Archos 5 or Cowon Q5W

[sprinter]

Don't think you can record onto it from an external video source ,correct me if i'm wrong though ?

Theoretically it is possible with Win CE but you will have to find a way to get the source video on the cowon. I am thinking a USB video capture device might work IF you can find drivers for Win CE.

Bit complex thos .. A3 better option? "might be selling A5 in favour of A3 "

[The_Blood_Raven]

Some guy actually compared the Ipod Touch, Cowon Q5w, and the Archos 5

http://forum.archosfans.com/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=20110

It's somewhat biased, but it gives you an idea of what each product is good/bad at.



I did check out the iaudiophile forum a before I purchased my Archos, and the major thing I noticed, is that their forum is not nearly as active as this one. So that's actually a point in Archos's favor, there is a denser area of customer feedback. Also I noticed people had to buy the $25 core player to play back flash and other files. People bitch all the time about Archos making you pay for codecs, but I don't recall Cowon getting much flack for this. And last thing, one of the scary defects of the Q5W that I read about on the iaudiophile forum, is that it overheats.

biased?....

Really I kept asking for opinions on the damn review and no one ever said much so tell me what you don't like!

[kb]

Don't think you can record onto it from an external video source ,correct me if i'm wrong though ?

Theoretically it is possible with Win CE but you will have to find a way to get the source video on the cowon. I am thinking a USB video capture device might work IF you can find drivers for Win CE.

There's a more general problem here...

Yes, the Q5 runs Windows CE, but it uses an uncommon CPU. So it's not just a case of finding a driver, but finding a driver that has been compiled for the MIPS CPU and Q5-specific architecture. It's a completely different scale of problem from that of finding a Windows driver for desktop PC.

And that applies to any software that you might want to run on the Q5. Most Windows apps are not open source, so you'd be faced with persuading the vendor to build a Q5-specific version. That's why, I guess, there aren't that many apps known to work on the Q5.

[fang_3000]

i guess both have different sets of problems!

[Pete_S]

I own a Q5 and an Archos 605 and 704 (but not a 5). Just a few thoughts in no particular order...

In the Q5s favour is sound quality, considerably better than any Archos I've heard and with a lot of equaliser options, reasonable built in speakers (not much worse than most laptops), a very nice screen, and a built in full size USB host port for flash drives, a mouse, keyboard etc. There is also a standard circular power socket, you can use any 5V supply with appropriate tip.

I've not found the Q5s wifi sensitivity a problem, but I know others have. My 605 has the same slightly reduced wifi range as the Q5, both poorer than a laptop, for example. I can't speak for the 5, though. There is also a good FM radio in the Q5. It's a small point, but if you travel a lot it's very useful to have.

As kb has already pointed out, the apparent promise of installing loads of programs on the windows CE5 OS of the Q5 is shattered by the needs of the MIPS platform. But, there are a few good CE/MIPS programs, like Adobe Reader for example. I don't know about the 5, but the Archos pdf reader on the 605 is pretty grim.

Both the Q5 and the 5 suffer the same problem of integrated battery packs. The Q5 is also quite a heavy bulky machine, the Archos looks more sleek, compact and pocketable from what I've seen, especially the lower capacity ones.

Regarding stability, I've not found the Q5 to have a problem in this respect. My 605 is a lot less reliable

The Archos interface is frankly a lot more together than the Cowon, and it's consequently easier to navigate around. The Cowon part of the Q5's interface isn't too bad, though not up to the Archos's standard. It's when you want to do other things like pdf reading, document editing etc, you have to deal with the Windows CE desktop which is quite separate from the Cowon media player interface. It's a slightly messy arrangement which just about works.

Hope that helps anyone trying to decide.

[brdystyls]

There's a more general problem here...

Yes, the Q5 runs Windows CE, but it uses an uncommon CPU. So it's not just a case of finding a driver, but finding a driver that has been compiled for the MIPS CPU and Q5-specific architecture. It's a completely different scale of problem from that of finding a Windows driver for desktop PC.

And that applies to any software that you might want to run on the Q5. Most Windows apps are not open source, so you'd be faced with persuading the vendor to build a Q5-specific version. That's why, I guess, there aren't that many apps known to work on the Q5.

This is true didn't think of that, but there are some USB capture devices that do not need drivers; like Encore to think of one.

[Johnny Blaze]

I too considered the Cowan before I bought the archos 5. I settled on the 5 due the the hard drive size. This allows me to just dump movies on the HD and watch them whenever I get around to it. This for me is priceless. All the other features are just a added bonus. I must admit I use the upnp network feature alot lately to stream movies to the device. My point being the main difference between the two is the hard drive space, its a deal maker/breaker.

[fang_3000]

the only thing i was attracted to about the cowon was the integrated stylus.. the look wasn't great and the hdd space is so low

[Loba]

Some guy actually compared the Ipod Touch, Cowon Q5w, and the Archos 5
I did check out the iaudiophile forum a before I purchased my Archos, and the major thing I noticed, is that their forum is not nearly as active as this one. So that's actually a point in Archos's favor, there is a denser area of customer feedback. Also I noticed people had to buy the $25 core player to play back flash and other files. People bitch all the time about Archos making you pay for codecs, but I don't recall Cowon getting much flack for this. And last thing, one of the scary defects of the Q5W that I read about on the iaudiophile forum, is that it overheats.

Because cowon fans dun have much to complain about lol.

[fang_3000]

Some guy actually compared the Ipod Touch, Cowon Q5w, and the Archos 5
I did check out the iaudiophile forum a before I purchased my Archos, and the major thing I noticed, is that their forum is not nearly as active as this one. So that's actually a point in Archos's favor, there is a denser area of customer feedback. Also I noticed people had to buy the $25 core player to play back flash and other files. People bitch all the time about Archos making you pay for codecs, but I don't recall Cowon getting much flack for this. And last thing, one of the scary defects of the Q5W that I read about on the iaudiophile forum, is that it overheats.

Because cowon fans dun have much to complain about lol.

i beg to differ. Cowon has its own set of problems as well

[Pete_S]

i beg to differ. Cowon has its own set of problems as well

It does, but you can often sort them out a lot easier than you can Archos problems. When you reinstal or upgrade firmware on the Cowon, it completely renews everything. I believe a lot of system files are retained after reinstalling Archos f.w, so problems might persist (correct me if I'm wrong). With Cowon, you can access all the system files, with Archos you can't, they've hidden them away on a special partition.

With Cowon, you can change the hard drive without too much difficulty.

And, with Archos withdrawing support for models just a few years old (see the 700 series forum) this might be a big bonus.

Recent Archos models seem to have more hardware problems, like cases which wear out prematurely and jack sockets which fail, necessitating factory returns.

Don't get me wrong, I really like my Archos 605/704/700. I use all of them at various times, and so far I've been lucky. But I've seen the firmware getting flakier as Archos have tried to get more clever, and now with the 5 we seem to have hardware problems too. Seems like they may be overstretching themselves in their rush to get a new model to market every few months.

[brdystyls]

Archos you can't, they've hidden them away on a special partition.

From my digging around in the archos system, its not necessarily a "specail partition"; they use a form of .HDS or Hierarchical Data System a unix based file system /database which allows any other file system type to be able to access it. We just do not have the proper permissions to be able to see these hidden sub folders.

Description
HDS stands for "Hierarchical Data System". It is a flexible system for storing and retrieving data and takes over from a computer's filing system at the level of an individual file. A conventional file effectively contains an 1-dimensional sequence of data elements, whereas an HDS file can contain a more complex structure. There are many parallels between the hierarchical way HDS stores data within files and the way that a filing system organises the files themselves.

The advantage of HDS is that it allows many different kinds of data to be stored in a consistent and logical fashion. It is also very flexible, in that objects can be added or deleted whilst retaining the logical structure. HDS also provides portability of data, so that the same data objects may be accessed from different types of computer despite the fact that each may actually format its files and data in different ways.

HDS is a freely available database system. It is particularly suited to the storage of large multi-dimensional arrays (with their ancillary data) where efficiency of access is a requirement.

[fang_3000]

hmm so what we need is someone to use hds to hack into the archos?

[brdystyls]

hmm so what we need is someone to use hds to hack into the archos?

It's a thought..... doubt it would work but I am no hacker.