Zen and Podcasts/Zencasts

[joey301]

Hey,
I am having my first real problem with my Zen. I recently went to the creative website to search for information on how my Zen was freezing when I resume a podcast after shutting down the Zen and re-starting a few minutes later. I found this posting there, which is exactly what happened to me. Is this a universal problem?
joey

"I used ZenCast to get a bunch of podcasts from NPR and transferred them to my Zen 8Gb. These files when transferred show up under the Video menu after transfer. Whenever the unit shuts down after I've paused it (either idle timeout or deliberate shutdown), when I try to resume that file the unit freezes. This happens every time without fail.

Has anyone else been experiencing this? Or have I just been stuck with a defective unit? It was upgraded to the latest firmware (1.03.04 or whatever it was). I'm expecting it's a software issue, personally, but if so someone else will have run into the same problem."

[CrowdAds]

[xjjjay]

How can I make zencast not so painful to use?? Is it possible for the program to automatically get rid of old podcasts on the computer AND on the zen? I wish i can just let it do its thing without me worrying about it :/

[grgt1994]

I have tried subscribing to several video podcasts through the ZENcast organizer. None have worked. Even after attempting a conversion, same result.

Anyone else having this problem? Anyone find a video podcast that works?

What are the chances Creative will clean up all the issues with getting video onto the ZEN? This is the whole reason I bought this thing, and to this point, I can only get a few types of video on, after jumping through many many hoops.

[xjjjay]

they work fine for me...
zencast is lame though

what issues with getting video onto the zen??? you mean conversion? Thats a hardware issue my friend. otherwise video works great.

[grgt1994]

I don't follow how it's a hardware issue. The Creative Video Converter software executes fine, it just fails to create files that are compatible with the player. (The only error explanation I get is "Error was encountered during the transfer, please refer to the status below:" which reads "Transfer was unsuccessful" - real helpful!) And I have tried several different file types to start from, only 2 of which could the Creative Video Converter handle. I'd call that a software issue. Pretty weird stuff IMHO.

What video podcasts have you had success with? (please specify where you download from and what format, etc)

Thanks for the help.

[QCSports]

I can watch the Today show (WMV), video game reviews from G4TV, Best Week Ever, etc. etc. The last three and most video podcasts are M4V which means you need to go download Quicktime 7 so you have the right codecs then use Zencast or the media converter to transfer. The conversion process takes forever unless you really have some processing power (mulit-cores). A 30 minute podcast will take at least 30 minutes to transfer and convert.

[martinkk]

Hi!
Which software do you guys use for your video podcasts?
Basically, the ZENcast organizer is great, but I dislike the fact that video podcasts ("vodcasts"?) can only be transcoded to wmv just before transferring them to my zen. This takes me the opportunity to syncronise my player in the morning (transcoding takes too much time in the morning). Is it possible to automatically transcode video podcasts immediately after the download?

Any solutions?

[martinkk]

Hi!
I found a very annoying bug on my Zen (16GB).
Audio podcasts can't be played until their end. When listening to them, they are suddently stopped about 10-30 seconds before they should end. All the files are OK, so it's definitely a problem with the player.

This is the podcast I'm currently listening (it's german, yes, but even if you're not able to understand any word, you will notice that the files are not played until the end). http://static.orf.at/podcast/oe1/oe1_wissen.xml

That's extremely annoying

Edit:
It seems that this problem is related to the transcoding by the zencast organizer to zencast files. all the mp3 files created are perfectly fine. Only the zencast compatible *.avi files that are made by the zencast organizer have that problem when they are played on my zen. When I open one of these avi files on my PC, everything is fine. hmm....

[Apprentice57]

I have the same problem and it is extremely annoying, I think using a different podcast aggregator (preferably Juice) an puting them into a custom playlist is the best temporary solution. We should notify creative about this issue.

[janniklindquist]

Most of the video podcasts, I am interested in, are 320x240 mp4-files. Will the Zen play those as they are - or do I have to convert them? Sorry for asking about this - but some places it is clearly indicated that this should be possible while other places it is clearly indicated that conversion is necessary.

[ZenChick]

If I'm not mistaken, the video stream in most of those podcasts is in H.264 (Apple Quicktime) format. While this is an MPEG-4 subset, it's not compatible with the Zen.

[janniklindquist]

Thanks once again for a fast response, ZenChick. How long would it typically take to convert such a podcast to something the Zen can play?

[ZenChick]

I'm afraid I don't have an answer, as I don't deal with Podcasts. The last podcast I converted for my ZVM was more than a year ago, and I recall it took a pretty long time to convert using Zencast Organizer.

[Nashua]

To convert a video will take the same time as it takes to play the video

[janniklindquist]

Luckily, it turns out that most of the video postcasts, I am interested in are available as avi-files.

[Addie_Goodvibes]

I couldn't find a thread on this topic, so here is my question hopefully this will be a good thread to share with others info that will be helpful.

My main reason for upgrading to the ZEN 32 is the ability to view "podcast" & Videos.

My questions are

1) what are some good sites to download ZEN compatible Podcasts
I have found the ZENCAST site I like the content but curious if there are other sources (Zen Friendly)
2) What are some Favorite Pod/Zen casts users here subscribe to?
I Like listening to TWIT Podcast, via WMP Leo Laporte AKA "the Tech Guy". I learn a lot from his national Radio Sendicated Show.

Any Other good/ interesting Pod/Zen casts others could reccomend?

Also my opinion on the Whole "pod' wave Ipod has managed to brand their product to identify with every digital media file webcast for PMP's Similiar to how Xerox is to Copy/Printers & Rollerblade is to Inline skating is there a generic term for Pod/Zen casts or are they Podcasts by definition?

[werezenwolf]

I usually listed to podcasts from NPR like "think", "Car Talk", etc. look around at sites you have an interest in and see if they have podcasts available.

[Addie_Goodvibes]

I am having a problem And need some Help, I am trying to download INDIVUAL Zen Cast Mp3 fiels but whne I click Download (TWIT is my fav.) It opens WMP & starts playing, How can I download the indiv. Zencast episode so I can sync it to my Zen & Listen later? Do I have to subscribe to a whole channle can't i download indiv. Zen Casts?

What Am I doing Wrong? Shouldn't Zen cast organizer or WMP ( on Vista ) be able to handle this?

[TheElite]

Originally Posted by Addie_Goodvibes

I am having a problem And need some Help, I am trying to download INDIVUAL Zen Cast Mp3 fiels but whne I click Download (TWIT is my fav.) It opens WMP & starts playing, How can I download the indiv. Zencast episode so I can sync it to my Zen & Listen later? Do I have to subscribe to a whole channle can't i download indiv. Zen Casts?

What Am I doing Wrong? Shouldn't Zen cast organizer or WMP ( on Vista ) be able to handle this?

Instead of left-clicking on the link, right-click it and select "Save link as" and save it to whatever name you prefer. This will download the file instead of playing it .

[Addie_Goodvibes]

Wow I am an idiot, Thanks for the help should have figured that out