Archos AV 500

Archos has made the Jaguar of portable video recorders, with its new Archos AV 500. With a sleek brushed-aluminum casing, a slim profile, and a very sharp 4-inch widescreen LCD, the AV 500 is definitely set to impress. Its audio capabilities are music to our ears, but the real value lies in its video recording and playback features, which are the best in its class. Of course, this kind of performance will set you back $499.95 (direct) for the 30GB model and $699.95 for the 100GB version. Pirates beware: Although you can record from copy-protected DVDs and play the video back on the built-in LCD, you can't play the files on an external TV or your PC.

The armful of accessories the AV 500 comes with includes two gold-plated A/V cables, a leather carrying case, an infrared emitter cable, a USB 2.0 cable, a USB On the Go cable, a TV docking pod (required for video recording and controlling external devices), a very full-featured IR remote, and two double-A batteries. You can control the AV 500 via the remote, which works with or without the TV Docking Pod, since the AV 500 also has an IR sensor on it. The device itself measures 3.0 by 4.9 by 0.7 inches and weighs about 9 ounces. The LCD is 4 inches (diagonal) and has a resolution of 480 by 272 pixels—yep, that's widescreen. The rechargeable battery is removable, and you can purchase a spare from Archos. On our battery rundown test, the AV 500 ran for 5 hours 45 minutes—that's 45 minutes longer than it's rated for.
Archos products have a history of less-than-intuitive controls, but the AV 500 breaks the mold. Navigation is split between a four-way rocker with a center select button (for the main menus and file browsing) and a set of four buttons just beneath that for contextual menus. All are located on the right of the screen, providing a clean analog interface, though we wish the contextual buttons were a bit larger or separated more. The main menus themselves are very simple and professional-looking, and browsing files is a breeze. The contextual menus provide lots of flexibility in a manageable way, and thumbnail previews load more quickly than on other devices.
Loading video onto the AV 500 requires syncing with WMP. We used Microsoft Windows Media Player to load a few AVI and MPEG-4 movie trailers, as well as a TV clip we recorded with a Media Center PC—but most files (except our DivX-encoded AVI file) required conversion, which WMP did automatically. Audio files can be loaded either with WMP or drag-and-drop style on any
PC (including Macs). We also had no trouble at all using the AV 500 with online subscription services like Napster. Loading photos was a little trickier: We had no trouble loading JPEGs in Windows Explorer and WMP, but we were unable to load BMP files using either method, despite the manual's claim that the AV 500 supports that.

Main Feature: Video Recording
We were anxious to try out the AV 500's main feature, so we jumped right in and hooked the device up to our TV to record some programming. We had to plug the AC adapter into the TV Docking Pod and connect it to the AV 500 in order to record, which was a minor inconvenience, but once we got set up, recording was a breeze. The player lets you record video at up to 2.5 Mbps (variable bit rate), which is very good quality, and at either 512-by-384 (called "Optimal") or 640-by-480 (VGA). If you're recording a copy-protected DVD, however, you can record only in Optimal mode. Files are recorded in DivX-compatible AVI format (using the MPEG-4 Simple Profile) with ADPCM audio. Don't be put off by the lag time between what you see on your TV and what you see on the player's LCD—your files will come out fine.
We recorded at a few different bit rates and found them to be watchable even on the lower end (around 500 Kbps). Recorded video is smooth, with minimal shimmering at highest quality setting (2.5 Mbps) and perfectly synced audio. We did note that in VGA mode, the bottom of the screen (where the headline ticker on a news channel is) gets cut off. Also, if you change channels a lot during a recording, the audio sync can fall significantly behind. Since the AV 500 picks up the copy protection from protected DVDs, you can't watch that content on an external monitor or on your PC, but we don't think this is such a big deal, since you can always bring the DVD with you to play at a friend's house. That and the built-in LCD is bright and sharp, with very good viewing angles, so we were able to watch a feature-length movie comfortably with minimal eye fatigue.
Recording is pretty flexible. You can snag your favorite shows on a schedule and even attach the IR emitter cable to the Docking Pod and your VCR or set-top box so the AV 500 can turn them on and off while you're not around (this may confuse your pets). You can even buy a Digital Mini Cam from Archos, which plugs into the AV 500. The Mini Cam has an autofocus and white-balance system and records video and audio directly to the hard drive at up to VGA resolution, even in low light.

Other Features and Functions
Videos and photos loaded onto the AV 500 via our PC looked smooth and clear on both the LCD and on an external TV. Video file format support includes AVI (MPEG-4 SP, up to 720-by-480 at 30 frames per second) and WMV (including protected, up to 352-by-288 at 30 fps and up to 800 Kbps). The photo features are very good, including panning and zooming, but there are no fancy transitions in slide shows, and you can't listen to music while viewing photos. The player also has a USB On the Go port, so you can connect compatible devices such as digital cameras and USB drives and transfer files to or from the AV 500.
The AV 500 has impressive audio-recording capabilities. It captures sounds via line-in or via the built-in microphone in WAV format (PCM or ADPCM) at up to 48 kHz. Our recordings were extremely clear, and we like that the display shows you in real time how big the file you are recording is. We wish that the microphone had adjustable sensitivity, but it does have a volume-level meter, so you can see if you're too loud or not.
Audio playback support includes MP3, WMA, and WAV, as well as protected WMA files from download and subscription services. We're a little surprised that Archos doesn't include OGG or FLAC support (or Lossless WMA), considering the tech-savviness of the company's loyal fans. It does, however, support ID3 tags, file management (renaming, deletion, moving), and album art.
The built-in speaker is fairly powerful and clear enough, but we don't imagine too many people will use it when they're on the go. The included earbuds are adequate, but they are very weak in the bass and really don't do justice to the AV 500's impressive audio output capabilities. Bass Boost and the bass tone control helped a bit, but the earbuds didn't have much more to give. When we plugged in our $40 Sennheiser PX-100 headphones, we were rewarded with clear, crisp sound and bass that was deep, strong, and well-defined. Our formal testing showed the AV 500 to have a much flatter frequency response with non-Archos headphones plugged in, especially our PX-100 set. Moral of the story: If you shelled out for the player, don't skimp on the headphones. We also measured a clean signal at up to 3 clicks below top volume, though if you're listening any louder than that, you're probably close to deaf anyway.
The AV 500's audio playback options are mercifully simple; there are bass and treble controls and a BassBoost feature. The BassBoost feature boosts the upper bass, where it usually doesn't need too much help. The bass tone control provides a more robust bottom end, but our testing revealed that a very little goes a long way: With 5 steps of adjustment in either direction, any more than +1—which provides an effective if subtle boost—will result in significant harmonic distortion at any volume.
In case you couldn't tell already, we really like the AV 500. Our wish list for it is basically negligible, though we would like to be able to record without using the Docking Pod. As an audio player/recorder, it's a very solid product, especially if paired with a powered microphone. But as a portable DVR, it's second to none in its class. And at the same size as many nonrecording devices, such as the Creative Zen Vision, it provides a nice step up in features . . . as well as in price, of course.