Archos AV 700 Mobile DVR widescreen player announced

[Colin Dunstan]

I have to admit that I am intrigued by the idea of watching TV and DVD movies on the go. My Dell Axim X50v running BetaPlayer did a sufficiently good job for me -- until today, when I saw this latest offering by Archos. The Archos AV 700 Mobile DVR comes with a 7" widescreen display offering 480x234 pixel resolution and TV output. While the resolution is below VGA, the big widescreen does make movies still look gorgeous. The unit is offered in two flavors, a 40GB version and a 100GB version. Cost is $799 for the 100GB model and $599 for the 40GB.

Files are recorded from TV, VCR, DVD player, and cable & satellite boxes in MPEG-4 SP with a resolution of up to 640x480 @ 30 f/s. Playback mode supports MPEG-4 SP with B-Frames (compatible with DivX 4.0 and 5.03) and near DVD quality up to 720x480 @ 30 f/s (NTSC), 720x576 @ 25 f/s (PAL), AVI file format (including WMV9 SP protected files) up to 352x288 @ 30 f/s and 800 Kbits.

Feature overview
Tech specs
3D demo
Comparison matrix

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