Archos & America

Rafloution

Evening guys & gals

Just a quick question, going to New York next month and I am looking to buy a Archos AV500 30 GB.

Just wondering if this is a good choice and any alternatives you may recommend 30 GB is quite sufficent I hope.
I am really attracted to the fact you can record TV etc but this seems to be the only one that is really highly rated everywhere.
Also would I have any compatibility issues as im buying form the us and bringing it back, apart from the power cord???

Any help would be great.

Thanks

Bard

Have you considered the Cowon A2 - which is also available in 30GB and has an impressive set of features and specifications ...?

Flankerb

Hi, I bought the 60gig version in curry's 2 weeks ago for 450 euro's.
Great machine the best gadget ever. It has an IR Output so it can change channels on your TV/SKy and set up automatic recording. I had an old DV camcorder tape was wrecked on it but it had av outputs which I can connect into my av560 travel cable and I have a camcorder that now records straight to digital format.

muckwarrior

Flankerb wrote:

Hi, I bought the 60gig version in curry's 2 weeks ago for 450 euro's.

That sounds like a great price actually!

Rafloution

Im actually worried more about compatibiliity issues as im buying from America.
I know the power lead will be a problem but can be sorted easily.
But is there anything else im overlooking?

Oh and 450 Euros is a great price i presume it is not the av500 or av 700??

muckwarrior

Like you said, the charger issue can be easily sorted. The other thing you might wanna look into is PAL compatibility. Find out if there's different versions for NTSC and PAL. I'd suspect not though.

Rafloution

Sorry just read his post and he has the av560 effing cheap too its gonna cost me 400 dollars for the 20 gig version.

Oh and check this here is the spec for the archos is says at the bottom ntsc/pal think i might be ok

http://www.archos.com/products/tv_centric/av_500/tech_specs.html?country=ie&lang=en

There is also something about scart issues European only ....im lost
if someone could have a read and give it me in English i would be very grateful

Thanks

muckwarrior

As far as i can see, it just says that Euro versions come with a scart cable along with/instead of the AV cables. In other words your american one won't come with a scart cable.

muckwarrior

Flankerb wrote:

Hi, I bought the 60gig version in curry's 2 weeks ago for 450 euro's.

Anyone know if this is still available? If I knew I could get a 60 gig one at that price i wouldn't have ordered a Zen Vision:M

Rafloution

I can do better then an av500 here is an av700 40 gb 470Euros

not bad

http://www.shopireland.ie/electronics/detail/B0009MUDF6/Archos-AV700-40GB-Harddisk-Mpeg4/

muckwarrior

Rafloution wrote:

I can do better then an av500 here is an av700 40 gb 470Euros

not bad

http://www.shopireland.ie/electronics/detail/B0009MUDF6/Archos-AV700-40GB-Harddisk-Mpeg4/

Yeah, but the av700 is frickin huge. Too big to carry around as an mp3 player, whereas the 500 you'd just about get away with.

Flankerb

The AV560 comes with RCA cables and scart adapters I would say the american 1 just comes with RCA cables the scart adapters can be bought in game for a 10euro's. Here is another handy hint PSP USB cables the one with power can connect up the Archos AV560 to your PC and charge it at the same time.;) I just got my av travel adapter ( needed for using with helmet cam) This is an amazing gadget little bit bulky but can do so much more than video ipod or creative zen vision also comes with usb input port so you can hook up ordinary usb card readers or digital cameras. Karl

Flankerb

You can switch between PAL and NTSC. My old DV camera shoots in NTSC but I play it in PAL format from the ARCHOS.:D

Rafloution

cheers dude great help.......now need to sort the old scart cables out.

Also is there any 3rd party software to enhance it anyway??