Ahh, toys… the latest one to enter the fold is the Creative Zen Vision W personal media player. This device does just about everything.
But is it any good? Well, read on to find out.
Feature List
- 4.3″ WQVGA high-resolution LCD screen – View 480 x 272 resolution in a wide aspect screen at up to 262,144 colors or output video and photos to an external display at a maximum of 720×480.
- Holds up to 240 hours of movies – ZEN support formats such as AVI, DivX 4 & 53, XviD4, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG4-SP, WMV9 and Motion-JPEG, which simply means more choices and fewer restrictions.
- Store up to tens of thousands of photos – Complete with a thumbnail gallery and zoom capabilities.
Up to 15,000 songs – With 5-band EQ or 8 preset EQ settings and 96dB signal-to-noise ratio.- TV output – Connect the ZEN to a projector or TV with the bundled AV cable for everyone to see.
- FM radio – Listen to more music with the integrated FM radio with 32 station presets.
- Personal organizer – Syncs your contacts, calendar, and tasks with Microsoft Outlook.
- Voice recorder – Record meetings, lectures, even voice memos.
- Long lasting battery – Enjoy up to 13 hours of music, or 4.5 hours of movies.
- Offload digital photos – Transfer pictures from your camera to ZEN without a computer.
Initial Impressions
The device was packaged with accessories including earbud headphones, a wall power adapter, a USB cable, a software disc, A/V-out cables, and a felt case.
After unpacking the device I noticed that it is hefty, but not heavy. It weighs 10.5 ounces and though it looks a little plain you can tell that the screen is quality even before you turn it on.
The software installed just fine on my heavily abused XP system and is very simple to use. It includes functions to load songs, video and photos on the device as well as the ability to rip audio CDs. One thing notably missing however was the ability to rip DVDs.
This to me was a glaring omission. How does Creative expect people to get their DVDs into this PMP device? In order to perform this task I had to use some other software. I’ve documented the process of ripping DVDs to your hard drive for transfer to the Zen here. I’ve got two options, one fairly simple but not free, one free but a little more complicated.
Back to the review at hand…
I found Creative’s transfer software to be very simple to use and after loading up some MP3s and videos I immediately plugged in my Bose QuietComfort 2 headphones to take a listen. With these headphones I initially felt the sound quality was a little flat, but then I changed the EQ settings to suit my preference and it sounded fantastic.
I then threw on a movie and was impressed with the sharpness and clarity of the video. I never forgot that I was watching a tiny screen, but I was very, very happy that I hadn’t picked up an iPod. The Zen W’s screen is at least 200% larger and I wouldn’t want it any smaller.
The only thing that I immediately missed is some sort of built in stand for the unit. If you want to set it down to watch it you’ll have to lean it against something, and then it wants to slip. I’m considering making a stand for it myself on my PlasmCAM.
The Good and Bad
Things I Like:
- The screen is beautiful. It is very sharp and clear and has a good refresh rate.
- The user interface is very intuitive. I didn’t read a single page of the manual, but everything was extremely easy to figure out.
- The built in speaker is adequate. I wish it could go a little louder but hey, at least it has one, (unlike the iPod and other units).
The player remembers exactly where each movie stopped, and resumes playing from that spot, even if you watch several different movies at at time.- The fast forward and rewind functions work awesome! They start out slow and then speed up exponentially. It feels just right – very unlike Ipod.
- The non-bloated, functional and simple software.
- Although I haven’t tested it yet, I’m looking forward to syncing the device with TiVo as the box says “…transfer them to your player using TiVoToGo…”.
- Creative built in a ton of extras such as Outlook contact, calendar and task syncing; and excellent FM radio and a microphone for recording.
- CNet claims 18 hours and 28 minutes of MP3 battery life, with 5 hours 6 minutes of juice when playing video, which is far more than Creative’s claims. In addition, it’s removable so you could get an extra one if you wanted to keep going after that.
Things I don’t like:
- You must install the Creative software in order to transfer files. Although you can easily partition up to 16GB to act as USB Mass Storage, it doesn’t allow you to just see the whole 60GB and drop files where you want them. Still, this is a reasonable compromise.
- Although the size is fine, I wish it was just a little thinner. Its .9″ thick and it would be ideal if it could be more like .3 – .5″ thick. I realize the technology isn’t there yet.
- The buttons are a little too small for my fingers. I’m 6′1″ with fairly large hands.
- It doesn’t stand up by it’s self. If you set it down it needs to lean on something.
In order to test the widest range of encoded information I downloaded a bunch of bootlegged movies from the Internet (and then deleted them immediately afterwards of course :-) ). I did this because I can’t possibly create test formats for the wide variety of choices out there.
Compatibility
Formats Tested:
- I checked out a version of Employee of the Month, encoded with TMPGEnc, 352×240, at 30fps, and it worked well until about 1/2 way through when the voice got out of sync with the video. This is normally associated with the quality of the software used to encode the video.
- An Inconvenient Truth encoded with TMPGEnc, 352×240, at 30fps worked flawlessly.
- I tried to install Bowling for Columbine which was encoded with MPEG4, 560×304, 24fps, but the Creative MediaSource software failed to convert it and therefore it did not transfer to the device. The software did not explain why it couldn’t convert it, it just failed.
- While watching a video of Half Baked (encoded with XVID, 624×336, 24fps) the video played back choppy. Aproximately every 10-20 seconds there would be about a .5 second pause.
- Barnyard, encoded in MPEG1 Layer 2, 352×240, 30fps worked just fine.
- The Ant Bully, encoded with DivX 6.2.2, 352×240 at 30fps worked perfectly.
- Casino Royale, which incidentally is the greatest Bond movie ever made!!!, encoded in MPEG1 Layer 2, 352×240, 30fps worked fine as well.
I could go on, but I think you get the picture. I’d say that approximately 90% of the movies downloaded at least worked. A few of them had a glitch or two. The ones that I ripped from my own DVDs, using this method, worked flawlessly.
Summary
I had considered every personal media player on the market before picking up the Zen Vision W. Money was truly no object, I just wanted to get one that had a fantastic screen, long battery life and excellent compatibility with a wide range of encoding and formats.
For any amount of money I don’t think you can do better than this media player, and given that you can pick one up for $350-400 it makes the perfect A/V travel companion.
Other Resources
As always, questions and comments are welcome, and if you found this article useful please do me the favor of DIGGing it, bookmarking it with Del.icio.us, or any of your favorite sites from up by the article title.
Have fun!
EDIT: 1/8/2007 I also just added a complete teardown of this device for those that might be interested in upgrading the hard drive.
EDIT: 7/12/2007 Thanks to Michael we have this picture of the SF Planet Zen W Case w/stand. As he described it:
The kickstand is built separate as a flap in the back. The top cover just throws back and hangs there to keep the weight pulling backwards onto the kickstand.
And when you’re done, the kickstand is magnetic, so it will snap back to the case and not stick out.
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Ahh, toys… the latest one to enter the fold is the Creative Zen Vision W personal media player. This device does just about everything. 
Up to 15,000 songs – With 5-band EQ or 8 preset EQ settings and 96dB signal-to-noise ratio.
The software installed just fine on my heavily abused XP system and is very simple to use. It includes functions to load songs, video and photos on the device as well as the ability to rip audio CDs. One thing notably missing however was the ability to rip DVDs. 
I found Creative’s transfer software to be very simple to use and after loading up some MP3s and videos I immediately plugged in my Bose QuietComfort 2 headphones to take a listen. With these headphones I initially felt the sound quality was a little flat, but then I changed the EQ settings to suit my preference and it sounded fantastic. 
The player remembers exactly where each movie stopped, and resumes playing from that spot, even if you watch several different movies at at time.
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FYI in case anyone else runs into this issue…
When installing the machine onto a different machine we encountered an error in getting the computer to recognize the Zen.
We kept getting an error that read “MTP Player Not Recognized”. After trying just about everything I could think of, I came across this thread. All I needed to do was get the fixup.zip file, but the problem was, the link was dead!
Much, much further in the thread someone else found the file at the very bottom of this thread. The link to the specific file you need is here for now.
After running the fixup file and plugging the device back in, everything worked.
Whew! I sure wish Creative had better documented that issue.
John
[...] Creative Zen Vision W Teardown Spread the word: Viewed 1 times After my previous review of the Zen Vision W I had a reader Ask the Man the following question: Hi, [...]
Ok.. I ran the fixup.. but there’s one part of the process that I don’t get. It asks me to go to “view” and “show hidden devices”. Then it asks me to remove my player.. I don’t know what to remove??? I don’t know if I’m suppose to remove the driver that was installed when I first got it.. or if I’m suppose to simply remove the USB “unknown device” .. I’m guessing it wasn’t the second because it didn’t work.
Crystal,
Sorry… I know it was also very frustrating for me. Its a little difficult for me to tell you exactly what to try (not being there and all) but if you’ve already run the fixup file then I’d recommend the following, in order of preference:
– Physically disconnect the Zen device and then reconnect it.
– Reboot the computer and then connect the Zen.
– Reinstall the Zen software – full install – and then reconnect the device.
I probably should have documented the process exactly when I encountered the problem, but I was more focused on solving it so I’ve forgotten the exact steps I took.
John
Dear One Man,
I heard some of the previous Creative products had static current problem where the system freezes due to the static. Did you face any such problem with Vision W?
I also heard people discussing that audio out point (where you plug the headphone) does not work (or the connection loses) after 6-7 months of use. Any comments on this?
Thanks for the detailed review. I am deciding whether to buy iPod Video or Vision W.
Thanks again…
Scott – from MN
Scott,
Thanks for the comments!
I have yet to experience any sort of freeze, or for that matter any type of glitch at all with the Zen. At this point it’s traveled coast to coast in planes, trains and automobiles with no issues.
As far as the headphone jack is concerned, we haven’t owned it long enough yet for me to give a long term report, but if you look at the complete teardown of the unit that I did you’ll see that the jack is pretty solidly mounted on the unit, so it would take a serious failure for that to stop working.
In other words it’s not going to just jiggle lose or anything.
I’ve owned an iPod for years, but everything about the zen is better and I wholeheartedly recommend it at this point.
Take care,
John
How does the battery work? Is there an internal battery? or o I need that Li-ion battery pack thing?
The unit comes with a large li-ion battery. It snaps on, so the good news is that since it’s not embedded in the unit you can purchase a second battery if you really need a lot of playback time.
I’ve used mine for well over 5 hours playing back movies on a TV while traveling, for what it’s worth.
So the battery that I see often advertised together with the Vision W is a second battery?
Hmm. Well, I haven’t seen any of the ads that you are referring to, but I didn’t do much comparative shopping.
But the packaging that comes from Creative includes a battery, so I don’t know why anyone would advertise it as having a seperate battery.
It’s the kind of thing where if you remove the battery there is a huge chunk missing from the back of the player. You simply can’t sell it without one.
I’d recommend you clarify that with whomever you are thinking about buying it from. Make sure they mean 2 as opposed to 1 battery.
John
i’m planning on buying the 30gb zen vision w.i just want to ask if u can directly input data(type using the creative zen device?without a keyboard?) on the calendar,tasks,etc functions?or do u have to use outlook or the included software to do that?and can u plug thru usb and copy paste directly videos and mp3s to the device?or u need to use the software?
Noiskee,
You have to go through the Zen software to actually load the movies. You can, however, partition some of the hard drive to act as a USB drive that would be recognized when you just plug it in. But that space is not accessible to the Zen’s media player.
As far as the calendar, tasks, etc. I believe they just sync up with your Outlook. I’m not aware of a way to input directly.
John
hello , my zen w seems its dying. it freezes after 30 min and doesnt turn off,i had to remove batt. and then it turns on but freezes on splash screen and deosnt load at all. cant see no movies anymore :-( help! doesnt do disk cleanup ,reboot,format at all… its like dead and revives when it wants. what can i do ?
Diana,
That is horrible news. I’m sorry to hear that. I can only think of two possible suggestions:
Good luck and sorry I can’t be of more assistance.
John
Hello,
I still havent spent all of my xmas money yet and i have wanted a ZVW since i first heard about them. but there are none in stores or in the creative warehouse. what i want to know is can i trust one i buy of ebay, and will creative reapir it if it screws up?
Also, my home system is running windows ME. will the ZVW software run on that. If not what are the minimum requirements?
I just have one simple question. Does the screen rotate, say if a photo is oriented vertically? Thanks
Actually… I do have a second question. For viewing photos, just it simply show ALL photos with thumbnails, or is there any sort of organization of the photos?
Jason,
The images on the screen will be displayed according to their correct orientation, but you can rotate them manually if you want.
As far as organization is concerned, my wife uses it so I don’t have it to test right now, but I believe you can upload the photos within folders so you can view them as groups that way.
You can definitely do this with the movies, but I didn’t pay much attention with the photos. I should have though, because you can transfer photos right off a compact flash card onto the hard drive if you wanted to off load them from a digital camera or something…
John
Scottie,
I highly doubt Creative will repair one bought off of eBay… but my experience there has been that as long as you stick with sellers that have a 99.x% feedback rating you are usually going to get a good product.
Just make sure you get one that says NEW IN BOX.
Also, try searching Froogle. I found tons of them available there right now.
John
John,
Thanks a lot for the response. I’m primarily interested in using this for photos, as a handheld digital photo album that I can also hook up to a TV, and as a bonus a backup of my photos and an easy way to empty my card if it fills up on the road. The MP3 and movie playing is just a bonus for me. If you do get a chance to verify the folder grouping, that would be fantastic. I also plan on dropping by Best Buy and seeing what it feels like in person, and if possible, trying out the photo navigation there (albeit with less than fourteen thousand photos).
Again, thanks!
Jason
Jason,
I’ve got some good news and some average news for you. I tested out the photo area thoroughly for you. Here are the results
I was able to upload photos organized into directories and sub-directories. You could theoretically have a structure like this:
-Vacations
—— Hawaii
—— Greece
—— Las Vegas
-Family
—— Mom
—— Dad
…etc.
You can have images within the directories and the sub-directories. When you pull up the photos menu on the Zen it shows you the exact structure you transfer it in.
I have photos already organized like this on my computer and I literally just dragged and dropped the entire My Photos directory onto the unit and it worked perfectly. The photos look fantastic when played back on the Zen.
Now the “average” news. It’s not quite bad, but also not good:
– Transferring a lot of photos will take a while. (Mine are all 6-10MP images) Even though it’s USB2 it seems to take longer because there are just so many individual files.
– The zen takes a while to build thumbnails for all of the images when you have a lot within a directory, and it only builds thumbnails for the ones currently being displayed. After they are built they persist even if you turn it off, so that’s good.
– I plugged it into a 42″ Sony HD LCD TV to test the slide show capabilities, but was less than satisfied with the images. The Zen stretched them to fit the entire screen, which is good, but it still displayed them in like 480×320 resolution or something like that. The big screen really made the grainy resolution stand out.
- Working with a ton of images is going to be rather slow with this device. I don’t think I’d want to use it as the primary device for viewing 14,000 photos. Then again, there is nothing on the market right now that is even as good as this. So if you need it then this is the best you’re going to get.
Again, when you view the images on the actual Zen, they look better than you’d expect them to. It’s only on the big screen that they show their true resolution.
Hope that helps!
John
John,
Thanks for the research. The good news sounds great. As for the average news… me and certainly the family members I’d be sharing photos with have tube based televisions… not widescreen to be sure… but anyway, it claims 720×480 on external screens. What is the resolution on your TV? Also, how many 6-10MP images (or total folder size) did you transfer? Thanks!
Jason
I transferred 644 images comprising 1.12GB for the test distributed in 3 folders. If you were to resize your images down to 720×480 before loading them everything would be MUCH, MUCH faster. You could keep your high res originals on your PC, and the low res copies on the Zen.
The television is a 1080i LCD panel with 1366 x 768, so it’s a pretty big difference between this and a tube. You probably won’t notice anything that I described because the tubes have a lower resolution than the Zen.
John
Hi again,
im running windows me on my computer that i will be conecting my zvw to (when i get it). is the software compatable with windows me? if not, what os do i need?
Thanks,
Scottie
Scottie,
Sorry I forgot to answer this question before. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a machine with ME on it, so unfortunatly I can’t test that for you. The specs say that the device requires XP. I’ve only loaded it on machines running XP, so I’m afraid I can’t tell you if anything else will actually work.
John