Product Description

Record directly from your TV, VCR, DVD player, cable or satellite box. Make scheduled recordings. Store up to 130 hours of video, 85 movies, 15, 000 songs or 300, 000 photos. Transfer photos directly from your digital camera using the USB host port. Play MPEG-4 files. Play TV recorded shows, movies and home videos on a 4" color screen, your TV or any external screen.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #29490 in Consumer Electronics
• Color: Silver
• Brand: Archos
• Model: 500709
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 3.42 pounds
• Hard Disk: 100GB
• Display size: 4

Features

• 100 GB portable multimedia player with 4-inch LCD
• Plays and stores up to 400 hours of video, 250 movies, 55,000 songs or 1,000,000 photos
• Compatible with MP3, WMA, WAV, protected WMA, MPEG-4, WMV and protected Windows Media Video
• Supports the Mophun mobile gaming platform; USB 2.0 port for fast file transfers
• Up to 15 hours of battery life for music and up to 4.5 hours for video playback on the built-in LCD

Amazon.com Product Description
Your movies, your games, your music, your photos -- all in one little device. That's the Archos AV500 100 GB Mobile Digital Media Player. This exciting media companion offers direct TV recording and the best of home cinema, gaming, digital music and more. Now you can bring all your entertainment with you wherever you roam. This 100 GB model, which is less than an inch thick, lets you store up to 400 hours of video, 250 movies, 55,000 songs or 1,000,000 photos. Using the AV500's rechargeable, removable battery, you'll get up to 15 hours of life for music and up to 4.5 hours for video playback on the built-in LCD.

The AV500 measures up nicely.

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

Record video directly to the device.

Organize and play your music library.

Personal Video Player
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 4-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.

Photo Viewer
The AV500 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 500'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.

Music Player
The AV500 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 AV500 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.

Connectivity
The player 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.

PlaysForSure
The AV500 lets you purchase, download, subscribe to or rent protected video and music content from Microsoft PlaysForSure websites. The Archos AV500 works with many online subscription and pay-per-download music services such as Yahoo! Music Unlimited and Napster To Go. The PlaysForSure designation ensures compatibility with Windows Media Player 10 and Windows XP. Using the USB 2.0 interface, the AV500 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).

Play Games Anywhere
Because the AV500 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.

What's in the Box
AV500, 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.

Customer Reviews

Excellent device, but note the limitations
Note: I have only had the player for a week. This is a first impressions report.

Overall: the Archos AV500 100 gb player is pretty impressive. It is a good size, the screen is bright, and the built-in interface is easy to navigate. It feels small and heavy at first. Built-in speaker is tinny but adequate for its size. 100 gb is a lot of space! It is a little heavier than the AV500 30 gb model, but I don't have one for direct comparison.

Functions tried:
(1) Links to Windows XP computer via USB 2.0 without a problem, can use as Device Player with Windows Media Player 10 (auto-sync libraries, etc), or can set to Hard Drive Mode and drag and drop files. USB 2.0 is fast.

(2) Transfer DVDs: Lots of stuff on the internet about doing this for Archos devices, but this is still complicated and some technical savvy is required. There is some built-in software that I didn't bother with.

The easiest (and legal) way is to just record direct from your DVD player; however, not the best quality by report and any Macrovision protection is preserved (can only view on LCD screen, not video out). I actually have not tried this yet, though.

If you have DVD's without copyright protection, one of the better (and free) programs (in my opinion) at this point is Auto Gordion Knot (or AutoGK for short) to convert these to the DIVX format. This works well; however, conversion is processor-intensive (5 hours on my 3000+ Athlon XP for 2 hour video). The picture is pretty good, some minor compression artifacting. There is a large community working on DIVX codecs. I used the XVID codec, which the AV500 is compatible with (even the Windows Media Player 10 didn't think so and refused to transfer without conversion).

(3) Listening to music was easy. Dragged and dropped a bunch of MP3's, worked well. Nice loud volume.

(4) Slideshow for pictures work well. JPEG and BMP only. Can't listen to music while looking at pictures, though.

Functions haven't tried yet:

(1) Camera record - can hook up lipstick camera (separate accessory) directly to AV500 and record.
(2) Direct file transfer from camera. (Has separate mini USB port and cable to hook into camera)

Drawbacks:

(1) Probably a little fragile - handle with care. Lots of people have reported issues with the previous AV400 models. Basically, this is a very fancy hard drive with a screen. In fact, if you take the battery off, you can see the hard drive sitting in there.

Running with it, or any activity with lots of vibration/shaking will likely cause early hard drive failure. It would be like running with your laptop. You might get away with it for a while, but those hard drives can't take a lot of jolting.

I can see mashing the small buttons could result in problems. This is not a ruggedized portable by any means. Even thought the case feels solid, the buttons are cheap-feeling and flimsy. My bet is that the buttons would be the first component to break on this device.

(2) Video transfer is still complicated. Could try Windows Media Player 10 for automagic conversion, but I like to have more control over settings. Video must be DIVX in specific format. This is not a Video Ipod. It takes some savvy.

(3) Note before you buy the file types it supports. Won't do AAC, Ogg or other music formats.

(4) Comes with a disc shaped connector hub for AV in/out connections, but no travel AV in/out. That is a separate accessory. So, if you want to see your video on a separate TV, bring the big hub, or spring for a separate set of travel connectors.

(5) Inadequate carrying case provided. I am already looking for a better carrying case.

Honest Review From An ARCHOS AV500 Retailman and Owner
Hi, everyone! I work at The Sharper Image here in Cincinnati, Ohio, and I'm intimately familiar with the AV500. I should be! I own one and sell them. So i'm off the clock and comission isn't an issue...

I'm going to touch base first on some aspects of the Archos that haven't probably been discussed, and comparing it to the OTHER pretty cool portable tech item you're all probably familiar with, the current-gen iPod Video.

Basically, this is THE choice for you if you want portable video on the go, with a bigger screen than the iPod Video, and better battery life to boot.

SOUND:

The AV500 (and AV700) offer user-manageable Bass, Bass Boost, Treble and Balance options, most of which the iPod does not, and otherwise opts for preset EQ settings. The Archos DVR units (AV500, AV700) offer built-in speakers, too. While not terribly loud, you'll be pleased as punch with them in a quiet room. As with the iPod, I chucked the offered earbuds as my ears are way, waay too small to wear them comfortably, and besides, pack-in earbuds are almost always pieces of junk with electronics. I opt rather for my Shure E3c earbuds of which you can peruse at your own time later on Amazon. (I reccomend it HIGHLY.)

Lastly, yes..the Archos can be used as an .MP3 player, with what I personally feel is better bass than the iPod, even on it's default setting. It IS compatible with iTunes! (Meaning it can copy playlists, but the interface of the Archos is NOT similar to the iTunes interface. Rather, it uses a ROOT form, much like, I assume Windows computers do..(I'm a Mac user myself.)

VIDEO

Of course, here is where the AV500 (and AV700) truly shine, and with good reason. You get about 4 1/2, 5 straight hours of playback of whatever movies you'd like! It works with the .AVI file system, and records as such. You can convert internet video files to Divx-ready .AVI with Quicktime Pro if you so wish. Instead, I opt most often than not to really use my Archos for a DVR...(oh, and to clarify, the iPod Video works natively with Quicktime .MOV. To me yes..the Ipod has a leg up here, but the pluses outweigh the minuses for me with the Archos. Why is that?.....

The pack-in bypass cradle that comes with your Archos is a self-powered (AC pack) unit that you use to bypass existing video feeds. For example; you run your cable to your VCR, then 'OUT' with AV jacks to your television set. You'd connect your Archos cradle to the 'OUT' AV jack on your VCR, then 'IN' from the cradle to the TV. This then allows for normal TV/DVD viewing, and acts as I call it, a 'passive reciever' for the Archos. In other words, the Archos is a leech on whatever device you connect it to..wether it be a VCR, cable box, or DVD player. As long as your unit uses standard yellow (Video), red and white (left and right stereo ) AV jacks, you're in like Flynn here.

What does this allow? Well, absolutely any DVD you own (AND may I add, the upcoming Blu-ray players too, as long as they have those afformentioned AV jacks, natch) is recordable onto your Archos for use and playback any time you want. I record old family videos to the unit for later archiving to my computer, and also..well, older VHS tapes of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Hope you guys benifitted from this review!

"The absolute, very best PVP/PMP on the market as of 5/22/06, bar none!"
I love this gadget. It almost does everything. My primary reason for buying is the fact that I can backup my DVD's on the unit, w/o using a computer. When I was looking to upgrade from my Creative Nomad Zen Xtra 30 GB, I was looking at the Creative Vision M (30gb) and the Cowon A2 (30gb). I was that close to buying the Creative Vision M (never once considered the Ipod Video) until I happened upon the AV500 in Frys and compared all the features. Except for the price tag, the AV500 eclipsed the Vision M in all areas imo. I initially held off buying the AV500 because of the steep price.

I can honestly say that I am yet to experience any of the flaws that some reviewers have posted. My unit has never frozen, not once. The fact that I now don't have to lug around my huge DVD case and the fact that I can play my movies on a regular TV at work are huge pluses in my book. This little gadget in the one to have. It's funny how I used to be in awe of one of my fellow co workers RCA Lyra and the videos he had on board. Not anymore, that's for sure. This is a great product and one that I'm glad I purchased. I highly recommend this product, Monkboon....

+'s:
(1) 100GB of memory (More that any computer in our house)
(2) Can backup/rip personal DVD's w/o the use of a computer. (My primary reason for the purchase. (Now I don't have to lug around DVD's and cases everywhere.)
(3) Can be used as a DVR to record your favorite TV shows from your Cable box, VCR or basically anything you can think of.
(4) Complete ease of use.
(5) Has a picture viewer.(Holds like a trillion pictures.)
(6) Has a voice recorder. (I'll never use it, but it's there if I need one.)
(7) Can pretty much record any type of video from many different formats. (I recorded my kids playing XBOX games just to fool around with the video settings)
(8) Replaces your current MP3 player. I just transferred 5714 songs and it's barely using 8 gigs.
(9) Easy to transfer files and navigate.
(10) Screen is larger than most video players of this caliber.
(11) Can view movies from the unit on your Television.
(12) Can create and edit play lists on the fly.
(13) Exceptional battery life for this type of device.

-`s:
(1) Not really a -, but something that would have been nice is if there were a FM tuner.
(2) Missing a hole for the AC adapter when the unit is in the closed case. (nit picky)
(3) One must connect the unit to the computer to access the "real" user manual.
(4) Terrible speaker, you will need headphones (I have BOSE) unless using quality external speakers.
(5) Had issues syncing with WMP10 and play lists. Had to use Creative Media Player to transfer 5500 songs from my computer. The WMP10 issue is more than likely my inability to do anything worthwhile with Windows Media. So again, this may not be a con.
(6) Some movies/DVD's will not play on the unit or television.

I'm extremely happy with my purchase.