Archos 404 Camcorder review

Portable media players (PMPs) take the MP3 player one step further and let you watch video as well as listen to music. The Archos 404 Camcorder is a PMP with a built-in digital and video camera.

The 404 is more compact than Archos' other PMPs, which is mainly due to its narrow 4:3 screen. The screen shows films letterboxed, but you can set videos to be cropped and so fill the screen. The 404 has a reasonable display and while the menus aren't especially distinct, films have vibrant colours and good contrast. The Archos' video camera certainly won't give dedicated camcorders a run for their money, but it still produces smooth, watchable video.

Unfortunately, the interface is a bit of a headache. Four rocker buttons on the right of the device control the menus and each button has a different function depending on whether you press it on its left or right side. There's also a main menu and a secondary menu, the OK and Cancel buttons go forward and back through the menus, while the forward and back keys go through the hard drive's folders.

In spite of this, the 404 is a powerful media player. It could play any test file we threw at it, including DVD quality XviD, DivX and MPEG-2 files. It could even play high-quality WMV files. You can either copy media files straight to the 404fs hard disk, or use Windows Media Player to synchronise your collection with the player. Windows Media Player will convert incompatible files to the compatible Windows Media Audio or Video formats.

The only problem is the claimed two and a half hours of video playback battery life, which is only enough for one film. As it comes with a USB charging cable, you can't even use the power sockets on trains to keep it going.

Author: Chris Finnamore