iRiver PMP-100 or Archos AV400?

[bulleke]

Which one should I take the Archos or iRiver?
I don't care about he price

Archos
-------
Can record from tv
Has a handy interface
Displays cover art
You can edit music on it (cut and paste pieces)
Displays thumbnails
You can create, rename, cope and delete maps on it
Rename ,copy and delete files
It has many options (background, colours,...)
You can easly make playlists
Handy music modes (play all mp3 in map, random, play 1 mp3 and stop)

iRiver
-----
Nice looking interface
FM radio
Read text-files
USB
*You guys should know the rest *

[Astec]

The Archos range has serious problems with playback, Simon D will attest to that and if you think iRiver has problems regarding RMAing units then take a look at archos for some interesting figures.

Decide it on a matter of what you need, would like, are interesting show off items, and plainly just will not care about. Assign a value to each one and then calculate which machine suits you best. For me the iRiver PMP 140 suits more as I have broadband so no need for TV recording if I miss the latest Dr. Who or anything for that matter that was on I download it, watch it and delete it. Its easier to do on the PC, plus I can still take my PMP away with me at the end and not have to leave it plugged into a TV. The av in is like a video recorder but the machine isnt one of these so I would rather record the TV in another way and if I go out (Usually the reason for recording in the first place) I still have my player with me to enjoy.

[TT4079]

I had 3 of the archos 480s. Finally decided to go for the iriver pmp140. I am much happier with the Iriver.

I found the archos to be buggy, crashing a lot and not playing a majority of my files. I would certainly recommend the Iriver over Archos.

[Astec]

I had 3 of the archos 480s. Finally decided to go for the iriver pmp140. I am much happier with the Iriver.

I found the archos to be buggy, crashing a lot and not playing a majority of my files. I would certainly recommend the Iriver over Archos.

Which is a shame really for the Archos models as they are superior in their feature set due to Archos having made more models than other companies but they just have not learnt that the bugs are also part of the problem not just the features. I was really tempted by one but its just the buggyness of them that turned me away the PMP has a lot fewer flaws.

[takeapu78]

I'm researching pvp's and was wondering what about the archos was unstable? The only complaint I've really heard was that one cannot multitask. For example, one cannot look at photos while listening to music, which is a big oversight in design. Regardless, the archos has a dock and video input. I realize that the video input on the pvp sucks in comparison to one on a computer, but I can't lug my computer everywhere I go.

I am curious about why the archos didn't play a majority of the files whereas the Iriver did. I would assume that the reason that your Iriver player worked was because of software available, i.e. iRiverter. From the reviews I've read, archos has more codecs than the other pvp's (creative and rca).

Does the iRiver pmp allow one to look at photos while listening to music? Is there anyone out there who can hack a video input onto the pmp?

[enewmen]

TT4037:

Please tell me more why the PMP is better than the Archos AV480. What kinds of files have problems playing on the Archos?? I want to know the whole story.

thanks!!

I personally think the Gmini400 is a better match for the PMP because both can play video but can't record video.

[Astec]

Does the iRiver pmp allow one to look at photos while listening to music?

No it cant

Is there anyone out there who can hack a video input onto the pmp?

No this would require new firmware and modifying the hardware.

The bugs are too numerous to mention, things like the display going weird, songs playing back badly, video sync problems that are extreem. iriverter is only one thing we can use and the Archos has just as much equipment to encode specifically for it than most other PVPs. It may have more codecs but in the end most stuff needs to be passed through encoding to make it take up less space so it serves little purpose if you need to do that as all the files will be in one format already. That said very few legal videos I downloaded where unable to play on the PMP and most where strange sizes. Plus the fact that having them available does not mean it can decode them properly which the Archos model tended to have.

[takeapu78]

Thanks Astec123 for answering my questions. I am getting closer to making a decision. I am curious about the problems with music playback. I haven't really heard about music malfunctioning in the Archos. Do the music problems occur because of a specific file type, like .wma or .mp3?

Do you know if the problems with the Archos is because of the programming, hardware, or because or incompatibility issues with codecs? Or all of the above?

Just to make sure, you said that you had very few problems with the iRiver and iRiverter, right?

[SimonD]

Just to add something here.

I have owned both the AV420 and the iRiver PMP's (120 and 140). I owned the AV420 first and because of my experiences with it I moved onto the PMP.

When I first got the AV420 I loved it, the look and feel of the device is all there, it looks professional and feels solid in the hand, all round I was really pleased with it. When I turned it on I loved the UI of it, again it was really simple to use and I was pleased with it. Because I am a tinkerer I upgraded the firmware on it to the latest versions and carried on using it for a while. Now I wasn't using this device for music, infact its only recently that I got myself a large capacity MP3 player (Lounge Grey H10) and I only ripped my cd's when I got that. My reason for the AV420 was purely watching video content on the move. I travelled a lot on the train, sometimes for hours at a time and rather than taking a book with me I liked the option of watching my favourite tv programs (don't get me wrong I love reading but there are times when light hearted tv works better than a book).

I didn't use the AV for ripping off the tv, I actually got my rips from the 'shudder' net.
These were all preripped divx files that I reencoded using V-Dub or DrDivx or PDE (during that time I learn alot about encoding) and for a time I was happy with the AV (I was using the Divx5.11 codec) Unfortunately something happened that caused all of my encoded programs to lose sync. I did a lot of testing and worked out that it was likely due to an incompatibility with the firmware and the codec, Archos don't actually licence the Codec engine from Divx so it's likely that when Divx updated their codec to 5.2 they changed something that the Archos couldn't work with.

Needless to say I now had a device that gave me content that had slight syncing issues, now these issues started getting to me, so much that I bookended the Archos and purchased the PMP.

The PMP was great, it played all of the content perfectly and I was happy, infact I was so happy with the PMP that when I smashed up my PMP140 I purchased a new PMP120 for spare parts. Unfortunately though, iRiver then upgraded their Encoder to only work with the 5.2 codec, in my defence I didn't actually use the encoder but I had it installed on my PC, at the time I had only been using the 5.11 encoding codec but when I installed the update it over wrote it and upgraded it to 5.2. It now meant that all new content had that slight sync creep into it.

Since that time I haven't really used the PMP too much, not because of that issue as such (I had preencoded content that still works a treat on it) but because I am away in India and using my laptop to watch content instead.

One bit of advice, out of the two I would really use the PMP over the AV4, I am not too sure how I feel on the PMA either.

[enewmen]

Simon:

Thanks for your long post. I was wondering a lot about how well the Archos players actualy play Divx Files. It seems the PMP actually plays Divx (5.2) better and stays in sync. I mostly use the PMP for playing Divx 5.2 and I am happy I made the right choice.

[eco-avenger999]

Em!! Aye anyway. what about the battery pack plans posted. Whats the chance of my player blowing up if I build such a bastardised contraption?? (fair2good!!) Can I buy a battery pack for a PMP-140??

[Astec]

Em!! Aye anyway. what about the battery pack plans posted. Whats the chance of my player blowing up if I build such a bastardised contraption?? (fair2good!!) Can I buy a battery pack for a PMP-140??

Follow the guide and you will be fine, if you screw up it can blow it but the chances are slim as it is pretty damn complete.

A

[Astec]

Also forgot to say there are people that make them up advertising on the forum so if you want one that will definately work then speak to them. Reasonable prices too.

A

[riahc3]

Archos is 100 times better (I think its more expensive tho) but like said; Stability issues are what Ive read about.

[tadp01]

forget about archos av400
look at the av700. but its huge!!! and pricey

[peepboon]

I dont see the point in these 7" PMP/PVP, etc...These suppose to be portable...who carres a 7" PERSONAL player with them?

I think they are only good if you equip it for your car. I mean, then its more worth it, no need for CD/DVD/ player, etc. But to be used as a portable device aint exactly what the orginal concept was.

-----

Persoanlly th PMP series does it for me...sexy design. The other PMP/PVPs are quite ugly looking...they look too bog standard.

Also, I dont see why Archos made a touch screen PMP/PVP...I mean, if we wanted a touch screen, wouldn't we buy a PDA which can also play back videos but needs a memory card? Only good point of the touch screen is:

-Text input notes
-Faster navigation
-Easier to find the point you want on a song/video

Apart from that I dont see the point...if they can put touch screen technology in these, I dont see why they cant make a decent game player. Doesn't seem so hard for them to implement.

Peter

[NPswimdude500]

Originally Posted by peepboon

I dont see the point in these 7" PMP/PVP, etc...These suppose to be portable...who carres a 7" PERSONAL player with them?

or 8.2 inches in the case of the AV700...

[Astec]

Apart from that I dont see the point...if they can put touch screen technology in these, I dont see why they cant make a decent game player. Doesn't seem so hard for them to implement.

Dont forget the finger prints! Also NP the 7" is the size of the screen but yea oveall 8+ inches is too large.

[soldierruel]

Hello people can anyone tell me where to download the latest Iriver PMP 140 firmware upgrade please or if someone alreaady downloaded


thanks

[Astec]

Read The Faqs!!!! It Is There I Damn Well Wrote It!

[odeyssus92]

Forget iRiver PMP140 or All Archos (not open souce and poor update)

Choose iStation V43... the best PMP !
(http://passion-v43.superforum.fr ; http://v43.i-station.co.kr)

For information, i have a PMP140 too, but i'm a little unhappy with it.