Archos 605 WiFi Review

[Crankbait]

I heard battery life was a dealbreaker. What is it like Serren?

[AlphaQ GehaD]

Originally Posted by Quo

website says $70 for 3 years.

Alpha, is that the way it works at every Sharper Image, or is that the inside deal if you "know someone"? I read through the RSG and it looks like it's intended to cover replacement only... it doesn't say anything about upgrades?

No thats how it is at every sharper image no matter who you are. They are "NOT" supposed to give you Store Credit back unless its broken, but some of them dont care, because they want to please you just cause you bought a guarantee. But just say its wearing down and make BS lil remarks, and ask for store Credit back in the full amount you paid (Minus the rsg of course - you dont get that back, cause it already held the value and allowed you to get store credit back) What are they going to give you if they dont have the same exact model, and you dont want the floor sample either, So they give you what you paid for in store credit. You can go talk to the rep at the store and ask him about what im saying just so you hear them say it. Im pretty sure it doesn't say Upgrade, but they give you a pamphlet when you get an rsg, just ask an associate for one of those and read it over. If they put that upgrade feature clearly than it wouldn't be a nice loop hole and people would do it all the time. So i tell my customers about it and i tell them even if you dont want to upgrade or its not broken, before your RSG is up come back in say its wearing down or something and get a Total brand new unit.


When the time comes im going to do this with my Xbox 360, Im about to do it for my 43 in. Video glasses in a week or so. right now mine are at $299 (used to be $349) and the new 48 in. glasses is marked $349, Im gonna bring mine in without the box just all components and get the new one and rebuy a new 2 or 3 year RSG. then REPEAT 2 or 3 years later. Thats the trick to get a new camera every 1-2 years for just 39.95 tax free. My customers love me, they hate how i only work weekends though.

[Serren]

Battery life for me is fine. I get about the five hours of video on one charge. I dont play much music on it, but I would imagine it would last quite a long time, as the screen goes off after a little bit.

It is a bit odd, like the Zune about operating on low or no batteries though. They both refuse to boot if very low on battery power. Which is lame, because they both can be powered over USB. But only if they can boot up on their own. Or maybe this was only for the first charge? Weird either way...

[Crankbait]

I am jealous, I wanted one of these but went the iPod classic route after returning the not worth $400 iPod Touch.

no conversion of files is pure bliss. May get one after all simply for video.

[JBarr82]

Trying to hook up external speakers to 604, I have the docking station, speakers, and wire. Nothing I do seems to work. Does anyone know how to hook up external speakers to the 604? Any suggestions?
Thanks

[Serren]

I use the line out into AUX ports in my car and my PC. Oh and a little boom box player thing. It is a two conductor output cable (stereo), not a three conductor like the Zune or video ipods just in case.

There is also settings in the audio config section that turns on this output in variuos modes. I think mine is set for auto, as soon as I plug headphones or the aux cable in, the internal speaker turns off.

So check your cable, and check your settings. Good luck, and post back!

[Serren]

Originally Posted by Crankbait

No conversion of files is pure bliss. May get one after all simply for video.

YEP! I did have to pay for the dvd codec pack, or whatever they called it so I could play all my file types, but it does work great. Gone are the hours spent re-rendering formats so my Zune could play avi's/divx. Although I was pretty good at it, it does save me this time and trouble.

I don't own the DVR stand, but that seems like a cool feature to have for the serious on the go video wathcher! And with Wi-Fi syncing, it not a huge deal to transfer files anyway...

[Pogue Moran]

Yeah I too bought the cinema plugin just in case. I haven't had the time to recode all my files but at least have found it easy ripping my dvds in the perfect format for the Archos with a program called Magic DVD Ripper it has a setting built into the program for the Archos 605 so you don't have to do anything but pop in a dvd pick the save directory and then push start.

[Peench]

Originally Posted by Pogue Moran

Yeah I too bought the cinema plugin just in case. I haven't had the time to recode all my files but at least have found it easy ripping my dvds in the perfect format for the Archos with a program called Magic DVD Ripper it has a setting built into the program for the Archos 605 so you don't have to do anything but pop in a dvd pick the save directory and then push start.

Totally automated - that's awesome!

[Pogue Moran]

Yeah its beautiful peench. I have backed up like 40 movies on my archos thus far. It backs up into AVI format and the video looks pretty crisp on playback. I actually had to delete the Dune and Children of Dune series from my archos because i was running out of space on the 80 gig harddrive. Besides I would never have the battery life to watch them all in one sitting. All in all the archos player is pretty damned awesome

[avengere]

I bought my 605, and am having some issues with video and audio playback... During every playback the audio goes really weird and tinny and wont go away untill I pause the playback and restart it. Its really annoying and So far tech supports only solution is update your firmware... Which did nothing. Anyone have this problem?

[Serren]

Is this on both video and music? Through headphones and internal speaker?

[avengere]

It is both on video and audio playback. Ive noticed it has to do when the hard drive goes from an idle to spinning up it happens. And the red HDD light lights up. Im pretty sure it needs to be rma'ed.

[Pogue Moran]

Hmm I haven't had that problem aven. I had the skipping problem before i upgraded the firmware but after I did that it went away and hasn't showed up since.

[kaylix]

This thread has been a great read. I was hoping to find an answer to my audio problems.
I'm on my second 605 and both have the same problem. Popping and crackling when Wi-Fi is enabled. It's even more noticable when I'm actively using my wi-fi connection.
Archos recommended waiting a month or two for a firmware update. But I believe this is a hardware problem. Signal crosstalk between audio and wi-fi circuitry can't be fixed with a firmware update...
Has anyone else had this problem and found a solution?
I really don't want to give up my 605.

[kaylix]

I usually don't buy warranty's/replacement guarantee's but this sounds like a deal. So I checked The Sharper Image web site. They have the 605 160gb for $499. I bought mine on Amazon for $382.
I'm trying to decide if I want to return mine to Amazon and pay an extra $180 to get the one from Sharper Image with a guarantee.
The 605 I have now has audio problems anyway.
What you guys think?

[Peench]

Hm. That's a tough call Kaylix. How long is the sharper image warranty good for? $180 is quite a bit to pay for a warranty it seems. Are there any other local stores that have it for less and/or offer lower priced warranties? Best Buy, Target, Circuit City all have some sort of replacement warranty that you can buy and it is usually between $40 and $60 for 1 or 2 year options.

[Serren]

Originally Posted by kaylix

This thread has been a great read. I was hoping to find an answer to my audio problems.
I'm on my second 605 and both have the same problem. Popping and crackling when Wi-Fi is enabled. It's even more noticable when I'm actively using my wi-fi connection.
Archos recommended waiting a month or two for a firmware update. But I believe this is a hardware problem. Signal crosstalk between audio and wi-fi circuitry can't be fixed with a firmware update...
Has anyone else had this problem and found a solution?
I really don't want to give up my 605.

I leave my Wi-Fi on all the time and have never heard any popping or cracking. Are you saying that when you have wi-fi on, and are watching a video, the problem occurs? On all video formats?

I have read of certain rippers/renderers causing issues with audio and audio sync, but this was fixed by using another software product.

[kaylix]

I have DivX and VOB files and all have noise when Wi-Fi is on. Same thing with my MP3's. Turn off wi-fi and the problem goes away.
I'd like to think a firmware update will