Archos

[quote]

Hi, wanted a few opinions on something.
I'm considering getting an archos 5, a new video player in the archos lineup.
- www.archos.com/products/imt/archos_5/index.html?country=ru&lang=en

But I've also recently been drawn to 'MP4 nation', and was wondering:
Is it really worth paying ~ £150 more for an archos over some chinese player?
- mp4nation.net/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_6&products_id=296

Archos have a brilliant reputation, and this new player is meant to be amazing, but these oh-so-cheap chinese mp4 players on paper do the same as the archos does.
Anyone got an archos? Anyone got a Meizu, Onda, Ramos, Hacha or Gemei ?
Verdicts please, thanks.

 

[nubie]

I don't think those MP4 players even offer the same on paper.

The MP4 player uses a 'rockchip' whereas the Archos has an ARM Cortex at 600mhz with 128MB of Ram.

The Archos claims internet surfing and has 60GB of storage.

QUOTE
In its normal use mode, the ARCHOS 5 being a miniaturized Personal Computer:
Connectivity: On board WiFi (802.11 b/g), USB 2.0 host with optional accessories
PC accessories:

Possible attachment of numerous standard USB PC accessories**** (keyboard, mouse, memory key, memory cards reader, camera and other future computer accessories)



If the Archos is to be believed it will do much more than these MP4 players.

You need to weigh your needs against the features.

(For my money if it was just media I would buy a used Ipod Touch or a Sansa to put Rockbox on though.)

 

[Nova]

You pay the extra for the Archos software on the player. Which will be infinitely better than anything by an (relatively) unknown chinese company.

That said, buy an iPod Touch

 

[PoisonedV]

Archos is awesome, do it. or get a cowon d2

 

[Ravnos]

If you don't need the added capacity of the Archos, which is in my opinion its biggest selling point, then I'd recommend a Cowon over an Archos. The Archos is a better choice than just about any no name Chinese PMP, but Cowon has better codec support and a better track record of not being huge cocksuckers about everything. I like my 605 more than I liked my iPod, but the instant someone comes out with a player that has an 800x480 screen, good support for a large number of codecs, universal mass storage support, half-decent TV out, and a minimum 160GB hard drive, they'll get my money. A user-replaceable battery would also be nice. Cowon and Archos both come close but each misses different marks, so my 605 will have to do for now.

 

[quote]

OK, cheers guys, I'll look into the Cowon.

The reason I'm not getting an iPod touch is that I have a nano already, so this is strictly a video player for me. (and a bit of internet if I'm getting an archos).

 

[eksasol]

QUOTE
the instant someone comes out with a player that has an 800x480 screen, good support for a large number of codecs, universal mass storage support, half-decent TV out, and a minimum 160GB hard drive, they''''''''ll get my money. A user-replaceable battery would also be nice.

Yeah I have a device in mind that some people are working on that can do that, beside the harddrive, but you can always use an external one. or buy a 64gb sdhc.

Still the Archos quite a powerful device. Beside the arm cortex, it also have a 430mhz dsp. But then I guess the Cowon A3 has dual core. All it matted is they can play h.264 videos smoothly. Archos does have flac and OGG support. Last I remembered their paid AAC plugin reeks, I don't know how much they improved it since. I don't use so much of the formats Cowon supports anyway, mp3, aac, and flac are all I want, and AAC alone is all I need. Unless a person is torrenting a bunch of music, he probably wouldn't purposely rip music to all different formats to put in a single device. Although I realize you can buy different formats online, I think ARchos and Cowon does fine in this department. I did tried Archos camera recording feature on an older device, I have to say the quality was actaully pretty decent. I wonder if they still use Hitachi harddrives or switched to a more reliable brand. With all that said I still hold a bit of a grudge against Archos so I'm not likely to buy their product soon.

The Cowon selection are sure confusing to choose from though, but it seem the A3 and O2PMP are the two that support all the newer formats, their older models doesn't really seem to support much more format than Archos either. Interesting to see O2PMP with only 420x272 resolution, but supporting 720p playback. But truthfully, if I have to pick it would have to be the Archos, since it has AAC and H.264 + the internet. Cowon don't have a device right now that has all that in one. Their Q5W has internet, but not AAC and H.264 (I'm getting this from the cowon spec page). Also The joystick on the A3 is alone is enough to turn me off, although it has many other buttons so I guess if you're not so depended on the joystick should be okay, I don't know though, except joystick control is really bad.

I'm still on my sansa e280 with rockbox though, I've growned used to the features so if I have to upgrade it would have to be another rockbox player. I can live with watching tiny videos in mpg format.

 

[Ravnos]

QUOTE
the instant someone comes out with a player that has an 800x480 screen, good support for a large number of codecs, universal mass storage support, half-decent TV out, and a minimum 160GB hard drive, they''''''''ll get my money. A user-replaceable battery would also be nice.

Yeah I have a device in mind that some people are working on that can do that, beside the harddrive, but you can always use an external one. or buy a 64gb sdhc.

Smartass, if the Pandora met all of those requirements, I would have mentioned it. An external hard drive won't fit in my pocket and will require a power supply, and a 64GB SDHC is stupidly expensive. Think before you type.

 

[Chip]

and a 64GB SDHC is stupidly expensive.
So are Archos PMPs