Video Cameras

Archos Video Recorder AV420

Archos pocket video recorder AV420 is compact to match its name. You should be warned, it is expensive. Many would like to go for it in spite of its expensiveness for its features. May be that is what justifies its price. It is versatile; it accepts both live and analog inputs for recording. You can store your data and use it as photo storage device and also can play your MP3s and WMA files.

When compared to its previous models AV320, AV420 has worked on is weight and dimensions. It is 5×3.1×0.8 inches and 9.8 ounces. It can be easily carried in your pocket and the unit comes with a carry case for additional protection.

AV420 has certainly worked on the mistakes of AV320. It does not have anymore the difficult joystick which is replaced by four way directional pad. It also includes easy navigation buttons. Additional $40 will bring you the optional adapter for media card reader including MMC, SmartMedia, Secure Digital and Memory Sticks. AV420 has a compact flash slot too.

It has an award winning user interface. It has desktop modeled icons for its options. Moreover, the display is a large 3.5 inch LCD with a resolution of 320×240 pixels. The user interface has been made lot more easy. Here you will be able to switch your video output between external TV and the LCD with a clearly marked button unlike the obscure button of AV320.

It is almost your media center with easy connections. The new cradle takes care of everything. You can have your home theater connections and the A/V cables without having a haze of cables. The cradle is compatible with all types of video sources. But it is bit complex to record video as all files require conversion before viewing.

It has long battery hours, quite reliable too. It has a battery life of up to 12 hours for MP3 playback and 3.5 hours of video playback. The batteries are removable batteries. This allows you to get spare batteries when you are going to places where finding a place for your AC adaptor is going to be a problem.

The unit has an inbuilt microphone and a speaker. It has the following connectivity ports – Hi-Speed USB , Composite video output – RCA, Composite video input – RCA, Headphones – Audio line-out, S-Video input and Audio line-in.

Storage space is not a problem with AV420, it has an hard disk capacity of 20 GB which will allow you to store millions of photos, audio and video. As it stores video files in MPEG4 compressed format movie files do not consume large space. You can record your video from any analog source – VCR, cable satellite box or a DVD player.

AV420 comes with Musicmatch Jukebox 8.1 to organize your music collection. The unit also comes with VitrualDub a software that converts AVI and MPEG to AV420 files.

One of the drawbacks is that it does not have a stand that will allow hands free viewing which can be irritating especially when you had planned to enjoy your favorite show while traveling in a plane.