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Handhelds Hardware

Archos PMA400 Linux Based Media Portable 132

Posted by CmdrTaco from the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink dept.
freitasm writes "The new Archos PMA400 is a Linux based portable- entertainment/PDA/DVR/Internet device. It comes with wireless and ethernet LAN connections, plays Mophun and Qtopia and supports Microsoft DRM protected files (WMV, WMA). The company will release a SDK on its dedicated website sometime before the end of January 2005. The device will retail for around US$800."
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Archos PMA400 Linux Based Media Portable More

Archos PMA400 Linux Based Media Portable

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  • I recommend getting an Archos... (Score:4, Informative)

    by garcia ( 6573 ) * on Thursday January 06, 2005 @04:30PM (#11280955)
    The display is a 3.5" TFT transflective touch screen (QVGA) 320x240 pixels, 262,000 colors and TV output. Archos says it can play up to 4 hours for video playback or 9.5 hours for music. A removable battery option is available. The unit is approximately 125 x 78 x 20 mm (4.9" x 3.1" x 0.8") and weighs 280 g (9.9 oz).

    I have an 80GB Archos AV400 that I received for a Christmas present this year. A couple of things annoy me about the unit but that would happen with anything... The UI takes about 15 minutes to get used to as I really haven't encountered anything like it. Even after having it for three weeks I still find myself fumbling with the keys. The player display is very simple and tells me what I need to know but I would really prefer options to repeat one track/all tracks/etc right on the player screen itself rather than having to go into the setup each time to change these options.

    The AV400 doesn't seem to have a removable battery which is worrisome as in my experience batteries start losing their charge after a year and if I am not able to replace it that would suck, bad. As far as length of play... The AV400 seems to easily get 15+ hours to a charge for music. I haven't been able to give it thorough testing on video playback and battery life yet though.

    I love the fact that you can record *and* playback to TV. I am currently waiting for Tivo2Go's Tivo update to come down to my unit but until then I use the "Record to VCR" option on my Tivo to play the episodes and I use the Archos to record them. It's nice because I can watch the Tivo'd episodes anywhere in the house or bring them along with me.

    It does play WMV DRM media and that's what it uses when you record a DVD to it. It's a bit annoying that you can't record a DVD and play it back elsewhere (it physically disabled the TV-out when you try) but other than ripping to AVI you really have little choice.

    I haven't tried to use it to connect to my satellite receiver but knowing the issues I had trying to use the IR channel changer from Tivo I could only imagine the Archos wouldn't interface well either.

    The LCD screen is nice on mine but it gets finger smudges all the time. I'd really like to see how well this Archos unit handles being a touchscreen. It might get ugly. I have one bad pixel (which is common) and I only notice it when playing movies but for the screen size it's pretty annoying. Maybe Toshiba can back these units too? :)

    The AV400 comes with a CF expansion slot, currently used for picture retrieval, but I really wish they would allow for some wireless CF card integration. It would be VERY cool to be able to network via wifi instead of USB and surf the web and check email as the newer unit allows :(

    All in all, I'm impressed with my Archos and I would recommend it to anyone that's looking into a portable media player that does more than just play music and display photos.

  • Well if it's anything... (Score:3, Informative)

    by Bin_jammin ( 684517 ) <Binjammin@gmail.com> on Thursday January 06, 2005 @04:34PM (#11280997)
    Like my old Jukebox Multimedia 20, it will be overly large, have horrible horrible build quality, require ripping movies in bizzare formats with hard to find utilities, and have just enough battery life to turn on before turning off again. Not to mention buggy firmware, slow product support, incompetent technical support (when the actually respond) and a slew of vaporware... have fun with your toys kids.
    • Like my old Jukebox Multimedia 20, it will be overly large, have horrible horrible build quality, require ripping movies in bizzare formats with hard to find utilities, and have just enough battery life to turn on before turning off again.

      Well considering that the more recent units (I can only speak of the AV400 series) handle AVI just fine I can't see them moving back to any "bizarre" format for future models.

      Not to mention that I get 15+ hours of MP3 playback. I guess it takes you 15 hours to turn on
      • It played AVI, but only if it had been ripped for 340x200 so it would play on the 2" display. You can read the bugfixes for the firmware on Archos' site, and battery life was ~2 hours in average weather, 20 minutes in cold weather, and 4 hours in hot weather.
      • [recent models] handle AVI just fine

        AVI is a container format, not a media format.

        To play video reliably on a recent-generation Archos, you need to make sure all of the following are true about your AVI file:

        1. The video is encoded in a DivX-compatible dialect of MPEG-4
        2. The video must not be encoded using bi-directional filtering
        3. The video resolution is no more than 702x480 (for AV400 series) or 640x400 (for Gmini 400)
        4. The video framerate is no more than 30fps
        5. The audio is encoded in IMA ADPCM o
    • I hear you. While I do like having a 20 gig media player that I can take anywhere and play MP3 and DivX, I find that the battery life blows chunks. I bought mine because it offered a huge capacity and the ability to download content from Flash media (like CF) and could either rip just JPGs or all content on the CF card. This was bliss with my digital camera; I could listen to music and shoot pictures, then download to my HDD and re-use the CF card, without lugging a notebook around.

      The downside of all t
      • Boy howdy, you're not kidding when you're talking flimsy. There are a few pages on the net on how to repair battery terminals inside the unit, because they were soldered out of place from the factory and wouldn't make proper contact. The upper battery contact can become bent out of shape so as to not make proper contact on the terminals. The hard drives are prone to sudden death (and fun to change, what with the body being soldered together. (I changed mine twice) Of course I must admit I use and abuse my p

  • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • ... hardware companies realize that they don't need to pay the m$ tax
  • supports Microsoft DRM protected files (WMV, WMA)

    It kind of figures that one of the major product features of a Linux-based handheld is that it supports a media standard championed by MS, doesn't it? I mean why not support open-source standards like OGG?

  • Catch up with the times Archos... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by }InFuZeD{ ( 52430 ) on Thursday January 06, 2005 @04:41PM (#11281112) Homepage
    This thing looks really cool... I mean awesome, except for two things.

    First, it's $800. Second, it has a 320x240 screen. Who wants a screen that small anymore? You get better resolution on any $100 Palm now...
    • I would expect a VGA screen.

      While it isn't pocket sized, but I bought a used 14" SXGA+ laptop for less than that, with over a year left on the warranty. Heck, there are a few new laptops that are cheaper than that if you look.

      Not that I'm trying to rain in Archos' parade, a very compact hard drive media player, I personally wouldn't put up with video from a screen small enough to fit in any of my pockets.
    • Well, 320x240 makes for easy scaling from 640x480. As for the price, Well, finally there is a portable media device that only costs as much as a full fledged laptop!!! Load it with VLC for $500 and we'll talk...
    • " Who wants a screen that small anymore? You get better resolution on any $100 Palm now..."

      I can think of a few reasons:

      1.) It's $800, like you said. Do you really want to spend $900?

      2.) The nice thing about 320 by 240 is that it's half of 640 by 480, which nearly all videos run at. (Not sure what it captures at, so bear with me...) 640 by 480 screens in that size are still quite rare. At 480 by 320 (correction please?) that Palm runs at is a little more common, but the resizing artifacts would be a
    • Yes it should have VGA, although if you know where to get a $100 palm with greater than QVGA resolution you should have posted a link...

      I was thinking this is basically a Zaurus with a hard drive and video-in, but actually it is inferior due to the display. And the SL-6000's can be found for under $500 now, and were $700 new rather than $800. If it had the same marvelous screen as the 6000 it would perhaps be worth the price.

      They should not have left out the camera either. Big, big mistake. I talked t

  • Look at the Price!! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by allden ( 748789 ) on Thursday January 06, 2005 @04:41PM (#11281114)
    I can get powerful laptops at this price.
    • you can buy a sharp zaurus with far better screen and a handfull of high capacity compact flash or SD cards for this kind of money and get a much more interesting device which would only be half toy. The battery life won't be as good though.

      IMHO, these mmedia portables are really just overblown mp3 players, you've had to be pretty desperate to watch whole movies on such a tiny screen (I guess regular long distance flyers might disagree, but then you're crazy anyway!)

      A brand new zaurus 6000L go for less th

  • $800? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Daniel Ellard ( 799842 ) on Thursday January 06, 2005 @04:42PM (#11281128)
    That seems a bit pricey. That kind of money will get you a decent laptop...

    Is there a market for a device that's more capable than a $100-200 PDA and less capable than a $1000 laptop? Of course I want one, but does anyone need one of these?

    • 1) Let's see you find:
      • an $800 laptop you can fit in your pocket.
      • a $200 PDA with video and MP3 playback and 30GB of storage

      Ok, so it's not perfect, but if it's capable enough, it might be a great travel device. Plays lots of tunes, edits text, goes wireless for email in coffee shops and fits in a pocket.

      Seriously, I'd love a small, cheap, underpowered laptop, just enough to fire up mozilla, xmms and thunderbird. Even my 800MHz P3M can't handle video on battery (speed stepped down to 700 + funky vide

    • Well, it does seem a little high, but it fits in your pocket and it can do do digital video recording, which is a combination it may be tough to find in an $800 laptop.

      Maybe it's better to compare it to a high-end PDA that also has DVR capability? Maybe if the apps are there.

      I think I'm with you, though, I'd probably buy the laptop.

    • It's hard to just whip my laptop out on a bus to watch spongebob for 10 minutes while I wait.

      And I don't want to compromise laptop specs for convenience, ie; get one with a teensy screen just so it'll be easier to watch video. Plus this has no clamshell, etc, it's designed to be easy, quick and private.

      I wouldnt buy one for the price, but give them a few years to get these under 200 bucks, and they'll have something.

  • Disclaimer: Linux not compatible with Linux (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Random BedHead Ed ( 602081 ) on Thursday January 06, 2005 @04:44PM (#11281157) Homepage Journal

    The fine print on the product page is interesting:

    PC: Pentium® III 800 MHz or higher, Windows 98 SE (with driver downloaded from ARCHOS web-site), ME, 2000 or XP. 64 MB RAM (128 MB recommended) with USB port and CD-ROM drive Mac: 9.2 or X (10.2.4) USB Manager version 1.2 or higher with USB port and CD-ROM drive

    So no sneaky using your new Linux gadget with Linux. Of course I'd imagine you could make it connect to the storage just fine, especially if it does USB Mass Storage.

    • Well fact is name one PMP or DAP or PDA or etc that is engineered for linux? I cant think of any. I think developers on the corporate level just think thats what the 'community' is for. What really sucks is that altho it runs on Qtopia, it seems only specifically written software will run on it, nut just any zaurus app for instance.
      • Well fact is name one PMP or DAP or PDA or etc that is engineered for linux?


        YOu don't engineer hardware for linux, you silly gooose. You re-engineer linux for new hardware. :-)

        If it isn't supported at launch, someone will buy one and write support for it, and then we'll all be happy. That's how it's supposed to work, right?
    • Every previous Archos product I've used or heard of works as a USB Mass Storage, even the ones that play /record video. I have an Archos Gmini 400 that I can plug into a Linux box just as easily as I can on a Windows PC. It possible that Archos is changing their normal behavior for this new product, but it's also possible they just don't want to try supporting the product on Linux computers.
    • It has 802.11b support.

      Do you really care what they say it supports? Get it close, copy the file, and you're done. They're shipping virtual dub and whatever with it, with windows configurations, but if you've got Linux running, you most likely don't need a poorly written front end to set up virtual dub for you.

    • Being a mass storage device, all Archos hard drive players are compatible with Linux. I have mounted my Jukebox Multimedia 20GB player many times to a Fedora Core 2 system.

      Any non-compatibility is with the software that comes included with the player, but who cares. Any serious Linux user is savvy enough to know how to find and use the any open source tools needed to convert both CDs and DVDs for playback on the device.

      I personally recommend GordianKnot available on sourceforge.net [sourceforge.net] for decrypting, rip

  • There's a difference between advertising and endorsing. When there's an MS banner up top, that's advertising. When Taco posts what is clearly a product "review" it seems more of an endorsement. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it'd be nice if folks are a little more forthcoming with it.

    As a tech, when I talk about certain products, it kind of carries some weight...like I prefer that product over its competitors.

    On a somewhat related topic, I used to post web pages for a place that offered

  • Ahhh... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Squatchman ( 844798 ) on Thursday January 06, 2005 @04:50PM (#11281250)
    but will it run Windows Mobile ?
  • From the article:

    Internet access allows users to browse web sites and use services like POP3/SMTP and IMAP4 e-mail.

    Ever notice how none of these network-enable gadgets ever say, "Internet access allows users to browse gopher sites and use services like IRC,Unsenet and FTP?

  • it may run on linux but it doesn't work with linux (Score:3, Insightful)

    by bdbolton ( 830677 ) on Thursday January 06, 2005 @04:53PM (#11281287) Journal
    "System requirements: PC: Pentium® III 800 MHz or higher, Windows 98 SE (with driver downloaded from ARCHOS web-site), ME, 2000 or XP. 64 MB RAM (128 MB recommended) with USB port and CD-ROM drive Mac: 9.2 or X (10.2.4) USB Manager version 1.2 or higher with USB port and CD-ROM drive "

    ...runs linux but requires windows/mac. :(

  • Ok... (Score:2, Flamebait)

    by Syberghost ( 10557 )
    Who's managing the pool for betting when the first article is published bitching about some minor, easily-corrected GPL violation?

  • They killed off the hi-res screen (Score:3, Informative)

    by hirschma ( 187820 ) on Thursday January 06, 2005 @05:01PM (#11281387)
    Here is what it was SUPPOSED to be: Prototype with hi-res screen [ehomeupgrade.com]

    Look at the proto's screen res - 704x480. Could be used as a notebook replacement easily enough.

    This version is not worth $800.

    JH

    • I have a Zaurus with a 640x480 screen. It took me a long time to dig up a version of mplayer with hardware accel for whatever chip is in there so it could handle videos of that res, but after I did it turned out to be pointless.

      The screens on these things are so small that QVGA is more than ample. I've been watching anime fansubs lately, which ever since the process went digital have been using these tiny font size subtitles (more suited to monitors than TVs), but even they read fine at 320x240 at the si
    • The PMA430 was never planned with a hi-res screen. It supports video playback with up to 704x480 pixels. But you can only profit of the resolution if you connect the device to a TV screen.

  • I am more than happy with my $90 Palm. It syncs with my address book and iCal on my Mac....and fits in my pocket. And, if something bad happens to it during my travels, I am out $90...not $800. I just think these PDA's are getting crazy.

    I am also confused why it is a linux PDA, yet you have to have windoze or a mac to sync with the thing. That sucks. If I am a linux guy I want a linux PDA that will work with my computer...

    • God, did you even bother to read the posting?! It is MORE than a PDA. Does your "$90 Palm" have a 30 gig hard drive? Can you rip DVDs to it and play them while on the subway? Can you store and play several weeks of music on it?

      I'm not saying the price is worth it. I certainly won't buy one. But it costs more than your Palm because it does a heck of a lot more.

    • I do. I use a laptop from about, say, 8 years ago, 650mhz celeron with 64mb ram, which does everything I want. Wort processing, surf /., read email, instant messaging, play mp3s and videos, and python coding in idle although it's starting to show the strain there a little. A modern PDA is equivalent in terms of processor, hard disk etc. and a helluva lot more portable. And as soon as I have the money, I'll be getting one.
    • Qtopia Desktop runs on linux as well as windows and mac.
  • how is this any differnt form my $150 ipaq running opie ( the opensource fork of qtoipa) and xine? I have a wireless card on it too. I dont see why it shoudl cost $800.
    • Did you read the article? Does your ipaq have a 30 gigabyte hard drive? USB host capabilities? How about the ability to display on the TV, and record from it as well?

      By the way, which ipaq can you get for $150?
    • You can record mp3 and video with this archos device. and it has superior framerates for video than any zaurus or ipaq device that can run opie.

  • If the quality is anything like previous Archos products,

    I bought an Archos Gmini 400 last fall, just about as soon as it was available in the US. For the first few months, it worked great. Then it started having problems where during music playback, the controls would go unresponsive and the hard disk would seek for a minute or more before I could do anything again. Ultimately, the drive click-of-death'ed on me and the device won't even completely boot up any more.

    I suspect it's just a faulty hard dri
    • This is interesting...

      I've been thinking of purchasing an Archos Gmini 220 [archos.com] not for playing music, but for it's small size and for the ability to unload photos off my CF card while in the field. Should I avoid everything archos, or is the 220 a quality product?

      Thanks.
  • For these people posting "800$! I can get a laptop that can do this for that!"

    Aside form the fact that this thing is about 1/8 the size of any laptop, your claim is totally bogus. Show me where I can buy a new laptop with the Archos specs (30 GB, 802.11B, everything) that also has a TV input (can't be external, that'd make it useless) for $800. I can't even find a used one on ebay for anywhere near that price.

    For these people posting "Why would I want a $800 PDA?" / "iPod is Better"

    This thing is not an iPod

    • "Show me where I can buy a new laptop with the Archos specs (30 GB, 802.11B, everything) that also has a TV input (can't be external, that'd make it useless) for $800."

      OK, you got me on the TV input. Otherwise, Gateway is selling a Celeron-D 2.8MHz laptop crammed with shit for $650 after mail-in rebates. Add cardbus wifi from newegg for ~$25 (802.11g, even). Comes with a DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive.
  • The new Archos PMA400 is a Linux based portable- entertainment/PDA/DVR/Internet device. It comes with wireless and ethernet LAN connections, plays Mophun and Qtopia and supports Microsoft DRM protected files (WMV, WMA). ...it also makes Julian fries, will comb your hair, you'll forget all about that silly "sliced bread" nonsense, will completely redefine the wheel, and cure cancer!

    *sigh* Another day, another "iPod Killer." Honestly, how many people, walking down the street, would honestly say, "I sure cou
    • These devices make no real sense to me whatsoever.

      No i until i realized that in mass population centers mass trasit is teh way to got and for peopel to find afforable living they must live 1 to 2 hours of mass transit time away from their respective jobs, so if i was sitting ona seat waiting to get to work i could catch up on the tv shows i missed from the previous day (mainly becasue i cannot watch these shows as they are on as i am on the mass transit ride home)downloaded form my media center (insert f
    • I have the 480 model, and it's great in the hotel room. I can plug it into the TV and watch my movies and shows at full frame rate. I record all my shows at 640x480 - Plenty of resolution for a TV set.

      I have the 80 gig model, so I can cram a lot of video onto it.

  • My HP iPac4155 will play WMA files MP3 ect...

    I can even stream them from my PC over WI FI, and it was only around $500.00.
  • Looking at the info out on the PSP (PlayStation Portable) it looks like it may become the dommant Portable media player, if Sony does things right. It will be cheap too, they are taling less than $200

    Sony did something like this with DVD's in Japan. Before the PS2 DVD held a low market share now DVD are perfered over what they had before
  • This looks pretty good. I bought the Multimedia Jukebox 20 when it came out, and I still love it - crappy quality, dying batteries, and all - because it beats lugging a laptop around on vacation to download my digital camera pictures. I've found it's simpler to just snap away and off-load later. So far, this is still cheaper that buying several gig of cards to last me over a vacation... and when the next generation of 10Mpixel cameras come out, we're going to need that much more space!

    I looked at an iPod a
  • I'm getting one of ebay.com and risking the tax man for the sake of $255.

    At todays rate [x-rates.com]

    $799.95 = EUR606.61
    EUR 799.99 = $1054
  • I see a lot of comments complaining that this device is too expansive, too big, not open enough (because it supports DRM), too small of screen, etc. I've also seen this compared to the iPod for some reason. Why? To me this looks like an extension of Archos popular (but flawed) AV400 with a Sharp Zaurus feature set added. It could be a Linux-hacker's dream (if affordable).

    The main Pro to adding the Zaurus-like Qtopia here is that it will probably (or hopefully) be easy to port all the software over from
  • This sounds much better than, say, the Oqo or other palmtop computers: it has a longer battery life, it's much cheaper, and it has video I/O. If they don't screw up in some way and if it is actually an open device, this could be a huge success.
  • I'm glad they've finally decided to add in removable batteries. I have an Archos AV120, and after a year's usage, the battery started to crap out. Its battery life is much shorter now.

    About the only other complaint I have about Archos is their GUI. It's just not very pretty nor is it very user friendly. Takes some getting used to.

    With that said, this device looks to be awesome! I mean, having wireless access, being able to connect to the net. Nice!
  • Just once I would like to see one of these companies design with ergonomics in mind. Left handers must be loving these things because they can use the pen in their left hand and push the buttons and hold the unit with the right hand. My tablet pc is the exact same way. Sure I can rotate the screen but the buttons are all backwards. XP tablet edition did not like fliping back and forth so I gave up and installed linux on it. Tablet pc as a form factor would get a lot further if manufactures would make t
    • Left handers must be loving these things because they can use the pen in their left hand and push the buttons and hold the unit with the right hand.

      Message from the manufacturers:

      We don't care about your 10% of the population until we've saturated the market and need your money.

      That goes double for you color blind people.

      Nevermind people with disabilities.

      -Adam

  • Qtopia (Score:4, Informative)

    by arodland ( 127775 ) on Thursday January 06, 2005 @09:27PM (#11284053)
    It doesn't play Qtopia; it runs Qtopia. Qtopia isn't a media format but rather a smallish environment, meant for handhelds, based on Qt/Embedded.
  • The device will retail for around US$800."

    Ok, nevermind.
  • It still won't play MPEG4-ASP profile media files? No qpel, gmc extensions?

    Dooh, this was the reason I waited for AV500 (now this unit).

    I feel somewhat betrayed.

  • ...supports Microsoft DRM protected files (WMV, WMA)...

    Just wonder, does Archos do it with the blessing of Microsoft (and does it bare the PlaysForSure [playsforsure.com] logo)? Will it become incompatible when MS tweaked the implementation?

    If it's done via reverse-engineering, wouldn't that put Archos up for DMCA lawsuits? Also, what it means for MS that its DRM system is publicly hacked?

    I've heard some companies have licensed to port Windows Media to Linux but couldn't remember MS approving the DRM stuff.

  • Here's a quick nod to Archo's durability: I have a 20G Recorder. Several months ago, my wife and I were cleaning out the car and she put it on top of the car. We got in the car to drop my daughter off at a neighbor's house, which is across the neighborhood. Apparently, it flew off the roof when we took a corner and a kind man returned it to me while waiting at the friend's house. The top panel had come open, but after closing it, it started up fine and I haven't had a problem since! It may be clunky,
  • I can not find any information about the hardware specs. I emailed Arcos sales to find out what kind of processor and memory is in it.
    Here is the reply:

    "Dear Sir,
    This is the operating system Linux Qtopia(TM) with embedded ARCHOS multimedia applications , I am sorry but we do not have specific specification of the processor or the board."

    That information would be nice.

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