Messages

1

Archos forum / Av500 Hard Drive Error

« on: February 01, 2006, 12:31:32 pm »

Hmmm.. .Maybe I made a mistake. Here's a cut/paste from the Archos manual.. Hope it helps:

Problem: I want to reformat the AV 500’s hard drive.
Answer: You can do this, but it will erase ALL of the data on your AV 500. Sometimes this may be necessary
if your FAT (File Allocation Table) becomes so corrupted that nothing seems to fi x your fi le problems. First, as
explained below, you should run ScanDisk or the DOS chkdsk (Check Disk) program to try to fi x your problem.
If this doesn’t fi x your problem and you are sure you must reformat the AV 500 hard drive, then go to the screen
Settings > System and press and hold the DOWN action button for three seconds. A button “Format HD” will
appear. Use this button to format the AV 500’s hard drive. Remember, doing this will erase all the data on the AV
500’s hard drive!!!

2

Archos forum / Archos Av 500 -> Your Opinion

« on: January 23, 2006, 04:48:33 pm »

Yeah I've experienced the same problems.. Achstld me hey were trying to fix the half-screen problem.. We'll just have to wait for a new firmware

As for the hard disk format, they had no answer.. It seems to happen from time to time, so make sure you have a backup of your files somewhere

3

Archos forum / Converting Films To Archos Av500

« on: January 23, 2006, 09:33:51 am »

Hi,

I don't like the automatic software, the result is disappointing..
Just use Virtualdub (http://www.virtualdub.org/ to find the latest version, though it is in the data folder of the Archos) and the proper codecs
I usually use the following codecs:
- Xvid
- Radium MP3 codec (a bit harder to find, but offers the most possibilities. Look for a ra-codec12.zip file on Google)

Reencoding always means loss of some quality, but you can make this loss negligeable by using two-pass encoding. (the batch function in Virtualdub is great for this)
The settings depend on your own preferences, but in my experience, you get great results (quality/size) for the archos AV 500 if you use:
- Xvid 850 Kbps, Two Pass encoding
- MP3 112 kbps, 44100, Stereo

If you want smaller sizes, you can go down to 700 kbps for video and 96 kbps for audio.. Just try and make up your own mind. Another way to decide on the bitrate of the video is to open the original file in Virtualdub, go to File>File Information and use the same bitrate as the one indicated.

Voilà. hope this helps  PM me if you need some help

4

Archos forum / Arcos Av500 Suddenly Shuts Down.

« on: January 23, 2006, 09:16:37 am »

No idea how that happens... Have you updated the firmware?

If that doess't help, I'd recommend to contact Archos Tech Support.. They answer rather quickly

5

Archos forum / Formatting Av500

« on: January 23, 2006, 09:11:37 am »

Dunno if you still need help but anyway...

Yes, updating the library should do the trick. On the Archos AV 500, go to the setup screen, system and select update library

I had the same problem with my Archos, Drag&Drop works in Windows Device-mode, but it's loads slower and somehow i had to "view" the fies first before I could copy them...

6

Archos forum / Av500 Hard Drive Error

« on: January 23, 2006, 08:54:08 am »

I had the same problem ("disk not formatted") the other day. I got my Archos AV500 30g only 2 weeks ago so I was rather worried about it...
Now, luckily I had a backup of almost all my files on my PC, so I didn't lose those.
But there's a way to retrieve your fils anyway: set the archos AV 500 to "Windows Device" and connect it to a WINXP PC... Somehow it was still recognized there, and I managed to retrieve the missing files. Note that the transfer time is a lot slower, so it's better to have a backup.  

Then I formatted the drive, not through Windows, but by going to the Archos setup screen, System Info, pressing the down action button for 3 secs (so a "format archos" button appears) and validating it. once again: YOU WILL LOSE ALL DATA AND SETTINGS IF YOU DO SO.
The Firmware version remained though... But I lost all the wallpapers and my TV Tuner settings.

I e-mailed archos and they told me that the error wasn't a hardware problem, but may be due to a shock or improper disconnecting.. I never do that but I hope they're right... I'm even more careful now.
If you want to get the original files back, Archos have uploaded them all here: ftp://support.archos.com/AV500/

Now I've re-programmed the TV-settings and made a backup of the whole Archos content, even the "System" folder. If you do the same and if the problem happens again, I wouldn't recommend to copy/paste the whole "system" folder into the archos, but just the file with your TV settings: "TVChannels.txt"

That's it for my experience with the error.. Hope it won't occur again.

I just have two questions:
- I got a USB charger.. I'm a bit worried though: it seems to work fine, but I guess it doesn't have the same characteristics as the regular charger, as the charging time is way longer. Isn't that bad for the battery?
(BTW I was rather pleasantly surprised at the battery-life: Archos says it's supposed to last 4h30 in video mode, I tested it and it lasted over 5hours   )
- I had a strange display problem once or twice: the right half of the screen was in negative. Not such a big deal, after reboot everything was OK. Archos Tech Support said it's not normal and that they're working on it. Hope they can fix that with the next firmware. Has anybody else seen this happening?  

Ok, hope this helps and thaks for reading through this long post