Creative's Zen Vision Aims for the iPod.

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Author: Kobrin, Michael

The Creative Zen Vision occupies its own niche in the portable media player (PMP) market. Unlike the Archos AV and PMA series, it doesn't record video, and it's not as small as the fifth-generation iPod. But its gorgeous 3.7-inch screen provides a very comfortable photo- and video-viewing experience. And at about $400, it is a decent value considering the high quality of the screen. Just note that the same money will get you a 60GB iPod with twice the hard drive capacity â€" albeit with a smaller, lower-resolution screen.

The 8.4-ounce Vision comes in black or white and has a 30GB hard drive and a CompactFlash card slot. Controls are well laid out, and you can sync music to the device by either using Creative's music transfer manager or Windows Media Player 10. We loaded the Vision with video, photos, and music. You can also sync your contacts, tasks, and calendars with Microsoft Outlook and Creative's included PIM software. But although you can put the Vision into hard-drive mode to transfer music and data via drag-and-drop, you can't load photos, video, or anything else without Windows Media Player or Creative's software.

The interface surpasses that of many other such devices, with clear, intuitive menus and controls. You can browse music by ID3 tag and photos and video by file-name. A pane on the right of the interface lets you jump to specific letters â€" but just for video and audio, not photos, which are browsable by folder and thumbnail only. The main menu is customizable, which we found very handy for quicker navigation.

Audio format support includes MP3, WAV, and WMA, as well as WMA files protected with WM DRM 10 (such as those from online music services). Subjective audio quality using the default settings exhibited some problems. Despite deep bass and crisp highs, on some tracks we could clearly hear a background noise that sounds like what you get when you compress music too much. Creative claims the noise is audible on classical music only, but we heard it on jazz, folk, solo piano, and any music with quiet parts.

The included earbuds are actually quite good, and more efficient than most. Our tests showed a flat frequency response down into the mid-bass, with an admirably slow roll-off below that. We noted plenty of distortion at maximum volume, but the player puts out a fairly clean signal up to 23 on the 25-step volume scale. Output power via the headphone jack is quite strong: We measured a sustained 104 dB and 110 dB peaks with the included earbuds on our rock test track. The built-in mono speaker, however, is nearly useless because of its surprisingly low output.

We found that the equalizer settings generally did little to enhance the player's sound quality. The Rock preset, for instance, results in significant distortion even at moderate volume levels (though the Jazz setting fared better).

Viewing JPEG photos and video (DivX, M-JPEG, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 Simple Profile, WMV, and XviD) on the built-in LCD is a joy thanks to the 640- by 480-pixel screen, which is significantly higher-resolution than displays in most players on the market. We were also able to view content recorded by a Media Center PC without problems. Images are crisp and bright, but the viewing angle isn't nearly as wide as it should be. Also, the highly reflective nature of the screen makes viewing under bright lights or in direct sunlight quite difficult. And the Vision did not do well with large video files: When we tried to play a 2.7GB test file, the player locked up.

Voice recording is a bit weak. We like the graphical input-level meter, but the built-in microphone isn't very sensitive and can't be adjusted. There's also a delay of several seconds after you select Start Recording until recording begins. The FM tuner supports up to 32 presets and picks up stations quite well, and you can record radio content (again, with the same several-second delay).

The Vision's Compact-Flash card slot is great for shutterbugs who want to off-load and view photos from digital cameras while on the go. (Creative sells an optional adapter for other memory card formats.) There are also plenty of other accessories available, including a dock and a remote control (the Vision has an infrared receiver).

The 3.5 hours of video playback we got on our battery rundown test falls short of the company's claim of 4 hours, but it's still respectable for a device this size. But the scant 8.5 hours of audio playback we saw (versus a claimed 13 hours) is abysmal. Creative offers an optional high-capacity storage cell that it says will run twice as long as the included one.

Overall, we like the Vision. But we do have a wish list for improvements, like the addition of line-in recording and the ability to make video playlists. And all four units we tested had that problem with background noise in some audio playback. Creative is aware of the issue and is working on a firmware upgrade, so provided that the anomoly is fixed, the Zen Vision should prove to be a very appealing multimedia player.

$399.99 list. Creative Technology Ltd., www.creative.com.

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THE ROOMY 3.7-INCH SCREEN makes the Creative Zen Vision a good choice for viewing photos and video on the go.

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By Michael Kobrin