LouDiamond 1 #1 July 28, 2004 Anyone have one of these? What are your experiences with it and is it useful? Thinking about picking one up to use for dumping my CF card and DV video to while traveling."It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required" Some people dream about flying, I live my dream SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nacmacfeegle 0 #2 July 29, 2004 Playing with one right now. I think it is an AV300. A mate took one into work to catch up on CSI, which was hosed in from Sky plus box (hard drive VCR which stores digital signals straight off the dish). It looks really cool, the compression system seems pretty good, and when played back on a TV the footage looks no worse than standard vhs. It gets crappy on an overhead, or I would imagine, a good quality tv. Picture quality on the unit is awsome, people are already working on an alternative OS for it, so it may end up taking on a PDA-like persona. Other folks are also experimenting with changing out the HDs to ones with larger capacity without raiding the kids college fund. (secret stuff is all advised by the mate so second hand info to here). If you are just using it as a footage dump, it would be cheaper to get more tape though. I reckon it could be useful for a busy coach, who could review footage on the ride to alt with an intensive student, or team who may not have time for a proper look (or mutiple looks) at their last jump. As a hardware driven video compressor it seems to work fine, with conversion to MP4 happening in real time, no rendering. Now then, if it could suvive or even operate under the rigours of freefall, we could be looking at a useful product if it were combined with lipstick cams....... Right now, I reckon the HD is too fragile for this purpose though.-------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LouDiamond 1 #3 July 29, 2004 QuoteNow then, if it could suvive or even operate under the rigours of freefall, we could be looking at a useful product if it were combined with lipstick cams....... Right now, I reckon the HD is too fragile for this purpose though. That was one of the first thoughts that crossed my mind but again, can it operate above 10K? One way to find out I am looking at it more for the intended purpose of the unit, storing DVD movies, MP3s, pictures and even footage from a DV cam on occassion. I know the HDs can be upgraded fairly cheap with a little bit of elbow grease. Supposedly a AV500(Linux?) is due out end of year that is PDA in size and thickness and it does everything the current models do plus some. IMO this is a skydivers dream toy. You have DVD movies to watch on weather days and you can jack it into a real TV so you can share it with others. It has your tunes on it so you can have music anywhere,anytime. It can also be hooked up into a mixing board so you can add music to video as you mix(great for the tandem video guy) you can dump pictures on it if you take stills and DV footage. plus it also can be hooked into a computer like an external HD. I am curious as to others experiences with them and their durablity."It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required" Some people dream about flying, I live my dream SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nacmacfeegle 0 #4 July 29, 2004 I'll definitely update you after I've tried to break my workmate's one. Mark (workmate) has had his for about 6 weeks with nothing to gripe about so far. He is into some funky stuff like hacking X boxes, PS2s, overclocking already blisteringly fast pooters etc, so I guess he knows his stuff. I'm not sure if he'll let me take his one up for bit of suck it and see..... He loves it by the way, and I'm verging on getting one purely for its intended purpose of being a portable VCR. Don't really know about the Linux thing, judging by what Mark was telling me, if its not compatible, somebody will probably hack it and produce a workaround.-------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LouDiamond 1 #5 July 29, 2004 QuoteI'm verging on getting one purely for its intended purpose of being a portable VCR. I like that part too. Nothing like having your whole DVD collection in your pocket. I am not a big tv watcher but the idea that it can be used to program your VCR and record Tv shows right to the HD is also pretty cool. QuoteDon't really know about the Linux thing According to the company (ARCHOS) the AV 500 will have a Linux based OS system running so you will be able to do WiFi, bluetooth and all that jazz as well. It's pretty much already a little computer, all they need to do now is figure out how to fit a phone in it"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required" Some people dream about flying, I live my dream SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
oldgit 0 #6 July 29, 2004 Hiya Dave you still jumping ? Drop me a line and let me know how it stands up to your gentle touch This new toy looks quite good so here’s some of the specs I have not used it myself but would be interested in finding out more about it ARCHOS VIDEO AV340 160 hours of near-DVD quality MPEG-4 video What you will playback is an AVI format file with MPEG4-SP VHS quality video your AV340 has a 120 hours capacity (with DVR) The ARCHOS VIDEO AV340 is based on a 40GB hard disk MPEG-4 SP with MP3 stereo sound, near-DVD quality. Important detail Resolutions up to 640x368@25f/s. AVI file format, reads XviD and DivX"* 4.0 & 5.0 Video input Analog Composite Video or S-video (should be ok for lipstick cam) Internal: Rechargeable Li-Ion Batteries. External: AC charger / adapter. 3 1/2 hours for video on built-in LCD John Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LouDiamond 1 #7 July 29, 2004 QuoteResolutions up to 640x368@25f/s. AVI file format, reads XviD and DivX"* 4.0 & 5.0 I caught that too but the 400 and the 500 series supports a full 30fps(techies you know what I mean) Stats fro the AV480: Capacity: 80 GB(1) (1) On average -- 1 GB = 1 billion bytes, formatted capacity is less. Interfaces: USB 2.0 high-speed, compatible USB 1.1, PC & Mac.Built-in CompactFlash™ Type I slot to accept CompactFlash™ memory cards and optional 4 in 1 CF adapter for SD, SM, MMC, MS and MS Pro. Video playback: MPEG-4 SP with MP3 or ADPCM stereo sound, near DVD quality up to 704x480 @ 30 f/s, AVI file format. Compatible XviD and DivX™ 4.0 & 5.0. Video recording: MPEG-4 SP with ADPCM stereo sound, near SVCD quality (optimised resolution for standard TV through composite video line-in) with up to 512x384 @ 30 f/s, in AVI format. Music playback: Stereo MP3 decoding @ 30-320 kb/s CBR & VBR, WMA (including protected files), WAV (PCM & ADPCM). Music recording: From any analog source in stereo sound for WAV (PCM & ADPCM) format. Voice recording with built-in microphone. Photo viewer: JPEG (except progressives) or BMP Display: 3.8'‘ TFT LCD depending on model and availability, (QVGA) 320x240 pixels, 262 000 colours and TV output. AV Connections: Composite Video/ E Earphone/ Line Out jack. Built-in microphone and speaker. TV cradle to connect to TV with analog audio/video In & Out to RCA jacks, S-video In, and IR receiver for remote and IR emitter for tuner control, SCART In & Out for European version. Travel audio-video kit in option to record audio and video analog source on the move. Playback autonomy: up to 16 hours for music or 4 ½ hours for video on built-in LCD. Scalability: Download firmware updates from www.archos.com Power source: Internal : rechargeable Li-Ion Batteries. External : AC charger/adapter. Dimensions: 80 GB model: approx. 125 x 78 x 26 mm (4.9" x 3.1" x 1"). 20 GB model: approx. 125 x 78 x 20 mm (4.9" x 3.1" x 0.8"). Weight: 320 g (11.29 oz) System requirements: PC: Pentium® III 800 MHz or higher, Windows 98 SE, ME, 2000 or XP. 64 MB RAM (128 MB recommended) with USB port and CD-ROM drive. Mac: 9.2 or X (10.2.4) USB Manager version 1.2 or higher with USB port and CD-ROM drive. Package includes: AV 400, TV Cradle with audio/video connections & SCART adapters for European version, Remote Control with 2 AA batteries, Protective case, USB 2.0 cable, Stereo headphone, Manual, AC adapter/charger with US/UK/EU plug"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required" Some people dream about flying, I live my dream SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
didone 0 #8 July 31, 2004 QuoteNow then, if it could suvive or even operate under the rigours of freefall, we could be looking at a useful product if it were combined with lipstick cams....... To answer your point, I have been testing this setup for 6 months now, with an AV 3x0 video recorder and a Sony bullet cam (21CWS-HRX EXVIEW HAD CCD). To cut it short, I made some great videos but for sure it requires patience and a bit of twicking. The problem is well known, hard drives will fail above 10k, because of the low air pressure. I tried several solutions and I came up with replacing the standard hard drive with a solid state IDE flashdrive. 1 Gb = approx 1 hour of video. I am not using it anymore, too bulky to carry around in freefall. Moving to a different setup. But if you are serious about bullet cam / Mpeg4 recording drop me a PM. Cheers, Diego Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
