VisTablet Direct Touch Screen 22" tablet ?

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D.T. Nethery
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VisTablet Direct Touch Screen 22" tablet ?

Post by D.T. Nethery »

Has anyone used the VisTablet Direct Touch Screen 22" tablet ?

It looks similar to a Wacom Cintiq 21" .
Image


I have a student who asked me what I thought about the VisTablets , but I have no experience using them. I use Wacom Intous and Wacom Cintiq and am very happy with the quality of the Wacom tablets .

Any feedback on the VisTablet would be appreciated. Does it work well with TVPaint ?

Thanks.

Links to Vistablet:

https://www.journeyed.com/itemDetail.asp?ItmNo=95889544

https://www.vistablet.net/catalog/
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ZigOtto
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Re: VisTablet Direct Touch Screen 22" tablet ?

Post by ZigOtto »

a customer review :
This tablet is okay for what it is, but don't expect the quality and flexibility of more reliable brands.

Let me start by saying that I *really* wanted this tablet to be awesome, as a cheap alternative to Wacom, despite the fact that the company is obviously marketing the tablet through 'customer' reviews (see above). I'm trying to build my own Cintiq-style tablet from a tablet and an LCD monitor, so durability of the casing and appearance don't really matter to me. Those weren't the only problems, however.

First, even the fine print is a little misleading: the true active area on this tablet is 9.5" by 5.5". The 10x6.25 figure includes the massive ring of buttons around the drawing area, which is not active for drawing, only for hitting those buttons.

I could live with that, because I don't need a huge tablet. However, after installing the drivers I noticed that performance is sluggish if you're doing anything more than waving your mouse around the desktop. Do not attempt this tablet with any kind of gaming; you will get pwned.

As an art tablet, the VisTablet still has some drawbacks. It is jumpy at times, and the software provided gives you little to no customization: you cannot specify, for example, how much screen area the tablet should control, or which monitor in a dual monitor setup you want to work in: the tablet will automatically span your full system resolution, meaning the higher resolution your system (especially dual monitor systems) the sloppier the tablet performs. These features are standard in Wacom drivers. What gives?

Then pen itself feels hollow, and requires a battery (unlike other brands). While the specifications suggest that the software detects pen tilt, I see no evidence of that either in Photoshop, or in some software I have to pull the pen data from the OS.

I gave it two stars out of pity, but frankly your money is better spent elsewhere.
no "wacom inside", so definitively not for me ... :wink:
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D.T. Nethery
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Re: VisTablet Direct Touch Screen 22" tablet ?

Post by D.T. Nethery »

Do you have a link to that review ?

I'd like to send the link to the student who was asking about purchasing it .

That review seems to confirm my worst fears about the VisTablet ... I expected it might be a low-end knock-off of the Cintiq, but was hoping that it might turn out to be an acceptable alternative to
the Cintiq .
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ZigOtto
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Re: VisTablet Direct Touch Screen 22" tablet ?

Post by ZigOtto »

"you get what you pay for" :)
here's the source page :
http://www.amazon.com/review/R1VJRKOYMXEX98

another interesting review for Mac users, (not so dramatic):
http://presentationmaster.digitalmedian ... ?id=329593
skip Adv.
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Hervé
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Re: VisTablet Direct Touch Screen 22" tablet ?

Post by Hervé »

The tablet use an Aiptek hardware. Many manufacturer use this harware ( aiptek, pantagram, medion, waltop, vistablet, smoby, ... )
I don't know what screen are used.
Aiptek drivers are very simple ( few options ) but the last version of TVP are a good compatibilty with it.
Hervé ADAM, TVPaint Team
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D.T. Nethery
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Re: VisTablet Direct Touch Screen 22" tablet ?

Post by D.T. Nethery »

Thank you for the replies.

I have passed this information along to the student.
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Fabrice
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Re: VisTablet Direct Touch Screen 22" tablet ?

Post by Fabrice »

D.T. Nethery wrote:Do you have a link to that review ?

I'd like to send the link to the student who was asking about purchasing it .

That review seems to confirm my worst fears about the VisTablet ... I expected it might be a low-end knock-off of the Cintiq, but was hoping that it might turn out to be an acceptable alternative to
the Cintiq .
In spite of all was said in the previous posts, I highly suggest your students to give a try with the demo version of TVP before purchasing anything.
Fabrice Debarge
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D.T. Nethery
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Re: VisTablet Direct Touch Screen 22" tablet ?

Post by D.T. Nethery »

Fabrice wrote:
D.T. Nethery wrote:Do you have a link to that review ?

I'd like to send the link to the student who was asking about purchasing it .

That review seems to confirm my worst fears about the VisTablet ... I expected it might be a low-end knock-off of the Cintiq, but was hoping that it might turn out to be an acceptable alternative to
the Cintiq .
In spite of all was said in the previous posts, I highly suggest your students to give a try with the demo version of TVP before purchasing anything.

Yes, that is good advice, but in this case the student who was considering the VisTablet has decided to get a Wacom tablet instead. The less-than-enthusiastic reviews of the VisTablet convinced him he'd be better off spending the extra money to get a reliable Wacom product .
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VisTablet
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Re: VisTablet Direct Touch Screen 22" tablet ?

Post by VisTablet »

To all customers and potential-curious customers,

We just wanted to let you know, we've been watching and noticing your postings, and if there are ANY questions we can help you answer, please get in touch with us.
Here’s our Toll Free Number: 1(888) 392-9230 Or email us ANY Questions: CustomerSupport.@VisTablet.net

We also wanted to note, that we manufacture all our OWN drivers. We do updates on our drivers about every 3-4 months, because we want to be able to please everyone (Mac & PC User's alike!) We have our prices lower because our CEO, Mike Weber sincerely wants every STUDENT to be able to afford a graphic tablet!

Both the VisTablet Original (12x10) and Mini Mouse (5x7) come with a two year warranty and “30 day money back guarantee,” the only such guarantee in the industry and we back it with the best and most personal customer service and technical support in the industry.

If you have any other questions, please speak with a Customer Service Rep directly, TOLL FREE 1(888) 392-9230 or via email: CustomerSupport@VisTablet.net

~VisTablet Team
"The New Standard!"
www.VisTablet.net
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D.T. Nethery
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Re: VisTablet Direct Touch Screen 22" tablet ?

Post by D.T. Nethery »

Thank you for the direct reply VisTablet Team.

Despite some of the less-than-enthusiastic reviews that I found online I am still very interested in knowing more about your products. (I do realize that individual consumer reviews are often somewhat fickle and may have been tested under less than rigorous test conditions. Could you point me to any reviews done on the VisTablet Direct Touch Screen 22" tablet by a mainstream computer hardware review site such as CNET.com , PC World, Mac World, Consumer Reports, etc. ?)

Since I originally posted this inquiry on the TVP forum I have received additional questions from other students wondering about the VisTablet . For obvious reasons the students are attracted by the lower prices (compared to Wacom) and I would truly like to be able to recommend the VisTablet to my students as a less expensive option to using the Wacom Cintiq.

I am curious: do you have resellers with retail locations who have VisTablets available for demonstration purposes in their stores ? I would love to visit a store's showroom and spend an hour or so drawing on a VisTablet hooked up to my laptop with TVP so I could feel for myself how the VisTablet Direct Touch Screen 22" works compared to the Wacom Cintiq 21" .

-David Nethery
Coordinator of Online 2D Animation
Academy of Art University
http://online.academyart.edu/animation.html
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