First Looks at the Archos 420 PVR



This review was compiled from a thread I participated at SPUG a few days after I purchased the Archos 420 PVR. I thought I will keep it going with updates, just like my Palm Zodiac or xPhone threads at SPUG... snowballing into a massive thread.

However, after a few days with it, I discovered that there is nothing much to write about it! As a PVR (personal video recorder), it works like a dream. Quick start-up, automatic conversion of TV/cable/DVD recording and playback; with speaker and large screen, what more can you asked for a portable entertainment centre?

I am pretty unhappy with my VCR and don't want to spend good money chasing after bad in purchasing another VCR, VCD or DVD recorder. So when Creative came out with the Zen Entertainment Centre, I was at its showroom fiddling with it. Not impressed. Recently, I went to COMEX to see if there has been any refinements since. Still pretty much the same.

Then I started reading about the Archos 320 and how it is releasing a much improved 400 series. Memory World is the distributor for Singapore and the friendly guys called me up last week when stocks started to come in. At $999, it is a hundred bucks more expensive than Creative's PVR, but since this is a tested and proven upgrade of the 340, my bet is on this one.

Nothing is perfect, but this one comes pretty close. It serves my needs and then some. I especially like the resume feature (where you can exit a video anytime and come back to it next time) and the video scheduler (that allows you to set the Archos to record at a predetermined date, time and channel).

Excerpts from the thread at SPUG below:

First impression:

just opened it last night. my first impression was:

a) what a lot of wires

b) what a great toy for $999

after fooling around a little bit more, the first thing i did was to go to www.archos.com to get some drivers for my home pc which is still running windows 98.

after d/l and unzipping it, i plugged the usb thingy to my pc. the pc recognizes it, installed the drivers and hey, i've got a neat 20 gig portable hard drive!

i copied the manual and pc apps over to the pc first, then the demo avi video in which window media player jams it up nicely. so far, works like a dream.

i had more time to play with with the archos on Saturday as some kids who were coming over, didnt. my conclusion on this new toy is that:

1. it is a nice mp3 player - i just copied my oldies and bible mp3 there.

2. taping video from the dvd is a breeze - probably will be using it mainly for this purpose.

3. pre-set requires more attention:
a. i dont want to overcharge my set - the blinking light keep telling me that the device is fully charged while waiting to tape the show.
b. i will need extra cradles or video cables if i want to tape in the hall and playback in the bedroom (leaving cradle in bedroom).

4. playing back or taping current shows is easy:
a. especially since my tv has an s-video out.
b. watch later to skip the adverts.


5. I am now dumping my digital shots there - like taking your albums wherever you go.

6. may be times i need to use it as a portable hard disk - if i need to move massive data to a new pc or notebook.

here's a pic of the archos 420 taping a hbo movie directly from the box



this morning i played with this pvr a little more and started to record stuff off the tv, scv box etc.

it was less of a hassle than i thought. in fact, pretty simple. works like a mini portable tv recorder. great!

in summary...

what is it?
1. i got it to record shows from the tv/cable/dvd to view on tv or on the go
works like a dream - easy and clear pics

what else can it do?
2. plays mp3 like the ipod, but in colour and graphics are possible too
just copy over from your pc or storage card

3. view photographs and cam recordings
enough room for every shot you can take in your lifetime
- it's like carrying your album everywhere you go

anything else?
4. yes, it's a voice recorder and
5. a plug-and-play portable 20-gig hard disk
all these for $999 from memory world at Funan centre

is that all?
with some creativity, you can use it for all sorts of stuff like
6. a talking bible
just copy the mp3 bible over

7. a pictorial phone book
i dumped the individual photos of the church members there
and rename each pic in this way - eg kong henry - 12345678

8. an mp3 converter - not really
but i can record my cds using the same method as recording dvds
then play these out as audio songs - not quite mp3
but sure save me $$$ getting them in mp3 format

9. digital video cam player
i used to have trouble using the different video formats from my digital camera
now, no matter what - avi, mov... i just video it out from my camera to a tv
then video it into the archos 420 to record it

10. probably more uses than i can think of right now
but i've got my sermons, jule miller's visual series plus lots more good stuff there
all in a little palm-size pda form factor

boy, am i glad i didnt get the creative zen entertainment centre



btw in case you are wondering, it will record 80 hours of video ie 40 movies! 300 hours of mp3 and stores 20 gig of stuff. all in a nice small easy-to-use pda form factor