MusicRadar Verdict
It doesn't have a digital tuner, but if you've got Sky, cable or Freeview it's an interesting alternative to a standard PVR
Pros
- +
Great picture. Huge capacity. Video recording
Cons
- -
No digital tuner. Fiddly controls. Expensive
MusicRadar's got your back Our team of expert musicians and producers spends hours testing products to help you choose the best music-making gear for you. Find out more about how we test.
PVRs are traditionally chunky set-top boxes, but Archos has come up with a revolutionary fix, a docking station that turns its portable media player into a fully-functioning personal video recorder - a sort of portable PVR, if you will.
Archos is something of a luxury brand in PMPs, and the Archos 604 system isn't cheap, but then it does also have a 30GB hard disk and a usefully large 4.3-inch LCD widescreen display, a respectable 5-hour battery life (16 hours without the screen), it weighs just 315g and it's only 16mm deep.
So how much can you get on a 30GB disk? Fortunately, Archos has built MPEG-4 recording into the 604, so you can store about 40 movies, or 300,000 photos, or 15,000 three-minute MP3s.
These figures depend on the quality and resolution you choose; movies for playback on a regular TV will require more space than low-res movies for the 480 x 272 screen.
"This is a guitar that proves affordability can still bring looks that stun": Gretsch G5230T Electromatic Sparkle Jet FT review
“I was frightened, but I was like, ‘ok, big boy pants time. Step up to the plate, here comes the pitch and you can either knock it out or you can strike’”: Dylan's live sound engineer Jason Frankhouser on mixing front-of-house for The Never Ending Tour
“There are very few artists whose best work was the very last thing they ever did in their lives”: Ronnie James Dio is the exception that proves the rule, says ex-Skid Row star Sebastian Bach
