Update 2004-02-03: My ZVue has been recalled. More info here.
I placed an order for the Handheld ZVue back on December 6th, and am still having issues.
When I placed the order, the site was talking about how all orders placed before a certain date would be shipped via FedEx to arrive before Christmas. Which was cool because I thought it would be a neat toy to have around while I was on vacation and had time to goof with it.
One of the main problems with the ZVue as it currently exists is that it will only play Handheld's HHe format of videos. While it will display JPEGs and MP3s from SD cards (which my camera now supports with the help of an adapter), it decompresses the JPEGs very slowly. I have not tried MP3 playback yet, since I have an actual MP3 player that is smaller and explicitly tasked for that purpose.
The main shortcoming, as I was saying, is that it will not play back homemade videos. A software update is due sometime in January that might remedy this issue by unlocking MPEG4 playback. This would be a very cool feature, since quite a bit of home-grown MPEG4 could fit on an SD card. Perhaps entire shows. But I'm not holding my breath for this update for other reasons, the first being that my ZVue did not arrive before Christmas.
One of the big things to look at when you're buying a new gadget from a company is how their support handles problems. Handheld totally fumbled when it came to supporting the problems they've created. I called them on December 23rd to make sure that my unit would ship before the holiday. The guy on the other end of the line looked for and found my order (or appeared as if he had) and said that it would ship that evening for arrival on the 24th. Of course, it did not arrive on Christmas Eve.
I called them again on the following Monday to tell them that it did not come. The guy who answered sounded conspicuously like the same person I talked to before, but he admitted to being unable to operate their shipping software, and since the guy who usually did that was on vacation, he would have to call me back. I acquiesced.
Six hours later when I wasn't home, a woman called to request my shipping address. Berta thought that his was weird since if I had placed the order and they had enough contact information to call me, wouldn't they have my address? Very odd.
Anyway, Berta didn't give her our address, saying that I had better call them back and find out what was going on. I didn't bother calling them since we would be in New York for the rest of the week.
When we returned from the city, there was a message from work saying that a package had arrived. I stopped by to pick it up and it was the ZVue. Finally.
It's a small blue thing, just a bit bigger than a deck of playing cards, and just about as thick. The screen is about 2x1.5 inches, and has many controls underneath, including buttons for rewind, fast-forward, play/pause, menu, and a five-way directional control. Controls for brightness and volume on are opposide sides of the box. A plastic flip-cover protects the screen, and sports the Handheld logo - a good idea for something you can drop in your pocket with keys and other scratchy things.
There are a lot of ports on the ZVue, which was surprising. One of the good aspects of the device is that it has two headphone jacks, so two people can listen to the video at the same time. The instructions recommend using only the right-side jack if you're alone, which was kind of odd, but the unit comes with a pretty matching set of bud-style headphones.
There is an SD slot on top in the center with a particularly flimsy rubber cover. This is the worst rubber port cover I've seen on any device. I'm sure it will get accidentally torn off within a month just by putting the ZVue in my pocket.
The top also houses a port for DC power and USB, although none of the cables are supplied for them. I'm not sure why these ports are on the top either, since that doesn't seem to be a good place for them when you're watching. On the bottom is a port labelled "ACC" which looks like another USB port, but no mention is made of its purpose.
The ZVue came with only a sample card for playback, since the extra HHe video card I ordered ("Swing Swing" by the All American Rejects) was not shipped with the unit as it was supposed to be. The sample card contains only one video, "Naggin'" by the Ying Yang Twins. It's crap, but it demonstrates the player.
I'll take this opportunity to make comment on the selection of content for the ZVue. Looking through the available titles on teh HHeld website, I notice that there are a lot of rap and "white homey" titles. Monster trucks, skate parks, no-name rappers, and Jackass-style stunt folk. I wonder to whom exactly the Handheld guys intend to market their device.
About playback... This is where the money talks. Playback on the ZVue (for the demo title, at least) is rock solid smooth. Great audio sync. Crisp pictures and smooth motion. Only minor artifacting is discernable. The HHe format coupled with this device seems capable.
Control was alright considering all I needed to do was push Play. I wonder what all of the additional controls might be used for in the future. Games?
The video playback also let me do an A->B repeat, which was very confusing when I accidentally pushed down on the directional pad. Pressing the Play button cancelled the repeat.
Navigating among JPEGs was interesting, too. I used the directional pad to navigate through directories, then selected the JPEG to view with the center button. Left and Right controls moved to the next photo in the directory. The Menu button returned to the directory list and moved up to the parent directory. As I said, the JPEG decompression was disappointingly slow, and even though the screen on the ZVue is bigger than the screen on my camera, I think the camera is better because it's faster.
Ultimately, the ZVue is a fundamentally useless device until they release the MPEG4 upgrade. The titles that are available wouldn't seem to be of interest to folks that can spend the cash on the base unit, which really isn't that expensive for a device that does what the ZVue does.
It's not a very mature PVP, but it's a cool gadget. I'll report again when (if) I get the MPEG4 upgrade installed.
If your ZVue has arrived, please leave a comment with your experience. I have yet to find anyone on the web that got one that isn't affiliated with the company in some way. I may be the only owner!
