Review: Archos 604 media player

Slim and stylish with a 30GB hard drive, the 604 supersedes Archos' popular AV500 portable media player.

It certainly looks the business; just 17mm thick and finished with attractive silver and brushed metal casing. A glorious 4in widescreen LCD ensures images are consistently sharp and vibrant, making it more than capable of doing justice to your high-resolution photos and video.

You’ll find a range of features including an mp3 player, sound recorder, photo album, video player, PDF reader and, as we'll discuss later, some interesting accessories.

Starting with audio playback, the 604 is extremely capable. After you transfer your audio files via simple drag-and-drop, everything is automatically sorted into ID3-tag categories using Archos’ Arclibrary tool. Well thought out controls and a solid menu structure make browsing and manipulating your music a snip.

You’ll find playlist features, a customisable equalizer and you can leave music playing while you browse around to view photos or read PDFs.

The video player is obviously the most important feature here. We found consistent results and good codec support across a range of files. It’s compatible with wmv and avi (including DivX and other codecs), with additional formats available by downloading plug-ins from the Archos website.

The effective controls make it easy to fast forward and rewind, as well as adjusting playback speed, aspect ratio and audio.

The extras available for the 604 enable some of its most interesting features, none more so than the excellent DVR Station. Costing £60, this is a docking cradle that sits between your TV and signal receiver (satellite, VCR, Freeview box etc).

Initially, this just acts as pass-through box so your TV functions as normal. When you plug the 604 in, whatever is currently playing on your TV pops up on the player’s screen. You can then record what you’re watching to its internal hard drive and either play it back on the move or use the supplied remote control to sit back and watch it through the TV.

This goes for any files you already have on the hard drive, so it’s a great way to watch compressed formats on a big screen. You can also set up recordings using the built-in scheduler, effectively turning the device into a portable DVR (digital video recorder); an infrared blaster allows the 604 to change channels when a scheduled recording is about to start.

Overall, sound and picture quality is excellent, and Archos has got everything just about spot on in terms of usability and built-in features. You’ll get about 16 hours of playback for audio or four if you’re watching video, but a removable battery means you can carry a spare on long journeys.

The 604 is priced at £255, but you can find it for a little over £200 if you shop around. The DVR station is an extra £60, so you get the full capabilities of the new multimedia range at a very reasonable price.

The only downsides we can see are that you’re not given a lot with the basic player. A simple USB charger and carry bag is about your lot but for this money you can’t complain.

Overall, the Archos 604 multimedia player is stylish, sleek, feature-packed and very well priced. It’s not often we’re impressed this much by a product and it’s fair to say the 604 is an absolute must-buy for multimedia users looking for an all-in-one portable media solution.

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

Archos AV 700 TV
Digital TV, built-in recorder and a hard drive to save programmes and your photos

Dream'eo Enza
One of the few remaining Microsoft Portable Media Centers

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