Archos AV 700 100 GB Mobile Digital Video Recorder

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Product Feature

• 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

Product Description

With the AV 700 Mobile DVR, you can take your VIDEOS, MUSIC, PICTURES and even GAMES on the go! Its Your Own Portable Theatre! Schedule and record up to 400 hours of your favorite TV shows, and movies directly from your TV, DVD player or cable box and experience it on the amazing 7 inches wide-screen color LCD. PlaysforSure? You Bet! Built-in support for Microsofts PlaysforSure lets you download the latest movies and the hottest music in a snap from your favorite online digital video and music stores. Features Portable Digital Video Recorder Record, download and listen up to 55,000 SONGS Supports MP3, WMA (including protected files) and WAV audio formats Record audio from any standard audio source or via built-in microphone Digital Photo Album Transfer, store and view up to 1,000,000 PHOTOS Transfer photos directly from your digital camera or PC using the USB host port Make slideshows and share photos on the large 7 LCD screen or display out to a TV Portable Hard Drive Large 100GB hard-drive capacities Transfer and store MEDIA and DATA files via high-speed USB 2.0 interface PC and Macintosh compatible Support for Microsoft PlaysforSure Purchase, download, subscribe or rent protected music and video content from Playsforsure compatible online stores Download and play 3D games Long-life Removable Battery, 5 hours of video, 12 hours of audio playback

Archos AV 700 100 GB Mobile Digital Video Recorder Review

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 recorded- you 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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