I have recently purchased the american version of the archos 700. I am using anydvd / clonedvd mobile from slysoft. the movies convert fine and playback is fine on the PC. on the archos the movies show full length but when i play them there is only aprox 1/2 of the movie present. HELP! i know im not the only one out there with this problem. I have read that other people had the problem but did not see any replys. thanks for any help you have

Yes, I had this same issue. I am using the same software. When the duration of the video exceeds ~ 1 hr 10 minutes you must split the ripping process into separate files. On the software, in the Title Configuration screen (the second screen) use the scissors in the lower right hand corner of the preview screen to select the first half (or third if it is really long) of the video. You then have to repeat the riping for the second half of the movie. You can do this by chapters for ease.

The advantage is you can also up the quality of the splits and still remain under 2 gb. I always max out the quality setting at 33.

Alternatively, you can take the single file (that ends early) you had created and use the MPG4 Translator program that came with the Archos. The disadvantage to this is you have added another conversion process that takes another hour and the quality drops dramatically.

I recommend splitting the files - name them Pt.1, Pt.2, etc.., creating a folder on your Archos to place them in, and finally selecting sequential video play within a folder in your settings. When you open the first part the second will automatically open when the first finishes.

Good Luck,

Tim

I found several references to the playback cutoff issue in this forum, the CDFreaks forum, and as comments to an article on Ask Dave Taylor (link below). I appreciate Tim's tip on splitting files in CloneDVDMobile -- hadn't noticed this feature before.

I had been moving TV episodes (Boston Legal, Shield, etc) to the A700 and these tend to all convert at around 500MB and play fine - - so I hadn't noticed the issue until scanning the Internet today. I just converted The Bourne Identity at the highest quality setting and the .avi file came out at about 1.3GB and duration was indicated as 1 hr 58 mins. When I moved the file to the Archos 700 and checked file info, it also indicated the same approximate filesize and duration. However when you start the video player, it shows the end as 1hr 37 mins. After that the movie just stops and reverts back to the menu. I went back to the original DVD and the 1 hr 37 min mark happened to be in the middle of a chapter so I don't think that caused anything. I then started doing the math on the filesize and the times (1 hr 37 mins divided by 1hr 58 mins) and I am suspicious that the player only sees and stops at the end of the first gigabyte.

I then tried converting TalentedMrRipley which is longer in duration (2 hr 19 min) and set the quality so it would hit right around 1 GB. It actually came out at 954MB and the entire movie played right to the end. I have just now converted it again at the highest quality level setting and the file came out at 1.078GB. Both files say duration is 2 hr 19mins in file info screen on A700 but when I load the latest file in the video player, it shows end time as 2 hrs 13mins - - just cutting off at the end and again suggesting some type of video playback barrier around 1GB . If so, then I think Archos has a firmware bug and will need to address - - everyone is probably going to need to harass them to get them to take a look at it.

In the meantime, I will use Tim's suggested work around on grabbing a portion of the chapters in CloneDVDMobile and converting then grabbing remainder and converting and having two files.

Mike


http://www.askdavetaylor.com/how_do_i_copy...chos_av700.html

I just ordered an AV700 and have been converting DVDs using the SlySoft application while waiting for it to arrive. I'm going to be away from a PC for months at a time - so I'm going for quantity over quality and have been converting DVDs with 14-16 quality settings, so I've been getting file sizes between 350 and 700 MB, depending on the movie. The videos are coming out rather well at this setting - and even look good at "full screen" on a 17" monitor... but I would not want to watch them on anything larger than that.

So myquestion is - is the 700's limitation filesize-based or time-based. I think, from my reading here, it seems to be based on file size, not time, which means a 750MB file that is 2 hours in length will play all the way through, right?

I think you are making a correct assumption. My feeling is that you will be OK with that file size. I can not test out as I just sent my unit in for repair (right navigation button flaky) today.

Regards,

Tim