Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Hi there,
There is an issue with role permissions that is being worked on at the moment.
If you are having trouble with access or permissions on regional forums please post here to get access: https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058365403/you-do-not-have-permission-for-that#latest

Archos 605 or Cowon A3

  • 04-02-2008 3:52pm
    #1
    Posts: 18,962 ✭✭✭✭


    Looking for an opinion as to which of these is the one to go for as my next mp3/media player....


Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,006 ✭✭✭✭callaway92


    Id go with the Arcon myself..then again...i might go for the Cowon...¬¬
    ¬


  • Posts: 18,962 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    callaway92 wrote: »
    Id go with the Arcon myself..then again...i might go for the Cowon...¬¬
    ¬

    thanks for the insight dude


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,362 ✭✭✭Hitman Actual


    I had the same dilemma about a month ago, but eventually went with the A3, and am delighted with it. It's an awesome player with brilliant sound (if you have decent headphones of course) and video playback. What really made the decision for me in the end is that for the Archos you have to buy loads of add-ons to get the full potential of the player (docking station, etc), which I think is just a con job. Read the Archos spec, and see how often the word "optional" comes up.

    So I'm not that familiar with the Archos, but I think the Cowon has advantages in the following areas (I stand to be corrected by the Archos owners, of course!):

    - Supports practically every music/video format under the sun. And supports MPEG4/H.264, although this seems to be buggy in the early firmware.
    - Higher resolution video supported, I think.
    - Better battery life, by all accounts, although still not great (You'll do well to get more than 10hours a day with a mix of video/music playing).
    - No expensive (or stupid) add-ons required, what you see is what you get.
    - FM radio, which is something I wanted.
    - Surprisingly cheap in Ireland (relatively speaking). I picked up the 60GB version in Peats for €350.

    Some problems with the A3/Cowon in general:
    - Smaller screen. But the A3screen is fine, I have no problems with screen size or resolution. Video playback is excellent.
    - Direct AV/S-video recording (i.e. TV, etc) is in ASF format. I'm finding this difficult to convert to AVI. Even viewing the files on a PC took me a while to work out.
    - Navigation through the menus is quite slow, i.e. there is a lag of about half a second to a second when you press a button. This doesn't sound like much, but it is annoying and takes getting used to.
    - No Wifi/Web Browser. I'm not sure how good this is on the Archos anyway. Plus it's an add-on for that as well.
    - No case supplied.
    - Early firmware versions tend to be quite buggy in most of their players.
    - Cowon support is poor in Europe, which may be a problem if something goes wrong out of warranty.

    If I think of anything else, I'll let you know.


  • Posts: 18,962 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    cheers lenny - that's very helpful. can I just ask you something about the recording capabilities:

    - can you schedule recordings for a date and time and a particular channel?
    - would it record straight from an aerial / cable input or does it need to go through a tuner first?

    From what I hear the Archos wifi is a bit of a gimmick. Most small devices that have wifi have crap reception. You can use it as a media streamer but I don't really need that.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,362 ✭✭✭Hitman Actual


    glasso wrote: »
    cheers lenny - that's very helpful. can I just ask you something about the recording capabilities:

    - can you schedule recordings for a date and time and a particular channel?

    Sort of. It does timed recordings, but it doesn't have any capability to control the device (Sky Box, DVD, whatever) that is sending it the data. You just connect the player via standard composite/S-video cables, and it records what it sees. But it doesn't have any way to, say, change the channel of a Sky Box. It's a completely one-way data comms.
    glasso wrote: »
    - would it record straight from an aerial / cable input or does it need to go through a tuner first?

    It definitely can't handle direct aerial/cable signals, unless there is some adapter card I haven't heard of. It can basically only record any signal which is transmitted from composite/S-video ports.

    There is, however, a DVB-T tuner module that you can buy which (in theory) will display digitally-broadcast terrestrial signals, but at the moment you can only get the four main Irish channels in certain areas (Dublin and Louth). I wrote a mini-review here. The results are patchy at best so far. This has a built-in EPG for recording programmes.


  • Advertisement
  • Posts: 18,962 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    hi - is that tuner cowon specific - how much does it go for?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,362 ✭✭✭Hitman Actual


    Yes, it is Cowon-specific, and the only place I've seen it is here for €81+PP. But I really don't think it's worth buying at the moment, for the following reasons:

    1. I haven't been able to get stable reception, although I'm not close to the two main DVB transmitters (Three Rock in Dublin, and Clermont Carn in Louth, near the border).

    2. If you do manage to get stable reception, you'll only have the four main Irish channels (although you should also have about 10 radio stations as well).

    3. I'm not sure how good the built-in EPG S/W is.

    4. The DVB-T broadcast is only a trial. According to the tech-heads over on the Terrestrial forum, it's still unclear when/how the official roll-out will happen. So the tuner could become unusable at any time.


  • Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 7,423 Mod ✭✭✭✭pleasant Co.


    glasso wrote: »
    hi - is that tuner cowon specific - how much does it go for?

    Well you don't need the tuner to record from a TV or off a DVD player of course.. I'm only mentioning this because I'm not too sure if you're clear on that or not..


  • Posts: 18,962 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    the main reason that I would be interested in a tuner / other is that otherwise there doesn't seem to be a way to schedule recordings from a specific channel - that's one advantage that the archos does have - it definitely has tv scheduling - would need to check that Uk/Ire programming is supported.


  • Subscribers Posts: 32,859 ✭✭✭✭5starpool


    If you have NTL then you won't be able to schedule recordings with the Archos, with SKY you might, although you can't download an Ireland specific EPG, only a UK one, so you might not be able to use that either, at least not on the channels that are different, e.g. all the terresterial Irish and English stations. Maybe someone might be able to correct me on that though as I have NTL only sadly.


  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,117 ✭✭✭✭MrJoeSoap


    I have the Archos 605 160gb about two weeks now (previously had an Archos AV400 series) and have been quite impressed with it. Have never really had a problem with them as a brand and I think the world of my little device. I don't really care much for the EPG as I'm not a huge television watcher (mainly sports, but I tend to know when they are on anyway) but I downloaded a UK one and added Irish channels to it easily enough just to see what the fuss was about. I've only ever recorded normally (as in not pre-programmed) anyway so don't want to comment too much about the EPG.

    I tend to record ice-hockey a lot, which is generally considered a tough sport to follow on normal tv's, but the quality on the Archos is sensational, especially for a touch-screen device that you would expect to have fingerprints all over it. There is a great viewing range and glare isn't usually a problem. I bring it into work and watch a few games with the device charging off the USB port, and it has a handy little stand built-in which is a big improvement from my previous Archos, though so simple at the same time!


  • Posts: 18,962 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    MrJoeSoap wrote: »
    I've only ever recorded normally (as in not pre-programmed) anyway so don't want to comment too much about the EPG.

    I tend to record ice-hockey a lot, which is generally considered a tough sport to follow on normal tv's, but the quality on the Archos is sensational, especially for a touch-screen device that you would expect to have fingerprints all over it. There is a great viewing range and glare isn't usually a problem. I bring it into work and watch a few games with the device charging off the USB port, and it has a handy little stand built-in which is a big improvement from my previous Archos, though so simple at the same time!

    any chance of trying the EPG to see if it works? Also - where did you buy it?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,117 ✭✭✭✭MrJoeSoap


    glasso wrote: »
    any chance of trying the EPG to see if it works? Also - where did you buy it?

    It works in the sense that I can get the listings every day for most channels, but I can't programme something to record.

    I bought it on Pixmania, roughly €460 or so with the docking station (which I feel is an absolute must)


  • Posts: 18,962 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    MrJoeSoap wrote: »
    It works in the sense that I can get the listings every day for most channels, but I can't programme something to record.
    QUOTE]

    bothering you again - are you saying that you can get EPG but that it doesn't work?!


  • Posts: 18,962 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    Decided to go for the Archos 160gb in the end - bigger capacity and if that wifi actually works that might be useful. Cowon dosn't use id3 tags also which is a bit of a pain. Have a usb tv card that records from tv with channel scheduling so will keep using that instead of recording to archos...


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,117 ✭✭✭✭MrJoeSoap


    glasso wrote: »
    bothering you again - are you saying that you can get EPG but that it doesn't work?!

    I can get an EPG to a certain extent, in other words I can get the tv listings, but I can't programme anything to record off it. If someone knows how, let me know!


Advertisement