Customer Reviews

Archos AV400 80 GB Video Player / Recorder and MP3 Jukebox Player AV480

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

Actually, I am very much astonished from the reviews written on the AV480 here on amazon as well as on other sites.

Since this device is no cheap at all, i had to run an extensive survey trying to evaluate this equipment. And all the feedback was very discouraging.

All the reviews said that the AV480 fails much and doesn't work and stuff like that. But, since i was desperate to have a large (more than 50 GB) portable media device and i couldn't find other choice (May be except the iPod, and the Zen) i decided to take my chances and try one.

Let's cross our fingers:

I have it now for around a 1.5 months, and this piece of art is really amazing.
I tried almost every possible combination of features together to check if it is working. And yes, i admit that i have extensively tested it.

- I connected it to my computer, and it worked fine, nothing needed to recognize the AV480 as a USB 80GB harddisk.

- I ran up to 10 copy operations of large data from the PC to AV480 (2GB) simultaneously and with 3 copy operations from the AV480 to the PC. This test was done all together to randomly test the scheduler (OS) of the AV480 and does it que the data in a correct manner or not. With these threads opened, the odds should be very high that the disk will fail in one of them. But, amazingly it went through very smoothly. So I am now pretty sure from the OS is rigid.

- The other tests were rather easy, i tried to run MP3's on the unit and sucking the battery dry. Trying to check when the unit abnormally or urgently shutdown, and expecting a failure when booting it, i didn't have any problem. The unit when just charged, started up very normally.

- I tested recording as well (Audio only) and it is very clear to me.. It records to WAVs, but there is no problem. Any ripper will change that to MP3's.

- I still have the video recording test to go. I didn't try that yet, though i believe that it will pass fairly.

Ok, looking very impressive with the above tests, i tried to be picky, and try to catch anything bad in that device:

1. The battery charging looks very primitive. When you charge the unit, it just charges over the level it is originally at. Meaning: If you have a total empty battery, charging in 4 hours. Then a half empty battery will charge in 2 hours, a 1/4 empty battery will charge in 1 hour and so on. I think that this way the battery will experience memory effect. Meaning that for a half battery charging, the next time the battery will tell the unit that it is empty only after a 1/2 battery discharge. Though my unit is not experiencing a memory effect, but this rather takes long times.

2. The unit power connector is sloppy. Using the charger that came with the unit, it is very easy for the charger to get disconnected from the unit if you accidentaly pushed the unit a bit away.

3. I don't know if the power connector is a standard size! I tried buying a car charger from RadioShack. The charger didn't fit in the unit. Actually the unit needed a little longer jack to fit in. The jack at RadioShack was short, and when you push it hard in it contacts the power, when you release the pressure it disconnects.

4. The design was meant to be elegant, but the finishing quality isn't that elegant. If you look from the side of the unit you can see the light of the LCD.

5. The carrying case is very premitive. It has no place to carry the earphones with it. And it is very hard to reach the buttons when the unit is in the carrying case.

6. The recording unit comes with a very large bunch of wires that makes the connection with the TV and Sound system in my room even more harder and messy :)

7. Archos' customer service SUCKS! When i was researching for this unit, and found the discouraging reviews and found a more encouraging reviews on the AV380 i asked them if they still support the AV380 (because Archos' site is the only place that doesn't sell the AV380!). And till now i have no answer back :)

Conclusion:

It is a very efficient device with couple of drawbacks that can be solved by firmware upgrades.

I must say i'm very surprised by the reviews below; about them not working after a little use. I'm also worried, because now i'm wondering if mine will break soon. I've had no problems in about 3 months that i've owned it... hopefully if it's lasted this long then i'll be OK for the long term.

My experience with it is great. I'm sure you know all it's features, so i'll just list some complaints (nit picks):

- The shell is quite delicate. You must handle it with care or you may ding it.
- In the dark it can be a little difficult to feel out the buttons; they don't stick out very far so it helps if you can see the buttons well.
- I wish you could record "audio" in MP3 format. Currently it records in a format that yields a huge file size.
- When you fast forward a video, you don't know how far you've gone until you stop fast forwarding. It screen doesn't update as you fast forward.
- If you get video from the internet, or elsewhere, you must convert it to a specific format that the AV400 can read. The package comes with very easy to use software, but if you're converting lots of videos, it can be time consuming.
- I would like the photo viewer to have more options... for example, i think it would be great if it could show a "histogram" of a photo, so you can make sure a photo is exposed correctly.
- The LCD gets dark if viewed at a high angle. If viewed directly on it, too low, or too far right or left, however, the quality is great! But i'm sure that's just a limitation of LCD screens.

So far I am very happy with it, and I can live with my little complaints. I'm just still hoping that my unit will continue to work well for a long time...

John

I love the AV480 when it works.

However, I've gone through 3 units already. Each one has had its hard disk break within 1 week of use. Unfortunately that was enough time for me to record about 60GB of ripped DVDs (now all lost).

Has anyone had this device work for more than a week?

I was extremely careful with it and it still broke. On the other hand, I've purchased one of those Microsoft Portable Media Centers. That has withstood much harsher handling. Unfortunately it is only 20GB. I like the AV480 more, but I wish it would work for more than a week.

Like many others, I first thought that the AV-480 was the "King of all electronic devices". At first use, the integrated photo, video, and audio capabilities appear to be second to none. The user interface is quite intuitive and the quality of the audio and video is excellent. The video recording capabilities net a file that is about twice the size that it should be; but the playback quality is awesome.

Why then do I rate this device at only two stars. Unfortunately the AV-480 has been a single use device for me. Each Sunday evening, I copy my movies, photo's, and mp3's onto my AV-480 and before I board my outbound flight on Monday morning, I receive the famous "cannot read hard drive" message. In order to restore the unit back to a working condition I have to format the hard drive and wait until I return from my travels to load all of my data back on the device. I am about to purchase an 80 Gig external hard drive to carry on my trips so that I can restore all of my AV-480 data from the external hard drive to the AV-480 via my laptop in flight. Thus increasing my initial $800.00 investment to over $1,000, all in the name of in-flight entertainment.

I have also purchased the AV-420 based on the reviews. Supposedly this device is more reliable. I intend to use the AV-420 device for domestic travels and only carry the AV-480 plus the soon to be procured external hard drive with backup files for the aforementioned AV-480 when I travel internationally.

The bottom line, for $800.00 you should not have problems like the ones that you find described here. It is useless to send the device back to Archos because the next AV-480 that you receive will have the exact same set of issues. When Archos finally resolves the hard drive issues on the AV-480, it will be the most advanced media device on the market without a close second. In my opinion you should wait until Archos admits that the AV-480 has a hard drive problem and publishes a fix for that problem before making the decision to purchase one. Until then, you should just take your $800 to Vegas and gamble there, the odds will certainly be more in your favor.

I purchased the AV 480 a week before Xmas. Despite all of the negative reviews on this product, I have yet to experience any problems. The model has seemlessly recorded several movies and at least twenty CDs. With that said, I have about 72 GB left. I can probably get fifteen more movies and 100 more CDs on it. This product is great. On trips, you no longer need to carry your DVD player, DVDs and MP3 player separately which saves a great deal of packing space. This is the perfect all in one media player.

Also, there have been recent upgrades on this product from the Archos website which may have alleviated any prior snafus.

As the manual suggests, it is best to download Windows Media Player 9. I don't know whether the machine accepts any other players.

First to the folks with hard drive errors (or that wanna bigger HD)... I don't think the HD itself has failed. I sent mine in, had it replaced, got it back, it worked for awhile, and then I started having problems with it again. I really think the problem is that there is no way to do a 'low level' format on the HD - so, if you get a hiccup on it, well, you're toast. I think some of the older firmware versions (it's now up to 3.0) had problems and/or if you don't run it on AC as well as a direct 2.0 USB connection it can introduce this issue. Now, how do you fix it?

I fixed mine (I think) by opening the case (carefully remove the 4 small screws and it'll clamshell open), then you see the HD.

That noise you hear is your warranty voiding, if you still had one...

Carefully disconnect the HD (DON'T PULL THAT RIBBON CABLE!) I used a screwedriver to pry the connector out. Now, if the HD is truly dead, you can buy a new (say 100Gb) 2.5" notebook drive, and just plug it back in. Or, you can attach the HD to your computer (I used a USB to ATA adapter), and then use the OS to low level format it (just don't select 'quick format'). This process will also tell you if it's bad... After it finishes, put it back into the unit, power up/reformat it, and off you go.

Second, on the battery issue, it's 18+ hours on music. Plus, I bought an external battery pack I can run it off of (6V, from Socket). It works quite fine, watched movies for 4 hours+ never ran out...

Finally, for the folks who complained about losing data. IT'S A HARD DRIVE! Hard drives fail. This has nothing to do with this technology!

Make a backup (all my stuff goes onto my computer, and THEN onto the unit, so I have 2 copies). For a recent 2 week trip, I kept 3 copies (1 on camera media, 1 on Archos, and 1 on my notebook).

Good luck!

The Archos AV480 is an excellent product. There is an annoying design flaw, that causes a "Read Access Error" to occur. The Hard Disk Drives are not bad. It seems the disk drive has a rigid connection to the printed circuit board (PCB) instead of a ribbon cable. When the device encounters shock and vibration, the drive can shift and become slightly disconnected. The device needs to be turned off. If it is hung-up, you need to hold the OFF key for about 30 seconds. Hit the archos (Compact Flash port side) against the palm of your hand, then power back up. The force reconnects the drive to the PCB inside. I've had this problem happen about 8 times over 6 months. I discovered it when I was holding the player in my hand one day (luckily the first time it happened to me). I tilted it to the right and the message "Read Access Error" appeared. Then when I tilted it back to the left it started working. I was able to do this a couple of times. It is anoying, but other than that, the features of this product are great. I had a RCA Lyra 2780 before this one, and it puts the Lyra to shame.

Well this is the best.. Nothing even comes closer.

I totally love this. I have had no problems with this and this is working fabulously. I read somewhere that the early batches were faulty and maybe that is what has happened to all the guys who have had these problems. i think they are fixed now but i am keeping my fingers crossed.

It does support real palyer and music match juke box.

There is a group offering help and advice on the Archos products and is highly responsive -
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/archosmultimedia/

I have had this device for almost a year now. I use it almost every day. It boggles the mind how great this is for even the casual commuter--and now that Podcasts are so easy to download, there is such a quick and easy way to access them. First of all, this doesn't have all the DRM issues of Ipod and Itunes. DVDs are a snap to "rip." Whenever we go to friends' houses, we bring the pocket AV adapter--we have a bunch of choices of videos to watch on their TV--it's like walking around with Video-On-Demand. On the subway, the screen is beautiful. Battery life still is strong after all these months. I also have about 5000 songs on the drive, each with album cover art. I know that the first batch of AV480s were defective, but ever since, it seems a rarity that one of these busts (I've dropped mine a lot). Two cons: 1) wish it had games like the Gmini 400, and 2) I wish an AM Tuner existed for it (an FM tuner already does). Read the CNET review--they got it exactly right--this thing is outstanding.

After I did a firmware upgrade, I have had issues with the 480 not remembering my last settings when I turn it off. I send it in to their customer service, that's where the nightmare begins.

I get an email asking for proof of purchase (which UPC code counts for most companies), they require something with date of purchase (real handy for a B-day present) and are not swayed by the logic that it's been out for a year, maybe it falls within the 1 year requirement on the warranty.

I ask for a manager to call me back, that never happens.

I finally call back after 2 weeks and get a manager, he tells me that it will get sent back immediately.

I call back 2.5 weeks later, still hasn't been shipped, no one knows what's going on.