Does anyone own one of these?

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited January 2014
http://www.archos.com/products/overv...00_series.html



It might well be the most complete portable entertainment gadget on the market. For anyone who does not have time to sit around at home and watch TV at the time their favorite shows are on, this is great. Record Monday Night Football. Watch it on the commute to work. Watch Enterprise on your lunch break. Watch the Simpsons anytime. Photos directly from the media card, FM radio recording, music playback/recording and voice recording are all a part of the package. The battery life for music playback is even longer than the iPod's. Plus, you can carry an extra battery for extended life.



I like the iPod. I own the iPod. But There are a few TV shows that I like but can't keep up with. I even own a Tivo but I am on the go more than I am at home. I was going to buy an iPP, but now I am thinking the AV400 is a better deal. Bringing the iPod up to part of the capabilities of the AV400 would make it bulkier and more costly. I despise the Belkin card reader And voice recording should be a part of the package IMO. Even so, I am still undecided and if anyone owns one of these things or has first hand experience with one. I would greatly appreciate your input.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 22
    I recently had exactly the same dilemma as you, and chose the iPP (which should be arriving any day now). For me, it boiled down to size and the superb interface with the iPod.



    Just my 2c.



    David
  • Reply 2 of 22
    relicrelic Posts: 4,735member
    Sound

    I have one, just notice this thread or I would of shared my experiences earlier. Simply put, this is an iPod killer. When I bought my iPod 20 gig last month I decide to also treat myself to a pair of Shure E3c earphones. The problem was they didn?t sound very good ($180.00 mind you), stupidly I thought they were the earphones and not the iPod and discarded them in a drawer. A month goes by when I happen to be in Interdiscount (our local Swiss rip-off merchant) and noticed they had the AV400 on display. After playing with it I fell in loved with the video recording aspect and bought one. At home I decided to give the Shures another chance, WOW! The difference was between night and day, on the iPod the base response was almost not existent and if I tried to turn it up to make up for it the Shure?s sounded like they were going to blow. The Archos just had a little more extra juice that properly drove the apparent power hungry Shure?s. The thing simply sounds incredible and not just with the Shure?s but with any earphones. The MP3 player is pretty good, not as fast as the iPod when surfing through a Playlist. It also doesn?t offer direct MP3 recording just WMV (bastards, oh well).



    Video

    The video recording is what clearly defines this as th?e? gizmo to own. After purchasing the must have Macrovision filter for 20 bucks it turned this thing into a DVD to DIVX machine from hell. What?s the fastest time you can rip and encode a movie to DIVX, 6 ? 12 hours? This thing records and encodes at real time and at good quality, how cool is that. The include sudo Tivo feature is neat but not used much since I don?t watch TV, though admittedly I?ve used it for a few Simpson?s episodes. Screen is bright and the blacks are true making it pleasurable to watch movies on the go.



    Photo

    With the inclusion of a Compact Flash drive (SD, Memory Stick to Compact Flash adapter is available as well) I can simply stick my memory whatever from a camera into the Archos for viewing or dumping. Same feature set found on iPod Photo, viewing, slideshow, zooming, deleting ect.



    Interface

    I don?t know what the OS is, someone suggested its Qtopia (Linux Distro). Startup time is 8 seconds. Menus and options are arranged intuitively, all in all it?s easy to navigate and get to what you where looking for. Only gripe I have with this system is that it only allows one program running at a time. Playing music or recorded voice for presentation purposes while watching a Slideshow would have been an added bonus.



    HD Backup/Storage/Whatever

    OSX mounts it like any other media drive, displaying the Video, Music, Photo and what-have-you folders. Simply drag the files to Archos. ITunes can?t directly access the Archos but you can simply highlight the music of choice in iTunes and drag it to the Archos. Movies and Photos work the same way. One problem does exist though; AC is not supported so you?ll have to convert to MP3. Last I heard Archos was working on a fix/feature update for this, however.





    Just because Steve Jobs thinks we won?t use these devices shouldn?t discourage potential buyers, this thing is peer media goodness.



    Almost forgot, battery length on movies is not the manufactured listed 4.5 but a little over 5 (honestly, timed and tested). Music time is under their listed time at 11 however; it comes in around 9.5 hours.

  • Reply 3 of 22
    pbg4 dudepbg4 dude Posts: 1,611member
    Wow, those things look cool! I'd like to get a DVR but I don't want to be forced into a subscription model (for those that don't know, TiVo's won't operate unless you subscribe to their monthly service), and the Archos product is the only one I've seen so far that doesn't list a subscription as a requirement to record video.



    Plus, the ability to watch anywhere is cool too. Plus, I'm looking for a digital picture frame that will display photo slideshows and this product supports this function as well (I know the iPp does slideshows too).



    Too bad about the pricing though. The model I'd like costs $800 and I certainly can't justify the cost. Maybe by XMas next year the prices will have come down.
  • Reply 4 of 22
    relicrelic Posts: 4,735member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by PBG4 Dude

    Wow, those things look cool! I'd like to get a DVR but I don't want to be forced into a subscription model (for those that don't know, TiVo's won't operate unless you subscribe to their monthly service), and the Archos product is the only one I've seen so far that doesn't list a subscription as a requirement to record video.



    Plus, the ability to watch anywhere is cool too. Plus, I'm looking for a digital picture frame that will display photo slideshows and this product supports this function as well (I know the iPp does slideshows too).



    Too bad about the pricing though. The model I'd like costs $800 and I certainly can't justify the cost. Maybe by XMas next year the prices will have come down.




    Price dropped to $460.00 making this a true iPod Photo Killer. This should be a no brainer.



    Oh, you must like the 80gb model just caught that!
  • Reply 5 of 22
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Relic

    Price dropped to $460.00 making this a true iPod Photo Killer. This should be a no brainer.



    Oh, you must like the 80gb model just caught that!




    Yea I have a 20GB 2G iPod. If I were to replace it, I'd want something with much more storage space. I can't fit 1/2 my music collection on my iPod. Of course, picking up the iPod 2 years ago didn't help my music jones either.
  • Reply 6 of 22
    rara Posts: 623member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by tonton

    The only no brainer is that the iPod is literally half the size, has a way superior interface, and is therefore far more desirable. Unless you NEED video. Personally, I couldn't give a flying feck about video, so for me, IT'S A NO-BRAINER.



    ++
  • Reply 7 of 22
    relicrelic Posts: 4,735member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by tonton

    The only no brainer is that the iPod is literally half the size, has a way superior interface, and is therefore far more desirable. Unless you NEED video. Personally, I couldn't give a flying feck about video, so for me, IT'S A NO-BRAINER.



    My last post was not meant for you, no desire for video. I understand the appeal for the iPods size and the simple interface; I have one to for those reasons. That being said though, I'm starting to use the Archos more for audio as well. The sound output (power) is just so much better. To be frank I'm also getting pretty tired of not being able to see my music in the iPod except for iTunes.



    This device is a solid media player with great features. The no-brainer comment was for someone whois looking for the video feature and not the zealot Apple iPod defender.
  • Reply 8 of 22
    Quote:

    Originally posted by tonton

    The only no brainer is that the iPod is literally half the size, has a way superior interface, and is therefore far more desirable. Unless you NEED video. Personally, I couldn't give a flying feck about video, so for me, IT'S A NO-BRAINER.



    Chill dude. He was replying to my post about wanting a DVR w/o the hassle of a monthly subscription, which this unit provides. Just because YOU don't need video doesn't mean no one else does.
  • Reply 9 of 22
    zozo Posts: 3,117member
    the archos looks awesome indeed!



    Nonetheless, when I use my iPod, I basically NEVER look at it. Its tucked away somewhere and I just listen to music on random and read a book.



    BUT... I have found myself in plenty of situations where I wouldve killed to be able to jack my iPod to a TV and watch the movies I have on it.



    *sigh*



    I'll skip the iPP and pray that next year's model will come with this function and some integrated iRip application... but PLEASE for the love of goodness let us be able to play back DiVX or Xvid... (yeah right....)



    I mean, they could do that easily no?



    They culd do the following:



    rip your DVDs to MPEG4 H.264 with FairPlay DRM so that you can only play the file on your iPod and Mac or PC.



    Easy Peasy.



    Add to iPod Video and watch anywhere.



    I'm a bloody genius
  • Reply 10 of 22
    midwintermidwinter Posts: 10,060member
    I've been coveting the Archos since the iPod first came out. My solution, after messing around with one of them, was just to buy an iPaq and a big SD card. I can watch DIVX movies or MPEG-1 video on it just fine.
  • Reply 11 of 22
    relicrelic Posts: 4,735member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by midwinter

    I've been coveting the Archos since the iPod first came out. My solution, after messing around with one of them, was just to buy an iPaq and a big SD card. I can watch DIVX movies or MPEG-1 video on it just fine.





    Thats's true but an SD card can't hold 20gb - 80gb and the iPaq can't record. One of the cool features of the Archos is it has a real time hardware Divx encoding chip. Making this thing a VCR replacement, watch and record a DVD at the sametime. To rip and encode with just using your computer can take anywhere from 4 - 12 hours depending on you rig.
  • Reply 12 of 22
    is AAC proprietary to Apple ??



    I ask, because the add says it is compatable with "major on-line music stores", yet it is apparently NOT compatible with the most popular on-line music store (iTMS). No mention of AAC support.
  • Reply 13 of 22
    maccrazymaccrazy Posts: 2,658member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by KingOfSomewhereHot

    is AAC proprietary to Apple ??



    I ask, because the add says it is compatable with "major on-line music stores", yet it is apparently NOT compatible with the most popular on-line music store (iTMS). No mention of AAC support.




    AAC is open-source but the DRM used in iTMS is only available to Apple, real got told off for using it!
  • Reply 14 of 22
    midwintermidwinter Posts: 10,060member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Relic

    Thats's true but an SD card can't hold 20gb - 80gb and the iPaq can't record. One of the cool features of the Archos is it has a real time hardware Divx encoding chip. Making this thing a VCR replacement, watch and record a DVD at the sametime. To rip and encode with just using your computer can take anywhere from 4 - 12 hours depending on you rig.



    Sure. Don't get me wrong; I think the Archos is a neat gadget, and it is something that I've wanted the iPod to become since it was first released. I just have other ways of dealing with video (Eye Tv + Eye Home + 200 GB firewire drive chock full o' movies). For portable media, this plus my iPaq with a big SD card is ok. But I'd love to have something like the Archos for flights (I fly across the country a couple of times a year and to Europe about once a year). That battery life would be killer, since video eats the ipaq battery.



    Maybe I'll buy myself a Christmas present...
  • Reply 15 of 22
    Neat idea, but I don't think it's any sort of iPod killer. People always underestimate the considerations of size and ease of use on these devices. I think the reason Apple hasn't done anything along these lines yet is due to the fact that it still takes a geek mindset to both want to do this, and to make it work. To properly set up a machine to record these things, encode it, download it on the machine, ect. is fairly complicated for those who's VCR's are still flashing 12:00.



    Apple wasn't the first to come out with an MP3 player. There were a lot before, and Apple waiting until the had a machine and an interface that they knew would work with mass market consumers. Right now, I don't think the portable video machines are there.



    And when video goes prime-time, I still see at as separate from the iPods music market. I didn't give up my CD player when DVD players came out.
  • Reply 16 of 22
    Quote:

    Originally posted by MacCrazy

    AAC is open-source but the DRM used in iTMS is only available to Apple, real got told off for using it!



    OK, so Apple is pro-open-source unless it affects their bottom line ... then they're just as tight-fisted as Windows or Real or anyone else.
  • Reply 17 of 22
    midwintermidwinter Posts: 10,060member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by KingOfSomewhereHot

    OK, so Apple is pro-open-source unless it affects their bottom line ... then they're just as tight-fisted as Windows or Real or anyone else.



    No. The DRM in Apple's AAC format was necessary to make the iTMS go. Nature of the beast. You can still encode your own store-bought CDs as AAC and not bother with the iTMS.
  • Reply 18 of 22
    Quote:

    Originally posted by midwinter

    No. The DRM in Apple's AAC format was necessary to make the iTMS go. Nature of the beast. You can still encode your own store-bought CDs as AAC and not bother with the iTMS.



    I know... I ripped a ton of mine.



    but it still renders anything you buy off itms useless except on a mac or iPod ...

    itms is supposedly the most popular source for (legal) downloaded music, but it's music won't play on the subject of this thread ... a piece of hardware that is getting pretty good reviews (even on THIS board.)



    You'd think the music industry would WANT to get on board with a "standard" DRM that would work for everyone.
  • Reply 19 of 22
    relicrelic Posts: 4,735member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by KingOfSomewhereHot



    You'd think the music industry would WANT to get on board with a "standard" DRM that would work for everyone.




    Second that! I still have a billion CD's in my collection so I'm not itching to purchase online music. However when the time comes I hope Apple can find it in their hearts to allow other players. (NAH)
  • Reply 20 of 22
    maccrazymaccrazy Posts: 2,658member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by KingOfSomewhereHot

    I know... I ripped a ton of mine.



    but it still renders anything you buy off itms useless except on a mac or iPod ...

    itms is supposedly the most popular source for (legal) downloaded music, but it's music won't play on the subject of this thread ... a piece of hardware that is getting pretty good reviews (even on THIS board.)



    You'd think the music industry would WANT to get on board with a "standard" DRM that would work for everyone.




    Companies don't want to join together, the more complex and more options available the more confused the consumer is. If the consumer is confused they wont shop around and get the best deals available. Look at mobile tariffs, they have loads of complex solutions, none meet your needs fully and you probably waste a lot of money each month, but no-one knows (or little people) enough about the different options to be really savvy and do well. All the phone companies are happy - confused customer = money.



    CDs are the same everywhere so someone wouldn't mind going to any shop and buying a CD, or going to amazon or whatever, consumer isn't confused = consumer saves money.



    Apple want everyone to shop and continue to shop at the iTMS. How do they do this? Only apple drm works in iTunes and the apple drm only works in iTunes. A customer couldn't use wmp and itms and napster and all the others because they wouldn't work on one device and only player. the confused consumer chooses one drm and sticks with it. Good for that company but not for the consumer.



    Also the music industry like it, if someone changes the drm they want to use they will have to buy their records again.



    As an additional point, I would never buy an album off a download site, too little quality and not enough flexibility, also i do a radio show, MP3s don;t go down well! But the price, £7.99 for an album i can get it for £7.50 from amazon or less from others.
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