Archos AV 700 40 GB Mobile Digital Video Recorder Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Yes, it is a fine bit of engineering, with smart feel and very fast to write and transfer, and fairly intuitive.

My intention was to have it a storage space for all my digital photos so I can drag them around and show to family and friends. Well, it is good ONLY if your digital photos are of the quality produced by a cell-phone in 2003. The problem is the screen: pixellated, cheap-looking, and while it is OK for moving pictures (esp. high-contrast ones that they have running on it in shops as a demo), any photo upwards from 50k in size will look cheapened. You can plug it into TV and the impression is better then, but who wants to do that?

If you think it will be anywhere approaching a portable DVD player or a laptop screen, forget about it.

The upside of photo-viewing is that you can zoom in again and again and the quality will not suffer on the screen, because it is the reproduction, not the actual resolution that is letting you down.

I will also use it as an MP3 player for my travels.

Battery life is poor unless you are not using that screen, which is not surprising: 7 inches will eat any battery pretty quick.

I would not recommend it for any other use apart from the intended one: viewing films.

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Product Description:
Your movies, your games, your music, your photos -- all in one little device. That's the Archos 500715 AV700 40 GB Mobile Digital Media Player. This exciting media companion offers direct TV recording and the best of home cinema, gaming, digital music and more. The AV700 measures up nicely. See it in 3D, or watch a video presentation.

A world of entertainment in your hands. And the included TV Pod docking station makes connectivity a breeze.

Enjoy thrilling gaming.

Record video directly to the device.

Organize and play your music library. Now you can bring all your entertainment with you wherever you roam. The 40 GB model, which is less than an inch thick, lets you store up to 160 hours of video, 100 movies, 20,000 songs or 400,000 photos. Using the AV 700's rechargeable, removable battery, you'll get up to 30 hours of life for music and up to 4 hours for video playback on the built-in LCD.
Record directly from TV, Watch at Your Leisure
Used in conjunction with the included TV docking pod, you can record television programs, movies and home videos directly from your TV, VCR, DVD player, cable box or satellite receiver. Then watch them on the go whenever the notion strikes you. Plus, with the integrated scheduler you can program your recording schedule a week to a month ahead of time. Play back your favorite program on the 7-inch widescreen or on any external screen in near-DVD quality. The unit plays DivX, Windows Media, protected Windows Media and MPEG-4 video files. You'll also have excellent control over your viewing experience with features such as slow motion, adjustable screen size, video editing, and a video bookmarking function.
Get the Picture
Want to take your snapshots with you? The AV 700 is a great digital photo companion. Transfer thousands of photos directly from your digital camera, or another mass storage device using the built-in USB connection. You can also transfer from a computer using the AV 700's high-speed USB 2.0 interface. Then, organize your photos and watch them in slide shows on the unit's screen or on any external display.
Play Anywhere
Because the AV 700 supports the popular Mophun gaming engine, it's designed to integrate with the Archos Web site for purchasing and downloading games. You can also connect an optional mini game pad to kick your games up a notch.
Listen Up
The AV 700 features Archos' newly-designed music player application. Now you can easily organize your songs and customize your view by artist, album, type of music, title, year, and play lists without having to use a computer. The AV 700 also offers an audio recording application that records in high-quality WAV format from almost all analog stereo sources. You can also use the stereo microphone if you want to record notes, presentations and lectures.
Connect It
The AV 700 has a USB 2.0 port that enables you to copy, share, connect and transfer files directly from other powered mass storage devices. The unit is also recognized as a mass storage drive on your PC or Mac, giving you the ability to transfer any computer file using the high-speed USB 2.0 interface.
PC Auto-sync
The AV 700 lets you purchase, download, subscribe to or rent protected video and music content from Microsoft PlaysForSure websites. Using the USB 2.0 interface, the AV 700 will easily auto-synchronize this content with Windows Media Player 10 each time you connect it to your PC, or convert your Windows Media Player 10 library content to one of many compatible formats (MP3, WMA, WAV, protected WMA, MPEG-4, WMV and protected Windows Media Video).
What's in the Box
AV 700, TV docking pod, remote control (with batteries), audio/video cables, USB 2.0 cable, USB host adapter, AC adapter and charger, stereo headphones, protective case, user guide.

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