Zen and the SD Card/Slot

[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

[CrowdAds]

[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.

[EnzoTen]

Creative really fkd up the SD slot on the Zen. ill explain in detail in the review that will post in the next day or so... but basically the SD slot is completely separate and does not integrate into the player's main library.

i just found this out...im very annoyed

[skippyg]

why not complain to them? make a post about it. Creative seems to ALWAYS FK up something one of there players.


Sracer: your guide says "Set Audio. Set the Audio to: VBR MP3, kbps 64."
how can you stand this low bitrate for audio? i can barely stand 128 let alone 64

OH BTW ENZOTEN: YAY! cant wait for your review! finally a real full review.

[sracer]

Originally Posted by skippyg

why not complain to them? make a post about it. Creative seems to ALWAYS FK up something one of there players.


Sracer: your guide says "Set Audio. Set the Audio to: VBR MP3, kbps 64."
how can you stand this low bitrate for audio? i can barely stand 128 let alone 64

It's about efficiency. Music requires higher bitrates. Movies usually don't. The problem with most encoding guides is that they jack up the audio bitrates as if they are encoding music files. The result is sound that is too "large" for a 2.5" image. Heck, I've been fighting the battle for YEARS that encoding video for mobile devices should be targeted to the native resolution of the device. I've had run-ins with yahoos who think that 700x480 DivX files for a smartphone is required.

Since my guide assumes DVD quality source, 64 kbps VBR doesn't sound as bad as one would think. I wouldn't dream of transcoding/re-encoding video (that has already been converted) to that.

[sracer]

Originally Posted by EnzoTen

Creative really fkd up the SD slot on the Zen. ill explain in detail in the review that will post in the next day or so... but basically the SD slot is completely separate and does not integrate into the player's main library.

I had a bad feeling about that... the only other mixed-memory player I've had experience with is the Sandisk Sansa. It too completely separated the internal flash from the SD card memory. The SD card could only be used to playback audio.

[Slydini]

Do the playlist features of the Zen only apply to music? In other words, can the Zen be used to create a video (or even photo) playlist? At the very least, can videos be played in either sequential or random order? These seem like very basic features but the last time I checked, the Vision W was unable to perform either of these functions. I'm hoping that the new Zen has addressed these issues...

[klumsy bot]

Judging by the ZVM,
Music playlists
Photo playlists (slideshows)

[NauticusLX]

Is this true?

[silentbutdeadly]

no

[Slydini]

I finally got the chance to demo the Zen at my local Frys. I brought my own music on an SD card and I like the fact that you can play music files in a folder either sequentially or in random order. Upon reflection, this made me think that there might actually be an advantage to Creative's implementation of the SD slot!

Let me explain:

In regular mode (with no sd card inserted), when you choose to play the first video on a list, it automatically goes back to the video menu after it has finished. There is no option that allows videos to be played in either sequential or random order!

If I remember correctly, this was a shortcoming that applied to Vision W as well -- No video playlists, no option to play videos in sequential order, no option to play videos in random order. This can be frustrating if you have lots of music videos and short clips -- It would be much better if they could be played in some type of order.

So here's my question:

Can videos be played sequentially or in random order if they are played from the memory card?

Can someone test this please?

Thanks in advance,

Sly

[foundation]

No,

No video playlists (as far as I can find).

There is no option to play videos sequentially or randomly within a directory on the SD card either. You simply navigate to the directory, select the video from the file list and watch. When it finishes, it returns to the file list. I checked the options menu (what little their is) and found no other play options.

[yitzc]

When playing "All tracks" on the Zen, does it also play all music tracks which are on the SD card, or just the ones on the main memory?

[xjjjay]

main memory.

sd card isn't integrated as of now.

[Valdr]

There's an option in SD: Play folder as - video, photo, music. Does it have any meaning? Zen recognizes what kind of media is in the folder automatically.

[otimus]

Or can the zen itself act as a reader for the SD card?

[Valdr]

Zen can act as a reader, moreover SD is the only way to get USB disk in Zen.