...
Another big con is the fact that some file types WILL NOT WORK unless you pay Archos even more money. and video or audio files with the audio fomat being in either AAC or Mpeg-4 will have to pay around £14 to be able to view each. another factor you may want to think about is the hard ... Read review
(+) Great screen quality and size, built in speaker and stand. (-) The only downside is that it is fragile, and can be hard to get used to the on screen keyboard.
Advantages: Functions, screen, wifi, great quality Disadvantages: batery life and slow procesor. also only 30gb HD
...and i sold my old archos to get this one.
The main feactures that this mp4 player has are, video, audio, voice recoding, internet/network browsing, file server, video in and out, touch screen, video recording, and some more.
the video quality is very good and perfectley acceptable to watch. i know when I had the AV700 i wasnt at all satisfied with the resolution at all and this is a great improvement. On the 604 wifi it also gives you ... ...NOT WORK unless you pay Archos even more money. and video or audio files with the audio fomat being in either AAC or Mpeg-4 will have to pay around £14 to be able to view each. another factor you may want to think about is the hard drive size. at only 30gb it holds little compared to the 160gb archos 504. but it depends whether you will be mainley watching vids or listning to tunes.
The file transfer from the computer is ok. i cant ... more
Firstly I want to say i could wait to get mine and i sold my old archos to get this one. The main feactures that this mp4 player has are, video, audio, voice recoding, internet/network browsing, file server, video in and out, touch screen, video recording, and some more. the video quality is very good and perfectley acceptable to watch. i know when I had the AV700 i wasnt at all satisfied with the resolution at all and this is a great improvement. On the 604 wifi it also gives you the option to run in widscreen, fullscreen or normal modes wich is very useful for different sized videos. the frame rate is also very good though not as good as the ipod. i would on the other hand like to point out that unless your eyes are extremly good, you wont be able to see the difference between them.
The next is the audio. the way that the audio is set out is very easy to use ( espsially with the syleus) and it is easy to tranfer music in and out of the playlist. Also like the ipod you can view all your music as you are lisining to a track. also like on your computer you can rate all your songs to put into the 5 ratings playlists. although this is great when done if you have alot of music this can be tidius and very irritating. it would be bettter if the ratings that you had given the songs on the computer could be transfered as well. i dont no, this may be possible but not to my knowlage.
The voice recording i see as more of a novelty as the microphone isnt of the best quality but can be good fun. or maybe if you needed to remeber something or write a note.
The wifi functins. There is alot to be said about these. first of all great idea and i totally agree for it to be there. the searching for networks can take a little time but is very useful when transfering files or accessing work files for example at a school or university. unfortutley in some caces i have found that it doesnt work. for example i havent yet been able to get onto my school network yet though i have to my private LAN. the internet browsing is also a good idea and has come into a lot of use. because of the lack of internet caperbilities it has ( like no java or certain other sites) I mainly use it for looking at emails or searching stuff up on wikipedia/google. or if you are into computer gadets i have made a number of practical jokes via my 604 wifi. infortuatly everything thats good usally has a downside and that would be the batery life. but only while using wifi. wile watching video the batery usally last bout 5 hours and audio lasts about 15 hours but that is cut significantley while using wifi. also beacuse of the processer speed being failry slow it often takes a longer time to load. the keybord fucntion is also very easy to use. One thing that i was very unsure on before i bought it was how to type cos i found no info on it at all or pictures. so il explain it. basically when ever you touch a text box the keybord takes up half the screen and then you can just hit the letters and they type up. its very easy to use and you dont need to get used to it. one function that i would have like to have seen (altho the batery and proceser would have strugled even more) would be the ability to listen to music as you surf the web.
Although this product can act as a file server you would have to have it plugged in at most times due to the drain of battery also the 30gb hard drive would limit the use of this function. the touch screen is amazing, the balence of sensitivity is great and with the syleus near pin point accuracy is obtained ( good for wen surfing the web) another usfull functing is the fact you can view PDF files. Easy to use and you can zoom into the page to all nessasary magnifications. unfortuatley i would have also liked to see a text veiwer to show word documents or such wise and then use the touch key bord to edit them but that isnt included.
The next part is all about the accessories. the amount of accessories is great and you can find anything you may want from leads to camcorders to spare batteries but they all come at a price....... a large one. the DVR station is basically a must have. it combines all video out and in ( for all the ports including s-video,av, and many more. in fact there are 11 ports on the back not including the one to charge) it also comes with a handy remote if you arnt close ( due to the fact that it is next to your Tv beacuse the cables arent long) but at around £60 it is an expensive must have. its a must have beacuse you cannot use the video out caperbility which means no recording from a video source (like TV) ( other products are availibe but do not carry out the function nearly as well)
The video recording fuction is very usful and complex but at the same time difficult to operate untill you get used to it and its set up with the channel. the scedular is usfull and you can schedual many programs acroos a roange of channels at a range of times. so if you have the time to set it up its definatley a functing you want to cheak out.
Another big con is the fact that some file types WILL NOT WORK unless you pay Archos even more money. and video or audio files with the audio fomat being in either AAC or Mpeg-4 will have to pay around £14 to be able to view each. another factor you may want to think about is the hard drive size. at only 30gb it holds little compared to the 160gb archos 504. but it depends whether you will be mainley watching vids or listning to tunes.
The file transfer from the computer is ok. i cant say the speed of transfer is great but it isnt bad. its about the same as transfering files between computers or HDD's. though i will say its ten times better than the ipod beacuse when plugged into the computer it acts like a removable dirve and you are able to drag files across instead of having to use the contraversial program Itunes.
Last little notes. It comes with a spare sylus though which would be usful as a replacement, The cover is sleek and stylish, The size of the model is definatley big enough to have a good size screen 4.3 inch and small enough to fit into your pocket, Customisable background Being able to look at slideshows of your pictures, and a good photo viewer. clock quick recharge time of just 1 to 3 hours (depending on what you charge it from. the DVR station being the fastest.
I would definatley recomend this item. it has to be the best MP4/MP3 player around with more functions than on any other mp4 player. And i say it Beats Ipod any day.
Advantages: Touch Screen, Wifi and Quality of Picture Disadvantages: Speaker, Other Expenses
...that is transferred to your Archos to allow the playback. This can be bought from the Archos site and costs around £15.
There is also Wifi capability. This allows you to connect to a Wifi connection and surf the internet. It also allows you to get updates for the Archos while you are using the internet. It is easy to browse internet websites because of the touch screen, and it uses an Opera browser. There is a built in speaker, but it shouldn't ... ...and Archos. It charges the Archos in about 3 hours, and the file transfer is extremely quick.
There is a set user manual for both the Archos 604 and the 604 Wifi. This means that there is no manual for the Wifi. This means that you have to go onto the internet to a website that is given in the box and download the Wifi manual. It is a 30GB version which is quite a bit for this kind of device. It can hold 25 DVD Quality films, 300,000 photos or 8000 ...
bindie 27.12.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Archos 604 30GB
Advantages: Great video playback and hard drive space Disadvantages: Won't sync with iTunes, battery life isn't great
...some plug ins from the Archos website I can watch a huge range of file formats on it. (Slightly annoying that I had to pay for them but hey.) Also there is plently of room for films and music on the 30GB although it would have been nice to see a slightly bigger hard drive option.
On the music side of things, the archos is not iTunes compatible and so music syncing cannot be made automatic - you have to manually drag and drop all your new songs into ... ...on the Archos its not bad its just a bit boring to get them there in the first place. The winning factor that really made this win in my eyes over the iPod is the built in wifi, enabling you to connect to any wifi access point in the world to browse the web or check your emails.
The last few points are the few minor but annoying comlpaints about the Archos.
Firstly, the stylus that is used on the touch screen can only be stored in the designated ...
gibson60 14.10.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Archos 604 30GB
Advantages: Everything you want in one small package plus more Disadvantages: None that I can think of at the moment
I have previously owned a Archos AV700TV but decided to upgraded to the Archos 604wifi as the AV700TV was a big bulky machine and as I couldn't get the tv to work on it properly (Low signal reception).
Upon opening the Archos 604wifi I was very impressed with the size and build compared to my previous Archos. As the 604wifi is alot smaller than the AV700TV and has more or less the same features such as Movies, Music, Picture viewer and Video Recorder ... ...The 604wifi is small enough for you to be able to stick it in you're pocket and be able to watch a movie or listen to music on a journey or log on to the internet providing you are within a wifi area.
I would definetly suggest anyone who likes to be able to watch movies or listen to music on the go to buy this item. I think I paid roughly about £239.99 when I purchased a few months back but I think its come down in price to around the £200 mark ...
ChairmanUK 31.12.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Archos 604 30GB
Advantages: ideal screen size, internet access on the go Disadvantages: storage
...with the help of the archos forums easy to do. watching a movie is a joy on the screen, i'd say much improved from using a video iPod.
i also like the picture viewer. as i like to show off pictures from my travels to anyone that can't say no quick enough this device is ideal. the screen format means viewing pictures is almost like flicking through a stack of prints.
the wifi works, but not with all systems. i have not found a way to configure a ... ...security protocols supported. [support form archos has so far failed to materialize in trying ot connect to a particular security standard at my place of work.]
the browser is a basic version of opera without javascript or flash, but good enough for browsing news sites or checking mail. the screen format again is a bonus, and the browser does a good job of re-siziing a page to fit the screen.
i'm not sure about the security of the device when using ...
tarkboffin 03.05.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Archos 604 30GB
sony hdr30gb
Camcorder -OpticalZoom: 10 -DigitalZoom: 80x -Weight: 0.64k ...
Product Information for "Archos 604 30GB" »
Video
Video Playback Formats
MPEG-4, MPEG-2, WMV
System requirements
Operating System
MS Windows XP, MS Windows 2000, MS Windows ME, Apple Mac OS X, Linux, MS Windows XP Media Center Edition
Manufacturer's product description
This outstandingly slim, large screen Portable Multimedia Player reads all standard video formats in full DVD resolution. Offering DVD-quality video playback on TV with optional DVR Station, the Archos 604 records directly from TV in high-quality MPEG-4. PRODUCT FEATURES: Bright 4.3" TFT LCD with 16 million colors; Photo viewer with zoom, music and transition effects; Music player displays track, artist, album, and album cover; Fully compatible with DVD-quality VOD and music online stores; Large choice of convenient accessories for TV recording, direct digital photo transfers, hands-free video capturing and more; Built-in kickstand for tabletop viewing; 30 GB to store up to 85 movies, 300.000 photos or 15.000 songs.
