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General discussion

MP3 player for mainly video viewing...any recommendations?

Sep 6, 2007 12:43AM PDT

I would like to buy an mp3 player mostly for video viewing...i was thinking of creative zen vision m...any recommendations?

i have a zen neeon 2 but it usually stops before the end of the video...(e.g. video is 2 mins in length...it ends at 1:55 min...) im abit hesitant on buying another creative fearing of having the same problem...advice needed...

Discussion is locked

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Narrowing down
Sep 6, 2007 5:38AM PDT

You need to be more specific on price, size, and features you want
For videos you probably want a Harddrive player
First I'd recommend you check out the new 605 Wifi from Archos, a top player on the PVP market.

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reply
Sep 7, 2007 3:54AM PDT

price: would be ard 450 singapore dollars
Size: is not really a matter for me but i'd prefer sumthing like the creative vision m size
features: just one thats great for video and mp3 playing, good radio reception, longest batt life...

are hard drive players better for video viewing?

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I heart my Creative Zen Vision M
Sep 7, 2007 6:19AM PDT

I love Archos, but if you are thinking affordable, a bit smaller, sleeker and user-friendly then I say Zen. I got mine for mostly mp3 use, but I like using the video for trips. I have the 30GB version and I have over 25 hour long tv shows, a few movies, and tons of mp3's and I still have space left. I am a huge fan of Japanese dramas and I can watch these on my player with subtitles and see everything clearly. It is a good choice and the price is pretty sweet as well. Hope this helps!

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Oh yeah, about hard drives vs. flash
Sep 7, 2007 6:22AM PDT

Basic difference between having a hard drive vs flash drive is the memory. Flash drives usually rang from 4-16 GB and if they have a card slot you may be able to boost it up. Hard drives players usually offer 30 or 60GB. If you are a huge fan of viewing vids and you want to keep everything and its mom on your player (like all you music, movies, and pics) I would say stick with the hard drive. cheers!

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ipod
Sep 7, 2007 8:22AM PDT

if you want good video viewing at with a lot of memory and clunky design I agree with the archos suggestion but if you want to carry it around but still want a decent sized screen i would recommend the ipod touch but if you want mega storage i would look at the new ipod classic

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I'd say go for the Ipod but...
Sep 7, 2007 8:44AM PDT

You mentioned radio. YOu can buy a radio remote for the Ipods if you wanna pay the extra and if its a really big deal but I agree with above if your fine with spendin the extra and you want smaller sized go for an Ipod. Touch for a unique Flash based interface. Classic for storage or Nano for better barrery life and smaller size. Other then that I'd say check out Archos I haven't used or owned one but I hear good things about them where as I am an Ipod owner and love my Ipod best mp3 player I've ever used.

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Reply to ipod
Sep 7, 2007 3:35PM PDT

but i heard ipod only last for 2 hrs of video viewing...isnt it? and you cant really resize the vids to fit the ipod screen...izit true? im actually torn between ipod video and creative zen vision m..cant really decide between the two...i just wanna watch my fav series and movies in the player...and listen to music of course...

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battery
Sep 8, 2007 5:54AM PDT

iPods battery life was improved to a more standard 4-5 hours
but again iPods have a low color count, 64,000 colors
The Zen Visions have 262,000 colors, and Archos players have 16 Million.
Also iPods have low format support so unless you're going to get your videos with iTunes you'll need to convert them to .mp4. I don't know how much players go for in Singapore for for your budget you should be able to get the Zen Vision M, Vision W, or Archos 605 Wifi, 604, or 404 if you want something smaller.

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I agree...
Sep 10, 2007 3:10AM PDT

Ipod's screen resolution is loads lower than both Zen Vision and Archos, and Apple is so proprietary that it only supports aac format. Archos and Creative both support loads more formats like mp4, wav, avi and anything divx. I had an archos before my creative (and I am talking the first Archos...I bought this in 2000) and that thing traveled through 5 different countries, was dropped numerous times and I still use it for back up storage. Creative is pretty durable to (I am a klux and I always drop things) and my screen only has a few minor scratches and it doesn't affect the viewing quality, whereas my friend's Ipod has loads of scratches on their screen...and they have issues uploading movies. Hope this helps!

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new ipod classic vs creative zen vision m
Sep 13, 2007 12:55PM PDT

ok now its narrowed down between this 2...ipod now is selling 428 for 80gb while creative zen vision m is selling 399 for 30gb n 499 for 60gb...
(prices are all in singapore dollars)

btw...do your vids get cutoff towards the end fo a few seconds when played on the player...my vids gt cutoff for ard 2 to 3 seconds when i upload it into my creative zen neeon 2...

i when to creative care centre and they told me downloaded videos as in those that are downloaded from bit torrent etc...would turn out like that in the player. izit true? would the source of the vids affect video playback when uploaded in the player?

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no zen vision m
Sep 14, 2007 8:07AM PDT

they stopped making the zen vision m now they replaced it with the zen if you can settle with a max capacity of 16GB + SD card (almost like ipod touch!)if not i guess you are getting the ipod

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Still hearting my Vision M
Sep 17, 2007 5:41AM PDT

The Zen Vision is new, but they still have Vision M's available...the Vision is just the newest version.

All of my vids were downloaded via bit torrent and from sites that had downdloaded the torrents and then made them available on a storage site. I have never had any problems with my vids cutting off early (which would be bad, since that is when all the good stuff happens), but I find if my vids do have hiccups I just run them through the divx converter and they work perfectly. (you can get a long trial of the divx converter if you do not have it and it is a handy tool to have if you love downloading tv shows and movies)Hope this helps!

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Re: Still hearting my Vision M
Sep 17, 2007 5:12PM PDT

yeap your info helps alot...thank you for ur inputs...but im still undecided...ipod classic is selling at a much cheaper price with more storage...both players has its pros and cons...abt ipod having on 64,000 colours does it really have much of an impact on video viewing as compared to creative...?

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Either one is good, but...
Sep 18, 2007 5:21AM PDT

Ipod's are great, which is why they are selling like crazy.I personally settled on Vision M because 1)it wasn't proprietary like Apple. Vision uses loads of formats for vids whereas Apple is all about AAC. For instance, my best friend has an ipod and he still hasn't loaded movies onto it because he doesn't want to get them from the itunes store and he can't figure out how to convert them over...personally, I am way too lazy to be bothered with all that. 2) For me, I think the higher color is better because I can see everything clearly in bright light (like sun, etc) and I know that lower colors can wash out. Also, I managed to get a good price on the Vision M off of Amazon.com, so you may want to check there if you haven't already...I found that they were almost $100 cheaper than retail.
But if the difference in money between the two are significant, and you use itunes and apple compatible downloads (you would have to convert your bit torrents) it should be all good. Let me know if you have anymore questions (because I did the same thing you are when I was looking for my player a few years ago and the input really helped). Cheers!

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re: either one is good...
Sep 18, 2007 12:28PM PDT

i figured that both are good seeing the reviews...
my current zen neeon 2 is serving me very well... except for the videos though as i said it got cut a few seconds when uploaded into the player...i went to creative care centre to rectify the problem well the staff only said that it could be due to the source of the vids...i usually download my vids from veoh.com and youtube...which he meant to sae that unlicensed downloaded video would get this kind of results...
this was mostly why im hesitant on buying vision m... whereas my friends told me that video viewing experience for the ipod was great...

im pretty much undecided as i really want to get a good deal...as i know that im gonna used tis player for quite a while...

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Understand...
Sep 19, 2007 4:18AM PDT

Ipods are good (though once again, such a pain to have to convert everything...). I also get my vids from Veoh or from share sites (I am a huge fan of Asian dramas) or bit torrents and have no issues. Maybe it is just that version of zen. Mind, if all your mates have ipods, you should have no issues converting, since they probably have all the software you need. Good luck and enjoy whatever you get! Happy

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re
Sep 19, 2007 11:51PM PDT

thanks for all you views and advice... Happy