Customer Reviews

Archos TV+ 80 GB (Silver)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This is a digital media player for your home entertainment center. It has the same operating system as the Archos portable video players (like the 605 wifi). It has all of the formats of AV inputs that you would need but you can only use one at a time which can be a pain if you want to switch. It can play a wide variety of file formats as well (just like the 605). You will need to buy two plugins in order to play MPEG2 with AC3 audio and H264 files. Yes it does play XVID/DIVX.

For me, the main selling point for this unit is the network connectablity. I plugged in an Ethernet cable (it has wifi as well, but that's slower) and it lets me browse the other computers on my network just like the explorer in windows. I can then play any media file I find videos, music, or pictures. You can also use the media sharing feature of Windows Media Player 11 and share network files that way as well. This lets me us this unit as my own on demand system. I can dump all the videos we want to watch over the next few months and have them in neatly organized folders. The kids can have their movies all in one place and watch all the SpongeBob they want. I plan to have all our Christmas movies dumped and on the unit so we don't have to hunt for them next year.

Archos TV can record form an external sources as well, but I already have a PVR for that, so I won't be using it. It uses an IR blaster type setup to control the cable/satellite box for recording. You get one year of free program guides when you register.

Notes:
- You will need to update to the latest firmware before you do anything else. I couldn't get the auto update to work the first time so you may have to download the firmware via a computer and move it over to the unit.
- I had trouble getting a thumb drive to work in the USB port. I think it pulled too much power. My Archos 504 hooked up no problem. I'm sure any powered USB drive will work fine.
- When you browse your network for the first time, it will take a long time for it to find other computers on the network. Just let it search. Mine took about 30 minutes. After that, it finds them instantly.
- Just like the 605 you have to bookmark videos manually in order to come back and resume were you left off. It will do just one video automatically. This will be lost when you play another video though. I requested an auto-bookmark feature but who knows if they will look into it.
- You can copy files to the unit through the network connection, or by using a USB cable. The unit shows up on your computer as a Drive.
- It can play VOB files from DVDs you own. If you hook up the SPDIF cable, you will get Dolby Digital AC3 sound.
- This is a new unit and they are working on fixing bugs as they are found. It's not going to be perfect for a little while. It is very cool though.

For the most part, the product does what it the description states. Set up is not intuitive but not that hard just follow the downloaded users manaual because the one that comes with is not very detailed. My biggest dispointment is of the picture quaility of some of the recorded playback can be grainy depending on the station. I have mine connected to a vcr/dvd player since I don't use cable boxes to get my cable and the archos does not have a built in tuner. some of the features cost extra, for example browsing the net or some of the widgits. In all, I spent about $70 to get the extra plug-ins.

First saw news of this device on G4 at CES and couldn't wait to get my hands on one. Thankfully in early January it was ready for purchase on amazon..it was on pre-order...but in stock from Ritzcamera through Amazon so I bit the bullet.

Ritzcamera did a good job of packaging/shipping to protect from damage and was in my hands pretty fast...so ritzcamera gets a thumbs up from me.

Having used the device for a few weeks now...I can say this is a great media device at a reasonable price, here are some Pro's and Con's for others considering the product might find helpful:

PROs:
- Plays Divx/Xvid/Avi/Mp3/Jpeg...etc.
- Plays & Records Audio/Video
- Small in size but Big in quality and features.
- 80 Gig internal hard drive
- WiFi or ethernet media Streaming from PC
- DVR with guide for recording of TV shows
- USB 2.0 for external HDD
- HDMI connection
- optional plug-ins..Internet browsing
- Quality of Audio/Video playback is FANTASTIC!
- QWERTY Remote
- Possibly future-proof..at least 2-3 years with firmware upgrades
- Free access to Dailymotion plus other items in content portal
- Recorded DVR shows are good quality and files are Avi for easy PC Transfer
- Price is reasonable compared to other media extending devices

CONs
- Additional $20 cost for optional multimedia plug-in that plays higher quality Divx/Xvid's
- Additional cost for other optional plug-ins
- YouTube not yet availiable on content portal...maybe in the future
- DVR not as good as cable company DVR...yet


Overall this is a great product from a respectable company...for those that have gig's of Divx/Xvid/Mp3's and photos on their PC's and want to watch them on their TV, this product is the best on the market...so far.

As for the few negative comments...they seem to be highly biased towards the Apple TV...anyway, hardware build quality is solid, manual easily understandable...and when I first set it up I had to call Tech support and was Not on hold more than 5 min.

Best of all...NO more stacks of wasteful, costly, time consuming burning of DVDR's

Hope this helps!

I wanted to replace a VCR with a simple DVR that did not require a monthly payment for service. The Archos TV+ met all my needs. It is simple to set up (use the online PDF manual) and record to your hearts content.

i bought this unit to use it as a dvr. The guide is easy to use. The unit came very quickly in the mail and works fine. it is very easy to transfer recorded video from the archos to my mac and pc just drag and drop. The guide only costs 20 bucks a year a good reason to use it and save money instead of a tivo.

This is what AppleTV should/could have been.The Archos records audio and video, is UPnP compliant, electronic program guide, file server, network media playback, and just has too many great features to list. Hollywood is going to hate this product, hurry and get one.

I picked this up from a great new seller on Amazon ,Singularity Products used. It was just like new.User guide,power supply,cables and all.I'm not new to Archos products but had seen so many bad reviews of Archos TV I held off buying.I took some time to read more reviews from other sites on the net that compared it to the Ruko and Apple TV.While not a Ruko or Apple the reviews talked about how good the picture quality was.I'm not sure if it's true HD. but it's DVD quality at worst.I tried it on all 3 of my TV's and the picture looked great. With the Archos TV you get a 80 or 250 gig dvr and A streaming media player.You can stream most file on your network(using UPnp) pc's or hard drives but some will require A $20 plugin from Archos.I say buy the cinema and the video podcast plugins and maybe wait on any others.If you buy this product please take the time to read the user guide and go to the Archos fan forum it will help you more than I can say.One of the best features of this player is streaming movies from the net which you can do from Cinema Now and others. You can also purchase and download to the device.It also has a built in file serve which lets you play or transfer and file from the player to and pc(no cables needed).You can also record all your movies and shows from your cable or satellite box right to this device. You will need to manually program the player because Archos scheduler is out for now. If you have a Playon account(if you don't know what Playon is... Google it) you can stream sites like Hulu,Netkix and more.This player is from 2008 and doesn't have the fastest processor so the quality deepens on your network speed(slow net=poor quality with any device). Not a Ruko,not a Apple but at the right price... I SAY BUY

I purchased this device nearly 6 months ago and have NEVER been able to use the TV program guide. When I bought it, the store was going out of business - so I was stuck. I was told by tech support several times that the server is down and will be back soon. Either the server is down EVERY SINGLE TIME I CHECK IT - or they're liars. The simplest explanation is often the most true. This product is useless to me without that feature. Beware when you buy. If you don't need to use it as a DVR - it might be OK for you. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone.

This is the worse product ever. It works fine physically and you can watch movies that you convert, download, etc as long as they are of a certain format but if you would like to use it as a DVR and record TV you are out of luck.

The worse one is that they advertise on their site that you can record using a local directory. You know pick a directory, hit record and it put's in everything for you. Well that is not working and has not been working for months. The reply from their tech support is "I have been told the service will be unavailable for a while. I'm sorry for the inconvenience.". Translation for Archos of a while is usually 2-6 months.

Originally when I bought it I was stuck without a directory for 2 months, they finally got it going. I then switched providers last month and for a month I get the same reply back, in fact that option has been removed from the user options on their web page.

The other thing is that this device does not control certain devices. What I mean is that it will not turn on certain devices in particularly the Motorola devices from Verizon FIOS. Which means you either leave your cable box on all the time or you are stuck with a dust magnet sitting in your entertainment center.

DO NOT BUY!

I purchased an 80gb Archos TV+ in April 08, no issues as of yet, The 2nd one i purchased was 250gb in Oct. 08. The products both work fine, until the 250gb would not boot in Sept 09. First time anything has crapped out before the warranty has expired. Contacting Archos was a nightmare. The 250gb hard drive had Obviously stopped working, or a power supply issue was going on. Any owner of this product can tell You when booting the hard drive is very Audible. 26 Days later I am still waiting for archos to get back to me with A SHIPPING LABEL for my product! The DEMANDED my proof of purchase! I e-mailed it and faxed it 2 days later. The tech guy stated it would Take a few days, but they WILL NOT ACKNOWLEDGE the received my E-mail or Fax. I call daily! and am told the same thing "It might be here, but i cant tell you for sure". How many warranty issues do they have!!? Is there only one person working these? I WILL NEVER RECOMMEND THIS PRODUCT JUST BASED ON THE CUSTOMER CARE ASPECT! THE HARD DRIVE IS NOT CHANGEABLE! The rigged it that way. No hi-def planned for the HDMI interface.. I have recommended this in the past, even bought as gifts for parents / siblings but never again based on there need to SHIRK RESPONSIBILITY!