Archos AV 700 100 GB Mobile Digital Video Recorder

• Plays and stores up to 400 hours of video, 250 movies, 55,000 songs or 1,000,000 photos
• Supports the Mophun gaming platform for mobile gaming fun
• USB 2.0 port for fast file transfers from computers and other devices
• Record television programs, movies and home videos -- view them when you please
• Up to 30 hours of battery life for music and up to 4 hours for video playback on the built-in LCD

I've had the chance to play with the AV 700 100GB unit for about three weeks now. Here is my overview.

The good:

The biggest display on a PMP of its kind out there. It's almost as large as the unit!

Can record in real time from DVD, VCR, Camcorder, Cable/Sat and other video devices with RCA (composite) or S-Video outputs. Much faster than DVD rippers I've tried.

Allows for limited editing (cropping) of recorded movies. Lets say you want to cut out commercials or the end credits of the DVD you just recordedyou can do this very easily.

Allows for selection of both video resolution (from 500 2500 kbits/s), format (4:3, 5:3, 16:9, 2.35:1) and audio frequency (32 or 44KHz) for recording.

Can time record (through a very nice scheduler) you can use it almost like a TiVo!

Can organize movies by name and under various directories (or categories.)

Has an audio recorder to allow music (or whatever audio) from an external device with selectable frequency (24 -48 KHz). This is higher than your standard CD quality.

Has a photo viewer.

Can be setup as a USB disk drive or a Windows Mobile Media device (it claims to work only under WinXP with service pack 1 or higher I've been unable to get this to work as of yet.)

USB 2.0 protocol. It's so fast I can actually play recorded movies from the device on my laptop in real time!

100 GB Drive! Can't get much better than this.

Comes with a remote control, docking station (well, kind of) and all the cables for connection to your PC, camera, TV, DVD, VCR, etc. The remote is universal and allows you to select your device (i.e. cable box, TV, etc.)

Very easy to upgrade the firmware. I recommend doing this if you have an older version.

Removable battery.

And many other nice features.

The not so good:

Display resolution and quality could have been a lot better.

Battery doesn't last nearly as long as it is claimed on the spec. sheet.

The recorded movies are not "near" DVD quality when played on a TV. This is a bit misleading.

The unit runs hot extremely hot when plugged into the power supply.

The stand is a nice thought but not very stable or functional.

The most un-intuitive user interface I've ever used! The firmware upgrade made this a bit more tolerable.

Built-in speakers are very poor in quality. But it sounds good with high quality headphones.

Can't play protected movies (Macrovision) on TV. Only on the device. I guess I can understand adhering to the copyright laws.

Will only play AVI formatted videos encoded in XviD or DivX MPEG-4 codec. But it comes with a PC based MPEG-1 translator which uses VitualDub as its conversion engine. I've tried this and it worked well.

Won't work with the AAC (Apple) audio format. My iPod is not getting retired any time soon but, if you use Windows Media format (wma), WAV or MP3 for your music, then you're good to go.

Archos' VERY unfriendly customer service.

The nice to haves:

Even with a 100GB drive, it could still use a SD or CompactFlash socket (for PC-less transfer of data, if nothing else.) But I was able to connect a USB thumb drive with the aid of an included adapter and transferred files back and forth.

A "display only mode" for connecting a PS2 or XBOX on the road with full screen view. Maybe on a future release of the firmware?

You can play games on the AV700? What games?

I had to replace the unit I originally bought. It suffered from very annoying vertical scrolling lines that I could not get rid of with the built-in "LCD Stability" function or otherwise. This is when I had the displeasure of dealing with the Archos' unfriendly (and I must say rude) technical service rep. Without asking me any questions specific to my problem, she proceeded to tell me that the unit must have been dropped. To add insult to injury, she told me it would cost me $150 for an out-of-warranty repair and that was the end of it! But she suggested I go back to the store that I purchased the unit and see if they would replace it. I'm happy to say the store did replace my unit graciously and my second unit does not have the same problem. Also, I think there maybe an electrical ground problem with the unit but, I have to investigate this a bit further.

Overall, the AV700 is a nice concept and a great device but, it is in its infancy. I've been able to record DVDs with relative ease where it was a major task before. Now I can stop spending hours ripping DVDs to play on my iPaq! Next, I'm converting all my old home videos from VHS and then transferring them on to DVDs. In my opinion, the AV 700 is much more than just a replacement for a personal DVD or music player. I think Archos should continue to improve on the features and the overall quality of this product which promises to be one of the great personal media devices out there.

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I just got my AV700 two days ago. I've already transferred ~25G of video to it, effortlessly!

I travel a lot and have been completely enamored of my Panasonic LV95 DVD player with its 9 inch screen. The Archos has a 7" screen, and the resolution is a little lower, but the idea that I can ditch the DVDs and just carry this tiny little toy with me does it for me! I was so excited to receive this -I pre-ordered it weeks ago.

The only drawback is that an extra battery would be handy for those long flights (and I already ordered one), since there is not yet an airline adaptor available. Also, an extra power adaptor is handy too. Both these things are available from Archos -just not on Amazon yet.

Read Best Reviews of Archos AV 700 100 GB Mobile Digital Video Recorder Here

Before I purchased the Archos AV 700 100g I took it upon myself to read the reviews and was completely turned off from buying this system due to the fact that there were so many negative reviews. Thankfully, there was one individual, in his review about it, was very positive and also made recommendations how to use this system and also recommended an S-video cable. I decided I wanted to purchase it after reading his review because he seemed so positive and I really wanted this system badly since my bus rides are so long and I was tired of traveling with my little laptop (which I used to watch my DVDs on the bus) which weighs 3.5 lbs, but still feels heavy after a long day compared to this AV 700. I must say that he was right about everything he said and without an S-Video cable, you cannot properly execute the realtime copying process. My husband connected it to our system (which made it so much easier to operate because our system is very up-to-date and which enables you to work directly through that system so you can watch other programs while it is recording your DVDs, and it has all the setups in the back, and color coded also our system luckily had included an S-Video cable which saved us $40). Once connected, it was all uphill for me. I just read the instructions on how to operate this system once and never had to read it again it is very user-friendly. I have copied all my DVDs and able to review them while riding the Bus to and from work which takes me up to 2 hrs sometimes due to traffic. The battery lasts probably 3 hrs or so. My only downside is that they mentioned approximately 250 movies, but I believe they are referring to soap operas which are much shorter, but Archos also did mention that it depends on the lenghth of the movie which might make quite a difference on storage capacity. I have (real time) copied 50 movies and they were all 124 minutes up and including 4 hr movies, so it is safe to say 50 long movies tops. I do not use my Archos for my music storage since I own an Ipod (which I need because I cannot jog or exercise with the Archos), so that aspect doesn't concern me but I have listened to their prerecorded music and it sounded fantastic. A week after I purchased the Archos, we took a trip to NC and GA and my grandson used it to watch movies (I didn't have a car charger for it then) and after seeing the performance of the battery say 3 hrs or so since the movies are long, I wish Archos had sold spare batteries to take along with me on long drives so I could be charging one while using the other, then I would be able to get more viewing time. After the trip, I purchased a car charger for the next long drive. I must say I love this system and I am glad that there was at least one or two positive individuals that knows their stuff enough to say the right things and give a few helpful hints. Also the price is great I waited for that. One recommendation, after you have watched a movie and it is not so great or you don't care to see it again, delete it to make space for more interesting movies and therefore you will always have additional storage space.

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Right out of the box it looks like something from the set of the movie 2001. Pick it up it feels solid and unbreakable ... though I wouldn't try to drop it on purpose the 7" screen is not recessed into the case and covers almost the entire face of the player. Both are features I happen to love about it!

The MP3 player allows you the normal set of music management functions including sorting and playing by genre, artist, album, year, title ... etc. However, rather than make you click a button to see the album art If the image is embedded in the id3 tag, the Archos displays it as the song is played. -kewl-

Video works well with almost any codec thrown at it. Pull some free stuff down from the internet and jump on a plane. You'll be entertained for hours with the bright clear screen.

Screen resolution is just ok to me, though my co-workers really thought the color reproduction was rich and bright. It could stand for an upgrade in pixels though in the next gen of this device.

In addition, the Archos can display photo's one at a time, or you can set it to do a slideshow and just prop the device back on your desk using the built-in stand and using it as a photo frame at work :)

I bought the 100 gig version. There is also an available 40 gig version to be had. As a technician, this comes in handy. The device is recognized by any XP computer as an external usb mass storage device and can be used to carry any type of file even those it does not natively support for display. so if you have a need to move a large amount of data from one pc to another you couldn't ask for a more efficient means ... all with battery power, so no need to plug-in the juice( at least for a few hours before needed to be charged up again ) This Archos model also has a usb host port which allows you to connect other slave usb devices up to it and copy data to/from them. Such as an external USB disk or other mp3 player. Just connect it using the included cable and the Archos immediately recognizes it as an external disk ready to manage.

There's more ( scheduler, audio recorder ... ) but I'm running late. If I can edit this review when I get back, I will but this covers most of what I've been feeling since I bought the device.

PS if you're wondering just how big this thing is ... I think it's the perfect size for use as a belt buckle on one of Elvis Pressley's concert Jumpsuits. ; )

I have this AV700 (100G) for few months and here are the cons ans pros:

Good Things:

* Works nice and fast (boots up fast and USB2 works very fast).

* Movies are looking preaty good on it and on TV.

* Great sound whn connected to headphones and stereo player.

* shaped nice.

* Woroks very nice with the remote control.

* You can slow mothion movies.

Bad things:

* Archos costumer service is the worst I've seen!!!

* Internal speaker are poor.

* LCD disply is very fragile.

* Resolution while watching pictures is not good.

* When watching a 4:3 movie it streaches it and if you change the settings for it so it wont be strached it doesn't remeber it afterwords.

* File managment and options is not so friendly.

it could have been nice if it had:

* MS WORD reader.

* PDF reader.

* Option to recive radio and TV antena signal.

Over all its a nice product that needs to be handled carefuly.