Now before I start this review I just want everyone to know there will be a separate review from Cee as soon as she can get some time with the Archos 504.OK. The Archos 504. Quite a dandy little machine if I do say so myself. Why don't we get a little information about this particular machine before I tell you what I think.
The 504 is part of Archos' fourth generation of multi-media players and recorders. Specifically, the 504 will play movies, music, record audio with a built in microphone, view PDFs, run picture slideshows, and record video directly from your television with an adapter sold separately.
Our 504 in particular included the smallest hard drive available in this model (40GB) but that's still 10GB more than my 5th gen iPod with video. The hard drive is easy to access and it is a standard 2.5" used in most laptops today. Considering this it could be upgradeable if you ever feel the need to explore that option. The exterior of the 504 is made of a brushed metal of some type as well as pretty strong plastics. The 16:9 screen has a glossy finish that doesn't reflect but gives very good colour.
The user interface (or UI) is easy to understand, however the buttons can take a little getting used to especially for those coming from an iPod. There are icons on the main menu that indicate clearly what they are for but there is also an iPod like menu structure you can use instead but just going into the "browser".
The audio quality is pretty good though my iPod still seems to have better bass response. You can adjust the bass in the Archos but it seems interfere with the rest of the sound somewhat muffling the playback. the 504 also has a built-in graphic equalizer. I have been wanting one of these for a long time in the iPod. You'll want to replace the headphones that come with the unit as they are rather unimpressive in sound quality.
The video playback is astounding. The colour depth of the screen is only 16 bit but it looks just amazing. The backlight on the 504 also doesn't drown the colour on the screen with too much light keeping blacks fairly black. My only wish for the 504 is that it supported DivX and XviD as I do have some podcasts that I watch that are done in those formats. There are also some support problems with WMV formats as well. It will play most standard WMV but when I started playing a few of my own WMVs the player wouldn't play them.
The picture slide show feature include in the 504 is also very good including a few different transition effects. The picture viewer also has a zoom capability witch seems to eluded the iPod as well. You can also customize the background of th 504 with your own pictures or any of the include 90 pictures.
The power saving on the unit is great but almost too good. It is always shutting off and just when you want to use it. It doesn't shut down when you are watching a movie or listening to music thank goodness but if you wait to long browsing through menus you will have to boot the Archos all over again.
The lithium ion battery is excellent in the 504 providing enough power to watch 2 whole movies in a row or 17 hours of music.
Now sure it has all those features but what do you sacrifice when you have all of them? Portability. This unit it huge and quite heavy compared to the iPod. It is roughly 2.5 times bigger and heavier than the current generation 30GB iPod. If you are looking for portability then you will have to go for the Archos 404 becuase it is half the size of the 504.
What really is the kicker is that you can hook the 504 up to the TV and record shows and watch them whenever you want. That is awesome. You can also, through the same accessory, play what is on the 504 on to the TV. The iPod can play movies on TV but it cannot record. Kudos to you Archos for that great feature.
All in all the Archos 504 is a great video machine. The audio playback is pretty good and almost on par with the iPod. It comes down to whether or not you want great portability or a multimedia powerhouse.
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