Archos DVR Station (7th Generation)

5 Responses to “Archos DVR Station (7th Generation)”

1. Cary L. Brown says:

   October 21, 2010 at 9:49 am

   Review by Cary L. Brown for Archos DVR Station (7th Generation)
   Rating:
   I’m a recent Archos convert… and I bought this device for specific purposes, which is fulfills very nicely. There is one major drawback, however… and I’ll get to that in a moment.

   First off… the device is terrific for connecting your Archos device to, for example, a home entertainment system. In my case, I’ve got the AV interface set up so that I’m outputing component video and audio from my home receiver to the device (I have a free channel available, since most of my home theater system is using HDMI) and outputing directly to my TV by HDMI. It outputs 720p “hidef” video and good sound. The quality isn’t as good as a full-scale device is going to produce, but that should come as no major surprise (considering how much capability is packed into the hand-sized Archos device).

   The device has a USB Out (permitting it to be used with any PC with USB), and a USB In. Oddly, these can’t be used at the same time… there’s a sliding cover so you can use only one of them – the “host” for other devices, or the “link” to a computer. I have no reason to plug other devices in, since I can plug them into my home theater PC or directly into my receiver… but it’s there if you want it.

   It has a little “mini-remote.” The mini-remote works nicely enough. It permits me to run a large number of “Flash9″ based applications which can’t be run on the base unit. It’s not FAST, but it’s very useful. It does require direct line-of-site, however, and the range isn’t “terrific” but is acceptable for most setups. (Regarding Flash apps… realize that with the base Archos unit, the touchscreen will only be recognized as “mouse move” and “left click.” Most Flash apps require more controls – typically at LEAST the other mouse buttons and the arrow keys, and often the whole keyboard. You can’t pull up the “virtual keyboard” in Flash, as far as I know, and if you did, the app would be largely useless anyway (since it would be covered by the virtual keyboard). Also, note – the Archos 5/5g/7 do not currently support Flash10, so not all current flash apps work anyway. At the moment, ONLY Windows-based PCs and “Android” based mobile devices support Flash10, as I understand things. This should change in the near future, though. Even given that… using this little keyboard, you gain access to a much larger range of applications and games and so forth, so that alone is a major “adder” for this device.

   So, what’s WRONG with the DVR Station? Nothing, from a hardware/software basis, really. The main defect with the unit isn’t a “defect” at all, in the technical sense. But… there’s a big problem anyway, which most of the reviews here are making note of.

   You see, Archos has discontinued the “Program Guide” service for regions outside of Europe… and yes, that means “no program guide within the USA.”

   There is an alternative, which may be implemented in a later version of the Archos firmware (it seems pretty straightforward, really). I’m waiting to hear if Archos will choose to implement it or not. It may be possible to convert the “guide” from using an Archos-proprietary interface to a more “industry-standard” interface. For example, web-based services like “TitanTV” work beautifully with almost all PC-based PVRs. They’re simply web pages, and when you schedule a program to record (or to “watch now” or to do several other tasks) simply send a basic text file (with a specific format, and specific content, of course) which tells the tuner hardware what to do and when.

   It should be simple for Archos to implement compatibility with this “industry standard” approach, since they’ve removed the (really rather foolish) proprietary support already, at least for the USA.

   In the meantime, you can “work around” the limitation of the DVR station by simply going to “TitanTV” (or your channel-guide of choice) online, and manually setting up your recording settings (which still works perfectly fine).

   It’s an annoyance, but it does NOT mean that the device won’t do what you want. Only that the Archos “Menu pick” for “Program Guide” is useless.

   ***************

   A quick edit here… I spoke to the tech guys at Archos yesterday. It seems that the issue with the loss of the “Program Guide” functionality in the USA isn’t a technical one at all, but rather a “contractual” one. Archos’ prior provider changed their system, and in the process disabled the interface to the Archos devices. Archos… who, remember, are in the midst of a MAJOR product launch at the moment… are negotiating with an alternative guide provider. I was given reason to believe that we’ll be seeing this up again in about a month. Archos is STRONGLY incentivized towards getting this up and running now, as the first major production run of the next-generation Archos devices begins to hit the street.

   In the meantime, the DVR functionality continues to work just fine (albeit, bear in mind, it’s not HD, it’s only “standard TV resolution”) for me.
2. K. W. Rudd says:

   October 21, 2010 at 10:04 am

   Review by K. W. Rudd for Archos DVR Station (7th Generation)
   Rating:
   Summary: This product is best thought of as an Archos media tablet docking station. It provides the tablet device with power and external connectors, and not much else. As long as that is all you need, it performs that function well when mated to the associated Archos media tablet.

   Caution: Bridge Out Ahead….

   The biggest issue that most people will have with the DVR Station is the way it is connected into the typical entertainment system. Their connection guide shows this as a bridge device in-between a video source (like a satellite receiver) and the TV. The trouble with this approach is that there is no video pass-through functionality when the installed tablet is powered down or removed. This will pose a major problem for multi-person households where one person might want to watch some video programming while their housemate has the tablet elsewhere. This was the major show-stopper in our household. The only way around this limitation is to invest in additional electronic HW (like a multi-output AV receiver) so that the video source can be split/shared between the TV and the media tablet.

   This Is Not Your Father’s DVR…

   (The rest of this pertains more to the Archos 5 Internet Tablet than the DVR Station, but, since you wouldn’t be buying the DVR Station unless you wanted to take advantage of the DVR functions of the tablet, it is pertinent data.)

   The details around the “DVR” functionality of the Archos 5 Internet Tablet combined with this device are sketchy at best. While the combination does meet the definition of a Digital Video Recorder in that it “records video in a digital format to a disk drive or other memory medium within a device”, you should not expect much more functionality than that (time-shifted viewing being the biggest missing DVR-like feature).

   My tablet with nothing added but the latest, up-to-date FW fixes could not even handle recording in 4:3 mode without serious video stutter/jitter. I was able to get a reasonably smooth video recorded if I put it into 16:9 mode, but this tended to chop off the top and bottom of most programming as my satellite receiver is still producing 4:3 content. This really put a crimp on the hockey game I was experimenting with as you could no longer see the scores and game info at the top of the screen. This combination is definitely a non-starter for those of us that haven’t made the jump to HD cable/satellite content.

   Overall: The DVR Station might make a good addition for someone that has extra video outputs to play with, has all of their content in 16:9 format, and is willing to live with a “jiggle the handle” approach to video recording until the kinks get sorted out, but, for the rest of us, it’s “Buyer Beware”.
3. College Liver says:

   October 21, 2010 at 10:38 am

   Review by College Liver for Archos DVR Station (7th Generation)
   Rating:
   Pro: It’s “pretty” and is a good concept that’s execution may fit your needs
   
   Con: The execution falls short from what is advertised and what I expected

   Growing weary of Apple I wanted to give a non-iPod creation a shot and am sorely disappointed. The only reason I bought the Archos 7 and DVR station was so I could record TV from the program guide. I was unable to bring up the program guide successfully so I called the customer support line 2 nights ago and they said the third party server was down for the moment but to check back later.

   I have now received my e-support ticket response and it says: “I’m very sorry but the TV program guide has been discontinued in North America.
   
   If you have a subscription that you have paid for, please give us a call at 877-300-8879 and we will issue you a refund for it.”

   This service was to be free for a year and available to all purchasers. I think I can still schedule things like a VCR, but the DVR functionality would be cool and set Archos apart from the rest. Apart from the VCR like functionality the only benefit is being able to hook your Archos up to your computer, which is in no way unique.

   BTW, there are products that can record TV like this for $70 at Bed Bath and Beyond.
4. Alicia T. Brown says:

   October 21, 2010 at 11:20 am

   Review by Alicia T. Brown for Archos DVR Station (7th Generation)
   Rating:
   The DVR Program worked pretty good for older generation, but after getting this for archos 5, I have learned that the TV Program Guide Service has been down for many months now per [...]. The archos site says nothing about this and is continuing to sell the product even though it will only allow manual recordings. As great as the archos can be, it is even more frustrating, especially with lack of information from tech support.

   Stay away from this until you know for sure that the service is even up.
5. Earl E. A. Dopter says:

   October 21, 2010 at 11:25 am

   Review by Earl E. A. Dopter for Archos DVR Station (7th Generation)
   Rating:
   The Archos 5 Internet Tablet is a fantastic product. It’s therefore a large disappointment to see how poorly the DVR functionality has been integrated into the product via this station. It’s hard to understand how Archos could have thought this was an acceptable implementation.

   Clearly, the Archos 5 I own has the capability of recording and playing back good quality video, more specifically content that has been ripped from a DVD. The output quality of such content is pretty good, given that it is compressed DVD. I use a product called HandBrake (which is free shareware for the Mac) to rip my content, and am generally satisfied with the results. I recommend HandBrake therefore if you are a Mac user.

   I digressed slightly in order to give some background. The DVR station, as has been already described by several other reviewers, does not perform anything more than the minimal function of recording whatever show is playing at the moment. You cannot record one show while watching another without additional equipment. There is no TV schedule for North America, so US users must consult their TV guides to figure out what to record and when. Even worse, it can’t record full HD, and the best video input quality that it will accept is Component. Since it has HDMI out, it’s very disappointing that it doesn’t have the same level of input.

   Suffice to say that I should have read the specifications more carefully before purchasing, but if you want to output your ripped movies onto your TV you are going to need this station anyhow, even if you don’t end up using it as a DVR. The limitations make it not worth the effort. Better to record off your main DVR, then output desired shows onto your Archos for later viewing.

   From the DVR station, there is fortunately (and almost surprisingly given the above) an HDMI output, which means single-wire, good quality transmission of your video and audio content from the Archos unit to your TV or home theater system. I often use this feature, especially when travelling, because the awesome capacity of the Archos 5 (I have the 500gb unit) means I have a pretty extensive library of movies I can watch in my hotel. BUT I have to pack the DVR station and an HDMI cable, and I have to hope that the TV in my hotel has an HDMI input jack (most do at this point).

   Bottom line: Archos MUST do the following in order to make this product useable and acceptable as a DVR:
   
   1. Provide at least one HDMI input.
   
   2. Allow HD recording capability off the main TV receiver via HDMI.
   
   3. Allow Blu-Ray ripped movies to be output to the unit.
   
   4. Provide North American TV schedules to be downloaded, updated, etceteras, just as the main TV receiver does, with the additional feature of being able to access the schedule offline.
   
   5. Allow recording of one channel while watching a different program on the TV or even while outputting content from the Archos to the TV, just as your main DVR can do.
   
   6. Allow pausing of live TV, just as your main DVR can do.

   Truly shocking that Archos would produce such a great, cutting-edge Tablet product, then offer up this lame docking station with the claim that it’s a DVR. It’s a DVR in name only. Buy the product to output Archos content previously ripped to your TV, but take my advice and stick to your main DVR for recording TV shows if you want good video quality, time-shift flexibility, scheduling, convenience, or anything else.

   Personal plea to Archos: if you are going to stay in this market, PLEASE provide the requested functionality per the above in your next generation DVR station, and offer your few long-suffering US customers a great upgrade deal. Otherwise, stop advertising it as a DVR station and just call it a docking station, because that’s really all it’s good for.

   I welcome all your comments and questions.