Typical price: £550
What is it: Hard-drive based portable media centre
What we think: One of our favourite portable media players, with a wide range of supported formats and solid build quality
What you need to know
Reviewed on: 3 June 2005
Tags: archos technology, dvd player, hard drive, remote control
We like:
Solid design; massive hard drive; easy navigation; great AV performance
We don't like:
Awful sound quality from the speaker; some video formats missing; crashes easily; video output is composite-only, so looks poor on TV
You might also need:
Collection of digitised movies and music
CNET.co.uk judgement:
Archos' AV4100 is a portable media centre with a huge 100GB capacity that offers peerless video quality and a clean, functional design. However, it's expensive and still doesn't offer across-the-board format support, most noticeably omitting MPEG and QuickTime. But if this isn't important, it manages to tick all the important boxes, including external source recording, and it fully supports the omnipresent DivX and Xvid codecs for highly impressive results
Archos AV4100 History
26 Aug 2005 in Crave
Archos AV700: muggings guaranteed
The follow-up to the Archos AV400 is here -- DivX fans rejoice! The upgrade sees a massive jump in screen size and an even slinkier chassis. You certainly won't fit it in your pocket, but it's set to be one of the year's hot gadgets
1 Aug 2005 in Crave
We try out DivX 6.0 -- a video compression package that lets you fit a DVD movie onto one single CD. The latest version also has built-in menu support, allowing you to create a DVD-style front end for your videos
20 May 2005 in Crave
Archos AV400 has won a lot of plaudits for its compatibility and looks. Crave gets the brand new 80GB version and puts it through its paces
Latest user reviews
August 1, 2005
Posted by: Paul Masters
"It may not look cool but it is perfect for video and music when travelling"
June 6, 2005
Posted by: John Nieurzyla
"Buyer beware"
Tell us what you think
Can't find the product you're looking for? Want to suggest a product for review?
Special Offers from our Sponsors
Latest DVD or PVR Reviews
Sony RDR-HXD995
Well designed, easy to use and fully featured, it's just a shame its Freeview receiver is such a slouch
LG DP391B
Brilliant picture quality, sturdy construction and appealing design make it great for dull journeys
Panasonic DMR-EX88
A feature-rich machine that performs well and will reduce the number of boxes under your TV
on DVD & PVR
JVC NX-BD3: Blu-ray player with 2.1 speaker system
JVC might have taken its sweet time getting a Blu-ray player on the market, but it's finally managed to produce something that looks sleek and has some great features
More:
