Archos 704 works perfectly!!!

[cloudless]

I purchased my 160gb 704 from Pixmania in May (07) it worked perfectly out of the box I couldn't get enought of it!
I bought some Novus 1 to keep the screen clean and managed to get some under the screen which killed it!
I opened it to try and fix it myself, and my advice is don't do this!!
Having scratched the metal casing and found it impossible to reconnect the screen to the pcb, I had to admit to Archos I opened it and send it back out of warranty.
They charged me £110 Ouch! But changed the casing, fitted a new screen and fitted a screen protector! The turn around was 3weeks 2days!
It came back as new! although in a crappy brown box and not the Archos packaging I sent it in!
I use it everyday, at work, listening to music for around 5hours and watching copied DVDs for about an hour.
However I only use the DVR station for charging, so can't comment on problems there.
So there you have it a pefect experience with a Archos 704!

[Bainsyboy]

Cloudless what ripping programme are you using and does it handle copy protected stuff, anychance of posting the settings you use as well, I really dont want to send mine back because when its working correctly its a dream to own plus i have got used to the lush screen size, which is why im spending so much time to sort these problems out.

Also do you watch any of the recorded stuff on your tv via docking station

[Deckyon]

I have not had a bit of problem with mine either. I use it every day. I use DVDFab, which is free for 30 days, then you just uninstall it and reinstall it for another 30 days of action. I rent TV Show DVDs, rip the episodes and name them (Show_SeasonShow.mpg) and it works fine. I rip while at work, as I can do a full DVD in about an hour or so while I am working on work stuff. DVDFab has a setting for PVP (Personal Video Player) and there is an AV700 then I just select the 640x480 and 1-pass at 1100 bit rate and bam, done. Even the extremely long movies (LotR, more than 2 hours each disk) have played with no problems what so ever.

I play back on my TV in my bedroom before bed every night and it is great. Never had any problems. I have recorded from TV and DVD and VHS, but once I got DVDFab, it is so much easier and more portable. I have 500g worth of video so far and transfer just what I want to watch for that week or so at a time, though I have streamed with no errors and watched that way as well.

I recently went on a weekend trip and had a blast watching my shows before bed still, while laying on an air mattress and falling asleep. I got a good 4 hours of watching over 2 nights and the battery was still decent. I probably had about an hour left. I did use earphones and had the screen brightness down as it is blinding in a mostly dark room as the only source of light.

It is too bad others have had problems, but I have had nothing but success. Good luck with yours.

[Bainsyboy]

Cheers Deckyon, I will have a search for that programme.

[cloudless]

I have "AnyDvd" installed on my computer, I then use "TMPGEnc 4.0 express" to convert the DVD to the Archos. It has hundreds of settings to choose from, (I also use the portable setting) and takes about 5 hours (2pass), (I do it overnight) to convert around 3 hours (I too watch boxset shows) of DVD into a 2.5gb 640 x 480 file which plays beautifully and looks gorgeous.
I have watched the files via the DVR station connected to my TV and again I could not fault it.

[Rapax]

Same here. I use mine daily, mostly to watch downloaded TV-series episodes on the train to work.
I've used it to record some stuff for friends (my stupid set-top box for the digital TV doesn't allow transferring of recorded stuff to other media), to show photos to people and to access the web on-the-go.

Never had any trouble with it. At least not any for which the device could be blamed.
So chalk me up as another happy owner of a 704 WiFi that's working perfectly.

[Bainsyboy]

Well affter extensive testing i can now touch wood say that my unit works as described on the box.

[robtek70]

My 704TV has worked faultlessly since I bought it.

[patw64]

My 704TV has worked faultlessly since I bought it.

I also am not having problems with my 704TV, it does everything it said on the box (plus more).

[VipFREAK]

No problems here. I love this thing so much. It's so nice to just dump video on this thing and be able to play it. No retarded converting. I'm seriously thinking of getting rid of my iPod video and portable dvd player now.

[cloudless]

16 months and counting
thats how long my 704 wifi has been going strong!
I have easily copied and deleted over 300gb of ripped DVD to it.
I have used it every single night at work 1.5-2 hours during that 16-months.
For instance I'm just finishing season 3 of House MD.
It gets turned on and off several times a night.
It gets charged every day.
I've left it playing music while I slept.
And it's still going strong.
I will be buying an Archos 7 320gb
Only because I know hard drives give up the ghost eventually,
And i'll have to go back to reading the paper during my breaks at work,
without an Archos to watch!

[CBers]

Glad to hear it - mine is also working perfectly, and gets used a lot in the back of the car on long journeys.

Why are you getting an Archos7 so soon after they come out ?? Why not wait a while and see what people are saying - there are bugs with the Archos5, so no doiubt the 7 will have the same.

If the 704 ain't broke, then don't fix it with an A7 !!

Just a thought.

[cloudless]

You are correct I will be waiting,
Especially for an Archos 7g (only with large storage though) or an Archos 7 with 500gb
It's these two features that will tempt me to upgrade, sim card internet or 500gb
Although as you say I will wait untill the new year at least.
It's only because of the better screen in the first place that i'm even tempted, so again will have to wait and see what people say about that.