Archos 500 (30 GB) Digital Media Player

If you are looking for THE best portable video player/recorder then look no further. The Archos AV-500 has all of their competitors beat in terms of screen sharpness, brightness, battery life, ease of recording video programs, size, feature set, usability and durability. I am partial to Archos products having owned their previous generation PVR unit so their track record is responsible for developing the AV500 which allows me to easily copy recorded TV programs and movies to the AV500 in minutes and seconds as this unit has the high speed USB 2.0 port and the video quality and sound quality is excellent for such a small video player. I have over 15 hours of the Series 24 (Season 5) loaded on my AV500 and I have been able to comfortably watch these episodes on a plane and in a car with no problems whatsoever. The 4 inch TFT color screen offers a decent resolution and has pretty wide horizontal and vertical viewing angles. You will not get any blocky artifacts when viewing action scenes either as the CPU graphics engine is very powerful. This player is very well built and feels as if it was carved from a billet of titanium. The finish is very hard and seems to resist fingerprints and scratches. The Screen itself seems to be very durable, but I recommend applying a digital camera screen protector for added protection if you are a road warrior. I also like the fact that the LiIon battery is removeable and that it is real easy to add an external extended third party battery pack as the AC power jack accepts a 5 volt input. The icing on the cake is that you can attach this to any computer(via a USB 1.2 or 2.0 port) and it will automatically show up as an external hard disk. You can even plug in a digital camera or external USB memory card reader to copy digital photos onto the AV500 to use it a a digital photo album photo storage download device. Definitely worth the extra money in my opinion. Manuals are professionally done. All accessories and cables are included along with a very nice custom fitted Archos black nylon padded case and headphones. Archos even offers an optional ($170.00) miniature color video camera that allows you to capture video footage directly tp the AV-500. Ihe video camera is small enough to mount on a helmet so you can tape a mountain bike/skateboard ride or a downhill ski run. Thanks Archos for letting me take my TV and videos on the road. It definitely makes waiting in line much more bearable.

I've owned the Archos AV500 for like 2 months and it's a great device you can play mp3, avi, wmv, wma and others (also picture files) it has a decent storage the one i got is a 30 Gig and its great, specially if you use "CloneDVD Mobile" to compress it, it's very good i got like 43 minutes of video at 720x480 for like 450 MB you can make the resolution lower and it will make the file even smaller and still will look great. One bad thing about this is the software it includes to encode video, it's crappy but i guess it keeps the price lower. But like i said use the clonedvd mobile and you'll be fine. Another bad thing is that you have to have a separate adapter to capture video directly from tv (rca cable) and it has to be connected to the power charger, but hey at least it has that option... it's very rare for a device to have that option.

If you're in a hurry then it might be better to read it this way:

Pro's...
-Plays the top files (avi, wmv, mp3, wma, jpg and others)
-has a nice big screen to see more detail
-changeable background image
-speaker included
-great battery life (one of the main reason why i bought it)

Con's....
- bad video encoder software included
- kind of expensive

Overall...

I love this thing its kind of pricey but its all worth it.

I love the size of it. The 4" screen is perfect for private viewing while keeping the size of the player relatively small. The picture is crystal clear during playback with the exception of some less quality cartoons. It is very is to record off of virtually any device. The only slight drawback is that the avi to mp4 converter software doesnt always work on every video file (from your pc). It has an external speaker that is a little low when played at the highest volume but It's really a personal player not a group player so with the headphones the sound is excellent. Battery life is decent when playing movies (2-3 hrs). It's definately enough for my daily commute.

PROS:
To begin, lets start with the exterior. I found the casing to not only be sleek and contemporary, it is unbelievably durable. The beauty lies in its playback. When I first opened the Archos AV500 I was wowed by the vibrance of color and image sharpness. It contains the ability to easily record videos right from a television or easily transfer videos, songs, and music from a computer to the device by syncing with Window Media Player 10. There was no installation required. Just strap on your headphones and get blown away by the image and sound. As a sound enthusiast I compared the quality to that of compariable DVR devices as well as popular mini music devices such as the Apple Ipod Nano and I was blown away. Archos certainly didn't leave anything out when they produced this award winning product.

Paid: $40 on ebay, used.
I bought this to use as a player. At the price, it sure beats and iPod. Since there is no ability to stream, the video is somewhat outdated.
Battery life: 4-hour trip -- no problem playing mp3's
Features -- Every thing I want.
Design -- convenient for playing; but would like easier access to volume and setup features related to mp3. Very sturdy and good computer interface.