Creative Vision:M Mini-Review

[ptaaty]

bangraman....

A good program to use is Pocket DIVX. It's free and pretty fast at converting. Don't use GMC, it'll choke the ZVM and nothing will warn you during transfer.

 

[bangraman]

A few license and speed issues but this is what I really wanted the ZV:M for. Napster To Go is up and running

 

[EscaBoi]

the viewing angles are not as bad as you make it to me, for me i only notice the viewing angles look like your pictures when someone is about a foot away when they are from the left or right of me, but from that close?? the viewing angle does not look that bad

generally the player is made for 1 person to look at, as long as you are the sole purpose holding it, the viewing angles are fine
if it's 2 people watching a movie on the Vision M, then you'd want to situate the Vision M between the 2 people

--[V:M]

-p1----p2

the "-" represent blank spaces

 

[ptaaty]

EcsaBoi...

the problem he is referring to is when you tilt the ZVM away from you. Try that, also do it slowly as there is definately one spot that is worse than the others. I found an angle to get the same type of extreme drop seen in bangraman's pics...and it's not at the extreme angle you would think.

 

[KenW]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ptaaty bangraman.... A good program to use is Pocket DIVX. It's free and pretty fast at converting. Don't use GMC, it'll choke the ZVM and nothing will warn you during transfer.

Which version? Got a link to the download??

 

[ptaaty]

http://divx.ppccool.com/

the free one...I choose 320X240, max the vid quality, high quality encode checked. You can adjust the SQ to what you want, click on the left of audio rates. I go 192kbs stereo at 44.1k. It doubles the file size but worth it IMO

 

[ILikeMusic]

Another good freebie is Gordian Knot. Pretty easy to use and encodes in DivX or XviD. I personally prefer XviD but both formats are essentially the same when viewed on a portable media player.

 

[dskywalker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kevintoribert I own the Zen Nomad Jukebox 30gig unit, and got my Vision:M last Thursday. The Creative Vision:M is a serious upgrade to this unit, especially if you like sound quality and appreciate a better user interface. Using the line-out to a Creek OBH-11 with OBH-2 power supply and HD-580 cans creates a spectacular listening experience. The headphone-out into my Shure e4's is exceptional, as well. I don't hear any hiss, and 192kbps MP3 files sound really, really good. There is more clarity to the sound, the sound is more three-dimensional. Subtle details in the music that were hard to hear with my Zen Nomad Jukebox are clear and precise with the Vision:M. I can't speak to video comparisons with the iPod. I am pleased with the video and sound quality of episodes of the Simpsons and Seinfeld that I have downloaded to this unit. I have had problems syncronizing playlists, but I am sure I will get that figured out. I have not had problems converting video files to a format that this player requires.

Would you please elaborate on how you get your ZVM to output line out signal? Is it some kind of special cable? There is no default line out port on the ZVM right?

 

[EscaBoi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ptaaty EcsaBoi... the problem he is referring to is when you tilt the ZVM away from you. Try that, also do it slowly as there is definately one spot that is worse than the others. I found an angle to get the same type of extreme drop seen in bangraman's pics...and it's not at the extreme angle you would think.

in that case, ya i know what you're talking, but like i said it's a personal media player and generally built for your own personal use.
So long as you are looking at it from head on, there shouldn't be any problems, but i do understand what you guys are talking about, i've tilted the player back and let it rest on a book while trying to watch it...and it can be unpleasant at times, which does correspond to the pictures that he posted

 

[ILikeMusic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dskywalker Would you please elaborate on how you get your ZVM to output line out signal? Is it some kind of special cable? There is no default line out port on the ZVM right?

Right, there's no line out port on the ZVM itself but there are audio and video line outs available on the little plastic dongle that plugs into the expansion port on the bottom. I would bet that someone will come up with a dedicated cable for this eventually.

 

[zip22]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kirosia (though the zen has more pixels, which IS definitely better and will show)

no, it has the same resolution as the ipod.

 

[bangraman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by EscaBoi the viewing angles are not as bad as you make it to me, for me i only notice the viewing angles look like your pictures when someone is about a foot away when they are from the left or right of me, but from that close?? the viewing angle does not look that bad generally the player is made for 1 person to look at, as long as you are the sole purpose holding it, the viewing angles are fine if it's 2 people watching a movie on the Vision M, then you'd want to situate the Vision M between the 2 people --[V:M] -p1----p2 the "-" represent blank spaces

Whatever you guys say about this, it's not changing the fact that the nominally superior quality rapidly falls off wherever you orient the player beyond the perpendicular. And it's not a specific position that I'm apparently maliciously pointing out. The colours continuously tail off once you get beyond the very narrow optimum viewing angle. The iRiver H320 as an example does not invert while in nominal hand-held positions, and the iPod does not suffer from this issue at all. I'm not making excuses for this, because the properly viewable angle is way too small. e.g the Zen Micro Photo does much crappier photo images but it is far more consistent.


Meanwhile, it's been 4 hours since I last was here and had Napster going... it's apparently still trying to download the 4 albums that I picked. Would have been quicker to hum it

 

[ptaaty]

bangraman...yours does this for all other angles?

My viewing angle is HUGE. Tilting toward or to the sides it can literally go all the way to flat without any degradation. It is only tilting away that gets me, it doesn't take a whole lot, then it gets worse around 15 deg from perpendicular, then it starts getting better again (see my pics...I didn't realize it at the time.

Honestly it is extremely easy for me to hold it and watch movies or lay it sideways on the front of the console in my car and control/view it...thats a massive sideways incidence angle.

My priorities are these...best image quality possible given the size when watching a movie, and I don't want my hand/neck to cramp from some tiny angle. And viewable for controlling at any angle. The ZVM does this, I don't need a large viewing very even cone like my home projector. The only direction there is any issue is tilting away... and if you need to tilt away while watching movies, then due caution should be noted, but otherwise it really is not an issue.

 

[ILikeMusic]

Whatever you guys say about this, it's not changing the fact that the nominally superior quality rapidly falls off wherever you orient the player beyond the perpendicular.

OK, got it. Everyone has noted that your critique is valid in some respects but whatever you say about this it's not changing the fact that this seems to bother you a lot more than anyone else.

It's very easy to work around the one angle where there's a slight problem, which is probably the answer to your question as to why none of the reviewers bothered to mention it.

 

[bangraman]

Part of the answers seem to indicate that you guys are kind of "lying down and taking" (if you'll excuse the phrase) an old-tech LCD, and moreover one that IMO offers less viewing angle than e.g. the iRiver H320 I mentioned before. However, ptaaty's answers almost makes me think there are a couple of slightly different panels floating around. I might try and get mine exchanged directly by Creative. Especially as I think one of the buttons may be on it's way out.