back to article Archos TV+ launched in UK

First seen at CES in January, the Archos TV+ launched in the UK this afternoon and will be available in two variations: the 80GB and 250GB model, priced at £180 and £250, respectively. It combines a Wi-Fi media player with a hard drive to allow you to stream or store movies, music, photos, podcasts and web video, while the …

COMMENTS

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    Divx/xvid

    Major oversight not including support for this or is it another little $20 download for the future. Seems strange as their mobile range support them.

    Efros

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Too little, too late

    Underpowered (chipset doesn't support HD)

    Overpriced - and charging for extra codecs is frankly astonishing

    Already superceded by TViX/NMT/Popcornhour etc

    Way to go on bringing us the latest in Press Releases that fell on my desk/spewed out of fax machine/cluttering up my inbox though!

    Go Archos!

    I choose Paris as my icon because... oh no reason really. I just like her. And her short adopted midget friend on the Simple Life. They're like sooooo hot.

  3. andrew checkley
    Thumb Down

    Out of date on launch day!

    No divx/xdiv?

    no HD Support?

    pointless and very high price considering the above! cheaper better alternatives available

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Severely Lacking

    Wow, even the AppleTV has more features, apart from the optional web browser (but on an SD TV it will be worthless). And the AppleTV is pretty suckworthy to be honest.

    And that keypad remote control ... ugh.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    IT Angle

    Divx/Xvid

    It might not be published, but I have a 605 and it can play divx/xvid, has the lack of divx support been proven or just taken from the lack of acknowledgment on the product specs?

  6. Matt Bucknall

    Is that a remote control...

    ..or a Spectrum ZX?

  7. IR
    Alert

    Build you own

    Built my own DVR for 400 quid, it has a DVD recorder, plays any video format, all my music, slideshows of my photos, upscales to HD, can surf the net, EPG and no subscription fees. The box is a little bigger but it is hidden in a cupboard anyway since it has an IR receiver on the end of a USB cable. Why can't PC manufacturers sell them like the one I made?

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    @IR - Build your own?

    "Why can't PC manufacturers sell them like the one I made?"

    Well, possibly because the parts cost £400 and you have to hide it in a cupboard.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    damn

    Darn, I've always been a fan of Archos since the Jukebox Recorder 10 in 2001, followed by their PMP ranges.

    But like the other posts say, this looks underspecced, overpriced and late to market, which is a real shame.

    And all these seperate companies trying to negotiate terms with the seperate movie companies, such a headache.

    *sticking to torrents*

  10. michael W
    Stop

    IT DOES SUPPORT DIVX!

    What is up with reviewers who don't seem to do any actual bleeding research?!

    Just like the Archos 605 range (which I own) this Archos TV+ DOES support divx and xvid, they don't display a "supports divx" sticker because then Archos would have to pay DivX to do so.

    but for the last freaking time (this question gets asked all the time for the 605) IT DOES SUPPORT DIVX/XVID!

  11. Andrew Ducker

    Not bad - could do better.

    Glad to see comments from other users that it _does_ support XVid and DivX.

    Shame it doesn't go as far as my XBMC and play Flash and Quicktime videos :->

  12. michael W
    Black Helicopters

    quicktime and flash

    if you buy the web plugin you get flv support and one of the other plugins supports .mov files so you can get both flash and quicktime support it's simply going to cost you :P

    good ol' archos ;)

  13. John
    Thumb Up

    My sisters boyfriend has one

    and it kicks arse. This is a seriously nice toy. Runs on Linux.

    The stand has 2 scart sockets so you can record live TV ala sky+ and watch films at the same time. You can surf the web on your TV and if you play a streaming video (youtube) it will show it full screen on the TV. It's also an mp3 player.

    I want one.

  14. Rowland O'Connor
    Thumb Down

    Hours wasted. Very poor...

    I was at the press conference yesterday and took one of these to review.

    Here are my initial thoughts:-

    Setup

    Setting this thing up is a herculean effort. Instructions are poor by omission of critical information.

    -The default settings are for NTSC so don't show up on a standard SCART PAL system on initial device power up. It took over an hour to find this problem and had to initially use HDMI to see the screen.

    -Connectors on the back of the device are RGB / phono with 6 each for input and output (making a total of 12).

    -There is an HDMI output socket but no HDMI capability in the device (max 576p).

    -The device forces you to "register" online to access most of it's functionality. Unfortunately, to register you need to go to your office PC as there is no native browser support (it's an extra plugin at 20 quid).

    -EPG doesn't work (even after registration). Unhelpful numeric error code.

    -Plugins don't work. 3 plugins downloded all of which returned another unhelpful numeric error code. On further investigation, we found the Archos website was sending us HTTP 404 (file not found) plugin files.

    -To install the web browser plugin you need to hook up the TV+ to your PC using a USB cable (not supplied). This would certainly be beyond an average home consumer.

    Capabilities

    -No HDMI support. The video low resolution output (576p) shows up on HDMI 40" capable TV.

    -Plays streaming media from home network. Extra plugins (extra cost) required to play video files.

    -Large capacity (250GB version).

    -We have yet to get the input (from a HD satellite box) to work with the Archos. It just displays a blank screen but audio works ok.

    -The TV+ uses IR to "control" your satellite box, DVD, Freeview or whatever. This means that it need to sit FACING these devices to operate. This is simply "weird" as most home would stack the device underneath / on top to the IR will NEVER work.

    Progress Today

    At the end of the day (5pm), this is working working:-

    -Connected TV+ to TV by SCART (HDMI is a waste of a good TV socket).

    -Browse networked media server.

    This is NOT working:-

    -Internet browser (plugin failure)

    -Recording. (EPG failure, video input not working)

    -IR control of other devices. (this is simply BARKING mad how Archos design a unit to beam IR horizontally when your external devices are stacked vertically!)

    Conclusion

    The idea (convergence of media to your living room) is good, but (like many good ideas) it's implementation sucks at the moment.

    The humble PS3 outshine this unit in every respect other than the TV+ PVR capabilities (which I've yet to get working). As well as native HDMI support, PS3 has a pretty fine web browser built in (no extra charge / hassle of registering, downloading and installing plugins.

    All in all, we have currently a hard disk under the telly. I'll give it a week and try again but this device might end up relegated to a simple external HDD for backing up PC files.

    Would I buy one? A resounding No... Sorry Archos.

  15. IR

    @ Evil Graham

    I only used a full size case to give me loads of expansion room, it would have all fit into a half size case, and the £400 also included a cheapo monitor. If you're churning out thousands of them then you could reduce the price to £300 and still be able to stick in ultra-quiet fans. There must be a market for this kind of thing or did they all get scared off by the expensive Windows media systems from a few years ago?

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