Considering taking the plunge and buying an Archos 7 pmp. I just wondered if anyone had any experience of these devices. I've had a bit of a play with an Archos 5 and the picture quality is really good.

I've tried watching fillums on the piephone but the screen is just a little bit too small for my old man eyes. It's more suited to Tv episodes IMHO.

There's a new Archos 5g out which can take a sim card and connect to 3G for browsing on the move, but I would rather sacrifice the 3G for a bigger screen. It does have wifi after all.

Any major issues that we know of with Archos?

What you gonna actually use it for? Reason I ask is that I can never really see the point of devices like this, as they seem to fill such a small niche. On the portability scale you have the smartphones at one end, and Netbooks at the other.

Am I missing something?

Steve

I see what you mean. I do wonder whether it would end up in the cupboard gathering dust. The main use for it would be for watching fillums on holiday and for long car journeys.

The main advantage is you can plug it into a Sky box and record your favourite progs straight onto the device without messing about with conversion software and Tv cards etc.

I'm sure there's a way of recording straight onto a laptop but I don't know how to do it. I still have my Eee pc 900 but the graphics card is a bit crap and the storage is just as bad.

I think (don't take as gospel) that you have to buy lots of separate codecs to get the Archos video players working with the more common formats for video.

I don't know if this is still the case but something to investigate.

Review: The Archos 7 Internet Media Tablet | Just Another Mobile Monday

My freind has one and he swears by it, he thinks its great..........so I took the plunge and bought one from QVC. First impression great!! new toy, but after a couple of days I got bored with it. the game package that came with it was useless, you had to buy updates etc, etc couldn`t get it to record virgin cable....only tressterial 1-5 channels, in the end sent it back, thank god it was on a 30day trail...not for me. But each to there own, expensive bit of kit thou....YOU have to ask yourself what will it be use for and WILL you get value for money?? Advise wait until the next showing on QVC and try it frist normally on a 30day trail

My friend has one and he swears by it, he thinks its great..........so I took the plunge and bought one from QVC. First impression great!! new toy, but after a couple of days I got bored with it. the game package that came with it was useless, you had to buy updates etc, etc couldn`t get it to record virgin cable....only tressterial 1-5 channels, in the end sent it back, thank god it was on a 30day trail...not for me. But each to there own, expensive bit of kit thou....YOU have to ask yourself what will it be use for and WILL you get value for money?? Advice wait until the next showing on QVC and try it frist normally on a 30day trail

My friend has one and he swears by it, he thinks its great..........so I took the plunge and bought one from QVC. First impression great!! new toy, but after a couple of days I got bored with it. the game package that came with it was useless, you had to buy updates etc, etc couldn`t get it to record virgin cable....only tressterial 1-5 channels, in the end sent it back, thank god it was on a 30day trail...not for me. But each to there own, expensive bit of kit thou....YOU have to ask yourself what will it be use for and WILL you get value for money?? Advice wait until the next showing on QVC and try it frist normally on a 30day trail

Dont know how I got this up a second time.....Maybe its telling you something

Cheers Aspman, good balanced review there. There is quite a bit of tweaking that can be done.... apparently WinXP and different versions of Linux can be installed. I'm a bit concerned about codec support, but I think I'm swayed towards buying one, there are some quite good deals out there just now, QVC are really expensive compared to some of the internet deals I've seen.

What sort of cash are we talking?

Steve

You can get a 320Gb 7 for about £300, or the cheapest I've seen it in the states is £209 ($350). I might wait until I go to new York in October, but I worry about the warranty being honoured over here.

I own a much older version of the Archos Range (700TV) and it's a good device, but not without flaws.

As i travel around a fair bit, its good to watch a film whilst travelling, and although you can do this on Ipods/MP3 players and mobile phones these days, they do impress a bit more when you bring it out of your hand luggage and fire it up

I have also found the built in freeview a good addition, and being able to record directly on the device is handy too.

The aerials that come with it are useless, and might as well not be there, so either a decent portable aerial is needed, or access to a proper socket in a house.

The games are ridiculously sib standard. Think Commodore.... enough said.

Updates (for mine) have been non existant. In fact, Archos have forgotten they made my model looking at the website.

A few things that i thought could be improved are:

Sound. The volume through the built in speakers is pathetic, and some decent speakers (amplified) are needed if you plan to watch it in a room with a few people in. Or decent headphones.

Battery life. Wathing a pre-recorded film or TV programe, it lasts for about 3 hours (my version), but watching Freeview TV.... 30-45 mins max! It also gets VERY hot when its used for freeview.

Controls. The controls take a bit of getting used to. In some menu screens you use the buttons on the left hand side, but on other menu screens you use the control buttons on the right. This can frustrate you when you exit instead of playing something.

I know this is a much older device, and probably quite different, but those are my findings on my version.

i haven't used mine in a while if i'm honest, but thats due to a change of circumstances, not because of the device not being up to the job.

I recently watched a film on my Ipod touch, and i found the Archos a nicer screen to watch films on, so i won't be getting rid of it in a hurry.

Well, I've decided against buying an Argos 7 after all. I just don't think I'll get the use out of it. The Piephone will have to make do for the times that some visual entertainment is in order.

As is the way, the stereo in the bedroom has packed up, so I'm using the Argos money to fund one of these instead:

Yamaha DTA

Nice looking Yamaha that. A better use of the cash IMO

Steve