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83%
PROS
Nice sized 3.8" screen, can support a camera, and easy to use interface.
LOWS
Runs for $600, does not come with a firewire cable, an inch thick. Doesn't have any office programs. THICK.
OVERALL
If you have the $600 to chuck up, this little device will serve you well. For those who don't get $600 to spend every week, consider investing in a refurbished PC or laptop instead.
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Having the perfect portable device has been a dream of many people. I am not sure if I could designate this honor to the ARCHOS AV320 Video Recorder. Although this device has some pretty amazing capabilities, its just missing the basics.
The best thing you can do with the AV320 is watch MPEG 4 video. With almost DVD like quality, you can watch full movies. There are two ways to accomplish this. If you have any old AVI files laying around that you would like to watch on your AV320, you can simply use the AVI to MPEG 4 converter software to convert your video into high end MPEG 4 format. After doing this, transfer the file to the AV320's 20 gig hard drive. The other, more popular way of getting video onto your AV320 is by using a TV. If you want to catch the newest episode of The Simpsons at 8, but don't have time to watch it until the commute tomorrow, you can use your AV320. Simply connect the AV320 to your TV using the included composite Y cable and the included DVR attachment, and press 'record.' Your device will record The Simpsons in high quality MPEG 4 video. The next day, simply take your AV320 and a pair of headphones with you on the train and enjoy. You can watch MPEG4's at up to a 640 x 368 resolution, so for the 3.8" screen, its a real treat. One note to TiVo users: having an AV320 and combining it with a TiVo is a killer. You can record the entire series of King of the Hill and just use TiVo to play them back while your AV320 records them. Very cool.
Using a whole mess of cables, I was able to plug my PS2 into the device and hear audio and see video as I battled it out in Mortal Kombat. This is all good and jolly, but why would this be useful? In order to play, you need an outlet to plug the PS2 into for power. The wires themselves get tangled and they look like a rat's nest when everything is connected. Although this idea is cool, it is not entirely useful.
ARCHOS does a good job at providing every imaginable cable that you can use to connect the device to your stereo and TV. The AV320 also comes with a USB cable, and a firewire cable is optional.
Along with MPEG4 video capability, the AV320 can view JPEG and BMP photos. There were a couple of photos that the device came with, and these were all at a 640 x 480 resolution. I uploaded some high resolution photos that were at 1600 x 1200. These looked horrible compared to the 640 x 480 pictures. Word to the wise: if you have Photoshop or any other photo editing software, convert your pictures to 640 x 480 to get them to look right on the AV320. The high resolution pictures didn't exactly look bad, they just looked boxy and scratchy.
Music on the AV320 is stellar. The unit comes with its own music player device, and it functions great. You can scroll from track to track using the unit's joystick. For each track playing, the AV320 displays the artist, album, song title, bit rate, current position, time remaining, and total length. If your song has the appropriate ID3 tags, it can even display an album picture.
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The headphones that the AV320 includes are pretty cheap and krappy, but if you go out and buy yourself a nice pair of headphones, the song quality sounds nice. I liked to put most of the songs on as 320 kbps so everything sounded crisp and clean. The AV320 is not able to play WMV or WAV files, so that might be a big letdown for anybody who has their entire music collection in one of these formats.
