Reviews of all that's new and shiny
Archos AV 700 TV
Mobile DVR
OK, so you want Freeview TV in your hand - no problem. You also want to be able to receive all the Freeview channels while you're out and about? No problem. What about recording? What you really want is to be able to record from Freeview to a whopping 100GB built-in HD. What about when there's nothing on the TV? What you need for those all-too-frequent moments is to be able to watch WMV movies that you have loaded onto that same 40GB disk.
Well, with the Archos AV700 you can do all that and more. I must say, here at the Gadget Patch we're impressed. The most impressive part of the package isn't any of the features above but the fact that this little gizmo can receive good quality signals and produce a good picture just about anywhere - even while being used to entertain the otherwise-fidgetty passengers in a car on the motorway! It does this by utilising a pair of tuners. That's right - what's better than one good receiver? Answer: two good receivers hooked up to clever signal boosting and image-processing technology. The result is that you'd be hard-pressed to lose a signal and miss the best bits of your favourite soap.
What we really like best about this little toy is the way you can connect it to just about anything ... except the fridge - we did try and it didn't work :(. It will connect to your PC, your TV, your flat-screen, your hi-fi, your MP3 player, even your camera for goodness sake! The way the boffins at Archos have managed to give you all this flexibility is by putting a USB host port on there. The important word here is host, which means it's like the port on your PC so you can plug in any USB device you have that acts as a mass storage device - genius!
This little handset not only provides 16:9 wide-screen delights in your hand when you're on the go but when you're at home you can also plug it into your home-cinema kit for the full effect. While it's plugged in to your home set-up why not use it to record direct from your TV, satellite receiver, VCR or DVD player - this proves to be such an easy way to load the AV700 with hours of video for watching while you're on the move.
When recording you have two options: you can either record instantly with one-touch record or use scheduled recording just like a regular video recorder.
And, its joys are not limited to video. Load the hard disk with photos and it's a photo wallet; throw a couple of gig of MP3 at it and it's a music player; put a Morphun™ game on there and it's a games console. It even lets you plug your camera directly into it for getting those photos loaded. That's something that comes in very handy when you're out and about with your camera and you've got a couple of gig of the best photos you've ever taken - now you don't have to worry about corrupting your memory card, just pull out your AV700 and back the pics up! Easy!
Now for this type of device one of the important factors is battery life. All that disk activity and screen driving can sap the power. According to Archos these batteries will give you 3.5 hours of viewing time - just about enough for a couple of movies - before you have to recharge. That's just about alright we think - more would always be nicer but you'd have to pay for it in increased size and weight. All in all, 3.5 hours is probably a good comprimise. You could always buy a spare battery if 3.5 hours just isn't enough for you.
The screen is a nice 7" wide variety - good and bright, as it should be, and clear too.
You can choose either a 40GB HD or a 100GB HD (that's enough for 250 movies!!!).
Getting WMV movies onto the Archos is a cinch. Simply plug into your PC and sychronise the WMV files on your PC with the hard disk in the AV700.
This little handful of entertainment technology will set you back a cool £315 for the 40GB version and up to £500 for the 100GB. As long as you're prepared to pay this kind of money, the AV700 will provide you with all the TV-based connectivity you want.
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