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Archos Recorder + Rockbox Plays Video
elinenbe writes "Rockbox, the open source firmware for the Archos Recorder, Player, FM, Recorder V2, and now the Neo can play grayscale videos at over 60FPS. A demo version of the DOOM3 intro along with a few other sample clips have been made so far. This is the Archos that was NOT designed for movies, but for MP3s -- go Rockbox!"
COOL! this brings a whole new level of mobility for porn
.. "that's neat, but if that would have been a standard feature everyone would have said it sucked", on the other hand as it's not designed to play video, it's neat alright.
Go non-corporate developers.
Is the LCD on that thing supposed to be able to keep up with 60fps? I mean, I don't think they were designing the LCD on the MP3 with Video playback in mind...
Lots of things are used for purposes other than its original. DUCK TAPE ANYONE!
I love people pushing the boundaries of hardware, but also I note that Archos have already made a sexy new device to accommodate your movie needs:
s id=j22oyjykb2y3ckjbyjj24j#cinema_to_go
:)
http://www.archos.com/products/av300_series.html?
80 hours? Yeah right. Does it do DivX? No doubt a firmware hack will allow that
I can attest to the superiority of the RockBoxx firmware. The list of features keeps growing when other commercial vendors would have stopped implementing new features. I use RockBoxx for its great handling of VBR MP3s for instance.
I only hope the RIO Karma team is listening! I just bought one for my girlfriend and I plan to get one once my archos gets dropped too many times.
As cool as this sounds, you really can't appreciate what these guys have done until you see the video running. It's far more watchable than I thought at first. Now to figure out how to convert video to .rfv for some late-night porn^H^H^H^HDivX viewing!
The Human Cow - bringing you scrumtrelescence since 1995
Here's a fairly good bit on the Duck vs. Duct argument.
--
the strongest word is still the word "free"
Apparently the hardware decoders are not immediately able to play vorbis or anything other than MP3, and the processor is too slow to allow software conversion on-the-fly. That said, they're still working on a way to do it.
The Human Cow - bringing you scrumtrelescence since 1995
I have been a long time evangelist for Rockbox. They have really made the Archos a wonderful device. Far better than the official firmware.
That said, the quality assurance portion of Archos has really gone downhill. My local BestBuy stopped carrying the Archos due to too many returns. My old Player (6GB) is sound as a pound, and about as heavy. But, my FM Recorder (20GB) is an unmitigated POS. It has had a lovely clicking sound (HD, I assume; however, I returned it and had the HD replaced. Still clicks. Archos Return-guy said they were getting a ton of returned FM Recorders) And, the FM Recorder will occasionally go into a "never-ending reboot" cycle. Where it partially boots, then reboots, and repeat, until after being left alone for a few hours it decides to work properly. So, the FM Recorder (out of 90 day warranty) is now treated with kid gloves as a home stereo MP3 player, and the old Jukebox is for the car and airplane. Someday I'll replace the HD in the Player.
So, Archos is nice, if it works. Looks just like a USB HD without any needed proprietary software like the other HD MP3 players. I just suggest you stick with the Player or plain-old Recorder and avoid the FM Recorder. If I had to do it again, I'd still get the Player but the SliMP3 (or newer) would work better than what I use the FM Recorder for.
Get a load of all the uses for Duck Tape:
and
da w00t. mtfnpy?
Your experience with the FM Recorder does not match mine. My FM/R has been rock solid. The battery lasts long enough to handle the Denver/Tokyo flight. The drive does click on occasion, but I have to hold the thing near my ear to hear it -- or be recording with the built-in mic. It's barely audible. The FM/R has been with me on 10-12 transatlantic/transpacific flights and has never had a problem. I take the thing everywhere in my briefcase and use it as an external drive at home and at work. It's even been dropped a number of times. Never a problem.
The thing I like most about the FM/R is that I can recharge the it from the USB port. The charger that was shipped with the unit was a real POS and fried the first week I had it. I've never missed it.
The RockBox upgrade is a must though. These guys have done an awesome job.
the growth in cynicism and rebellion has not been without cause
What you people should be doing is hacking one of those DVD-based video players with the 10 inch screens, adding a USB port or something.
Future PDAs will be converged devices, with phones, cameras, and DVD....at least until MRAM arrives.
It was the first place I got the hardware mod instructions for my old 6gb archos mp3 player (nothing like having a 20gig version before you can even buy one in the store).
Somebody else mentioned it... the charger that came with the archos really was a POS... the wires frayed on mine, and I ended up cutting them and attaching spade connectors (yeah, I know... unsafe, but it was all I had at the time). Soon after that, the transformer went out entirely, and now I have to change batteries.
Oh well... at least it survived a longish SW Asia military deployment for the afghanistan war (wish I could say the same for all of our equipment).
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
Yes, there are some (design) problems with Archos FM Recoder.
...
Probably the most important one is that you can't change the (Li-Ion) batteries. And unfortunately Li-Ion batteries degrade after 2-3 years due to a chemical process, regardless how often you use/recharge the batteries. Look at your mobile telephones, and you know what I mean
BTW, this problem also affects the Archos 'Recorder V2' (which is basically a FM Recorder without the FM Radio) and the Apple IPod and actually most MP3 Players/Jukeboxes. Don't buy anything that doesn't use ordinary, replaceable AA(A) NiMH-batteries, otherwise you can throw your MP3-Player away after 4 years.
The best (Archos) choice is an old Archos 'Recorder 20', (without FM or V2) which is powered with 4 AA-NiMH-Batteries, graphical b/w display USB 2.0 and Digital/Analog IN/OUT and builtin-MIC. Unfortunately they are rather difficult to get these days, as they were the predecessor of the FM-Recorder and are not officially sold by Archos anymore.
N.B.: the 'Studio' Series is basically a 'Recorder Light', with only USB1.1, no Digita/Analog IN, no MIC, and only a text display (no graphics).
some guy claims that he has access to the neccessary docus, but the rockbox-developer don't even consider looking at it, unless they get official permission to use it.
Why not use the old, tried-and-tested method of clean-room reverse-enginering? Recruit several people with no Rockbox programming exposure to look at the documents and write their own version of the specs, noting entry points, API calls, and so on. Get them to publish the documentation using some version of the GPL. Then fire them, put them out to pasture. Ensure they never communicate directly with any of the Rockbox programmers regarding what they read.
Then get people who have never read the original documents to create code implementing the published doduments.
Because of increasing restrictions on reverse engineering in the US, the document analysis team should be based in the EU or Asia. Or preferably Russia or China.
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