Creative Zen Vision 30GB - Expert Reviews

Review summary: The Creative Zen Vision is a refreshing take on the portable video player.

Pros: Gorgeous high-resolution screen, Beautiful, compact design, Excellent interface, Plays and records FM radio, Syncs with Outlook, Removable battery, CompactFlash slot

Cons: Limited viewing angle, No line-in audio or video recording, Doesn't display album art, Can't schedule radio recordings, No kickstand, No easy way to watch DVDs, Incomplete documentation

Verdict: The Creative Zen Vision, a dazzling but occasionally frustrating personal media player, handles video and music with aplomb.

Pros: Gorgeous high-resolution screen; beautiful, compact design; excellent interface; plays and records FM radio; supports TiVo To Go and limited movie downloads; syncs with Outlook; removable battery; CompactFlash slot; reasonably priced.

Cons: Limited viewing angle; no line-in audio or video recording; doesn't display album art; can't schedule radio recordings; no kickstand; no easy way to watch DVDs; TiVo To Go requires file conversion and third-party MPEG-2 decoder; incomplete documentation;

Verdict: The Creative Zen Vision, a dazzling but occasionally frustrating personal media player, handles video and music with aplomb, all for a tantalizingly low price.

Review summary: The bottom line is that the Zen Vision is undoubtedly, a very cool product

Pros: Small, attractive design; easy to use; supports various video formats

Cons: Poor software; playing video can be complicated; poor audio quality

Review summary: If you don't need to record audio or video, the Creative Zen Vision is the best thing going in the world of PVPs.

Pros: Gorgeous high-resolution screen; beautiful, compact design; excellent interface; plays and records FM radio; supports TiVo To Go and limited movie downloads; syncs with Outlook; removable battery; CompactFlash slot; reasonably priced.

Cons: Limited viewing angle; no line-in audio or video recording; doesn't display album art; can't schedule radio recordings; no kickstand; no easy way to watch DVDs; TiVo To Go requires file conversion and third-party MPEG-2 decoder; incomplete documentation.

Verdict: The Creative Zen Vision, a dazzling but occasionally frustrating personal media player, handles video and music with aplomb, all for a tantalizingly low price.

Review summary: Creative's second stab at designing a blockbuster AV player looks and feels good, weighs only 8.4 oz. (238 grams) and offers a high-resolution 640x480 display. But for $400 you also have to take some good with the bad.

Verdict: For music, the Vision recognizes the indispensable MP3 and WMA (DRM) formats, and for photos JPEG and BMP. As for video, it plays WMV and also DivX and XviD. The player is compatible with DivX 5.xxx, and the firmware is updatable. Compatibility proved exc