Halfred. If you want to get your files smaller, it is very simple. Just Shrink your entire DVD with DVD Shrink using deep analisys (backing up using file mode,) and then do the process as you are doing, DVD decrypter (ifo mode, and so on). I managed to download Sopranos Season I, and every chapter is no larger than 220 megabytes, and some less, so you can have the whole season for 2.4 gigabytes (that is over 11 hours of video). If I transfer, by input recording, the same season each chapter has over 500 megabytes and the quality difference between the files is very, very small. You also save time by doing it this way because your source IFO file(DVD decrypter takes 3 minutes for each chapter)will be 25 to 40 % smaller. I can process each chapter (57 minutes of video) with AutoGK in 70 miutes. So if you program AutoGK overnight you can rip 7 chapters. Or 4 whole movies, Kool is in it? I've also noticed that with smaller files the battery lasts longer. When playing (with LCD brightnes at its best) Soprano files I can get 3.5 hours, but with files I recorded directly from my DVD player I can only get 2.5 hours tops. Maybe this happens because, as the files are smaller, the hard disk stays idle more time, I am not sure though. I forgot to mentioned that I Have the AV 320 model.
Questions about archos av400 series Hi all, I am interested in buying one of the archos av400 devices. I am wondering how it records TV. I have a feeling that there is no TV tuner as such, but that it records a programme that is already tuned by some other, external, box. Is this how it works, or is there a TV tuner ? What about the connections ? Is there a standard TV aerial input ? or is it just a scart or rcs input. How do you record from standard analogue terrestrial TV if you don't have a VCR ? Thanks for any hints Fred
Hi. Sorry to hijack this forum but there seems to be a lot of experts on here. I use an iMac to rip and convert my DVDs to divx. I use Mactheripper to rip them and ffmpegx to convert to divx. They play great on the iMac, however when I transfer them onto my Archos AV420 the video looks great and is smooth and the sound is great. However there is a sync problem of about 2 seconds ie the sound is 2 seconds in front of the video right from the very beginning. Anyone know of how I can fix this using the iMac, i do not have access to a PC to use virtualdub. Thanks.
Hi Fredrich it uses the tuner you already have i.e. your TV tuner or Satellite tuner or VCR tuner depending on your connection. it comes with a minijack to rca cable and a rca to SCART converters (in and out) so you can plug it into just about everything except the fridge You plug it into the tv scart connector or rca connector or S-Video connector if your TV doesn't have any of these then you simply can't Hope this answers your questions Enjoy
hmmm.... does anybody know the difference if any apart from the price, between the Macrovision DVD video decoder and che Macrovision DVD video decoder V2?? I need it to remove protection from my DVDs and back them up on my Archos AV400 Anyone knows?
Here is the problem If im going to pay 700 in change for this player then i want to know is it easy enought to convert movies with the software provide. i here using dvd this and pther programs. doenst Archos provide you with a program? Is using DVD Shrink and other programs going to help move the process? also i have Anime Files (Japanese Animation) with Subtitles that are Divix, Xvid. Can i Transfer these files to the player via usb port or firewire port? If anyone has anime files can you read the subtitling on them. Will this player work on Ogg files. Please help me out and let me know if this Archos player is a good investment or not. Thanks Aznxmel
Aznxmel, Welcome to our forum. I own an AV480 with 80G HD. I have moved all types of movies into it. Do not use the software supplied by Archos because it is a crap!Here is answer to all your questions: = DVD to Archos You need DVD Decrypter and AutoGK (www.doom9.net) - Rip your DVD to IFO format (use dvddecrypter) + Set it to read your video files IFO (Convert DVD to IFO using the DVD Drycpter (doom9.net)) + Set the Output to the desired location Start AUTOGK + Set the input file (under Video_TS generated by the DVD Decrypter) + Set the output file by naming it, put it above VIDEO_TS directory so you can find the encoded DIVx files later + Set it for DIVx Encode + 2CD mode + Set your screen no larger than 480 + Press "Advance Mode", Set Audio to 128 and CBR + Add File + Start Conversion It will generate 3 AVI files and put them in the directory you have targeted (pay attention to output file location in the AutoGK Setup screen) This takes 4-6 hours for a 2 hour movie - Turn On your Archos - Connect USB Cable (Archos indicates that USB is connected) - In PC (check under "My Computer") and locate JunkBox HD - Open The Junkbox, drag and drop files into Video Folder. - Disconnect USB and allow Archos to process the new files (20 Sec). It is that simple. Archos acts like an external HD when connected to your PC/MAC = DVD Shrink is for writing a DVD-9 (9G Movie) into a DVD5 (4.8G Movie) by reducing the bitrate of the MPEG-2. The PVPs such as Archos use DIVx which is a different format and it is subset of MPEG-4. Therefore the DVD shrink can not convert your DVD to DIVx. AutoGK does. SIDE NOTE: for DVD shrinking DVD Rebuilder is a better tool since unlike all other programs it actually re-encodes the MPEG-2 files. But again it can not be used for Archos. = Animated files need Java and some other application to run, Archos at this time does not support JAVA. Its OS is a subset of Linux. = Ogg Video can not be played back in Archos, Use Ogg Video Conversion tools (Free Share, google search) to convert into AVI or DIVx
[bold]shiroh,[/bold] You are right. If the files are in DIVx, you can transfer them, but you have make sure the following: - Sound files are CBR not VBR - MP3 128Kb or slower are used Archos can not play XVID, MOV (Apple QuickTime) or WMV-9/10 (VC-1, Windows media player) The above files need to be transcoded into DIVx which is a pain if you do not have expensive software transcoders. [bold]shiroh, do you know of any free transcoders?[/bold] When using AUTOGK, you can ask it to insert the subtitles, but they are not highly readable in Archos.
Does anyone know where to get it for a really good price. the cheapest got was 650.00 or should i consider the 420
really ? no xvid ? i thought the player is supossed to be mpeg4 compliant. meaning if you encode it accordingly, it will play, no matter if its dvix, xvid, 3ivx or so. could anyone confirm this. true, but its not that bad. expensive transcoder? you've been had, unless you're looking for something like dvdshrink for mpeg4, which i've read on doom9 forum and none are in the making, at least in opensource society and at least a few months ago. this is because reencoding mpeg4 is not a really good idea, in terms of quality. whatever you do don't buy those software that claims to do so. anyway all you need is virtualdub, i heard its bundled with archos, the latest divx, ver 5.2.2 i think. if xvid is playable i would suggest using this. latest stable version is 1.0.2 Divx is free to use, the free trial is for 6 months. and the dev said they are not planning for a version to be more than 6 months. its all in the politic, those business people needs money to be involve in everything. try encode something with xvid and use the default setting, it may have someting to do with the setting. or the review i've read is misinforming people. about ogg video. you can use virtualdubmod, google for it. use direct stream copy. you will need an audio converter such as dbpoweramp, as the audio proably in vorbis. (why would it use anything else) /*edit*/ a quick google search of the av480 http://www.advancedmp3players.co.uk...n&usersessid=95c911f0afcc889528b17ba24bd082f3 the specs says mpeg4, so i presume mpeg4 compliant, so xvid, yes. and it also says vbr mp3 ? hmm i need a full detail manual
shiroh and Aznxmel, I agree with Shiroh that it is stated in some reports that this unit decodes and encodec DIVx and XVID. I have the unit and I have tried the XVID, WVM-9 with no luck. True there are versions of MPEG-4 H.263, but they are a subset, I and P frames are vastly different in all subsets of the MPEG-4. MPEG-4 is a bit of wild west for video compersion. Transcoding is not a bad idea if the source video is using some form of Motion Estimation and Qpel. I have used River Past's Video Cleaner for converting XVID to DIVx. It is OK. VirtualDub can be used to do many thing including convert the Video Stream into raw AVI, but it is useless for direct video transcode. Aznxmel, If you do want to deal with the different Video Formats and Video would be primary use of the device. Look at the following: http://www.mobinote.net/na/product_dvxpod_eng.asp# This device can be bought for $499. It supports all the Video formats related to MPEG-4 H.263 even in the ASP form (ASP, Advance Simple Profile, This version uses the Motion Estimation 1/4PEL for fast action scenes) which include DIVx, XVID, WVM9 and even QuickTime. Be warned that this unit is from a newcomer, unknow quality, 20G and it is a big unit. Archos suffers from poor customer relationship but it is a company that has been there and at least for a while you might xepect them to improve their product through futhur OS and supported format releases
so the player should only claim itself to play divx only ? yes it actually look at the video as a keyframe and encode. so its not a really good transcode. i'm not sure how riverpast works... like you said qpel and motion estimation ?
shiroh, I agree with you that it needs to play different video formats, for that it needs the appropriate software Codec. Software codecs specially decoder might be able to run effeciently on a PC, but for a mobile device that runs on Application processors and some type of QuadMac DSPs. They need to tailor the software to take advantage of the hardware's features, so a lots of the function are like DCT and IDCT and so on are preformed by the Hardware. Transcoding on the mobile device are also done by the hardware under the software control.
just read a review in a magazine for av420. it says divx (simple profile) and xvid. so i would suggest to try encode xvid with divx simple profile guideline. and the reviewer took a screenshot of the player with anime keep's breath of...something i'm not sure, but most from the fansub group uses xvid. and from the picture, the subtitle seems readible.
shiroh, You are absolutely right. I am going to convert one DVD to Xvid SP (Known as one pass encoding!). I am hoping that it will work since Archos told me today that Xvid 1.0 Codec is supported. By the way, I have no trouble playing my DIVx in ASP mode in my Archos.
shiroh, You were right, I encoded a movie file in Xvid with SP and ASP. My Archos is now playing the movie. I checked some of my older Xvid files, it seems that I encoded them using a earlier version of Beta Xvid. I also used VideoInspector to check the I Frame to make sure that setting is for the Xvid. It is, but there are anomolies in my P Frame which does not appear in the new encoded movie. Conclusion: Shiroh is right and I was wrong. Archos can play Xvid and Divx in SP and ASP mode. I like to thank Shiroh for his insistance. Cheers,
