Zune HD getting Xvid, Smart DJ, ever more appealing
We know you were put off by the whole Twitter censorship debacle last month, but Microsoft and the Zune HD have moved past that (honest) and they want you to come along as well. They're enticing everyone to forget about that bone-headed move by, well, throwing everyone a bone and adding in Xvid support, part of full compatibility with MPEG-4 part 2 Advanced Simple Profile. DivX will not be coming out to play, but Smart DJ will be, a feature that isn't so much new but is newly portable, providing a counterpoint to the iPod's Genius and, since you can use it to stream content from the Zune Marketplace (when connected via WiFi) it begins to approach the functionality of apps like Pandora or Slacker Radio. Tasty, indeed, though at this point we're not sure when Microsoft will be throwing us this juicy firmware update.

























@TareG
Good luck finding a PMP that has significantly less bezel than an HD.
If you're comparing the resolution to the newest smart phones, then I agree, if you're comparing it to that other touch screen MP3 player, you need to check your facts, they both have the same long axis res, 480 lines.
@TareG Is that really all you have to complain about it, the fact that it has a few less pixels because it's a 16:9 screen unlike the iPod Touch which is a 4:3 screen resolution, most movies will either have black bars and be 480 x 272 anyway or be stretched to fit your 480 x 320 screen.
@TareG The bezel isn't that large and the screen is only 3.3" vs the iPod touch's 3.5" screen. Also, the pixel density is higher than on the iPod touch and the resolution isn't bad at all, images come out smooth looking.
@Air2ground
The problem is, with a large bezel you should expect a larger screen, but over here, not only is the screen smaller than the iPod Touch, but also the bezel makes the device bigger than it should be with that screen. As for the images, they appear sharp and crisp thanks to the OLED screen, despite of the resolution.
Does that mean most downloaded DVDRIP AVI's will play?
@TareG
If they are encoded in Xvid, then yes.
@aimran
as long as its encoded in a compatible MPEG-4 profile, it won't matter if its xvid, dvix or ffmpeg, it'll all play.
okay maybe, older versions may have issues like divx3;) but you get the picture
Bought my Zune HD a few weeks ago, and couldn't be happier with the media player... until now that is.
Of my 800+ movies on my HPTC only around 50 are encoded in h.264 (all the HD 720p ones). The rest of the collection are all encoded with XviD. No more video conversion when transferring to the Zune HD! Hooray!!
Does anyone know if the screen flickering is removed in this update? It's pretty annoying when you browse the web over USB connection.
Well, it's getting more appealing, but I can't consider it as a true upgrade from my Zune 80 until the HD comes with at least 64gb of storage. 32gb is not enough for me. I have 12gb in podcasts alone.
Of course, a flash 128gb would be ideal, but I can't see that being possible for another year or so. I suspect Apple is coming out with a 128gb flash iPod, as they just struck an exclusive deal for a supply of 64gb flash chips.
This is all fine and dandy, but where is my enterprise network support?
Icing on the cake. And unlike some companies ::cough::Apple::cough:: their firmware updates are free to their customers.
This is great news. Now MS just needs to..
- Release the Zune HD to the rest of the world.
- Offer Mac compatibility.
Man, i love my zune hd. Im ready for an update though. Going from 4.1 to 4.3 was good, but i would like more frequent updates. This update looks great but its in the spring? really? We got some time to enjoy 4.3 a bit more.
now tuck a phone inside and add a camera
RElease it for the WORLD !!!
I do love the iPhone's Genius and this is making the Zune that much more attractive. I may get a Zune HD once I decide to dump the iPhone for an Windows Mobile device or maybe Android.
Please Microsoft, put XNA 4.0 on the HD1. I've been a good boy, I own a 360; purchased Vista the week it came out and defended it with my bare fists against the Linux boys; and bought my Zune HD days after the Windows Phone 7 announcement thinking that you were always so awesome in the past about extending the features of new devices to past models. Please, throw a bone to your handful of fan boys.