The Cowon A2 Vs Creative Zen Vision:W

PMPs are getting increasingly popular in this day and age as they presume to be great ways of travel entertainment. With a large screen for video playback, who wouldn’t want to spend their time traveling and watching a movie as compared to just listening to music? Of course you will have to worry about the rest of the world peering over your shoulder. So daily commuting with a PMP for company in our fair city is definitely out. But what about longer trips? On outstation journeys either by train, plane or automobile, the PMP would be ideal. So what we decided to do, is pit two of the big name manufacturers of PMPs against each other and see who comes out on top. In one corner we have the Cowon A2 and in the other we have the Creative Zen Vision:W. We’ll have a fair fight with no below the belt shots so let’s get ready to rumble!

Design
Sha_yne on the CV:W –_ The Vision:W was a bit on the heavy side at 276g, so it did become a bit of a problem to carry around too easily. Although in paradox its dimensions are just 134 x 75 x 22 mm. The simplicity of the controls with the 5 way nav pad and simple menus allow you to navigate the various options quite easily. What I also liked was the Compact Flash Card port on the side so it can be used by photographers as well. What’s most impressive is the large 4.2-inch TFT LCD screen that has a 16:9 aspect ratio. Its sub menu Button is also a boon to have and use.

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Laiq on the A2 – As far as design is concerned, the A2 looks really elegant. It’s a simple design, with no frills attached. It’s got the blend of white piano finish and brushed gray. Yet in all its elegance, the player does look rather vulnerable to scratches. To counter this, Cowon has bundled a leather carry case, which can be folded in place to prop the player up at a comfortable viewing angle. The A2 isn’t very different from the Vision:W with dimensions of 133 x 79 x 22mm but weighs slightly more at 298g. All this to accommodate a smaller screen size of just 4 inches!

AV Quality (Performance)
Shayne on the CV:W – It was breeze watching videos as it was hardly required that I convert any videos at all. The Vision:W can read AVI, DivX 4 & 5, XviD 4, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG4-SP, WMV9 and Motion-JPEG formats so there wasn’t any need to. The player also gives you an option of watching the movie in the normal 16:9 format or you can stretch it to the full screen size. Video quality was aces but the audio was not something I was too thrilled about.

Since the CV:W has a graphic EQ that can manually be customized, it does help enhance the audio experience. It also has a Bass Booster setting and more importantly it has a preset for Smart Volume. This actually keeps the volume output in check. The output was loud enough but the quality I’m afraid could have been better at peak volume.

_Laiq on the A2–_The A2 seems to have made up for its smaller screen size with its playback capabilities. As is the case with most PMPs this doesn’t require one to convert files before playback. In my case, I tested the machine with a lot of recently encoded videos and it managed to play them all. It plays all the files formats including AVI, DivX/XviD, WMV, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, and ASF. The viewing quality is quite good as it is equipped with 0.183mm pixel pitches in the 4-inch screen (480x272 pixels) with the integrated high density and high definition technology.
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Features
Shayne on the CV:W – It think it’s a great idea to have a PMP that also has options for just sitting back and listening to the radio. The pick up was great even while traveling so that’s definitely a plus point in my book. Apart from that, the Vision:W also has a voice recorder option that allows you to take voice memos and record conversations. Albeit, it’s bit large to be used by a reporter as a dictaphone, but it does come in handy if you’re just making random notes or memos. The pick up of the mic is good and also has a pretty decent range on it.

Most PMPs, and the W is no exception to this, have AV outs so if you’re at home you can easily hook it up to your TV if you’d prefer a larger viewing area. The quality isn’t fantastic but it’s pretty darn good. You can even view your images on the TV as well. The good thing is that the player’s display automatically shuts off and that helps save the battery life as well.

The bundled Creative Media Explorer software makes it extremely easy to transfer and or convert your media files for the player so issues here. One problem was that the Vision:W doesn’t let you view files that are on a Compact Flash Card when inserted into the slot. The files need to be copied to the player first and then viewed. Other features include syncing the W with your Outlook or Outlook Express on your PC so you can back up your data, contacts, schedules and tasks. The Organizer option in the player is where you can access all this information. This particular feature is extremely handy if you’re traveling and don’t have your laptop or cell phone on you. You can access telephone numbers and email address when needed.

Laiq on the A2 – One of the best things about the A2 would be the freedom to change video settings while watching a movie, so you don’t have to exit while making the desirable changes. Things like aspect ratio, EQ settings etc can be adjusted very conveniently. Other fun features include one of my favorites - the Pan & Scan feature. It allows you to zoom in to the movie up to 300 percent its size.

Leading the innovation in this space, the A2 features a very useful function - the TV record function. Apart from having the TV out option, the player also allows recording video through a TV, or any other external AV device. Also (and this something I haven’t seen in any other PMP yet) you can transfer data from any other USB device using the USB host cable (provided with the A2). This way you can dump pictures from your camera or just transfer songs from your friend’s music player.

Battery
Shayne on the CV:W – The battery life of the Vision:W, I’m afraid, wasn’t too impressive although being able to watch nothing more than 2 and a quarter movies is quite good. But with regards to just audio, 13.5 hours and change was great.

Laiq on the A2 – If not for this, the guys at Cowon know that the product would have been just another PMP in the market. The battery life (according to the user manual) is supposed to be 10 hours, but I managed much less. However, with approximately 7 hours of movie runtime, at a stretch, this player still is the best in the market. This, according to the company, is one of the specialties of the product.

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Price
Perhaps the most important category for these two video products would be the price. When comparing their prices we took into account not just their street prices but their MRPs as well. The easiest winner in this round is of course the Creative Vision:M with an MRP of Rs. 23,500 and a street price of Rs. 18,500, for a good movie player with an FM and just decent sound quality it was well wroth that price.

The A2 on the other hand, who didn’t fare too well in this round due to the fact that it falls in a higher price range with an MRP of Rs. 26,000 and a street value of Rs. 23,000. This also seemed like a great deal till the former came along of course, with good video quality and great sound. But at the end of the day the two players almost balanced out when it comes to these and the price will have a heavy stake in the decision.

So what can we say, the Creative wins this round hands down with a much lower price.

The Bottom Line
At the end of these brutal rounds though, the one standing is the A2. It was a tough knock down, drag out of a match but only one can be let standing. Although the A2 may be the winner in this particular epic event, it’s not that the Vision:W isn’t worthy of your attention. Both have their plus and minus points and ultimately the decision is left up to you. If it’s just price which matters then you know which way to go but in our opinion however – All Hail The Cowon A2!!!

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