Review: Archos AV 700 TV portable media player

The Archos AV 700 TV is essentially the same as the company’s AV 700, but adds a digital TV tuner to the device, which also comes with a built-in hard disk for storing programmes, music or photos.

It weighs just 610g and has a 7in widescreen display. Although it will pick up any free-to-air digital broadcasts, such as Freeview, in the UK you may struggle to get many channels using its cumbersome travel aerial, because the signal can be quite weak. But in mainland Europe it was fine.

We tested the device on a road trip through Europe, using it additionally as a backup device and picture viewer for our digital photos. Many cameras can be connected directly to the device, although it wouldn’t recognise our Canon 350D so we used a card reader.

It will display photos shot in Jpeg, but not those using the Raw format. We found the Raw and 8megapixel Jpeg images slow to transfer, although it was quick to save smaller pictures shot on a 4megapixel camera.

You can also download and play games sold on the Archos site.

Creating folders and getting used to its menus took a few attempts. Photos viewed on the AV 700 TV’s display are slightly soft, but colours were lifelike. The TV image quality generally impressed us, but the viewing angle is quite narrow.

Tuning the TV for the first time takes a little thought, but is quite quick. It comes with a remote control, making it easier to scroll though channels and change the volume. Sound quality when using the speakers is as good as you’d expect from a device this size; not great, but acceptable.

In Germany, we tuned the TV while driving (obviously this was done by the passenger) and were able to watch programmes while doing 90mph on the autobahn with only the weaker channels breaking up.

Battery life when watching TV was about four hours and our unit ran surprisingly hot after a while; Archos told us this was unusual and a possible problem with the unit we were testing.

While it will record its broadcasts onto its 40GB hard disk, you can’t hook it to a PVR (personal video recorder), such as your Sky+ box, and transfer a recording from your hard disk. To do that, you need a docking pod, costing an extra £47.

The travel aerials are a bit large, and housed in a book-like carry case. We also hooked the device to a smaller, typical travel aerial, but found reception to be poorer than when using those supplied by Archos.

Overall, we liked the Archos AV 700 TV. Used just as a TV it's a bit of a luxury, but its built-in hard disk, zoomable photo viewer and ability to play Mp3s make it a useful and versatile device. The suggested price is a bit steep, but we found it for less in shops and online.

Related reviews:
Centrix MVP-120 portable media player
A good all-round mp3 player, but no video recording facility

Like this story? Spread the news by clicking below:

 del.icio.us     Digg this     reddit!