses. All voice recordings are saved as 4-bit, 16KHz WAV files which also take up quite a bit of room. The microphone hole is on the side of the player and does a good job in direct dictations. Under these conditions, the recordings are crisp and clear. When recording a lecture, you take your chances with it. Worse case scenario is a low pickup or no pickup at all... but usually a low or muted pickup is worst outcome.
Organizer Features
The Vision M can sync with Microsoft Outlook via Creative's Sync Manager software. Note that there is no way to edit the information while on the Vision M and no way to protect it (like with a password) on the Vision M. Obiviously, I didn't play much with this feature... leaving PDA functions to my Tungsten C or my Axim X51v.
The Vision M has a Calendar, Contact, and Task list. As stated above, the input and editing must occur on the PC and be transferred over via Sync Manager.
Software and Manuals
Urmmmm.... the software is at least workable and some of it is actually quite good but that is also the problem. Unlike iTunes, there are several pieces of software including the Zen Media Explorer, Sync Manager, ZenCast manager, and MediaSource Organizer on top of Windows Media Player 10. Manuals are overall pretty weak for the software and decent to above average for the Vision M itself (although the manual is a large PDF file). It would be nice if Creative could integrate the software into one seamless program.
In the Box and Accessories
Included in the box is a pair of decent headphones, a carry pouch (useless), the mini-dock adapter with the mini-USB port, A/V output, and AC power port, quick start manuals, a power cable/adapter, USB 2.0 to mini-USB cable, and software CDs.
I would consider the $18.99 A/V cable and a real case for your first purchases for the Vision M. The A/V cable makes the Vision M a truly portable media player especially on vacations!
The mini-port adapter is something you must make sure that you always have with you. Losing it makes the player pretty much useless. Without this adapter, you cannot sync information, transfer files to it, or even charge the Vision M!
Battery Power
The Vision M lasted up to 12 hours in my use with almost pure MP3 playback. The manual lists that WMA file playback will shorten the battery life considerably. Video playback lasted between 4 to 4 1/2 hours in my use. This involved playback of files encoded in XviD or DivX formats.
Charging the player took around 3-4 hours max via the AC adapter and 7-8 hours via the USB cable. These times aren't accurate since I checked the charge status every hour to hour and a half.
As a Hard Drive
The connection isn't too quick. Transferring video files via Creative's software took about 2-3 hours for 5 GBs of information. It's serviceable for a USB 2.0 connection. Average transfer time was around 6MB/sec. However, I haven't done full tests since I would have to dedicate hard drive space on the Vision M to use as a PC hard drive. The Vision M allows you to dedicate up to 15GB to this but this space cannot be used for music, photos, or video files to be played back on the Vision M directly. I still don't understand why Creative insists on using this method of utilizing their media players as hard drives. The iPod makes no such restriction.
Easter Eggs
The Vision M can display in a large number of languages if you prefer something other than English!
Competition?
This is tough... the most likely competition is the Video iPod, Sony PSP, Portable media players especially the ones from Archos, Handheld computers/PDAs, and high end cell phones. To a lesser degree, ultracompact notebooks are also a large source of competition. The PSP is more flexible and cost similar (with a 1 or 2 GB Memory Pro stick) and the Archos players (AV420!) would rank a little higher on my list for video playback and especially recording. The Archos AV420 is a bit a more flexible and capable video performer than the Vision M but adds the recording features. Those who aren't afraid of a little technology should look at the Vision M all the way!
My best two tips here would be using Dell.com when they have coupons available or percent discounts or Crutchfield.com with PA440 coupon and the use of a referral code to get you a $20 discount (first time shoppers only!) and it gives the referrer a $20 credit at Crutchfield as well. If you have friends who shop at Crutchfield, they have a referrer code (I have one but can't post it in the review). Crutchfield sends in stock purchases within 2-3 business days (I've often gotten purchases in 1-2 days)! Use the link from epinions to reach Crutchfield.com. Somethings CircuitCity.com and BestBuy.com drop the price to $249 on sale as well.
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