Ramblings from another nerd on the grid
Monday and Friday of last week was like Christmas. On Monday I received a HD video camera. On Friday I received the Archos 605 WiFi portable media player. I bought it for a couple of reasons. First, my wife was feeling like a second class citizen because she doesn't have one. And second, because I wanted to.
The Screen, Size and Feel
The Archos 605 I purchased is the 80GB, 4.3" widescreen model. It's slightly thinner than my Zen Vision W. I took some pictures of it next to some of my other players for comparison.
Comparison to the Sony PSP Comparison to the Apple iPod Video Comparison to the Creative Zen Vision W Pictured using built-in stand
Comparison to the Sony PSP
Comparison to the Apple iPod Video
Comparison to the Creative Zen Vision W
Pictured using built-in stand
The 4.3" screen is a touch screen. As a result, the screen does not have a glossy finish like the Zen, PSP or iPod. The screen itself seems rather rigid. I hope that means it's going to last a long time. So far I haven't found a big need to touch the screen much. You can do nearly everything with the menu button and directional keys. Because the screen is big, the unit isn't small. The native resolution for the screen is 800x480 pixels with 16 million colors. That's about twice the resolution of most of my other players and a bunch of colors although I haven't counted them all.
The actual size of the unit is 4.8'' long x 3.2'' wide x 0.75'' thick. It weighs 9 ounces which is twice what my 80GB iPod Video weighs. If you look at the pictures at http://www.archos.com/products/gen_5/archos_605wifi/download.html?country=us&lang=en, you'll notice the unit looks gray metallic (beaded in the close ups) with gray keys. Those pictures must have been an early prototype because my unit is slightly different. The keys on mine are white and the unit itself doesn't have the polished stainless steel finish like you see in flash animation on the main page. That's fine with me because I like the finish my unit has. It doesn't show fingerprints and it is easy to hold.
Video Playback and Battery Life
Out of the box it plays most if not all of the Windows Media Video and AVI files I have. I haven't tried any WMV HD. There are some optional plugins to add support for H.264 or MPEG-2 with AAC and AC3 respectively. I doubt I'll purchase those plugins. I'm ripping everything I have to DivX AVI or WMV and it plays them great.
I'm getting 5 hours of continuous video playback with default brightness and contrast settings. That's also with 2500k bit rate video. I'm wondering if I produce different video bit rates if I can reduce I/O to the hard drive and thus extend the battery life more. I don't think it's a big deal so I'll probably just continue doing what I'm doing. The last time I went to Hawaii, two movies was plenty so this should be sufficient.
Disk Capacity
The Archos 605 I have has the 80GB hard disk. To give you an idea, I already have 35 movies on it and the hard drive isn't even half full. To bring this into perspective, I can load the complete Harry Potter movie set, all of the Star Wars movies, the extended Lord of the Rings set, all of the Matrix movies, all of the Indiana Jones movies, all of the Aliens movies, and about 30 other movies. I'm in the process of doing that right now. Impressive eh? Let's see the 16GB Apple iPod Touch do that. No possible way.
In case you were wondering, the typical two hour movie is ripping to about a 1GB disk file. So I'll end up having about sixty to seventy movies on the disk when I'm done. The Creative Zen Vision W I have will hold a little less. Basically either of the devices will hold a killer collection of pictures, music and video.
Other Features
The Archos 605 comes with an assortment of other features. Some of those features are uninteresting to me, but might come in handy for other people. For instance, the 605 has a DVR Station option that allows you to record television programming. I already have HDTV recordings via my TiVo and Media Center PC so I don't really need yet another source of programming.
My player comes with WiFi and several networking options. For instance, I could purchase Opera and load it on the 605 and turn it into a cute little coffee shop surfing device. This is mildly interesting to me, but since I don't have a nationwide hotspot plan, I don't have a big need for this.
It appears the Archos 605 is running Samba or something to allow network browsing of shares on my homelan. According to the docs and features, it's also supposed to have streaming capabilities. Again, all of this stuff is kewl and all, but I'm using my 605 as a standalone portable media player.
Summary
The Archos 605 WiFi is a solid player and lives up to its billing so far. I purchased mine through Amazon.com when they went on sale (10% off). I also had a $35 gift card and got free shipping. I've only been playing with it a few days and so far I only dislike one thing which I plan to fix. The supplied charge cord sucks. The cord I'm talking about is the USB cord that allows syncing, charging or both. It charges extremely slow via USB. I need to find a quicker charging method.
The screen is fabulous and will work in "torch mode". In other words, you can really crank up the brightness and contrast. If you do, you'll knock some of the battery life off. For instance, I turned it up and it knocked the video playback time down to four hours fifteen minutes. If I buy an extra battery or quick charge method, I'll probably run the brightness somewhere less than torch, but something higher than default.
And in case you were wondering about my honey, she's getting the Zen Vision W. So I'm loading it with all of the mushy chick flicks and some of her dance videos. Shhhhhh, keep that a secret. It's a surprise.
You'll notice no comparison and only this brief mention of Zune. My Zune is Microsoft owned and I gave it to Bryan Von Axelson. He promised he was going to put it to good use. I'm waiting for the next generation Zune to show up.
[UPDATE] I spoke with Archos Technical Support about the charge times I'm seeing with this unit. It takes about eight hours to charge (when fully drained) if using the USB cord plugged into my laptop or desktop machines. That is apparently the norm. That doesn't really surprise me because USB doesn't supply that much power. So I ordered the battery dock pictured here at right. This little mini dock serves several functions. First, it does a quick charge of the battery in the unit. It also has a built-in battery which extends the video playback by another 4 hours (or so I'm told). I should know if any of that is true by this time next week. If so, it looks like I'm ready for a trip to an exotic location. Tahiti anyone?
[FINAL UPDATE] I received my Archos mini dock battery charger. bhphotovideo.com sells them for $39. It adds 4 hours to the playback time of the unit. Nine hours of nonstop video playback is pretty killer. Charging now takes less than four hours. I have forty movies on my Archos 605 WiFi player, so far. I think I am travel ready now. Grin.
FYI, I had to correct the link just above because apparently my source sold my battery doc for the wrong price then corrected the online catalog.
There's a little reset pin hole on the bottom. It's tiny. On occasion I've had to reset my device because it locked up tight. I also noticed after the reset, a little while later the charged light flashes.
My charge light doesn't flash regularly either, but I know it's charging and charged. Playback confirms that.
when i got my Archos i put it on charge right away. It was about 3 p.m. when i started charging with the USB cable. I came back at around 7 and it was still charging so i turned it on to check. Will that have any effect on the archos because it wasnt fully charged for a first time run and i turned it on for about a minute.
Product in itself is very good made and from a hardware side is excellent. The bad stuff is actually the company Archos in themselfe. They force you to buy additional accesories. The battery life is barely 3h and not 5,5 as they state everywhere. The normal charging via USB cable takes abouth 24h! What I think is just pure crime. They obviously made the output electricity flow decrease so it takes so long to charge and make you buy ridiciolously overpriced plugins and accesories. Once you buy mini or charging docks, charging time is 3-4h. How come, it i still USB power?! If you think of buying it, always think about additional 40-70 gbp or 100-120$ more to pay, apart from the player. It is a must, blieve me. But once you don't havea problem, the player is great.
Yea, I pretty much agree. The USB cable that comes with it sucks. They should have included a wall charger. They also should have included the H.264 and MPEG-4 video capabilities instead of having to pay extra for the "plugins".
Like you said, after you get the extras, you are pretty much set.
For people on a budget, the Zune 80 is a better deal. Smaller screen but a better price point and easier to carry around.
DVD ripping... You may want to take a look at magicdvdripper.com.
I have used their ripper and copier software for over a year with no problems of ripping DVD movies or copying them to different media. Their most recent version conains the 605 profiles.
fwiw...
hello guys... listen .. i have the same problem with the charging.. but..that not my only problem cause.. i will be fine if it will charge in a day, but a didn't manage to even start my archos.. i only got this stupid error.. its like the system is damager.. and it gives me the choice to repair/don't do anything/format disk.. and i try them all..and still my archos is charging and not doing anything else.. i am killing my self here.. o and .. i am from romania..which is far..from the states..(the place were i got it).. pls guys . help mee.. i don't know what can i do
I'm about to start a job for which I'll be driving 1 to 1.5 hours per day, and really need something to timeshift my NPR properly. All the shows are now available via Podcast. The new Ibiza device will subscribe to Podcasts through WiFi directly (not through sync with a PC), so apparently it'll just top up all the podcasts as it detects HotSpots, so you've always got the latest. Wake up in the morning and the morning shows are downloaded from the home WLAN. Drop it on the desk at work and it fills up all day with the new shows, for the ride home. No manual syncing step required.
I haven't been able to figure out yet if the Archos units have this functionality (Podcast subscriptions directly through WiFi to the originating sites).
Anyone have a clue? I'd rather get the Archos than the Ibiza, if it *can* wirelessly keep my Podcasts topped up. :-)
I Just got my 605 30GB today. And I noticed that when I plugged it into the computer via the usb, the screen momentarily came on to show "archos" then went blank. I assumed it was off. But just one touch of the screen turned it on. I think this is why people are having such LONG charge times.
I went into the Settings and I choose the "Completely Shut Down device"(not in those exact words) . . .so now it is completely off until I press the ON button. . . I'll see now if this would Help with the charge time. . .
Note that just by pressing the off button doesnt turn the device off completely. . . it kinda works like the IPOD. . .its never fully off. U need to go into the settings if u so desire
I got a 605 80 GB today and the charging is killing me. Its been 9 hrs and the indicator is solid green. Also the device was automatically on the first time it connected then for some reason it shut down completely. I am pressing the power button .. it is still connected to the pc and is solid green but there is no response at all. Am worried if the piece is faulty or I have damamged it by pressing the power button !!
What are the consequences of disconnecting the first charge if it has been on for 9hrs already ?
Sandi, don't worry. It is most likely fully charged. Yea the USB cord sucks. I never use mine. Get the battery charger when you can.
As for the unit not responding to power button presses, it appears to be a linux suspend bug. You can do a soft reset on the unit by taking a small safety pin and pushing the reset button on the bottom of the unit. It's that tiny little hole. I'm hoping a firmware release donw the road will improve that. I carry a safety pin with my headphones and other travel stuff.
In a pinch, borrow your girl friends ear ring. :?)
Hello fellows Archos users! I am having a wonderful time w/mine Archos! Nothing beats this magic unit! Yes the usb-charging is really annoying. I have a feeling that it will charge somewhat faster if you do not "Turn Off Device Complete" to charge. So just press and hold "Power" to shut down temporary to charge.
I have the helmet cam which is very nice thing.. but it will use up big chunk of space for just 1/2 hr recording..
I also bought the DVR player from Walmart (*cheapest you can find in the market!) Which works wonderful! The quality of video play on your tv is just simply awesome! Anyway, using the DVR charger to charge ur Archos works so much faster then ur USB.. After 1/2-1 hr playing video and charge the sametime, I see the green light flashing which means stop charging.. Anyway, just an nice wonderful experience to share for owning this player for 3 months.. good luck!
Just make sure you get the latest firmware!
In the initial first day of use with the Verizon Samsung Omnia , I was pretty frustrated. Much of that