Archos AV480 80GB HD MP3 & Video Recorder The ARCHOS Pocket Video Recorder AV480 Series is the ultimate handheld digital video recorder that offers TV recording and a portable home entertainment center in one pocket-sized device. The AV480 experience starts in the living room where you can record TV shows and movies directly from a TV, VCR, or cable / satellite receiver with a convenient one-time set-up TV Cradle. But entertainment enjoyment goes far beyond the living room. When on the go, you can watch videos and view photos on the large color LCD screen, listen to and record music, transfer photos from your digital camera and data files from your PC.
The 80 GB Archos Pocket Video Recorder AV480 is the ultimate handheld digital video recorder that offers TV recording and a portable home entertainment center in one pocket-sized device. Watch videos and view photos on the large color LCD screen, listen to and record music, and transfer photos from your digital camera and data files from your PC. It features a TV Cradle, an external speaker for enjoying music and video without headphones, and a built-in Compact Flash reader for transferring photos directly from digital cameras.
The AV480 has an 80 GB hard drive, which can record up to 320 hours of video content from a TV, VCR, or cable/satellite receiver using the TV cradle. It plays MP3 and WMA digital audio files (included protected files) as well as WAV audio.
Once the TV Cradle is connected to a TV, VCR or cable/satellite receiver, you won't have to reconnect the cables again--just dock the AV400 and you're ready. The Recording Scheduler directly controls the tuner inside your VCR or cable/satellite receiver to automatically adjust the channel and record based on the time and duration of the schedule. The Scheduler will also synchronize with Yahoo TV Guide (where available) from the Internet so you can prepare your recordings for the week or month in advance.
What's in the Box
Archos AV 480, TV cradle with audio/video connections, remote control with 2 AA batteries, protective case, USB 2.0 cable, stereo headphone, manual, AC adapter/charger with US/UK/EU plug
1 Very disappointed
The AV400 worked fine for me for about a month or so. I saved all my very important files onto it and then, after about 50GBs were used up, it was unable to establish a connection with my computer. I figured it was my computer that was causing the problem so I rebooted it without saving any of my files to CDs or floppy disks. This was a very bad idea because after that I still couldn't establish a connection between my computer and the AV400. I emailed the archos website and told them this exact story and they just told me it needed to sent in for repairs and they couldn't even garuntee that files would be saved. This really made me mad because I spent $700 on this thing and it doesnt even work and I'm going to lose all my files. Does anyone out there know of anyway I could fix this problem and save my files? IF there is please email me at Smojo245@yahoo.com Thank you.
2 Almost the perfect device...
Overall the AV480 has been an excellent investment, however there are some nagging issues.
Pros:
-Large HDD
-Full color display
-Large display
-Optional FM with 30second delayed recording
-CF card support
-Usual pros for a robust media player
Cons:
-Very sensitive to static shocks. It doesn't seem to have any permenant effect on the device, but a small shock will require a reboot. Shuffling your feet in the winter is a bad idea.
-Inability to play music with photos. (email to Archos has cornfirmed this will NOT be fixed with a firmware upgrade)
-Lacking a scroll wheel (or other way to quickly peruse long lists)
-Slightly bulky
3 All you'll ever need!
After purchasing my Av480 a few weeks ago, I'm still grinning ear to ear every time I power it up. This is definatley for someone who wants the all-in-one player that can do everything!
4 All Show and NO GO!
Like many others, I first thought that the AV-480 was the "King of all electronic devices". At first use, the integrated photo, video, and audio capabilities appear to be second to none. The user interface is quite intuitive and the quality of the audio and video is excellent. The video recording capabilities net a file that is about twice the size that it should be; but the playback quality is awesome.
Why then do I rate this device at only two stars. Unfortunately the AV-480 has been a single use device for me. Each Sunday evening, I copy my movies, photo's, and mp3's onto my AV-480 and before I board my outbound flight on Monday morning, I receive the famous "cannot read hard drive" message. In order to restore the unit back to a working condition I have to format the hard drive and wait until I return from my travels to load all of my data back on the device. I am about to purchase an 80 Gig external hard drive to carry on my trips so that I can restore all of my AV-480 data from the external hard drive to the AV-480 via my laptop in flight. Thus increasing my initial $800.00 investment to over $1,000, all in the name of in-flight entertainment.
I have also purchased the AV-420 based on the reviews. Supposedly this device is more reliable. I intend to use the AV-420 device for domestic travels and only carry the AV-480 plus the soon to be procured external hard drive with backup files for the aforementioned AV-480 when I travel internationally.
The bottom line, for $800.00 you should not have problems like the ones that you find described here. It is useless to send the device back to Archos because the next AV-480 that you receive will have the exact same set of issues. When Archos finally resolves the hard drive issues on the AV-480, it will be the most advanced media device on the market without a close second. In my opinion you should wait until Archos admits that the AV-480 has a hard drive problem and publishes a fix for that problem before making the decision to purchase one. Until then, you should just take your $800 to Vegas and gamble there, the odds will certainly be more in your favor.
5 Very impressive... and I'm not easily impressed!
I've had the unit for about 2 weeks now and have done everything you can do with it. It's performed flawlessly and quite impressively. I find it becomes quite easy to use if you spend just a little time with the comprehensive manual. It's very cool. No complaints so far, and there is a good discussion group about the Archos players on Yahoo.
6 An awesome product
I purchased the AV 480 a week before Xmas. Despite all of the negative reviews on this product, I have yet to experience any problems. The model has seemlessly recorded several movies and at least twenty CDs. With that said, I have about 72 GB left. I can probably get fifteen more movies and 100 more CDs on it. This product is great. On trips, you no longer need to carry your DVD player, DVDs and MP3 player separately which saves a great deal of packing space. This is the perfect all in one media player.
Also, there have been recent upgrades on this product from the Archos website which may have alleviated any prior snafus.
As the manual suggests, it is best to download Windows Media Player 9. I don't know whether the machine accepts any other players.
7 Had it for only one week Works Excellently
Well this is the best.. Nothing even comes closer.
I totally love this. I have had no problems with this and this is working fabulously. I read somewhere that the early batches were faulty and maybe that is what has happened to all the guys who have had these problems. i think they are fixed now but i am keeping my fingers crossed.
It does support real palyer and music match juke box.
There is a group offering help and advice on the Archos products and is highly responsive -
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/archosmultimedia/
8 Very good gadget and very promising
Actually, I am very much astonished from the reviews written on the AV480 here on amazon as well as on other sites.
Since this device is no cheap at all, i had to run an extensive survey trying to evaluate this equipment. And all the feedback was very discouraging.
All the reviews said that the AV480 fails much and doesn't work and stuff like that. But, since i was desperate to have a large (more than 50 GB) portable media device and i couldn't find other choice (May be except the iPod, and the Zen) i decided to take my chances and try one.
Let's cross our fingers:
I have it now for around a 1.5 months, and this piece of art is really amazing.
I tried almost every possible combination of features together to check if it is working. And yes, i admit that i have extensively tested it.
- I connected it to my computer, and it worked fine, nothing needed to recognize the AV480 as a USB 80GB harddisk.
- I ran up to 10 copy operations of large data from the PC to AV480 (2GB) simultaneously and with 3 copy operations from the AV480 to the PC. This test was done all together to randomly test the scheduler (OS) of the AV480 and does it que the data in a correct manner or not. With these threads opened, the odds should be very high that the disk will fail in one of them. But, amazingly it went through very smoothly. So I am now pretty sure from the OS is rigid.
- The other tests were rather easy, i tried to run MP3's on the unit and sucking the battery dry. Trying to check when the unit abnormally or urgently shutdown, and expecting a failure when booting it, i didn't have any problem. The unit when just charged, started up very normally.
- I tested recording as well (Audio only) and it is very clear to me.. It records to WAVs, but there is no problem. Any ripper will change that to MP3's.
- I still have the video recording test to go. I didn't try that yet, though i believe that it will pass fairly.
Ok, looking very impressive with the above tests, i tried to be picky, and try to catch anything bad in that device:
1. The battery charging looks very primitive. When you charge the unit, it just charges over the level it is originally at. Meaning: If you have a total empty battery, charging in 4 hours. Then a half empty battery will charge in 2 hours, a 1/4 empty battery will charge in 1 hour and so on. I think that this way the battery will experience memory effect. Meaning that for a half battery charging, the next time the battery will tell the unit that it is empty only after a 1/2 battery discharge. Though my unit is not experiencing a memory effect, but this rather takes long times.
2. The unit power connector is sloppy. Using the charger that came with the unit, it is very easy for the charger to get disconnected from the unit if you accidentaly pushed the unit a bit away.
3. I don't know if the power connector is a standard size! I tried buying a car charger from RadioShack. The charger didn't fit in the unit. Actually the unit needed a little longer jack to fit in. The jack at RadioShack was short, and when you push it hard in it contacts the power, when you release the pressure it disconnects.
4. The design was meant to be elegant, but the finishing quality isn't that elegant. If you look from the side of the unit you can see the light of the LCD.
5. The carrying case is very premitive. It has no place to carry the earphones with it. And it is very hard to reach the buttons when the unit is in the carrying case.
6. The recording unit comes with a very large bunch of wires that makes the connection with the TV and Sound system in my room even more harder and messy :)
7. Archos' customer service SUCKS! When i was researching for this unit, and found the discouraging reviews and found a more encouraging reviews on the AV380 i asked them if they still support the AV380 (because Archos' site is the only place that doesn't sell the AV380!). And till now i have no answer back :)
Conclusion:
It is a very efficient device with couple of drawbacks that can be solved by firmware upgrades.
9 CAN NOT REPLACE BATTERIES
On the AV480 it is not possible to replace the batteries, they are a proprietary design and needs to be sent to Archos for replacement. That means you can not have extra batteries for long trip.
10 HDD "Read Access Error" annoying but fixable.
The Archos AV480 is an excellent product. There is an annoying design flaw, that causes a "Read Access Error" to occur. The Hard Disk Drives are not bad. It seems the disk drive has a rigid connection to the printed circuit board (PCB) instead of a ribbon cable. When the device encounters shock and vibration, the drive can shift and become slightly disconnected. The device needs to be turned off. If it is hung-up, you need to hold the OFF key for about 30 seconds. Hit the archos (Compact Flash port side) against the palm of your hand, then power back up. The force reconnects the drive to the PCB inside. I've had this problem happen about 8 times over 6 months. I discovered it when I was holding the player in my hand one day (luckily the first time it happened to me). I tilted it to the right and the message "Read Access Error" appeared. Then when I tilted it back to the left it started working. I was able to do this a couple of times. It is anoying, but other than that, the features of this product are great. I had a RCA Lyra 2780 before this one, and it puts the Lyra to shame.
11 Worst media player ever
My comment on this product is simply, DON'T buy it. This is the worst piece of electronic I ever bought. They need a way better QC for this product. I have gone through 4 different units and they all fail to read the hard drive after a couple days. If you plan to put two or three files in your 80GB player, it will work fine, but when you start putting more files to the player, it will break. I know someone get a unit that works, but tons of people have problem with this player when I ask the customer service lady about this. Do you really have the time to do the mailing exchange for a few times? If you do, you can think about this product. If not, get something else.
12 iPod who?
I must say i'm very surprised by the reviews below; about them not working after a little use. I'm also worried, because now i'm wondering if mine will break soon. I've had no problems in about 3 months that i've owned it... hopefully if it's lasted this long then i'll be OK for the long term.
My experience with it is great. I'm sure you know all it's features, so i'll just list some complaints (nit picks):
- The shell is quite delicate. You must handle it with care or you may ding it.
- In the dark it can be a little difficult to feel out the buttons; they don't stick out very far so it helps if you can see the buttons well.
- I wish you could record "audio" in MP3 format. Currently it records in a format that yields a huge file size.
- When you fast forward a video, you don't know how far you've gone until you stop fast forwarding. It screen doesn't update as you fast forward.
- If you get video from the internet, or elsewhere, you must convert it to a specific format that the AV400 can read. The package comes with very easy to use software, but if you're converting lots of videos, it can be time consuming.
- I would like the photo viewer to have more options... for example, i think it would be great if it could show a "histogram" of a photo, so you can make sure a photo is exposed correctly.
- The LCD gets dark if viewed at a high angle. If viewed directly on it, too low, or too far right or left, however, the quality is great! But i'm sure that's just a limitation of LCD screens.
So far I am very happy with it, and I can live with my little complaints. I'm just still hoping that my unit will continue to work well for a long time...
John
13 TRUE about the short-lived device, good concept but immature
i can imagine before buying it you'll need to listen to a lot of people's reviews and still be not sure whether to put your
$700 stake on it or not. Well just to save you the trip and struggle, dont! Let me tell you this as an experienced user who owned it for 2 weeks before finally shipping it back to J&R, this little snazzy gadget is defintely a great concept, but it's way too immature at this stage to be put into the market. As most other buyers have noted, this thing won't last more than a week, seriously. when it works its awesome, music/video/photo/storage, anything you wanna take with you all the time. you can even watch porn on it, believe me, i've seen people do that before. ok, in a word, if you wanna spend $700 on a luxury that lasts 10 days, go ahead and have a blast. otherwise, dont waste another second of your time staring at this thing. its not worth it!
14 Some units MAY work
Obviously there is something wrong with quality control on this product. The unit I received never worked. For the price, I'm not willing to risk a short term performance and got a refund instead of a replacement. Good luck at getting a functioning unit if you order the av480. I'm waiting for a reliable product.
15 Hard Disk Problems
I love the AV480 when it works.
However, I've gone through 3 units already. Each one has had its hard disk break within 1 week of use. Unfortunately that was enough time for me to record about 60GB of ripped DVDs (now all lost).
Has anyone had this device work for more than a week?
I was extremely careful with it and it still broke. On the other hand, I've purchased one of those Microsoft Portable Media Centers. That has withstood much harsher handling. Unfortunately it is only 20GB. I like the AV480 more, but I wish it would work for more than a week.
16 best toy ever
I received the AV480 yesterday, it is the best toy ever. The design is great. I haven't even looked at the manual, the functioning is just instinctive. I've ripped a bunch of CDs, transferred pictures directly from my Digital Rebel (with CF card), recorded TV programs, recorded sounds etc... The quality of both sound and pictures is just astonishing. My PC (WinXP) recognized it immediately. Come on, why would you want to buy an Ipod (or anything else). The Archos AV480:
-has a much larger storage capacity
-looks much nicer
-can display pictures and films (it can even be used as a digital videorecorder)
-is delivered with everything (including adapters for europe, remote control...) -- (ipod accessories all cost ~ $100)
17 HD too fragile
Both AV480 I ordered suffered hard disk problems and sent back next day of arrival. As a computer savvy person, the first thing I try is to use it as an 80GB USB2 storage (to backup the factory contents before upgrading to the most recently OS from Archos Website, etc) No luck in even came close to that. Within seconds of plugged into my WinXP laptop's USB2 port and recognized as a mass storage device, I couldn't access disk any more. The 2nd one allowed me to copy around 300MB out of it before hang. After that, I never got passed the initial flash screen when the unit is powered on again. The first unit even refused to be shut down until after dozens of tries. I never got a chance to try MP3/MPEG4 recording and play back. This is a shame for a unit I heard a lot of good stories about (AV420, maybe?) and would love to carry around ever since if it works. Buy it only if you have means to return to store quickly for exchange with additional years of service plan. Highly anticipating it in UPS ground since order for > 1 week only to realize it's a lemon, twice, had completely worn down my interest in this unit. Besides, how can I ever trust the HD in AV480 (if I do try the 3rd time and it works) to keep my digital contents w/o other backup?
