Archos AV700 (100GB)

With its 7-inch-wide screen, TV-friendly recording capabilities, and kitchen-sink roster of media features, the Archos AV700 would seem to be the ideal traveling companion for movie buffs, couch potatoes, and music fans alike. However, it's expensive and far too bulky to slip into a pocket. What's more, while the AV700 does a fine job of recording video from external sources, such as a TV, it offers no clear-cut way to play back widescreen movies or, for that matter, widescreen TV. Thus, the sizable screen goes largely to waste. Further complicating matters, converting video files is a hassle, and the screen itself isn't that great, though its wide viewing angle should accommodate everyone in the backseat. Ultimately, the AV700 is best suited to tech-savvy users who have cash to burn and a firm belief that a bigger screen makes for a better personal media player.

Design
The Archos AV700 is big. Really big. Heavy too. At 107 x 209 x 19mm and 590g, it's not the kind of device you can slip unobtrusively into a pocket. Of course, the mammoth screen accounts for most of the bulk: Measuring 7 inches diagonally, it's significantly larger than most portable video player (PVP) screens, which usually top out at 3 to 4 inches. The LCD produces 480 x 234 pixels--a bit on the low side, given its size--and 262,000 colors. In fact, it can't hold a flame to the Creative Zen Vision's gorgeous 640 x 480-pixel VGA screen.

Next to the Zen Vision, the AV700 is massive.

Holding the metal-encased Archos AV700 is like holding a handheld video game, with its D-pad controller on the left side of the screen and hodgepodge of buttons on the right. The D-pad navigates you through menus--and games, natch--while the buttons control playback and activate various menus. All told, it's a pretty simple control system, though it's nowhere near as easy to work with as the touch-screen interface on the Archos PMA430. The interface here, complete with your choice of attractive colors and backgrounds, consists of an icon-driven main menu and context-sensitive action menus that appear in the lower-right corner. These are accessed and navigated using scroll-up, scroll-down, and select buttons that reside under your right thumb. A pair of speakers flank the LCD, while tiny LEDs indicate power, drive activity, charge status, and TV-out mode (when enabled).

The Archos AV700's connectivity ports are clumped together along the top of the device. The power ports, as well as the headphone, A/V, and dock ports, are fairly self-explanatory, but you might be confused by USB A and USB B. The latter provides a standard USB 2.0 connection to your PC, while the former serves as a host port--one that can accept connections from mass-storage devices, such as digital cameras. An included adapter cable is required to make these connections and keep you from accidentally plugging the wrong cable into the wrong port.

A release switch on the side of the Archos AV700 pops loosens its removable lithium-ion battery--always a welcome feature on a device such as this. Other available accessories include car headrest adapters for backseat viewing, as well as a double-headphone kit, so two people can listen at once; the price was not available at the time of this writing.

	Gorgeous, gorgeous screen.

For establishing easy and semi-permanent connections to your TV or home stereo, Archos supplies a TV docking pod. This disc-shaped dock provides A/V-in, A/V-out, S-Video-in, power, and IR-blaster ports, the last used for attaching an included sensor to your VCR or cable/satellite box. Unlike the similar docks included with previous Archos PVPs, this one doesn't cradle the device or even have enough surface area to act as a stand for it. Rather, it has to sit alongside the AV700, which thankfully features a sturdy built-in kickstand. Whether or not the dock is connected, you can control the AV700 via the included remote, a full-size clicker with large, tactile buttons, some of which duplicate the AV700's own controls.

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