The video interview from IFA 2007 is available now at http://archosfans.com/2007/09/05/interview-at-ifa-2007/

Some of the answers that I got off camera to some of the questions from the thread at http://forum.archosfans.com/viewtopic.php?t=6280 are following:

- The manual of the Battery Dock says something about how to use it, I am still stand-by for their answer on how long it takes to recharge an empty main battery using the battery dock before the battery dock can be used to prolonge the battery life fully.

- DVR Gen5 remote control does work with DVR Gen4, and it could be sold separately, but this has not been checked with the engineers or production people (I am quoting from memory). My guess is that if we are enough people who would like to just buy the remote control separately for our DVR Station Gen4, then I'd think they should be able to do something about it for us. In my case, I am just planning to get the new remote control with the TV+ which I definately want to get so that I finally got a DVR and VOD set-top-box that stays in my living room.

- They will hopefully get back to me soon about bundles, RAW, more streaming formats, embedded streaming managment, wmv7.

- About Dish Networks, we need to ask Dish it seems, or maybe the R├®mi Durand, the more European centric representative of Archos, maybe isn't as much up to date about the status of Dish integration. We should try to contact Larry Smith, COO of Archos in the USA if we want a more definite answer then what he said in the podcast: http://archosfans.com/2007/07/23/archos ... h-podcast/

- About fixing the customer support thing, that isn't especially a concern, he thinks Archos has a great customer service. Well I guess if he was talking about the unofficial support forum that is this one, then I guess he would be right.

- He says it sometimes bugs him to read on this forum some of the complaints and whining that some users constantly express. And it also bothers him that some users, maybe myself included, try to much to reinvent the products instead of discussing the reality of the issues and talking about the reality of the market today. (He didn't use those words, I'm again quoting from my memory)

- TV+ in October 249Ôé¼ for 80GB and 349Ôé¼ for 250GB (+50Ôé¼ for certain countries that have some special kind of tax which I guess applies to DVRs) I guess the same numbers in $ for the USA.

Does he really think that being told to send a unit back to the factory, releasing firmware update to fix the problem the day after it had to go back, be without it for over 3 weeks, not having a single emailed enquiry to the rma address answered, having an inbound channel with no ability to provide accurate status info, returning a unit in different packaging to that it was sent in, getting it back and being told there's nothing wrong with it, constitutes "Great Customer Service"?

The guy is deluding himself. As I told him yesterday in the latest email I sent him that he has ignored, Competitors with weaker products and better customer service will be more successful in the mass market. Archos will either wither, or a smarter company will buy their technology and fire the idiots who don't think customer service is at the heart of mass market success. Of course he will just think I am just whining and bugging him so won't actually bother to do anything about fixing anything.

His delusions don't surprise me since they seemed to be shared at the top of the company too.

What did he say when you told him that a significant number of people seem to have a bad experience with the Customer Service side so it was not fair to just dismiss their comments?
Mal

Any contact information to this guy at DISH and I'll try to contact him myself?

It's the ONLY reason I haven't bought the unit yet.

George

Good job Charbax! I'm quite liking the idea of the TV+ - using that in hand with the 605 could be a dream combination!

Some of his answers made me laugh e.g. Can the content portal be made faster? 'It's fast enough!!' But at least he gave you a decent length interview and answered all the questions you gave him.

I'll look forward to the content portal becoming fully active (Although I'm happy to say that mine has just started working again after dissapearing yesterday) And the widgets will be cool once they start getting going (Notepad, Drawing App, GPS Style/Maps App are all hopes of mine!)

But yeah great job!

Charbax.... I hope you laughed uncontrolablly when he said that Archos has a great support team. What a complete joke. I don't know what is more insulting -- the group he tries to pass off as a support team; or the fact that he thinks we are a bunch of clueless sheep that will think his support team is great, because he says so. He sounds like a complete dolt after that comment. Nothing he says holds water following that statement.

Can you not make it downloadable so that we can watch it on our ARCHOS units, or would it not be compatible

I haven't got his direct contact, it's Larry Smith who works at the Archos USA headquarters. I think I've read some posts of people who actually did get in contact with him. Maybe you could get in contact to him through asking the guy at http://mediacenter.thepodcastnetwork.co ... rry-smith/ to contact him about giving us an update about this specific thing..



As soon as it's up on Google Video, then Google provides an Archos compatible .mp4 download, as well as I think some of the other sites do also provide a downloadable SD resolution version. Otherwise I might add a Download link for the 720p version which will hopefully work if 29,97fps 1280x720 Mpeg4 will work once the HD plugin is available.



Yup, I think that there was a misunderstanding right there. I didn't mean that the downloading and streaming of videos wasn't fast enough, that's instant so it cannot be faster. What I was trying to ask about is if the whole ACP interface and index of contents could somehow be pre-cached on the Archos and automatically updated, just as Widgets store some html/javascript files on the Archos itself, then I'd think it could be usefull if the Archos could store a database on the Archos itself to make the whole browsing of ACP content instant and make it work even while offline. So a user could browse around his latest cache of index of files, even select some files to buy/rent/download while offline which downloading would resume as soon as the WiFi Internet connection is resumed.

So the point of my question was about such a thing as implementing Google Gears so that databases, html and javascript files for the ACP would stay on the Archos and a system be implemented so that those files are a bit updated upon a connection to the Internet if it detects the files have changed. Thus browsing through the ACP content could be made as instant and quick as when browsing through the contents like music and video on the Archos itself. I will try to ask this question again to Archos over an email one of these days, specifically if they could add Google Gears functionality to the Opera browser and use it in the ACP, for Widgets and more.



I guess if enough UK users ask them, then they might give you back a specific date for when the Vizumi Arts Media Alliance content will be ready for UK users. It's been announced, so if you check the PC-version of Vizumi looking at the windows media based content they have (which probably is all of their content), then I guess it could be as much content that will be available in the ACP for UK users. And since it has been announced, it's quite sure that the partnership is signed and that it will happen as soon as Vizumi and Archos finishes porting the interface with the corrent touch-screen and remote shortcut functions and activates it in the portal. It isn't very hard to do the ACP version for a ACP partner, but it's still some work and testing that needs to be done by people who know exactly how to program Web 2.0 interfaces. My guess is the UK users should be getting content at least from Vizumi in the ACP anytime now.

One way to get the file is to play the link above completely, right to the end. Then start to play it again but hit the "PAUSE" icon _NOT_ the "stop" icon.

Go with your Windows Explorer, to "C:\Program Files\Divx\Movies" and copy the file that ends with "xxxxx.avi.part" to a different sub-directory and rename it to "xxxxx.avi" (removing the ".part").

You have to do all this BEFORE you exit the on-line video as the divx plug-in deletes the file when it closes down.

This plays with most media players - can't test it on my 605 as I'm still awaiting its arrival.

I'll be very interested to hear if it plays on your 605!
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Humm Never a fan of bowties outside a dinner suit but not to worry.

Thanks for taking the time to ask the questions and upload the video.
Great effort. (For Sure! )

Ok a few things,
Blaming the the DSL connection was a bit of a cop out.
I have a 5mb line in my house when I try and stream movies I still get stutter! I end of pausing the video for about 3mins and then letting it go. depending on the length of the movie sometimes it catches up with the download and stutters othertimes is ok.
Asking for it to cache first was not in my view a major ask.

Content portal
Humm Nothing really in there around the UK or when these providers were coming online. Although he did say in the next few YEARS more will come on board.. Years??
Oh and anybody can join the content portal as long as they stick to the specs and recommendations around page layout and TV viewing compatability. Ok We shall see how fast blockbusters comes knocking

TV+
Not at all interested, 720p 24fps 80gb or 250gb Mentioned the series link so therefore the EPG must be ok, However looking at it they are entering a market where there is already stiff competition and they are come to it with a "Me Too!!!" product with no disernable uniquie selling point.

Archos Link SCOOP!!!!
Erm go to someweb we couldn't hear and for some of their podcasts there are links that you can click on which will automatically work with the Archoslink software and cue in the feed. I am feeling very underwhelmed.

Widgets
Nothing new discovered although they are stored on the device and will work offline, e.g calculator and probably games by that rational.

You can also right click on the DivX Web Player, and click Auto-Save downloads and also specify in which directory you would like to save the DivX.

Though my 720p files won't work until Archos releases the HD plugin, so to download my videos I'd have to release the SD DivX version or you can use one of the Flash versions sites which provides a downloadable file.

You can for example download a version that works on Archos from:
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/806248/ar ... _ifa_2007/
-> http://akvideos.metacafe.com/ItemFiles/ ... 2382.1.avi
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 7552923580 (.mp4 you need Podcast plugin)
http://blip.tv/file/366795
-> http://blip.tv/file/get/Charbax-ArchosI ... 007938.avi




Which movies are you testing? I think they will try to have their VOD servers in your country so that bandwidth is optimal, since international bandwidth sometimes is slowed down cause ISPs sometimes have to pay more for international bandwidth. So I'd expect it to be true, that video streaming should be fine and it cannot be sped up since it is already instant. But I haven't tested much VOD on it yet.



Hmm I dunno if this is a me too approach. The TV+ is basically an Archos without the screen, using a 3.5" hard drive, integrated with a DVR Station Gen5 + Ethernet and HDMI ports. I think the TV+ is hugely interesting at that $249 price point for the 80GB model. I mean compare that with competitors such as the more expensive Apple TV, Tivo, Vudu box, KiSS Linksys 1600, D-Link and more. I think though that there is an opportunity for releasing an even cheaper TV+ box at below $149, one that doesn't record TV, one that only comes with a 4GB Flash memory but with an empty removable hard drive slot, maybe even an empty iVDR slot, and extra SD card slot and USB host ports for more external storage. Thus at $149, Archos could better compete with the cheapest DLNA media extender boxes that are becoming available. I'd find it great if Archos could add a DivX Connected logo to provide an alternative DivX Connected interface also on the box.

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Mmm, when I played your video and right-clicked on it, the "Save video as ..."option was greyed out and not selectable. That's why I had to go through the steps I gave above to be able to keep a copy.

Ah, perhaps when I tried the right-click I hadn't let the video play to the end first. Does the "Save video as ..." only work once the clip has played completely?
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Just an update about the info about future versions of Flash for Archos 605.
As sayd by R├®mi Durand in the interview, it dont depends on archos, it depends on the tools provided by Adobe.
This is a confirmation that the Gen5 uses Flash Lite 2.1 for Flash playback since currently it only supports Flash 7.
R├®mi Durand sayd that if new tools became avalaible Archos will update the plugin without cost.

What are the news?

At the end of september will be the Adobe MAX conferences in Chicago where there is a session of Flash Lite 3.0
That's mean that the long awaited (by developers of mobile applications) version 3 of Flash Lite is near.

So there are new questions to be answered in the future:
1- Which versions of Flash will support Flash Lite 3? (Flash 8? Flash 9?)
2- Are the Gen5 hardware ready for Flash Lite 3?
3- If #2 is yes, will Archos update the Webrowser Plugin?

Bel that's interesting. I think R├®mi Durand said it's up to Adobe if the upgrade of Flash will cost another plugin or if it will be free for people who already paid the licence for Flash 7 through the Web browser plugin..

Yup "Save video as.." only shows up when the video has completely been progressively downloaded. But what I meant is that if you have a lot of disc space available, you can right click on the DivX web player and go in proprieties and there choose to Auto-save downloads in your specified DivX Web Player download folder, this way it keep all the videos there and you know which folder to go to to get the latest videos that you watched or buffered completely in the DivX Web Player.

I was just watching it on my TV now using 605+DVR, here is what anyone can do with 100% free software:

1- Copy the movie file (called ArchosGen5[1].avi) from your Temporary Internet Files folder and save it on your HDD in any other location more controlable than TIF.

2- Download VirtualDub, a free software which can compress using Divx, Xvid ... etc can change form 1280x720 to any lower resolution:
http://www.virtualdub.org/download

3- Download Divx, if u don't have it already:
http://www.divx.com/divx/windows/download/

4- Open the original movie file in VirtualDub, and select the resolution, codec, ...etc which u would like to use, I used Divx 720 pixel width down from 1280.

Yup or one of these links:

-> http://akvideos.metacafe.com/ItemFiles/ ... 2382.1.avi
-> http://blip.tv/file/get/Charbax-ArchosI ... 007938.avi
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 7552923580 (As a .mp4 you need Podcast plugin)

that was pretty hard to listen to. Since you do so much video blogging, why not invest in a good remote mic?

I had a mic, but the Sanyo HD2 camcorder that I got sponsored to film at IFA has a special smaller mic input and they didn't provide me with the adaptor.

I see now. Sorry to doubt your mic wielding capabilities.