Archos TV+ 80 GB (Silver)

For the most part, the product does what it the description states. Set up is not intuitive but not that hard just follow the downloaded users manaual because the one that comes with is not very detailed. My biggest dispointment is of the picture quaility of some of the recorded playback can be grainy depending on the station. I have mine connected to a vcr/dvd player since I don't use cable boxes to get my cable and the archos does not have a built in tuner. some of the features cost extra, for example browsing the net or some of the widgits. In all, I spent about $70 to get the extra plug-ins.

First saw news of this device on G4 at CES and couldn't wait to get my hands on one. Thankfully in early January it was ready for purchase on amazon..it was on pre-order...but in stock from Ritzcamera through Amazon so I bit the bullet.

Ritzcamera did a good job of packaging/shipping to protect from damage and was in my hands pretty fast...so ritzcamera gets a thumbs up from me.

Having used the device for a few weeks now...I can say this is a great media device at a reasonable price, here are some Pro's and Con's for others considering the product might find helpful:

PROs:

Plays Divx/Xvid/Avi/Mp3/Jpeg...etc.

Plays & Records Audio/Video

Small in size but Big in quality and features.

80 Gig internal hard drive

WiFi or ethernet media Streaming from PC

DVR with guide for recording of TV shows

USB 2.0 for external HDD

HDMI connection

optional plug-ins..Internet browsing

Quality of Audio/Video playback is FANTASTIC!

QWERTY Remote

Possibly future-proof..at least 2-3 years with firmware upgrades

Free access to Dailymotion plus other items in content portal

Recorded DVR shows are good quality and files are Avi for easy PC Transfer

Price is reasonable compared to other media extending devices

CONs

Additional $20 cost for optional multimedia plug-in that plays higher quality Divx/Xvid's

Additional cost for other optional plug-ins

YouTube not yet availiable on content portal...maybe in the future

DVR not as good as cable company DVR...yet

Overall this is a great product from a respectable company...for those that have gig's of Divx/Xvid/Mp3's and photos on their PC's and want to watch them on their TV, this product is the best on the market...so far.

As for the few negative comments...they seem to be highly biased towards the Apple TV...anyway, hardware build quality is solid, manual easily understandable...and when I first set it up I had to call Tech support and was Not on hold more than 5 min.

Best of all...NO more stacks of wasteful, costly, time consuming burning of DVDR's

Hope this helps!

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This is a digital media player for your home entertainment center. It has the same operating system as the Archos portable video players (like the 605 wifi). It has all of the formats of AV inputs that you would need but you can only use one at a time which can be a pain if you want to switch. It can play a wide variety of file formats as well (just like the 605). You will need to buy two plugins in order to play MPEG2 with AC3 audio and H264 files. Yes it does play XVID/DIVX.

For me, the main selling point for this unit is the network connectablity. I plugged in an Ethernet cable (it has wifi as well, but that's slower) and it lets me browse the other computers on my network just like the explorer in windows. I can then play any media file I find videos, music, or pictures. You can also use the media sharing feature of Windows Media Player 11 and share network files that way as well. This lets me us this unit as my own on demand system. I can dump all the videos we want to watch over the next few months and have them in neatly organized folders. The kids can have their movies all in one place and watch all the SpongeBob they want. I plan to have all our Christmas movies dumped and on the unit so we don't have to hunt for them next year.

Archos TV can record form an external sources as well, but I already have a PVR for that, so I won't be using it. It uses an IR blaster type setup to control the cable/satellite box for recording. You get one year of free program guides when you register.

Notes:

You will need to update to the latest firmware before you do anything else. I couldn't get the auto update to work the first time so you may have to download the firmware via a computer and move it over to the unit.

I had trouble getting a thumb drive to work in the USB port. I think it pulled too much power. My Archos 504 hooked up no problem. I'm sure any powered USB drive will work fine.

When you browse your network for the first time, it will take a long time for it to find other computers on the network. Just let it search. Mine took about 30 minutes. After that, it finds them instantly.

Just like the 605 you have to bookmark videos manually in order to come back and resume were you left off. It will do just one video automatically. This will be lost when you play another video though. I requested an auto-bookmark feature but who knows if they will look into it.

You can copy files to the unit through the network connection, or by using a USB cable. The unit shows up on your computer as a Drive.

It can play VOB files from DVDs you own. If you hook up the SPDIF cable, you will get Dolby Digital AC3 sound.

This is a new unit and they are working on fixing bugs as they are found. It's not going to be perfect for a little while. It is very cool though.

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I wanted to replace a VCR with a simple DVR that did not require a monthly payment for service. The Archos TV+ met all my needs. It is simple to set up (use the online PDF manual) and record to your hearts content.

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i bought this unit to use it as a dvr. The guide is easy to use. The unit came very quickly in the mail and works fine. it is very easy to transfer recorded video from the archos to my mac and pc just drag and drop. The guide only costs 20 bucks a year a good reason to use it and save money instead of a tivo.