CRN review: Zensonic Z330

Resellers looking to fill Christmas stockings with some inexpensive home theatre kit may want to take a look at the Z330, a multi-format player designed in Australia by Zensonic.

The most striking thing about this player - which superseded the earlier Z300 version - is its diminutive size in regards to its thickness and ability to play just about any format.

The Z330's main selling point is the fact that it is bursting with functionality. It plays just about every format, including DivX which has previously been the domain of PCs.

It also ships with onboard 5.1 decoding with plenty of plugs on the back to give it great flexibility (it even includes a VGA plug for a PC monitor), the optical output might be slight overkill but in this digital age it's a good feature to have anyway.

It has all the standard plugs, RCA, composite, component and s-video. Another positive is the ability to update the firmware, which seems almost to be a necessity in these days of format wars and the emergence of new codecs.

All in all this is a player that has more features than you can shake a stick at and is available for a reasonable price but it's safe to say though, that people would not be buying this machine based on its design, as it won't win any awards for appearance or innovation.

With the Z330 being the second incarnation of Zensonic's player there has been some changes to its features, some positive, some negative.

The previous Z300 model had a tendency to "hang" when playing some discs. However, a firmware upgrade with the Z300 has fixed this problem.

Another positive is the change in the power cord which is no longer hard-wired. This makes the unit less cumbersome to pack away and easier to move around. The buttons on the remote control glow in the dark which is also a reasonably useful feature.

On the negative side, the remote is a step back in design from the first model, being rather plain, with the buttons being reduced in size and clumped together.

Having the 'most used' buttons of a different size and in a unique logical location aids in never having to take your eye off the action when pausing or rewinding. Also, a niggling issue with the remote is that the battery cover sits on the side and is not "flush" against the unit.

Something that has not been improved on from the previous model, and will be a major issue if breakage occurs, is how flimsy the disc tray appears. This may be a big issue if users have young children who are tech savvy enough to load their Wiggles DVDs but are still a bit heavy handed.

The Z330 is distributed by PC Range. Dealers can pick it up for $117.27 (ex.GST) if ordering less than 10 units; or $104.55 (ex.GST) for orders of 10 units or more. It retails for $189.

For a full list of specifications and features visit the Zensonic website at www.zensonic.com.au.