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Review of the Archos AV320 Cinemabox

Posted by michael on from the moving-pictures dept.

An anonymous reader writes "MP3newswire.net just posted another of their lengthy reviews, this time on the Archos AV 320, a unit first mentioned on /. back in June. The company's second portable digital video/audio player, the new unit is a significant step up from the Archos Jukebox Multimedia with a much bigger and brighter screen and the ability to record DVDs and TV programs."

17 of 147 comments (clear)

  1. In other news. by SiGiN · · Score: 3, Funny

    A fleet of rabid attack lawyers has been dispatched to the area regarding an alleged copyright infrigement. No comment on whether prosecutors will seek the death penalty.

    --
    Dephine URL
  2. A correction to the article by tkrotchko · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Although it says it is available on Amazon, and Amazon lists the player, it is not available for sale.

    Plus, its $600 a lot to pay for a gadget that is mostly "gee-whiz".

    --
    You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
    1. Re:A correction to the article by __aaevmb228 · · Score: 3, Informative

      I have the Jukebox Multimedia, and won't be buying another Archos product if I can help it.

      I bought my unit as an MP3 player and photo storage device. It works reasonably well as an MP3 player and has decent battery life. As a photo storage device, it still doesn't read IBM/Hitachi Microdrives, even though their tech support swears it should. Their warranty period is very short (90 days) and so I'm out of luck on this one. I've also had problems with the unit keeping a charge and refusing to power up when not on A/C.

      I loaned my unit to a friend recently and he had problems getting it to copy more than one file at a time from his CompactFlash cards.

      My brother-in-law has the MP3 Recorder from Archos and his unit's D/C jack recently broke off inside. It was floating around and shorting things, causing it to power up and down randomly. We took it apart and soldered it back in place with some short wires (no easy task) and it seems okay now, but with the D/C jack sort of sticking out as an ugly wart.

      All in all, the quality is just not there. I'd rather spend a little more and not have these problems.

  3. Battery Life of 3.5 hours on video.. by FileNotFound · · Score: 4, Informative

    Looks nice, I was concerned about the battery life, but 3.5 hours for video is better than my laptop manages playing DivX.
    For those who want my exact specs:

    What's in the Box: AV320 Video Recorder, USB 2.0 cable, AC adapter, Li-Ion batteries (already installed), stereo headphones, AV cinch cable (SCART adapter in Europe). CD with MusicMatch, drivers and 6-language manual. Digital Video Recorder, audio & video cables, remote control and 6 langage installation sheet.
    Capacity: 20 GB Hard Disk
    Interface: USB 2.0, extra fast, compatible USB 1.1, PC & Mac . Optional FireWire cable.
    Video playback: MPEG-4 SP with MP3 stereo sound, near-DVD quality. Resolutions 352x288@30f/s, or 640x272@25f/s, up to 640x368@20f/s. AVI file format, reads XviD and DivX"* 4.0 & 5.0.
    Music playback: Stereo MP3 decoding @ 30-320 kb/s CBR & VBR, WMA @ 160 kb/s
    Music recording: Stereo MP3 encoding @ 30-160 kb/s VBR
    Photo viewer: JPEG (except progressives) or BMP of any size
    Display: 3,8'' color LCD (QVGA) 320xRGBx240 pixels or TV
    AV Connections: Stereo analog Line In & digital SPDIF Line In/Out. Composite Video/ Earphone/ Line Out jack. Built-in microphone.
    Playback Autonomy : Up to 10 hours on MP3 or 3 1/2 hours for video on built-in LCD
    Scalability: Downloadable firmware updates from www.archos.com.
    Power Source: Internal: Rechargeable Li-Ion Batteries. External: AC charger / adapter.
    Dimensions & Weight: 112 x 82 x 31 mm (4.4" x 3.2" x 1.2"). 350g (12.5 oz)
    Connection: Plugs into AV320 expansion port.
    Capture rate: PAL : 320x240 @ 25 f/s, NTSC / 304 X 224 @30 f/s
    Video Input: Analog Composite Video or S-video
    Audio input: Analog stereo audio Mini-jack - RCA
    Video compression: mpeg-4 SP with MP3 stereo sound in AVI format (can be read by XviD or DivX players)
    Audio compression: Stereo MP3 96-192 kb/s CBR (Constant Bit Rate)
    Dimensions & weight: 60 x 54 x 30mm (2.3''x2.1''x1.2''), 45g (1.5 oz)
    Systems Requirements: PC: Pentium ii 266 MHz. Windows 98SE, ME, 2000, XP, 64 MB RAM; MAC: 9.2 or 10.2.4 iMac, G3 or higher

    --
    In Soviet Russia, the television watches YOU!
  4. Why? by Rkane · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Why must companies continue to make multi-purpose products like this? When they do, it seems like they always use sub-standard components, and the whole thing ends up being low level versions of all of the different pieces that the product is comprised of. When someone needs a digital camera, they should buy a digital camera. They're cheap now, go get a good one. When someone needs a video camera, go get a video camera. They're small now, and a lot cheaper. Need a portable video monitor? If slightly over 3" is good enough for you, then be my guest and fork over the dough for this device.

    I can hardly see any practicality in this device, and I'm VERY interested to find how many people that buy it that wouldn't have been better off with just a laptop for $200 more (yes, I understand a laptop is less portable).

    Yeah, the geek in me would love to get this sweet little thing, but the business person in me knows better.

    --
    Celebrate Steak and a Blowjob Day!
    1. Re:Why? by Zack · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Just because you don't want a multi-purpose device doesn't mean that I don't! You are more than welcome to walk around with an mp3 player, portable dvd player, palm pilot, laptop, digital camera, and cell phone all strapped to you if you wish. Or whatever subset you actually use. But for those of us that want to be able to carry every around in one package, let us! That's why people sell different products: different people want different things!

      I recently got to ditch my palm pilot and cell phone in exchange for a Handspring Treo 300. So in that one device I've got phone, PDA, wireless internet and portable email. I think it's the greatest thing ever. If the Archos also did PDA and cell functionality you'd bet I'd have one in a heartbeat.

      The ability to only carry around one device that could do everything I need in a portable unit is very appealing to me.

      I travel quite a bit. My girlfriends parents love to see pictures that she's taken with her digital camera. So we'll go to their computer, copy the images over and sit around their 15" monitor watching it.

      With this beast I could load all our pictures on there and sit in front of their 36" tv and have everything there instantly! I could take my video library with me to hotel so I'd have movies to watch instead of flipping through unfamiliar channels. I could watch a movie or listen to some music on a plane without relying on whatever THEY decide to show.

      I, for one, DO want an all-in-one device. No one's making you use it. So just use the device(s) that are right for you!

  5. Why oh Why do people buy this stuff? by Serapth · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I have never understood why people buy these things. Granted... its a cool gimmicky toy... but for 600USD!!! wow. Really, how much do you want to watch video on a 3" screen? Its kinda like those 15" plasma displays... that sell for a grand. Hey... plasma looks ultra cool, but... any movie looks bad on a 15" display... sheeesh... pay the same and get a nice 36" tv... it aint as sharp, but you can actually read text on the screen!

    So beyond catering to "the geek that has everything"... I just cant picture why people want this stuff... having portable video, thats too damned small to see... is about as useful as having no video at all. Same guess for those stupid TV displays in cars... not to mention WTF are people putting tv's in cars anyways!!! Sheeeesh.... cell phones are bad enough.

    Ok sorry... end of rant. In the end, this product just seems like a massively overpriced, relatively useless gimmick to me.

    1. Re:Why oh Why do people buy this stuff? by dspyder · · Score: 3, Insightful

      People buy them because they fulfill a need... quite well too! They're like those portable DVD players with a 5" screen. Perfect for use on a BART train or on an airplane. My Multimedia Jukebox even with the 2.1" screen is watchable for times when I need it... and it's portable, so I can bring all my MP3s along with me... like when I went camping last weekend!

      Yes, if I'm sitting at home, and I want to watch a DVD action movie I'll put it on my high-definition projector and blast it about 100" on my homemade screen.... but when I'm commuting on a bus??????????

      --D

      p.s. And it's a hard drive and camera!!! For way less than a portable HD and MP3 player on it's own.

      p.p.s. I've heard the video recording options both on this moel and mine suck... but that would be a cool feature!

  6. Awesome by Goo.cc · · Score: 3, Funny

    A portable porn machine!

  7. Re:Available? by Flabby+Boohoo · · Score: 3, Informative

    Try google, it always does the trick.

  8. I will refuse to buy one of these until by Savatte · · Score: 4, Funny

    it plays .ogg files, runs linux, irons my shirts, arm wrestles my little brother, makes a tasty denver omelette, beats me at Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 using Tron Bonne, Dan, and Ruby Heart, has a built in rubber stamp for voiding paper work, and walks 12 miles uphill both ways to school barefoot in the snow and likes it.

  9. Perfect for Journalists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Boy, seems like a journalists dream! Slip it in your pocket and have a spy camera on you, do undercover reporting soo much easier! Also record memos for yourself or audio interviews. And, be able to review your recording on the spot.

  10. AV380 already selling... by Erik_ · · Score: 4, Informative

    Archos is already selling AV380's with a 80Gb disk for a price of around 1000 Euro's.
    This will give you just enough to load all of the Star Trek episodes from all series (STTOS,STTNG, STDS9,STVOY & STENT).

  11. Not in the same class as the iPod, duh. by Joystickit · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The iPod is not in the same class not because it is inferior, but because it doesn't try to be everything like the Acrhos. The Acrhos tries to do both MP3 playing and video playing, and suffers as a result. Who wants to spend that much money for a bulky device with poor battery life that's windows only? The iPod keeps it simple, doing music and other PDA like things. Plus, lets not forget that the interface on the iPod takes a backseat to no one. Is pocket video really the killer app? I doubt it. The whole point of an MP3 player is that you can listen while you do other things. Video obviously is not the same way, and has less of a need to be so portable. These devices will never see anywhere near as much success as the iPod.

  12. File Trading by Jaguar777 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    For those of you who didn't read the review I found this portion to be very interesting.
    Is this a product review or an opinion piece???

    It is fair use to record a show off of television for later viewing; it doesn't matter if you use a VCR or a digital video recorder. It is fair use to lend that tape or file to your friend next door so they can watch it. Is it fair use to trade with 4 million "friends" simultaneously on the Internet? In Canada it is, but the US is another story. That's what the RIAA is suing individual music file traders over (the MPAA -- the RIAA's motion picture lobby equivalent -- is waiting before taking the same route, they too might consider the same tactics against file trading.)

    Since the Archos allows users to make good quality recordings of TV programs and DVDs, you will start to see more such programming reach the Net as the mediabox niche grows. The Archos player records via analog methods (a cable to a DVD or VCR), so it is unaffected by any Digital Rights management protections added to DVDs. If you can view it on your television, the Archos can record it. This doesn't make the media companies happy.

    In our opinion, file trading is not the threat the entertainment conglomerates make it out to be. Yes music sales are down and that allows the record companies to blame it all on file trading, but DVD sales are up. Way up. Every major movie release has made it on the Net, usually well before the DVD comes out. Did DVD sales go down? No. Did they stay the same? No. Did they go up? Yes, by 61 percent.

    But our protests and logic mean little if Disney takes you to court. You lose the moment you have to shell out for that first session with the lawyer, so our advice is to be cautious with the files you create and remember, Micky Mouse is not a nice guy in real life.

    --
    Maybe you should educate the morons of tomorrow so they'll stop believing the leaders of tomorrow. - Dogbert
  13. Nice box but a bitter taste... by Lispy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I don't own one of those new ones but I have (had?) an Archos Multimedia Jukebox 20. And as far as the technical specs g(and this review) go it looks pretty much like an updated Archos MMJB 20. First of all, it's an incredible machine. Ideal for recording sessions if you have a band or doing interviews and stuff like that. And besides the great sound features, wich are near to perfection, I liked the possibility to view Buffy on the subway or taking that downloaded movie over to my friends place and watch it on his huge TV-screen. And here's the big and sounding

    BUT:
    - My Archos display broke after 14 days and was sent back to the manufactorer. I haven't heard anything about it since (8weeks!!)

    - I wasn't able to convert any of my movies with mencoder into a format the archos could read. I am pretty sure I did everything right and read all of the Howtos and doublechecked every setting twice. And still, I couldn't get it to work. The VirtualDub Software worked on Win2k but I wish I could just write a script for mencoder and let it encode EVERYTHING in my moviefolder for the archos. No luck so far. Any hints welcome...

    just my 2cents,
    Lispy

  14. Additional notes by dpille · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Things I find relevant not mentioned in the review:

    1) The display does indeed power down when you're listening to mp3's, but you have to power it back up to skip songs or even adjust volume. It's especially irritating in that you need to hit the relevant control once to wake it up, the second time to do what you're trying to do.

    2) The ability to record from DVD is somewhat suspect- I've been putting Baby Einstein videos on there to have a portable version, and there's a certain DVD in my collection that has turned into garbage halfway through the recording process like 10 times. Not longer than the other ones that work, not identifiably any different at all, but still, it isn't recording. DRM issues or what, I couldn't tell you.

    3) Ships without any kind of screen protector. Try getting this in the mail and _not_ carrying it around in your pocket or playing with it until you've had a chance to discover that no standard PDA screen thingy fits and you have to cut your own. Mine has small scratches on the screen from merely a couple of days of use.

    4) The video file format conversion process is kind of haphazzard. Their program to convert has rejected numerous .avi files I've attempted to convert and it is invariably too much work to figure out why.

    I love this thing, but it's not without a few problems that went unmentioned in the review. As to those that can't believe someone would spend money on this, I say: it's fun and useful right now and it does enough that you'd be buying its future replacement for weight/dimension changes only. I'll enjoy mine while you wait for the weightless free version with infinite battery life and forward compatibility with dimensional warp generators.