Product Description

The Gmini 402 Camcorder is the first MP3 player with a built-in camcorder. Take it with you to capture up to 50 hours of personal videos or enjoy your favorite songs on the go.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #23394 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Archos
• Model: 500705
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 2.90" h x 6.80" w x 8.00" l, 3.00 pounds
• Hard Disk: 20GB
• Display size: 2.2

Features

• Multi-tasking 20 GB multimedia player with integrated video camcorder/still camera
• Capture up to 50 hours of video (MPEG 4 SP); 2x digital zoom; 1.2 megapixel still resolution
• Compatible with MP3, WMA, WAV, protected WMA, MPEG-4, WMV and protected Windows Media Video
• Plays back MPEG-4 SP video with B-Frames with stereo sound; displays JPEG photos
• Up to 10 hours of battery life for music playback, 4 hours for video playback, and 2 hours for video capture

Amazon.com Product Description
Take your favorite music and video with you wherever you roam with the Archos Gmini 402 Pocket Camcorder and Multimedia Player, and capture personal videos and photos with the integrated video camcorder. It features an internal 20 GB hard drive--which stores up to 80 hours of video, 200,000 still photos, and up to 10,000 songs--2.2-inch TFT LCD screen, and a built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery that provides up to 10 hours of battery life when listening to music, 4 hours when watching video, or 2 hours when recording video. Ultra-slim and sleekly designed, the Gmini 402 measures just 0.7 inches thick and 4.1 inches wide and it weighs just 6.65 ounces. It's compatible with a wide variety of digital audio, image, and video files, including protected Windows Media content downloaded from multiple PlaysForSure online music services and stores.

Record your personal videos in MPEG 4 format directly to your Gmini 402 Camcorder. Five different modes of resolution are available to suit your needs. In low mode, you may capture up to 50 hours of your personal videos and 13 hours of your personal videos and 13 hours in high resolution (VGA). The Gmini 402 Camcorder also features a digital zoom 2x. With DSC function, your Gmini 402 Camcorder can be used as a still camera, allowing you to take photos with maximum resolution of 1.2 mega pixels.

The Gmini 402 offers audio compatibility with MP3, WMA, protected WMA, and WAV files and still image compatibility with JPEG and BMP files. For video files, the Gmini 402 can play MPEG-4 SP files with B-Frames (compatible with DivX and XviD 4.0 or higher) and stereo sound. You'll get near DVD quality, with up to 720 x 480 pixels at 30 fps (frames per second) in the NTSC format (U.S. video standard), or 720 x 576 pixels at 25 fps in the PAL format. In addition to watching video from the player's LCD, you can also connect the Gmini 402 to a TV with standard RCA A/V output. It also has a standard mini headphone jack. Record from any standard audio source with high-quality stereo sound via the stereo analog line-in connection or record voice or live music with the built-in microphone. Files will be saved on the Gmini 402 in WAV format.

The Gmini 402 Camcorder has a USB Host Port that lets you to copy, share, connect and transfer files directly from other powered mass storage devices such as digital cameras, card readers, USB keys, and powered portable hard drives. Play back directly any compatible contents on the external hard drive connected to your Gmini 402 Camcorder (no data transfer needed). The Gmini 402 Camcorder also features a high-speed USB 2.0 interface to connect your device to your PC or Mac and easily transfer contents.

Transfer photos directly from your digital camera or from another mass storage device using the built-in USB host connection, or from a computer using the high-speed USB 2.0 interface. Store up to up to 200,000 photos. Organize photos in easy thumbnail or slideshow views, and view them on the Gmini 402 Camcorder screen or any external display.

The 2.2-inch TFT LCD screen has a 220 x 176-pixel resolution with 262,000 colors. It connects to Windows-based PCs and Macs via super-fast USB 2.0 (which is also backwards compatible with USB 1.1)

What's in the Box
Gmini 402 Camcorder and Multimedia Player, earphones, USB cable, USB Host adaptor, AC power charger, Quick Start Guide (full user guide in Gmini 402 Hard Drive), protective pouch

Customer Reviews

Good overall with a lot of room for improvement
I got this unit to use mainly as a camcorder. I've been looking for one that has a good size hard drive and this one meets that criteria with 20gb. The unit is very small and lightweight. The color is nice and attractive. But it seems that that design is driven by being snazzy rather than functional. While the LCD is located in the center of the unit, the lens on the other side is placed off to the left. It's hard to keep from blocking the lens while recording. I hope this problem will go away once I get used to holding it with my right hand only. The lens is covered by a cheap built-in piece of plastic which I think will suffer a lot of scratches over time. The buttons could have been bigger. There's no place to hook up a strap. I'd like to use one when I'm recording because with its size it's very likely to fall out of your hands.

The video quality is acceptable. Under the VGA setting, the pictures are sharper, but appear to be kind of grainy. It seems especially important to concentrate on holding the camera steady while shooting. Otherwise, the video looks a bit jumpy. Some of the buttons are not particularly intuitive. For example, there is no obvious "pause" button.

The drawstring pouch included in the package is thin with no padding, and doesn't provide protection for the camcorder. I got one from somewhere else and use the pouch for the cables.

The manual is not thorough. Some of the options and even some of the hardware aren't mentioned or explained. There's one adapter that plugs in the top of the unit with line-in on the one side and AV out on the other. It doesn't have any problem plugging into the TV to play the content, but doesn't record TV; I can only guess it's for recording audio. There's hardly any mention of this either. Also I still don't know what kind of rechargeable battery is used in this unit. It wasn't said anywhere in the manual. It just says the battery is designed to last for the life of the camcorder (whatever that means).

As a multi-media player it doesn't have a built-in speaker, which is a major omission.

If your computer has Windows XP, you can plug it in using the provided USB cable. Copying the the clips to the computer is basically drag-and-drop. I don't know with other computers, but with mine, if the file is lager than 500mb it doesn't let you transfer it to the computer; it says the file is too big. When I change the setting in the camcorder for it to be recognized as a removable hard drive, the transfer works fine. Maybe I need to update the firmware. On the Archos website, there's a couple of new updates, but I can't access them because I have to update to version 1.2 before I can use them. Version 1.2 was nowhere to be found. I haven't tried calling tech support yet. They do have the 800 number listed on the website.

Overall, I'd say the Archos 402 camcorder has a lot of room for improvement, but is nevertheless worthwhile in that you can record and store a large amount of video in very small package.

Great Multitasker!
I have had the Gmini 402 cam for about a week now, and I have been very impressed so far. I started off looking for a device that I could simply dump digial photos on, but the gadget monger inside of me wanted more than just a mass storage device for photos. This was the best option I could find that included the USB Host(direct connect with digital camera) and a good mp3 player on it.

It has a little smaller hard drive than devices like the Cowon X5 and the Toshiba Gigabeat, but to me this wasn't really a problem, 20 GB was fine. The design of the the Gmini is ok, personally I like the looks of the Gigabeat, and (while not an I-Pod fan) the I-Pod better. It looks a little too much like a gameboy or some kind of game only device. But function won out in that battle, and I had to go with the Gmini.

For those interested in the USB host function, after comparing devices for a couple weeks I found out a few things about the other devices that I didn't like; the Gigabeat for example can only use 2 GB of its 30 GB for photos dumped from your digital camera, and I am pretty sure you can not view those dumped photos either. The Cowon X5 does allow you to view images, but limits the size of individual pictures to 2.5MB each. The Gmini does not have any of these limitations, and has a great viewer for the images as well.

Aside from the USB Host function, all the other features on it have been great. The camera is obviously not real good, but I wasn't really expecting it to be. The camcorder on the other hand isn't bad, obviously its no sony handycam, but not bad. The video player is cool, but i don't foresee using it too much. And as I mentioned before the MP3 player, is pretty much all I could ask for, album art, ID3 compatible, good sound as far as I can tell. Battery life so far has been decent, though simply comparing stats with other devices, it is probably not quite as good.

Overall this has been a great device, and I look forward to using it a lot!

Take your digital camera with...
I purchased this unit for a family vacation. I originally wanted a smaller digital camera that could easily fit in a pocket and would'nt be a problem to carry. I spoke with a sales clerk and he had a few sugestions which were ok, then he showed me this. As a techie I was instantly hooked and forgot what I originally came in for. The concept of having a camcorder that fits in a pocket intrigued me. I bought it, and could not wait to get it home. After a few hrs of playing around I've come to the following conclusions.

The good: Overall id say that it is an amazing little device.
* The video camera is excellent, especially at the lower resolution. When the resolution is raised to vga the video becomes a little grainy but is still pretty good.
* The video / audio playback is flawless.
* The MP3 playback is excellent, controls are intuitive, awesome sound with the right headphones.
* The small size of the unit vs it's fuctionality makes it a unique product.

The bad: My biggest problem with this unit is the lousy still camera.

* The still camera is horrible. DO NOT buy this unit for still pictures, it will disappoint.
* This unit is a little light on battery
* The storage pouch is useless, it may prevent scratches but if you drop it, it's over. Buy a better case.
* I agree with other reviews, the manual is less than informative, but, the controls are fairly easy to figure out.
* Headphones are not the best.
* line in recording is audio only, which is not a really a flaw.
* Lense placement takes some getting used to, my hand naturally wants to cover it.

I hope this helps.