Tom's hands-on with Archos AV700

Colin Dunstan · 09-03-2005, 06:46 PM

With a top-rate seven-inch color display and very long battery life, the Archos AV700 makes the perfect portable video player for those who can afford it (list price: $899.99, minus 13% Amazon discount). Tom's Hardware had a hands-on, and concludes:

Quote:

Its giant screen with good image quality, ease of use, and quality sound haven't convinced you yet? Well, maybe its battery life will - 3 hrs. 53 min. with video or 27 hours with audio. You'll have to admit that being able to watch two movies in an airplane without ruining your eyes while getting the most out of the latest Hollywood special effects is tempting. True, for a few hundred dollars more, you can get a real portable computer with DVD player. But if you don't intend to work during your vacation, the Archos will fit into your bag without weighing down your luggage unnecessarily. Do yourself a favor and buy it, or put it on your gift list.

pitcher23 · 09-03-2005, 11:36 PM

I have owned the 40GB model for 2 months now and have to say it is well worth it. While I watch my netflix movies on my tablet pc I record television shows directly to my archos. I had a creative labs media center pc but I had to record the shows on my pc then convert them to be downloaded onto it. I always debated getting an archos, but the big screen and convenience of having my shows ready once they are over sold me.

TadW · 09-06-2005, 10:42 AM

Almost 4 hours battery lifetime with such a big screen is a great improvement over previous PVPs. Now, if they could work a little bit on the heavy price tag, I'd be more than happy to invite my girlfriend to buy one for me

pitcher23 · 09-13-2005, 06:38 AM

$740 is pretty steep. I paid $560 for the 40G model, which is a lot more reasonable and more than enough room for me.

Unregistered · 09-27-2005, 07:24 PM

This product has a serious problem with freezing on boot-up while trying to update the ARCLibrary. This problem has happened on two identical unit and has not been addressed by technical support. This unit should not be purchased until this problem is solved!

Alexander Turcic · 09-28-2005, 10:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered

This product has a serious problem with freezing on boot-up while trying to update the ARCLibrary. This problem has happened on two identical unit and has not been addressed by technical support. This unit should not be purchased until this problem is solved!

Thanks for the warning. It's probably best if you have a chance to testdrive your unit before purchase.

pitcher23 · 10-04-2005, 12:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered

This product has a serious problem with freezing on boot-up while trying to update the ARCLibrary. This problem has happened on two identical unit and has not been addressed by technical support. This unit should not be purchased until this problem is solved!

Interesting. I haven't come across it, then again, I rarely sync it with my pc. I mainly hook it up to cable and program recordings directly.

The only time I connect it to my pc is if I am copying a Divx movie to it and I noticed no freeze up during that action.

Unregistered · 10-13-2005, 01:45 PM

Has anyone else had issues with using the scheduler with their cable box? When I have shows scheduled and the cable box is already on, the unit is turning off the cable box (through the IR emitter) and recording a black screen for the duration of the program. So it seems to work if the cable box is off because it will turn it on to record but then when it goes to record the next program it will turn it off because it was on.

Any thoughts? Am I alone on this one?

Unregistered · 10-17-2005, 06:28 PM

Can you try to answer a question for me please.

On the AV320 if I was to put 1,000 videos on it, I could select a Shuffle option where it would play one video, then when it was done with it, it would randomly select the next video to play.

Is that possible on the AV700 (or the AV500 if you know).

Thanks!

ALEXH516 · 11-03-2005, 05:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Has anyone else had issues with using the scheduler with their cable box? When I have shows scheduled and the cable box is already on, the unit is turning off the cable box (through the IR emitter) and recording a black screen for the duration of the program. So it seems to work if the cable box is off because it will turn it on to record but then when it goes to record the next program it will turn it off because it was on.

Any thoughts? Am I alone on this one?

YEAH THAT HAPPENS TO ME TOO. I HAVE THE AV500 AND IT DOES THE SAME THING. WHY IS THAT?

Unregistered · 12-16-2005, 08:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ALEXH516

YEAH THAT HAPPENS TO ME TOO. I HAVE THE AV500 AND IT DOES THE SAME THING. WHY IS THAT?

If anyone gets the answer to this, please post it because I'm getting no answers from Archos on this. I have the exact same problem and when I had an AV 400 this never happened. I almost want to take that old archos back from her and give her this one- I said almost dammit! I'm not crazy.

Unregistered · 01-26-2006, 08:18 AM

Just a friendly warning: At least some Archos AV700's (my 100gb gadget and another 40gb that I know of) have serious issues when upgrading the firmware according to Archos' instructions. This may just be when upgrading from 1.1.34 to 1.2.01 but, then again, it might not. The players don't start up properly (i.e. crash before starting up) more than about 1% of the time after upgrading, rendering them pretty much unusable, and Archos "Support" (who graciously held on to my AV700 for about six weeks without fixing it) don't know about this issue either. When I got my AV700 from its 6-week hiatus in France, I fixed it myself by upgrading to a newer firmware after spending about an hour trying to turn it on.

With this issue, more issues I've heard of online and the absolute lack of support from Archos in mind, I would strongly advise against buying the AV700--I don't know enough about other Archos products to condemn them (as much as I'd like to), but I will be avoiding them from now on. Lesson learnt.

-G.B.

Unregistered · 02-28-2006, 02:05 PM

I have the same problem I guess it assumes that if you are recording something the cable box should be off.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Has anyone else had issues with using the scheduler with their cable box? When I have shows scheduled and the cable box is already on, the unit is turning off the cable box (through the IR emitter) and recording a black screen for the duration of the program. So it seems to work if the cable box is off because it will turn it on to record but then when it goes to record the next program it will turn it off because it was on.

Any thoughts? Am I alone on this one?

JOM · 03-07-2006, 10:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Just a friendly warning: At least some Archos AV700's (my 100gb gadget and another 40gb that I know of) have serious issues when upgrading the firmware according to Archos' instructions. This may just be when upgrading from 1.1.34 to 1.2.01 but, then again, it might not. The players don't start up properly (i.e. crash before starting up) more than about 1% of the time after upgrading, rendering them pretty much unusable, and Archos "Support" (who graciously held on to my AV700 for about six weeks without fixing it) don't know about this issue either. When I got my AV700 from its 6-week hiatus in France, I fixed it myself by upgrading to a newer firmware after spending about an hour trying to turn it on.

With this issue, more issues I've heard of online and the absolute lack of support from Archos in mind, I would strongly advise against buying the AV700--I don't know enough about other Archos products to condemn them (as much as I'd like to), but I will be avoiding them from now on. Lesson learnt.

-G.B.

Hi. Seems I have the same problem.It's stuck in the startupscreen forever. Shuts down after pushing stop button for 10 secs, but same thing when trying to start. How did You fix it?
jom@satcom.nera.no

Unregistered · 03-29-2006, 04:16 PM

It happened to me too last night...

I just got off the Phone with Archos Tech Support, they told me to go to "VideoCorder" and then go to "Contextual Settings" (you know when you press the setup button on the right side)...

then on the Scheduling Parameters, have that ON (not off) and that should do it...I will try tonight and see what happens...

good luck...

10-13-2005, 01:45 PM	#8
Unregistered Nameless Being	issues with cable box turning on and off Has anyone else had issues with using the scheduler with their cable box? When I have shows scheduled and the cable box is already on, the unit is turning off the cable box (through the IR emitter) and recording a black screen for the duration of the program. So it seems to work if the cable box is off because it will turn it on to record but then when it goes to record the next program it will turn it off because it was on. Any thoughts? Am I alone on this one?

01-26-2006, 08:18 AM	#12
Unregistered Nameless Being	Firmware upgrade problem Just a friendly warning: At least some Archos AV700's (my 100gb gadget and another 40gb that I know of) have serious issues when upgrading the firmware according to Archos' instructions. This may just be when upgrading from 1.1.34 to 1.2.01 but, then again, it might not. The players don't start up properly (i.e. crash before starting up) more than about 1% of the time after upgrading, rendering them pretty much unusable, and Archos "Support" (who graciously held on to my AV700 for about six weeks without fixing it) don't know about this issue either. When I got my AV700 from its 6-week hiatus in France, I fixed it myself by upgrading to a newer firmware after spending about an hour trying to turn it on. With this issue, more issues I've heard of online and the absolute lack of support from Archos in mind, I would strongly advise against buying the AV700--I don't know enough about other Archos products to condemn them (as much as I'd like to), but I will be avoiding them from now on. Lesson learnt. -G.B.

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09-03-2005, 11:36 PM	#2
pitcher23 Zealot Posts: 138 Karma: 12 Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: New York USA	I have owned the 40GB model for 2 months now and have to say it is well worth it. While I watch my netflix movies on my tablet pc I record television shows directly to my archos. I had a creative labs media center pc but I had to record the shows on my pc then convert them to be downloaded onto it. I always debated getting an archos, but the big screen and convenience of having my shows ready once they are over sold me.

09-06-2005, 10:42 AM	#3
TadW Uebermensch Posts: 2,583 Karma: 1094606 Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Italy Device: Kindle	Almost 4 hours battery lifetime with such a big screen is a great improvement over previous PVPs. Now, if they could work a little bit on the heavy price tag, I'd be more than happy to invite my girlfriend to buy one for me

09-13-2005, 06:38 AM	#4
pitcher23 Zealot Posts: 138 Karma: 12 Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: New York USA	$740 is pretty steep. I paid $560 for the 40G model, which is a lot more reasonable and more than enough room for me.

09-27-2005, 07:24 PM	#5
Unregistered Nameless Being	This product has a serious problem with freezing on boot-up while trying to update the ARCLibrary. This problem has happened on two identical unit and has not been addressed by technical support. This unit should not be purchased until this problem is solved!

10-17-2005, 06:28 PM	#9
Unregistered Nameless Being	Can you try to answer a question for me please. On the AV320 if I was to put 1,000 videos on it, I could select a Shuffle option where it would play one video, then when it was done with it, it would randomly select the next video to play. Is that possible on the AV700 (or the AV500 if you know). Thanks!

03-29-2006, 04:16 PM	#15
Unregistered Nameless Being	It happened to me too last night... I just got off the Phone with Archos Tech Support, they told me to go to "VideoCorder" and then go to "Contextual Settings" (you know when you press the setup button on the right side)... then on the Scheduling Parameters, have that ON (not off) and that should do it...I will try tonight and see what happens... good luck...

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