[mythtv-users] Archos Video Formats ?????

Thu Mar 20 18:40:33 UTC 2008

Meatwad wrote:
>> Brad DerManouelian wrote:
>>     
>>> On Mar 18, 2008, at 8:30 AM, Emery Guevremont wrote:
>>>       
>>>>> I'm also a proud owner of the Archos 605 (4GB flash model). I bought 
>>>>> it used from ebay for $227 but the previous owner had bought all the 
>>>>> plugins and the DVR station so for me it was a great deal.
>>>>>           
>>> This sounds like a cool device. Can anyone comment on the quality of the 
>>> screen and how videos look when playing back? Dead/stuck pixels?
>>>       
> I used one for about ten minutes last night. When held, the feel was 
> solid and the heft was there too. The Nokia n800 is somewhat lighter. 
> The buttons were usable and had good spring tension and tactile 
> feedback. Big, gorgeous screen (non-touch model) with hardly any border 
> creep.
>
> Tried to view nikon raw photos from a CF card straight from the camera 
> to a USB card reader and then the base station. Under 'Files', a typical 
>    monotext two-column nav window immediately presented us with the 
> DCIMxxxx root directory of the photo card.
>
> Drilling down to the photos, it lacked previews and much scrolling 
> around was required only to have to guess where a certain photo was. 
> Very disappointed with that. Archos shouldn't be rehashing that awful 
> dime store mp3 CD player interface.
>
> Selecting the first photo required about 2 seconds to display on screen. 
> Responsiveness when subsequently seeking through pictures was 
> inconsistent at best. To be fair, there were no JPEG photos on the card 
> and I imagine the smaller files would improve response time but the 6mb 
> raw files at hand were giving it a hard time.
>
> Most annoying: while going forward or backward through the photos, the 
> Archos would decide to skip ahead or behind to a random spot on the 
> card. With the inconsistent load times and the random seeking our 
> excitement to play with the new toy began to fizzle. When the photo 
> player froze up, the main menu button dumped us back to the unit's start 
> screen.
>
> The proprietary data cable was a complete dealbreaker for me. Overall, 
> excellent construction feel, very impressive screen and fairly smart 
> hardware input arrangement. For traveling really light and leaving the 
> laptop at home, the Archos would not be my first choice, or second.
>
>
> R. G. Newbury wrote:
>   
>> For some more money, you might want to look at the Nokia N810 which is a 
>> full Internet tablet with bluettooth and wifi, running the Debian based 
>> Maemo distro. Fantastic touch sceen. Smaller and lighter than the 
>> Archos, plays transcoded mythtv files BEAUTIFULLY, using mplayer.
>>
>> So it will play basically anything you want to push at it.
>> Various music players including rhapsody.
>>
>> Ssh and other goodies of course.
>>
>> Best extra benefit? Someone has written a program which makes the Nokia 
>> N810 a remote control for myth! (Using wifi/LAN or bluetooth). A small 
>> server program on the mythbox passes control codes to the network 
>> control port in a similar manner to lirc.
>>
>> Awesome.
>>
>> Only niggle: comes with only 2G memory, and you have to add a mini/micro 
>> SD card for your 'real' memory.
>>     
>
> Bought the n800 back in november when Geoff pointed out the sale at 
> Newegg. Of the three models, the 800 has the sturdiest build and has the 
> two full size SD/SDHC slots; one on the bottom edge and another next to 
> the battery in it's belly. I use an 8gb card internally, partitioned 1.5 
> for the cloned OS and applications and then 6.5 for music, photos, 
> ebooks, small videos, and maps for the third-party nav package. For full 
> length movies and other large video, the external SD slot is great for 
> sneakernet. The USB port is now OTG/host/peripheral selectable by the 
> user and a hacked cable is no longer needed. Battery life is impressive 
> for such a hefty thing. 3-4 hours of solid WiFi use, days when left to 
> idle. I typically recharge every two days per my usage.
>
> As mentioned above, mplayer just works for video, other options 
> available.
I'm curious on the performance aspect for videos. What kind of videos 
have you tried? Codecs, bitrate, resolution, file size, fps? My videos 
are mostly Xvid, 920kbps, 640*480 videos at about 30fps, 1.5GB in size, 
can mplayer on the N800 handle this without hickups?
> Underneath the Hildon user interface is Debian and the 
> manufacturer encourages hacking. http://maemo.org is the "official" 
> third-party development site. On the downside, the OS and Nokia apps are 
> not open and have a number of niggles but no show stoppers. someone 
> usually writes a replacement app or method. The repositories can be a 
> royal pain. Something went awry between Nokia and Akamai over the 
> holidays and the official repos were knocked off DNS for weeks. A user 
> had to put up a fix to get around the issue. Very lame on Nokia's part.
>
> Third party apps are abundant. Using openvpn is a big plus and more 
> often than not I'll bring along a Stowaway bluetooth folding keyboard 
> (lxDoom plays especially well with it) but the full-sized and thumbboard 
> on-screen keyboards are perfectly fine for every day use as well. The 
> mythremote app is a bonus and there's now an DIY 'infrared' remote 
> designer that looks very Philips Pronto-ish. No IR emitter on the unit 
> so it must speak to an lirc listener elsewhere to drive a blaster. One 
> last niggle; the included carry cases are worthless and will 'help' you 
> drop it. The Nokia branded magnetic flip case made in Greece is of 
> really impressive leather/quality but a little pricey at 30usd. Protects 
> the 800 very well and gets out of your way quick.
>
> Overall, it fits my needs well. When compared to the iTouch, the Nokia 
> tablets can't match the ease and grace that Apple touts but I had been 
> turned off by the iPod/Phone/Bling because of my distaste for itunes[1]. 
> The n800 has rough edges and the factory apps, while adequate, are a 
> little feature-flat. Adding third-party repos means you are "going off 
> the reservation" but that is of no consequence to anyone running myth.
>
> The ultimate goal is to get the D300 wireless grip option to work with 
> the tablet. Trying to fumble about with memory cards and readers for the 
> laptop on jobsites just to email a quick photo is quite a hassle.
>
>
> [1] itunes doesn't seem so bad anymore since the acquisition of an Apple 
> TV.  but the ATV review will need to wait until I can rehack it to Take2
>
>
>   
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