Archos 500619 AV420 20 GB Video Player / Recorder and MP3 Jukebox Player

Rating:
Summary: Holiday Gift- (The best gift I have ever received)
Review: I got the AV420 for Christmas and it was the best gift I have ever got. The first day I got it I downloaded my whole music library from my computer and it was very quick downloading all the music, and it barely took away any of my memory. Also on
X-mas day I went crazy recording the football games that were on and then the Heat vs. Laker game. We went out for dinner during the Heat game and I was amazed on how the AV420 could switch channels and stop and start recording all on its own. I am only 14 years old and I use this thing like I've had it for my whole life, and I've only had it for about one week now. It is very easy to use and very easy to download music and record video.

I was very worried about the battery life because I have read in many reviews on the internet that it isn't that great, but I contacted Archos and they said that I could buy an extra battery, and I was very relieved to hear that. The sound quality of the music and the videos is amazing, and the video quality is just as good. I feel like I am at home sitting in front of my TV when I'm actually taking a hour drive up to ice hockey practice.

I looked long and hard, and found that there were so many choices, but I narrowed it down to this one and put it on my X-mas list and I am very happy that I did. I just can't wait to go on a plane or take a long drive, because I just know that I will not be even half as bored as I usually am. Video recording is so easy and I think it's amazing that you can record live TV. That's one of the main reasons that I got this one, because not many can record right off live TV.

Overall, I am amazed, and I would highly reccommend this product to anybody. As I said I looked at everything and this IS "THE" best one you can find. I hope that you can take my word for it and don't waste your time looking at anything else.

Rating:
Summary: Incredible!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: 4 hours of video on 1 battery, $50 for a spare battery makes long trips bearable. The IR transmitter on the cradle controls my JVC Dish Network receiver, changes to the channel I've programmed in my Archos AV420 and records automatically. I could spend all day talking about how great this little device is. The only drawback I've found is HD space, the manual says "record up to 80 hrs of video" you can get that but it's at 500KBS and pretty poor quality. I've found 1000KBS on LCD gives you about 35 hours of video that is good quality. 2500KBS is the highest setting and that brings you down to about 8 hours but is DVD quality.

Rating:
Summary: Good initiative Bad judgement
Review: Here it is the Archos AV420. An excellent piece of electronic media entertainment. Clear video. Crisp audio. The internal speaker that comes with unit experiences distortion when using too much bass. If one isn't keen on the use of computer software and is also not willing to work with unit the learning curve for use will be a painful one. Capacity is fine for it's purposes for me at least. One major reason for getting the AV420 was the removable battery. I work in computer hardware repairs. Laptop batteries go bad all the time except in practically all cases they can be replaced hence the decision to go with the one model with a removable battery. The screen scratches easily, you gotta be careful and treat it like a real life baby. One of the sticking points on usage for me was the individual carrying protective case. I was never able to access unit from inside case. I always had to take unit out fumble around with the buttons before doing what I had intended to do. No problem if your intended use has no intentions of pressing buttons all the time, but I'm a bit picky on my music and I am always pressing the buttons or tinkering with the setup. When I first got the unit I looked at reviews and the one sticking point was poor customer service. I have yet to actually experience it, but when I looked up accessories such as protective screens, other carrying cases, and such items I was shocked with the choice of no options. A company that puts a product out like this is going to irk customers. Still I have been made a believer. I stick by four. A solid product with awesome capabilities.

Rating:
Summary: Extremely Disappointed!
Review: I bought an Archos FM Recorder years ago and I still use it. It was one of the best electronic investments I have made. I have never had a problem with it and it has made recording voice in MP3 format so easy. Then the Archos AV420 came out. I thought that this was another great product that will get my video into digital form in realtime. I bought the product a few months ago. I connected it to a digital camera and attempted to record onto the camera and simultaneously record the output from the camera (via AV and S-Video cables) to the AV420. The result was the signal kept getting dropped and the "detecting video" message comes up blinking. Then, all of a sudden, the signal comes back, then gone again. I figure there was something wrong with the camera so I called Archos Technical Support. He advised me to try the AV420 on a different source. I tried it on my VCR, it went into "detecting video" once and the quality was not that good. I figure VCR quality is not that good anyway so I tried a DVD player as a source. Same thing. Signal kept going out and in, erratically. I called Technical Support back and they were closed 15 minutes before they were suppose to and I left a message detailing the problem. I did not get a call back. I wrote several emails to them detailing the problem and someone finally replied. But all that person did was apologize and no help. I finally wrote another email telling them I was returning their product and that they should have worked out the bugs as opposed to trying to beat everyone else to the DVR market (Of course you have to pay a 15% restocking fee for the priviledge of returning it). It could be that I bought a defective prooduct, maybe so, but I am not going to buy it again until it has proven itself a little longer, MAYBE. I hear that IPOD has one out to. I will most likely buy that one to see if it is better. If so I will keep it. I'd rather buy an Archos product but since Archos does not seem to care if I am satisfied then I guess I will have to move on. My ticket number was 1016916.

Rating:
Summary: very good piece of kit
Review: I used to have one of the original Archos 20GB recorder models from 3 years back (the LCD screen exploded when left in freezing temperatures in a car over Christmas - so be careful!). I decided my replacement should be an upgrade. I always liked Archos - their customer support was fine and I never had a problem with the player.
The AV420 is very good - it is much easier to navigate compared to the old Jukebox player I had, I like the way you can sort music by genre, by album, artist etc. Photos upload very quickly and easily. Putting videos on it is also very interesting. There are a number of ways you can do this:

a) Using your DVR (eg Tivo) - this is very useful, just hook up the cables and play the Tivo recorded program and press record on the Archos.

b) Via video recorder - same way as Tivo

c) Via DVD player - same way as above

d) Ripping DVD's via the computer. I tried one of the recommendations by a previous reviewer using the DVD to AVI - I never had any success - the program saw the DVD in the drive but always crashed after 40 seconds or so, or it said it couldn't read the file. I deduced that you probably have to get a program to rip the DVD onto your hardrive first and then use this software. I downloaded Magic DVD Ripper from [...] , you can have 5 trials before you pay and burned the DVD onto my hardrive whilst converting it to .avi format. Its compression meant that I could have about 7MB per 1 minute of video and the file, when copied to the Archos played perfectly and was crystal clear. It's a good bit of software and so easy to use, you can set it to burn the DVD and then turn the computer off afterwards, eg if you run it overnight (takes 1.5-2 hrs for a typical movie)

You can also edit your recordings on the Archos by cropping or cutting out unwanted scenes - eg adverts, very useful.

I think this device is a great tool to store / back up some of your favourite videos, whether home made or bought.

Mine came with a FM receiver which you can record songs from, there is a feature which records 30 secs of every song in its buffer memory, so if you are half way through the song and decide to record it it will record it from the beginning - very nifty. You can also record music from your Satelite radio receiver - if you have the new XM MiFi (which can record 5 hours of music) you can thus copy those songs off of that onto the Archos...

The 20GB model also has a replacable battery which is useful.

All in all I am very pleased with it.



Rating:
Summary: The best PMC out there
Review: If I never had an MP3 player, I'd think the Archos AV420 wasn't possible. I own and use four (not including the AV120) MP3 systems. Granted this is my first hard drive player. I have two flash players (from iRock - they ROCK) and two CD MP3 players that provide incredible functionality.

I'll spew specifics. I admit the menu system is reminiscent of the old DOS days, but since it is essentially just another hard drive, the menu tree can be configured as you wish, and Archos did a nice job of setting it up in a logical manner. Furthermore, I use my other systems as comparison (my iRock, Sony and Magnavox systems) that deliver good (note - only "good") functionality compared to the AV420, but also my brother's iPod doesn't have the advanced sound "fine" tuning as with the AV420. If I needed more than 20 gigs to carry music I'd listen in a day, week or even month, I would have gone bigger (AV440), but since it connects with my computer so well, I am happy with the capacity. The design of the AV420 is such that once you are either comfortable with the directories or you set them up the way you want, one-handed no-peek operation is easy. It does in fact fit in the my shirt pocket. The AV420 is a mini tank. I wasn't looking for a player to show pictures or movies, but this system delivers those functions flawlessly.

While the price tag of over 450$ is steep it's well worth the price in gold. I received mine free (no lie) I checked out this site http://www.pvps4free.com/default.aspx?r=145058 and signed up for a free 2 week blockbuster video online membership (cool because you get to check out free videos 4 two weeks)and canceled it after the 2 weeks was up. But, what ever way you go about getting it, this is the best out there. Two tumbs up.

Rating:
Summary: This device is AWESOME!
Review: Records straight from any composite video (red-white-yellow) source like your DVD player for example. This device transforms your videos to MPEG-4, and the quality is great for this size screen. Battery life is nearly true to its word -- aprroximately 4.5 - 5.5 hours of play. I love it, and now that my wife has seen mine, she now wants one! Perfect for those long airplane or train rides. Note: Only downside in my opinion is that it records in real time, meaning a 2 hour movie takes 2 hours to record onto the Archos. Who cares, plan ahead, enjoy watching your favorite movies any time on a device that will fit in your shirt pocket.

Rating:
Summary: Wait for PSP... in March
Review: The Sony PSP will have a widescreen, play games, mp3's and movies. And it will only cost $250. And it looks much better. Granted it doesn't have a HD, but I still think it's a better value than any of the portable media players out there today. I'll wait for the PSP.

Rating:
Summary: The Wave of the Future:An Amazing Gadget!
Review: This is a must have device for anyone who enjoys having a device that can do just about anything you can imagine. I have had it for almost a month now and nothing has gone wrong of note. Recording from TV is very easy to set up. The picture quality of Archos's beautful screen is amazing and the archos is very small for what it does. Playing Mp3 is flawless while you can upload pictures you have taken to it and show them to family or friends as you travel and see them. The only trouble i have had with it so far is setting up the timer record function, you need to physically connect this infared cable to your vcr,tv or satilite box and then scroll through about 10 different signals and find the one yours uses this is very tedious and i have yet to utilize the timer record function due to this, i hope to figure this out veyr soon. Contrary to some reviews the battery life is very strong on this for what it does i have watched mmany movies and listend to hours of music before needing to charge it. Overall this is an amazing deivce and i give it a full 5 stars.

Rating:
Summary: Best kept secret around!!!!
Review: This is a really great device. I just received it yesterday. So far everything that I have tried to use has worked perfectly. I
spent some time reading everything I could find in user groups and bulletin boards on line prior to purchasing. This was very helpful and I think helped me avoid some pitfalls. The manual explains some things well--and does not touch on others. The quick start guide is not that well prepared either. Some things I just figured out by trial and error.

The recorded video is crisp and clear everything worked perfectly. Music downloaded quickly from my computer. I love the memory card slot for viewing digital photos.

The real selling point for me was a removable battery. I invested in an extra battery so that I will always have plenty of power on trips--- this (and price) is why I did not buy the 480 model which does not have a removable battery.

The only suggestion for improvement with this model would be to include a stand that could be used to place the device upright for viewing.

I would highly recommend!!!