Archos AV 500 30GB

The Archos AV500 is a mobile DVR; Digital Video recorder. So what does that mean and why should you be interested? Hopefully this review will help you.

Lets start with a basic specification, the Archos AV50 comes in 3 sizes (yes 3 despite what Archos' own site indicates!) 30, 60 and 100GB. It can play Divx 5 and 6, as well as Xvid and Microsoft's PlayForSure video content. It can play WMA, MP3 and WAV files. It can record from a number ...
...is effectively mono. The headphones Archos supplies are fine but you'll want your own pair. Upgrading shows the sound quality of the AV500 to be of awesome quality.

How do you get the videos onto the device ? Now this is where the AV500 starts to falter. If like me, you are a techie and have been playing around with Divx and Xvid for a while and know the ins and out of the Divx\Xvid encoding format., you'll be right at home here. You'll ... more

The Archos AV500 is a mobile DVR; Digital Video recorder. So what does that mean and why should you be interested? Hopefully this review will help you.

Lets start with a basic specification, the Archos AV50 comes in 3 sizes (yes 3 despite what Archos' own site indicates!) 30, 60 and 100GB. It can play Divx 5 and 6, as well as Xvid and Microsoft's PlayForSure video content. It can play WMA, MP3 and WAV files. It can record from a number of sources and it can playback to the TV as well and it understands both PAL and NTSC. It has a 4 inch screen of excellent quality for solo viewing, but because its viewing angle is excellent two people can comfortably watch the screen without both people having to meld their heads together!!! It can display photos's BMP and JPG (but not progressive JPG) and it can act as aUSB host for self powered devices that act as a USB Mass Storage Device, this is something some digital cameras now do, which means you can upload your photos directly to the AV500 providing it complies with USB Mass Storage Device profile.

*pause for breath*

As you can see the feature set is quite capable for a machine that can fit in your pocket (albeit a big pocket!). All that stuff that I have just described means you have a portable media centre that can save you a fortune in hotel room movie bills, entertain you during flights, lectures, boring family visits and appendectomies (hmmm maybe not that last one!;) and act as a primary, at a pinch, hard drive recorder for your telly.

The screen is fantastic for its size, it is both bright, colourful and detailed and you will not fault the screen at all in day to day operation. There is no ghosting, blurring or tearing. The built in speaker is adequate for solo use but is effectively mono. The headphones Archos supplies are fine but you'll want your own pair. Upgrading shows the sound quality of the AV500 to be of awesome quality.

How do you get the videos onto the device ? Now this is where the AV500 starts to falter. If like me, you are a techie and have been playing around with Divx and Xvid for a while and know the ins and out of the Divx\Xvid encoding format., you'll be right at home here. You'll do what you have always done and have movies on the device in no time. If you are new to this and Divx makes you scratch your head, then Archos haven't made your life easy. There are couple of ways to get DVD videos onto the device and depending on what you do your mileage will vary.

Method 1: You can record directly from your DVD Player onto the AV500.

Pros. No techie knowledge required just connect up the AV500. Press record on the AV500 and play on the DVD Player.

Cons: You need to wait for the duration of the movie before you can watch the video on your AV500, during which time you cannot use the AV500. You can only watch the film on the LCD screen not on a TV (see notes)

Notes: The AV500 is Macrovision compliant therefore DVD's with this protection can be recorded but the AV500 will only display such content on the LCD Screen not on a TV.

Method 2: Conversion Software. Freeware Tools.

Pros: The best quality you can get for the potentially smallest file size and gives maximum flexibility (Choose subtitles, soundtrack etc etc). This can allow you to watch this content on a TV.

Cons: To a newcomer this can look like rocket science and can easily scare the technophobe.

Notes: There are freeware tools you can use that can make the whole process a lot easier etc but still you are going to have to get a bit down and dirty and learn some of the basic terms of video encoding. There are sites on the web that can help you understand this process. It is well worth the effort as you can have near DVD quality movies for a third to a quarter of the original film size!

The quality of my DVD's encoded to Divx\Xvid is nothing short of astounding. The LCD is a real winner and can display the movie flawlessly. And when you connect to a TV and play it there, depending on the quality of encoding chosen, it is breath taking.

Once you get the video onto the AV500 the UI on the machine is an absolute winner, basic but excellent. You can resume a previously stopped video. You get a home screen that takes you to Video, Music, Photos, AudioCorder (Voice recorder) and VideoCorder (Video recorder) You can slow-mo, fast forward and rewind, you can super fast forward and rewind for accelerated movement through a video. You can adjust LCD brightness and Power off settings. The UI and hardware buttons are snappy in their responsiveness.

A word about ergonomics and aesthetic, the brushed metal is beautiful and photos just don't do this cutie justice, the main unit feels robust but this unit isn't designed to be treated rough. The buttons feel odd and I am concerned that they may not go the 3 yr distance I am looking for but that is just a vibe. The ergonomics and design of the button seems odd but I must admit I like the look, makes it stand out a bit and the ergonomics of the button take a bit of getting used to but they become second nature after a wee bit of playing with the unit.

Whats video recording like ? For me this is not a hugely significant reason for having the unit, as I have a fully blown HDD-DVD and would much rather record there and then convert for my AV500. However for me there are times when this is not possible or not desired i.e. I have a TV in another room without a DVD recorder which I sometimes wish to record from while the other unit is in use. For this feature the AV500 uses single pass encoding supporting bit rates up to 2500 kb/sec. At this max recording quality the videos are excellent and very watchable on my 36" CRT, but you will see some minor digital artefacts.

You can record at an 'optimal' setting which is more TV -like or at a VGA (640x480) resolution. Bear in mind as VGA is the bigger of the two sizes it will consume more space to record an equivalent amount of video. You can also select bitrates at which the audio track is recorded at. As I indicated before though the AV500 is not a full blown replacement for a HDD-DVD recorder, it is close and for its pocketable size, it is unbelievable that it records at that high level of quality at all. Also it gives you the ability to edit on the machine any videos you have uploaded to the machine that can be played. And yes you can also edit your music files this way too according to the manual.

Music: It's a very capable player aurally, though limited in what codecs it understands; MP3. WAV and WMA (DRM and non DRM). No Ogg Vorbis, No AAC. :-( Arguably these two codecs can use more power per song than MP3 but it would have been nice to leave that choice with the user. IMPORTANT: It does not play iTunes purchased music as this uses an Apple proprietary DRM and they want you to only play it on an iPod. It displays a screen where you can start browsing your music collection via artist\album\title\genre\year etc. You can sync music (and Video; if you must!:) via Windows Media Player 10 and create playlists. It displays album art and you can create playlists on the machine, while away from a PC and add to an existing playlist while listening to it. Sound quality is excellent and up there with the very best MP3 players. You can also use it as a voice recorder into Windows WAV format.

There is no radio built-in but there is an accessory you can buy which gives you that functionality.

Photos: the pictures are displayed nice and sharp and it is excellent as a portable viewing area. Though TIFF and RAW are not displayed by the device it can still be saved for storage for transfer to PC later! Also in conjunction with the USB Host functionality that the AV500 provides with a compatible camera you can use the AV500 to unload those pictures when the digital camera card gets full. And also consider if you do not have a compatible camera you should find that single type card readers should be able to be easily used with the AV500 to get your photos off it instead! =)

General: The battery life is excellent, other reviews put the video battery life at approx. 8 hours, in my extensive usage of the device I have seen nothing to make me doubt that claim. On top of that the battery is replaceable by the user, which means no having to send it off for an expensive battery change job. The screen is very resistant to scratches but the smart money is buying a screen protector for it. I recommend a Martin Fields Overlay for the PSP and then cut it down to size. Those overlays do rock.

Also bear in mind you get a serious amount of accessories to use with the AV500 including two sets of input and output video composite with L-R audio leads. TV Pod to connect create a pass-thru circuit with the recording source so the AV500 can piggy back onto that and record the signal (the TV Pod creates a pass thru with only composite video L-R Audio only, you can record a S-VHS signal giving superior quality but you can't output it to the TV only the LCD). A USB lead to connect it to the computer though this is very short! *puzzled* A USB Host lead that allows devices to connect to the AV500 ie compatible cameras, card readers etc. Also a case, which is ok but not brilliant. An IR-Emitter lead which when used with an AV500 which has the code (not guaranteed, though more odes get updated with each firmware update) for your box allows the AV500 to control your receiver box! :D A worldwide compatible charger (again a really short lead!) with a number of different plug conversions for use around the world. And very sensibly, a remote control that can control the AV500 from a distance, thus underlining their belief that the AV500 is a mobile DVR. That list may have omitted a few things! =)

And one of the coolest ideas yet, you can buy a Digi-cam add-on which allows you to record movies direct to the AV500!!!!! This can be helmet mounted to capture extreme sport videos! As an avid snowboarder this alone makes me pumped to buy it. As you can see the AV500 is a tricked out little wonder and it has been very well thought out by Archos.

As you may have gathered for me the biggest sellers were the ability to watch movies, in near DVD like quality on the 4 inch screen and then watch them on a TV when the opportunity presented itself. Many a time I have been in a hotel room trapped while there was nothing on the telly and being asked to fork out an expensive amount of money to watch the in-hotel movies which in many cases I was not interested in! Here is finally a solution where I could travel and watch movies on flights, trains then transfer to TV when in hotels, friends etc.

I could transfer my photos from my camera to the AV500 hence saving me having to carry huge amounts of cards on holiday and allowing me to see them on a bigger screen. It gives me the functionality to record video when using my HDD-DVD recorder is not an option and store music on it when my dedicated MP3 player is full. Want to show your mate that you really did do that awesome Gran Turismo 4 time you've been boasting about? Don't want to connect your PS2 to your home cinema HDD-DVD setup? Fine just hook up your AV500 and let it record it for you.

It is also reassuring that Archos seem committed to the AV500 as they tend to release firmware updates very regularly, roughly once a month so far, with little bugfixes and new features, such as upping the supported WMA playback rate etc.

In my opinion the only thing that stops this device being the all round wonder it deserves to be is there is no real one-stop place to get videos (a la Video iTunes) or an easy Archos provided way to convert your own DVD's to watch on the AV500 and TV screen. Though you can see why Archos have avoided providing this type of software as there are legal implications to providing this kind of software.

Conclusion: As you may have gathered I am over the moon about my AV500 and cannot imagine watching movies on my iPaq as I did before. I think that for techies, gadget lovers this is the business, for Joe public they would love it too but may find the encoding process daunting. There is much I could go into further detail on the AV500 but I primarily only want it for a portable video recorder and USB Host for various uses. Things like music and voice recording are not that important; I have dedicated units for those aspects of its functionality. So forgive me if you really needed an in-depth knowledge of those aspects.

I got the 60GB for a fantastic pre Xmas 2005 price of 299.99 GBP from Curry's (in-shop price) which made it unbelievably awesome value for money ! However since then, the price has risen to 399.99 GBP where it is still great value for money but more expensive for the average punter hence making it more of a luxury item again.

If one song summed up the Archos AV500 it would be 'Robbie Williams - Let Me Entertain You'. Its very apt! ;-) Later!
 

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