Zen and the SD Card/Slot

[windwing77]

In one description for the zen I noticed it said you can "bring more files" into the zen with the sd card slot. Does anyone know if video files will be able to be played directly from the sd card?

It would be great to throw a movie on a 1GB card instead of filling up the smaller flash memory on a 4GB player.

I already have a W but would like the 4GB for working out.

Thanks

[CrowdAds]

[gnohz]

Yes it can play directly from the card. I tried using a normal SD card and it worked. But perhaps you might want to use SDHC instead.

[klumsy bot]

If you are working out you may have difficulty watching a movie! Try the v+.

[covertrussian]

Originally Posted by gnohz

Yes it can play directly from the card. I tried using a normal SD card and it worked. But perhaps you might want to use SDHC instead.

Did you get one?

[windwing77]

Just waiting for it to hit the store nearest me !

[covertrussian]

Originally Posted by windwing77

Just waiting for it to hit the store nearest me !

Sane here, I really wanna play around with one!

[gnohz]

Originally Posted by covertrussian

Did you get one?

Yup I did. on the 12th

[covertrussian]

Originally Posted by gnohz

Yup I did. on the 12th

Sweet!

Did you get to play around with video, SD Card, etc. stuff

[gnohz]

Yup i did. it works better after the firmware upgrade.
if you want to play xvid files directly in .avi instead of converting using the creative video converter, you need to make sure that you encode at <1000kbps

[gnohz]

Ic...i just remove all the id3 tags before transferring hehe...id3 tags bug me too...
But then again, it could come in quite useful, cos you can search by artist, or album.
For eg, if you're playing a song by a singer called "creative" and you want to look for other songs by the same artist, just access the menu and choose "look up artist".

[covertrussian]

Originally Posted by gnohz

Ic...i just remove all the id3 tags before transferring hehe...id3 tags bug me too...
But then again, it could come in quite useful, cos you can search by artist, or album.
For eg, if you're playing a song by a singer called "creative" and you want to look for other songs by the same artist, just access the menu and choose "look up artist".

Oh so without ID3 tags it starts using Filename browsing eh?

I remember my Zen Vision M showing a blank spot, that I couldn't always select, if one of my tags was missing... lol

[joey301]

Originally Posted by windwing77

I already have a W but would like the 4GB for working out.

Thanks

You sound like me, I have the W but want this for the gym....think it will work for that? I noticed below someone suggested the V+, but I have read a lot of negative stuff about that one, especially about it freezing up. But, it is the right size.
joey

[demonic_bunny]

So if I want to browse by artist, and choose that from the menu, it will only show whats on the players memory, and not the card?

How do you access the cards storage then, and is there an option to sort card info using id3 tags (which I use) ?

[colonel]

is it 64gb ?

[dfkt]

SDHC is a standardized specification, there is no limit for any single player that supports SDHC specifications.

Furthermore, since there are no 64GB SDHC cards available at the moment, this question seems a bit theoretical, as you already said...

[Slydini]

When the Zen becomes available in local stores, it would be ideal if we could audition it with our own media. Will the Zen recognize files transferred from a card reader? In other words:

• Is there a special folder heirarchy that needs to be assigned? (Example: Seperate Music, Photo, and Video folders)

• What are the ideal video parameters for viewing in full screen mode (no letterboxing)?

Thanks in advance,

Sly

[sracer]

Originally Posted by Slydini

When the Zen becomes available in local stores, it would be ideal if we could audition it with our own media. Will the Zen recognize files transferred from a card reader? In other words:

• Is there a special folder heirarchy that needs to be assigned? (Example: Seperate Music, Photo, and Video folders)

• What are the ideal video parameters for viewing in full screen mode (no letterboxing)?

Thanks in advance,

Sly

Make sure that you are using a fullscreen source, like a TV show, and encode it to xvid .avi 320x240. I use DVD Decrypter + AutoGK (see the link in my sig) Calculate the file size to be 4MB per minute of video. (eg. 90 min. video = 360MB file)

The results will be outstanding and really show off what the Zen can do.

[Slydini]

Thanks for the fast reply sracer!

Do you know if these files will still play if I drag and drop them from my PC to an SD card?

[sracer]

Originally Posted by Slydini

Thanks for the fast reply sracer!

Do you know if these files will still play if I drag and drop them from my PC to an SD card?

Glad to help! THAT I don't know. I don't know how the Zen will deal with the SD card. I assume that it will scan the card for media files and update it's internal catalog... if it doesn't, then the value of SD card storage would be pretty limited. It SHOULD find the files wherever you put them on the card. But I really have no clue.

Best bet would be to put a few smaller clips (or full movies if the card is large enough) on the card in various places. Put one in the root of the card. Create a \Videos folder and put one there. Create a \Movies folder and put another there.

[recithree]

this made me think of when i try to copy avi files that i have downloaded.if the file will play then it would copy over.if it would not going to be able to play then it would usually freeze up. this info probably is of little interest but i thought i would throw it out.