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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #53585 in Consumer Electronics
• Color: grey
• Brand: Archos
• Model: 500970
• Released on: 2007-10-01
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 6.00" h x 1.00" w x 10.00" l, 6.55 pounds
• Hard Disk: 80GB

Features

• The Archos Content Portal allows you to download favorite movies, TV shows, and music without being tied to a computer.
• Record your favorite TV shows or series directly onto the TV+.
• Built-in Wi-Fi and Ethernet connections.
• Includes a fully functional Opera Web browser with Flash video support.
• Store and view up to 45,000 songs or 800,000 images in JPEG, PNG, and BMP formats

Amazon.com Product Description
Consider yourself warned: Buy the Archos TV+, and you might never leave your sofa again. And really, why would you need to? This small box packs a punch, converting your TV into a gateway to movies, music, and information.

Operate your TV+ using the lightweight and responsive infrared, QWERTY remote, which includes a nine-point mouse, and navigation buttons. View larger.

Record TV
Love your DVR, but hate the monthly fee? The TV+ puts you in charge of what you watch and when--and it's yours forever. Using the included TV Program Guide, you have the convenience of one-touch activation or the reliability of scheduled recording. Programming is stored directly on the Archos TV+ or transferred to an external hard drive or computer.

Capable of recording from most any video source--including a satellite or cable box, VCRs, and DVD players--the Archos TV+ records in MPEG-4 and plays back in DVD (640x480) quality.

Wi-Fi Connectivity
The TV+ transforms your television into a Wi-Fi entertainment center, combining your favorite movies with access to your favorite Web sites and online videos. You can stream movies, TV shows, and music stored on your computer, and with an optional plug-in, you can enjoy clips from your favorite online video sites.

The included wireless QWERTY keyboard puts you in control, so you can surf to your heart's content--and download content directly to your TV+ using the new Archos Content Portal (ACP). ACP makes it possible to save your favorite media without a computer.

Setting up is easy, with clearly labeled ports and jack. Built-in Wi-Fi and Ethernet capability gives you options, and a USB 2.0 connection allows the Archos TV+ to be used as a hard drive for moving files on and off your PC. View larger.

Access Movies, Video
In addition to storing and replaying your videos and recorded TV shows, you can use the built-in Wi-Fi and Ethernet for on-demand video downloads through CinemaNow.

The TV+ can play the most popular video formats: MPEG-4 and WMV. It plays protected WMV, MPEG-2, VOB, and H. 264 with optional plug-ins).

Weighing in at less than 3 pounds, the Archos TV+ is a sleek addition to your entertainment center. Its small footprint belies its powerful performance and range of capabilities. View larger.

Music and Photos
Couple your best shots with your favorite tunes, then display them using transition effects. Not into sharing? Then put your 80 GB TV+ to work as an external hard drive: storing and organization up to 45,000 songs or 800,000 images. Transferring files from a PC or most mass storage devices is a breeze with the USB 2.0 high speed interface.

Able to play all of the most popular music files (MP3, WAV, WMA and protected WMA, as well as AAC and AC3, with optional plug-ins), the TV+ also organizes your media. You can view by artist, album, type of music, and title, and you can create your own playlists.

What's in the Box
Remote control, power supply, two audio RCA/RCA cables, two S-Video cables, user guide, connection sheet, legal and safety notice, and warranty sheet.

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Customer Reviews

Awesome Digital Media Player
This is a digital media player for your home entertainment center. It has the same operating system as the Archos portable video players (like the 605 wifi). It has all of the formats of AV inputs that you would need but you can only use one at a time which can be a pain if you want to switch. It can play a wide variety of file formats as well (just like the 605). You will need to buy two plugins in order to play MPEG2 with AC3 audio and H264 files. Yes it does play XVID/DIVX.

For me, the main selling point for this unit is the network connectablity. I plugged in an Ethernet cable (it has wifi as well, but that's slower) and it lets me browse the other computers on my network just like the explorer in windows. I can then play any media file I find videos, music, or pictures. You can also use the media sharing feature of Windows Media Player 11 and share network files that way as well. This lets me us this unit as my own on demand system. I can dump all the videos we want to watch over the next few months and have them in neatly organized folders. The kids can have their movies all in one place and watch all the SpongeBob they want. I plan to have all our Christmas movies dumped and on the unit so we don't have to hunt for them next year.

Archos TV can record form an external sources as well, but I already have a PVR for that, so I won't be using it. It uses an IR blaster type setup to control the cable/satellite box for recording. You get one year of free program guides when you register.

Notes:
- You will need to update to the latest firmware before you do anything else. I couldn't get the auto update to work the first time so you may have to download the firmware via a computer and move it over to the unit.
- I had trouble getting a thumb drive to work in the USB port. I think it pulled too much power. My Archos 504 hooked up no problem. I'm sure any powered USB drive will work fine.
- When you browse your network for the first time, it will take a long time for it to find other computers on the network. Just let it search. Mine took about 30 minutes. After that, it finds them instantly.
- Just like the 605 you have to bookmark videos manually in order to come back and resume were you left off. It will do just one video automatically. This will be lost when you play another video though. I requested an auto-bookmark feature but who knows if they will look into it.
- You can copy files to the unit through the network connection, or by using a USB cable. The unit shows up on your computer as a Drive.
- It can play VOB files from DVDs you own. If you hook up the SPDIF cable, you will get Dolby Digital AC3 sound.
- This is a new unit and they are working on fixing bugs as they are found. It's not going to be perfect for a little while. It is very cool though.

still new,has a few bugs
For the most part, the product does what it the description states. Set up is not intuitive but not that hard just follow the downloaded users manaual because the one that comes with is not very detailed. My biggest dispointment is of the picture quaility of some of the recorded playback can be grainy depending on the station. I have mine connected to a vcr/dvd player since I don't use cable boxes to get my cable and the archos does not have a built in tuner. some of the features cost extra, for example browsing the net or some of the widgits. In all, I spent about $70 to get the extra plug-ins.

Best media device on the market...
First saw news of this device on G4 at CES and couldn't wait to get my hands on one. Thankfully in early January it was ready for purchase on amazon..it was on pre-order...but in stock from Ritzcamera through Amazon so I bit the bullet.

Ritzcamera did a good job of packaging/shipping to protect from damage and was in my hands pretty fast...so ritzcamera gets a thumbs up from me.

Having used the device for a few weeks now...I can say this is a great media device at a reasonable price, here are some Pro's and Con's for others considering the product might find helpful:

PROs:
- Plays Divx/Xvid/Avi/Mp3/Jpeg...etc.
- Plays & Records Audio/Video
- Small in size but Big in quality and features.
- 80 Gig internal hard drive
- WiFi or ethernet media Streaming from PC
- DVR with guide for recording of TV shows
- USB 2.0 for external HDD
- HDMI connection
- optional plug-ins..Internet browsing
- Quality of Audio/Video playback is FANTASTIC!
- QWERTY Remote
- Possibly future-proof..at least 2-3 years with firmware upgrades
- Free access to Dailymotion plus other items in content portal
- Recorded DVR shows are good quality and files are Avi for easy PC Transfer
- Price is reasonable compared to other media extending devices

CONs
- Additional $20 cost for optional multimedia plug-in that plays higher quality Divx/Xvid's
- Additional cost for other optional plug-ins
- YouTube not yet availiable on content portal...maybe in the future
- DVR not as good as cable company DVR...yet


Overall this is a great product from a respectable company...for those that have gig's of Divx/Xvid/Mp3's and photos on their PC's and want to watch them on their TV, this product is the best on the market...so far.

As for the few negative comments...they seem to be highly biased towards the Apple TV...anyway, hardware build quality is solid, manual easily understandable...and when I first set it up I had to call Tech support and was Not on hold more than 5 min.

Best of all...NO more stacks of wasteful, costly, time consuming burning of DVDR's

Hope this helps!