Archos AV500 30 GB Multimedia Player and DVR

• Record television programs, movies and home videos and watch them on 4-inch LCD whenever, wherever
• Plays and stores up to 400 hours of video, 250 movies, 55,000 songs or 1,000,000 photos
• Compatible with MP3, WMA, WAV, protected WMA, MPEG-4, WMV and protected Windows Media Video
• Supports the Mophun mobile gaming platform; USB 2.0 port for fast file transfers
• Up to 15 hours of battery life for music and up to 4.5 hours for video playback on the built-in LCD

As many of you have probably done, I have researched and read the few limited reviews I could find on this item, but finally i purchased it yesterday from the Sharper Image. So far its amazing, I did have the Archos AV420 but returned it because the battery failed on me. The AV500 is truly an amazing machine. The screen is so much sharper than the AV400 that it is indescribable. You can record directly from your DVD player, VCR, Satellite or Cable Box, which I am doing as I type this. I already put about five different cd's on the AV500 from my collection from Windows Media Player, and that took a mere twenty seconds for each cd. Also, the AV500 displays the album cover for each cd. The AV400 did not recognize many of the album covers that the AV500 does. The "TV Pod" is much easier to hook up on your tv than that of the AV400, and it seems that there are many less wires coming out from the pod. The built in speaker is good if your sharing with someone else, but the included earbuds have very good audio quality. In the case comes a user guide, 2 sets of audio and video cables, a USB 2.0 cable and USB host adapter, AC adapter and charger, Stero headphones, the TV cradle and IR emitter cable, Remote control with batteries, and the Protective Case. All in all the AV500 is a must buy for anyone who likes music, photos, and videos. I am in luck too because I am going to Washington in a few days which is an eight hour drive. On average the AV500 probably will have about 4 hours of playback on the battery while on video, and 10 hours of playback for music, but I have yet to test that. I am very happy i purchased the AV500 from The Sharper Image.

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I read a review on CNET stating that the Archos AV500 didn't have as good a screen as the Creative Zen Vision 30Gb player. Closer scrutiny shows that there is much more to the story, however. For those of you choosing between these two major competitors in the personal multimedia player category, I'll summarize what I've learned in my research (leading me to buy the Archos AV500).

1. Archos AV500 has higher screen resolution than almost all current laptop computers. The AV500 has a 138 DPI (dots per inch) screen. The current Apple MacBook has a 110 DPI screen (looks gorgeous playing videos). Sony VAIOs tend to have 128 DPI screens, identical to the Sony PSP. If you like video on your PSP, MacBook, or VAIO then you'll definitely like video on the Archos. The Creative Zen Vision has a 216 DPI screen, but see additional points below.

2. The Archos AV500 has a 16:9 screen: perfect for widescreen movies. The Creative Zen Vision has 4:3 screen, so your nice widescreen movies will be little letterbox movies on the Creative. The Creative is best suited for TV shows, but these will display at almost exactly the same size on the Archos (with black on the left and right, as they would display on a widescreen TV). The Archose definitely makes the most of your video files since it displays TV shows at about the same size as the Creative, and does a much better job with movies.

3. The Creative has serious problems with limited viewing angle. You have to hold it just right to get a good picture, and even then many people report that the angle is so narrow that one eye can have a good view and another can see a slightly "silvered" view. The Archos is much more forgiving here, making it a lot easier to enjoy on a long plane flight and a lot easier to watch with a friend.

4. The Creative can't record. The Archos can; it can even record DVDs legally, working with the MacroVision copy protection on the discs you own. I was able to save about $130 on a device to record from my DVD player or DVR. I count that as a $130 discount on the price of the Archos.

5. The Archos is Mac and Linux compatible. The Creative is locked into one operating system (Windows XP) and won't even allow music and video files to be transferred when it's connected as a USB drive. This means that you have to use a bunch of proprietary software and drivers to get the thing to work: not a lot of fun if you want to use it with a friend's computer or if you're having problems with getting the software to install correctly on your system. The Archos can connect as a standard USB drive: universal access and no reliance on a bunch of proprietary software.

6. The incidence of the Creative freezing and requiring lengthy recovery procedures is fairly thoroughly documented in the Amazon reviews. The Archos appears to have a much lower incidence of problems.

So, if you're looking for a portable video player you may want to consider the above in making the choice. Obviously these points led me to the Archos. Your mileage may vary.

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Throughout all of my experiences of shopping for a perfect portable media player I have decided that no such device exists. The Archos Av 500 is one of the closest to that high standard.

The AV500 has all of the requirements for a great pmp and then some. However, it also has it's flaws. It boosts a monsterous 4 inch LCD which is one of the biggest save for the Archos AV700 (that supports a lousy resolution).

I purchased the 30GB model and I was impressed right off the bat with the power of the videocorder function but was unimpressed with the fact that there is no middle ground between the 30GB model and the 100GB model memory wise. I really wanted a 60GB version that cost somewhere in between the two.

The movies look spectacular when you connect a dvd/vhs/tv input and record at the right settings, I didn't even try to go the computer route because the AV500 has such a simple recording interface that there is no desire to use the computer as a middle man between the dvd and the Archos. Several dozen recordings later, I thought about attempting to go the computer way and I found a very interesting peice of info that I would like to pass on to you. The resolution recording settings on the archos are VGA (640x480) and a lower version of 512x(something I forgot). However, the screen resolution is 480X272. When the archos has to shrink the picture, it causes some distortion in the picture quality. This happens because there aren't enough pixels for the video resolution. The archos then decides whether or not to show some of the pixels and when the camera is moving or there is a particuarly large amout of detail on the screen then the garbage quality is shown on the screen. If you can find a good dvd to avi converter program (I used the "dvd to pocket pc" program from www.pqdvd.com) then I recomend that you set the settings to have the output resolution to be exactally 480x272. I did this and I recieved a picture resolution that I thought was literally DVD quality. It blew me away! Note: If you go this route then you cannot use the cropping feature.

If you dont want to go that way, then use the onboard recording feature. Be warned that it is very possible to make the recording look like crap so pay close attention.

The way to avoid this is to set the resolution at VGA and keep the KBS at 1500 (the files become a size that about 16-18 movies can be stored on the AV500). This sweet spot is my key to making the movies that I record look on par with DVDs on my AV500's screen (not a tv output). I encountered some glitches (the AV500 randomly froze during a recording process)that caused me to worry at first but several recordings later and I forgot all about them.

One secret hidden feature that I had no idea about was the editing feature of video files. Due to the fact that I wanted as many movies on my Archos as possible and that I typically only watch the action sequences, I was able to cut out all of the scenes of Anakin Skywalker and Padme in Star Wars Episode III to make a 45 minute movie that jumped from one action sequence to another. I am now able to get all of the aciton from any movie into one file roughly 300-700MBs which allows me to fit 50-60 movies on my Archos.

The photo feature is OK. I say "ok" as a way of being nice. The photo feature is there so i can't really complain. However, it sucks. The photo feature has very limited zoom function that becomes quite annoying. The load times are delayed just slightly which made the device seem a bit slow compared to the fact that it can record a tv signal at VGA resolution with 2500 kbs and sound at 48khz.

The device went above and beyond on the music standards. The AV500 automatically sorted all of my music files into categories such as Artist, Genre, Album, ect. The music from the headphones sounds nice but the built in speaker comes up just a little bit short, a very little bit. The control of a built in equalizer was also a very nice touch.

One of the flaws that I came across was the USB host and what it could connect to. My deepest desire was to connect the AV500 to a portable USB hard drive and cut a corner to save me money from spending 700 dollars on the 100GB version but that plan failed. The AV500 flat out didn't recognize the hard drive. The Archos will however connect to a digital camera and a desktop hardrive but no portable ones.

The feel of the Archos (which I should have probably talked about at the beginning of this review) is that of a peice of solid metal except for those lousy buttons! The face buttons of the AV500 are the worst part of the whole device. I can't stop giggling them while I am watching my non-stop action movies.

All in all, the AV500 is the best gadget for your buck. It has it's minor flaws but the tought of overlooking them isn't really that bad. The AV500 out performed every single other pmp that I have tried and belive you me, my quest for the perfect pmp has driven me to nearly try every single one.

(...)

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Ok, so I spent A LOT of time researching different PVPs online and the Archos AV500 came up as top in its class. Still, after all of my research, I was a bit skeptical in purchasing this device, as there were some obvious cons. I took a deep breath and shelled out the $500 at a local retail outlet and have never been happier with a gadget as I am now. This little device is tops. A solid (i.e. metal) casing houses this PVP which is capable of not only audio and video playback, but recording of both as well. The first thing I tested was the mp3 player portion of this toy. Once plugged in via a USB 2.0 port, my computer recognized the device right away and it was as easy as dragging and dropping the audio files into the Music folder on the AV500. In mere seconds I have loaded the AV500 with about 10 full CDs worth of music. Unlike some mp3 players, the AV500 quickly (seconds) sorts through its new files after being unplugged from the PC. My wife has RAVE mp3 player and it can take up to 5 minutes to sort through new files after you toss them in there. The AV500 was waaaaaay faster. Playback on audio files is a breeze with the easy to use nav buttons on the face of the AV500. You can search by file name, artists name, song name, and even music genre. If you're as anal about your mp3 files as I am, you've probably associated images of the albums to them. Well, the AV500 will pop those graphics up on its 4 inch screen while playing the tune. Playback features include random and repeat. There is a built in, mini EQ, but I didn't mess too much with that. I did notice that while playing back thru an outside audio source, such as through a car or home receiver, it is best to turn down the volume on the AV500 to about 75% in order to get the best playback. I've read some reviewers who noticed some noise in the background during playback, but this seems to be avoided if you reduce the volume on the unit itself. (It also helps if you properly encode your mp3s for optimum playback...don't whine and complain about hissing and background noise if you encode anything under 128.)

Now onto the video....Amazing. The 4 inch (wide)screen does make this device larger than an IPod, but at the same time, this is not to be confused with a simple mp3 player. This is a portable DVD player. It took all of 2 minutes to hook up the AV500 to my DVR and start the recording process. The TV docking pod acts as a gateway between your DVR (or DVD, VCR, cable box, etc.) and tv, allowing you set it up and forget about it. Recording is as easy as plugging your AV500 into the docking pod and pressing one button. I have yet to fool around with the timer options, as I have a home DVR for that purpose, but if I am watching something on my DVR and decide that it's a keeper, I can easily record it into my AV500 and watch it on the go, or even transfer it into my PC and burn it to a DVD. One downside that I discovered too late was that the AV500 will not playback ITunes video files. I realized this a tad too late, as I had already purchased and downloaded about 6 episodes of The Office. Oh well.

The AV500 is 100% compatible with Microsoft's PlayForSure music sites, but the video offering on these sites is limited.

I also sprung for a car mount for the AV500. $22 w/ s & h off of EBay...not a bad deal.

Other options that I have yet to play with include:

TV playback watch files from your AV500 on your television

Remote control

Picture viewing

Video editing tools

Playlist creation

The only cons I can think of are minor

1) It would be nice if the buttons on the face were backlit. Very tricky to maneuver in the dark.

2) The inability to browse the AV500 files while listening to music. The minute you try to do so, the music stops, but with the built in resume feature it quickly picks back up right were it left off.

3) The inability to play ITunes videos. Maybe one day in a firmware update they will address this issue.

All in all, this is a fantastic little gizmo that does a lot. I know that PVPs are fairly new to the marketplace and with time they can only get better, but for a first generation device, this one does fantastic.

First off, I would like to say that when the AV500 is in working order, it is amazing. I encoded all my video with XviD (after turning off stuff the player doesn't like, such as GMC and Qpels) using Gordian Knot and it plays back amazing. The screen can get a little motion blur, but it is hardly ever noticeable. For a device of its size, the picture is very sharp and clear.

Music playback is very nice with my Sennheiser headphones (encoded using VBR mp3). I will say that the ear bud phones that come with the system sound fairly poor. I don't like buds in general. But, even compared to the ones that come with the iPod, they are sorely lacking.

So why give the AV500 three stars, you might ask? Well, the first one I got was great. That is until I noticed that after about 5-10 minutes of use, a bright horizontal, flickering band would appear on the screen every few seconds. They told me it was a faulty screen and I got it replaced. The new one was awesome for about 3 weeks. Then, all of the sudden, the right arrow on my 4 way directional button stopped working. I can now only navigate in the OS up, down, and left. This is a problem, because it renders my Archos into a 450$ paperweight. So now I suppose I will have to send this one back as well. You can imagine the frustration.

Overall, the device performs well... when it works. I think, however, Archos may have a serious quailty control problem. People may want to be careful of this product.