Archos AV500 30 GB Multimedia Player and DVR

I got both archos av500 and cowon a2, cowon is a better choice for overall expectation, only thing archos over cowon would be the Look(Digital Camera alike) Glossy screen shaper image and video but would be easy to left thumb print, sound whise is average not nearly as good as cowon, no tuner, battery life is half of cowon a2, so i telling u cowon is better than this overall, cowon own this one otherword, get this one if u must insist u wanna tivo alike schedulo otherwise no reason why archos over cowon, *cowon has superior sound, support alot more file just drag and paste, radio tuner, nice case etc..* This thing cost almost the same as cowon so another reason. I would gave a 4 star when this thing is out at first but now cowon turn the table around.

This is an outstanding device and priced just appropriately. It is extemely easy to connect to a TV or DVR as I have mine connected to auxillary jacks from the TV set. The TV recordings are as good as my Scientific Atlanta DVR. The schedule component is also quite easy to use for recording future events. The key is to use the controls on the side of the device and verify the times input. I have not used the infrared device so I can not comment on this. For shows shown in regular TV format, by switching to maximize the video (in video format) from auto you can stretch the picture to fit the screen. With AXA DVD ripping software, I can easily rip DVDs to watch at a future date, which I did on our recent trip. Synchronizing with Windows Media Player is as easy as putting the DVD on the sych list and opening Windows Media Player. The screen is superb and the playback clarity as good as anything I have witnessed.My family has owned four different Archos products and have never had any problem with the quality of the products thus I can't comment on their techicial support and problems folks have had with this. However, I would look past the idiots here who seem to post for every Archos product about the support and focus on what I consider to be the best PVR for the money available.

I bought this item a few month ago, at the time on Archos' webpage for this item it claims you can attach a digital minicam to it and record live video clips, I have other devices that does exactly what Archos AV500 does, and 80% of the reason I bought AV500 is because of the minicam.After I got the AV500, made sure everything works correctly, I placed an order via their web store for a digital minicam, now a few month later they sent me an email saying they are not selling the minicam anymore. Now, I didn't exactly check their webstore everyday, but I doubt that the digicam for AV500 was ever sold in the U.S., yet they advertise that item as a feature of AV500 on the U.S. website. And they are still selling PAL version of the digicam all over Europe.The charger mysteriously stopped working after a month, actually it'd work for about 10 seconds right after you plug it in, then it'd stop charging, I am no expert but it looks like there is a bad capacitor in there, I didn't bother to look for the warrenty papers, instead I place an order online for the charger, that item, too... took them literally months to ship.I don't have any problem with that product, it just that without the digicam they cheated out of me, it's just another personal DVR like the others I have... now it's just sitting there collecting dust.

A very beautiful and inteligently built mp3 and pvp. very sharp picture and colors are really great to enjoy but.........but bad and discouraging thing about it comes with a full sized remote without markings, u keep guessing which button does what function and the other thing is its disk type docking station and with that u can not stand straight your DVR on yr table or on top of yr TV or any other surface and in that case your remote wont take any command either and thirdly connecting cables for docking station to TV,VCR,DVD are so short u may need to put your docking station very close to out signals of TV,VCR,DVD or whatever to make it work and lastly battery life is 8 to 10 hours at the most and not as claimed 17 hours. If u buy it buy additional battery for sure...........I returned the item after 10 days, what will u do i wont comment.......very plus of it is quick and easy vedio or audio recording from any source.... and despite of all shortcomings I give it 4 star rating hoping that manufacturer will remove them which is very posssible to make it loveable of every one.