ARCHOS™ MOBILE VIDEO RECORDER AV 500 SERIES Video Player & Recorder / Music Player & Recorder / Photo Wallet & Viewer / USB 2.0 Hard Drive English Language User Manual User Manual for ARCHOS™ AV 500 series Version 2.5 Please visit our website to download the most recent manual and software for this product 1 2 Dear Customer, ARCHOS™ thanks you for your choice of this exciting AV 500 product. The AV 500 is designed to be the companion to your home entertainment system.
3 We wish you many years of enjoyment from your AV 500 product. Please do register your product at our website www.archos.com to ensure that you get have access to our help line and to be informed of technical support and free software updates for your product. Wishing you the best Video, Music, and Photo experience, The ARCHOS™ TEAM *For full information on compatible file formats, see the technical specifications. Please take the time to read though this manual.
5 8 VIDEO – Editing Video Files 9 31 VIDEO – Creating MPEG-4 Video Files with your Computer 9.1 9.2 34 Installing the PC Software Using MPEG-4 Translator 35 36 10 MUSIC – Playing Music Files 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 11 39 Button Control Play Screen Icons Browsing through your Music Library Playing Through your Stereo System Setting a Bookmark The Resume Function 40 40 42 43 43 44 MUSIC – Putting Music onto your AV 500 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.
7 22.3 22.4 22.5 22.6 22.7 Connection (2): Breaking your regular TV Connection Connection (3): Put the TV docking pod between your TV and Tuner Connection (4): Connect the AV 500 to the TV docking pod Connection (5): the S-Video In Connection (6): the Infrared Emitter 85 85 86 87 87 23 Replacing the battery 23.1 22.2 “Thin” version Standard version 89 89 90 24 Technical Support 91 25 Troubleshooting 25.1 25.2 25.3 25.
9 a On indicator b Hard drive activity indicator (read/write) c Battery charger indicator (blinks when battery is charged) d Infrared sensor for the remote control e Loud speaker f Move UP (also increases volume during media playback) g Move DOWN (also decreases volume during media playback) h Move LEFT (also plays previous song or fast reverse through song or video) i Move RIGHT (also plays next song or fast forward through song or video) j Accelerate UP – go up the list of items at high speed k Accelerate
11 2 INTRO – First Time Usage 2.1 Charging the battery • Use only the included ARCHOS™ charger/adapter. • You can charge the internal battery of the AV 500 by plugging the included adapter/charger directly into the device, or you can charge it by plugging the adapter/charger into the (optional) TV docking pod and connecting your AV 500 to the Pod. • Before using for the first time, charge the battery completely. The charge indicator (CHG) light will start to blink when the battery is charged. 2.
13 • Keep the AV 500 away from high electromagnetic fields. • Keep any connected cords to the AV 500 neatly arranged. This light product could fall if a cord is accidentally pulled by a child. • Do not open up the AV 500. There are no user serviceable parts inside. Opening will void your warranty. 2.7 Hardware Reset In the event that your AV 500 freezes operation (due to electrostatic phenomena for example), you can reset the AV 500 by holding down on the STOP/ESC button x for 15 seconds.
15 Video Browser Action Icons Hide the Thumbnails Reset thumbnails. The thumbnail images on the right side of the screen will be reset to their original default setting. 3.1 Video Playback Action Icons While a video file is playing, click on the Select action button. The action icons on the right of the screen allow you to make video adjustments to your personal taste. Play & Sound Settings Use this setting if you would like to have the video files play one after the other, or just play one and stop.
17 4 VIDEO – Playing Video Files from the Internet When using Windows Media® Player 10, you will have the advantage of being able to download protected video content from the Internet. When you see the PlaysForSure™ symbol on a web site for Windows® Portable Media Center (PMC)**, then these protected downloads will be playable on your AV 500. 4.1 Protected Internet Video content If you check the PlaysForSure™ website (www.playsforsure.
19 5 VIDEO – Recording Video Files With your (optional) TV docking pod or AV cable properly connected to a VCR, cable box, or satellite receiver, making a recording is simple. 5.1 Video recording connections See the relevant chapter for instructions on connecting the TV docking pod to your television system. To connect you AV 500 to your TV (or another tuner such as a VCR, cable box or satellite receiver) using an (optinal) AV cable and multi connect adaptor, see the illustration.
21 5.3 Setting the Recording Parameters You can set the recording parameters manually to suit your specific needs. Click the Setup action icon in the VideoCorder’s pre-recording screen. Rename Allows you to change the filename before the recording begins. Auto Stop Rec On, Off. If set to On, the AV 500 will stop recording after the duration set in the next line.
23 5.5 Copy Protection The AV 500 video recording system is designed to respect the Macrovision® copyright protection system. If the source of your video is copy protected, the AV 500 will record in protected mode. You will see a ”P” icon on the recording screen (not during playback) indicating that the file will be a protected file. Protected files can only be played back on the AV 500 that created it. The file will not play on a computer.
25 • If the end time is earlier than the start time, then it is assumed that you start recording on the start date, and the recording ends on the following day at the end time. • Once a scheduled recording has been made, or the date of a recording has been passed, without the recording having been made (the AV 500 was not connected to the pod or not in Standby mode), the schedule entry will be erased from the scheduler.
27 Notes: • If the TV programs from your personal calendar do not seem to be correctly copied to the AV 500 scheduler, go to the ARCHOS™ web site to make sure that have the very latest version of the AV 500 firmware. Update your firmware (Operating System) as explained in the chapter Updating the AV 500 firmware Operating System.
29 7.1 Part 1: Choose your Device and Brand Select the Settings action icon and click on the TV Control icon. 1. Select the type of device that you will stick your IR Emitter to. You have the choice of either a VCR (video cassette recorder), Cable Box, or Satellite Receiver. 2. Select the brand of your device. 3. Click on Tune IR Emitter button. 4. The TV Channels button allows you to give names to each channel.
31 8 VIDEO – Editing Video Files Video files recorded by the AV 500 can be modified by deleting the sections you do not wish included. The editing you can do is either cropping or cutting of particular segments of the video file. You will mark a segment of your video file, and then you will tell the AV 500 to delete everything except the marked segment (crop) or to delete the marked segment (cut) from the video file. These operations can be done multiple times on the same video file.
33 1. Play the file and pause at the spot you want to make your Start mark. Select the Set a mark-in here action icon. Let the video play – you will notice a small blue mark. 2. Now click on Pause at the location you want to mark the end of your segment. Select the Set a mark-out action icon. Now that you have defined a segment in the video, you can click the Remove selected part or Keep selected part action icon. Although the set-mark action icons are available, you can only mark one segment at a time.
35 9.1 Installing the PC Software If your video file is not an MPEG-4 Simple Profile .avi file of the proper size, you will need to re-encode it using the following utilities. For the AV 500, you will need to create an AVI file that is MPEG-4 Simple Profile with a resolution up to 720 x 576 (depending on frame rate) and a sound track that is stereo MP3 or WAV. In actuality, in all cases, a resolution beyond 640x480 does not add any advantage.
37 Select Source & Destination Files In the example, a source file 24 hours of Lemans.avi has been selected as the source video. You can see on the bottom of the window its original characteristics (width 720, height 576, frame rate 24). Next, you must then tell the program where to place (Set Destination file) the newly recoded version of the file (don’t worry, it will not erase the original). You should give it a new descriptive name, such as shown above Lemans.avi. Make sure you add the .avi extension.
39 10 1 0 MUSIC – Playing Music Files When you click on the music icon in the main screen, you will be sent directly to the ARCLibrary. From here you can choose to either browse your music by the file system (Browse hard drive) or by music characteristics (Album, Artist, title, Genre, Year). Use the LEFT, RIGHT, UP, and DOWN buttons to locate one of the factory installed music samples and then click on PLAY.
41 Play Order (no icon) Play once Repeat playing Shuffle (Random) track selection Play Mode AV 500 is currently playing from a Playlist Folder: Play all tracks in the current directory All: Play all tracks on AV 500 Single: Play a single track then stop Queue: User can queue the next track to be played * Scan: Plays first 10 – 90 seconds of each track* * See the PlayMode section in the Settings chapter of this manual for details. 41 42 10.
43 10.4 Playing Through your Stereo System To play your music through your stereo system, you can connect your (optional) pod audio outputs (red and white plugs of the cable connected to AV Out) to your stereo system inputs. You can also use the AV cable and plug it in directly. Playing through a Stereo system with an AV Cable 10.
45 11 1 1 MUSIC – Putting Music onto your AV 500 Your Archos™ product is a certified PlaysForSure™ digital device which means that wherever you find music for sale on the Internet with this symbol, you can be certain that it will ‘Play for sure’ on your AV 500*. The AV 500 is designed to work seamlessly with Windows Media® Player (WMP) versions 9 and 10. The Windows Media® Player software is used to download digital media content from the Internet to your computer and organizing it.
47 11.3 Transferring your CD collection to the AV 500 The process of transferring music from a CD into music files for your AV 500 is known as ‘ripping’. It is actually a re-encoding process, taking the CDA (CD Audio) format and converting it to WMA or MP3 format which the AV 500 can read. There are many music ripping programs on the market, but ARCHOS™ recommends that you use Windows Media® Player to do it.
49 when highlighting a folder, artist, or album. All the contents of the folder, artist, or album will be added (that is, appended) or inserted before the selected song in the current Playlist. You can jump back and forth between the browser and the Playlist by selecting the Focus buttons. A Playlist can have a maximum of 5000 songs. We recommend that you save your Playlists. 12.3 Saving a Playlist It is recommended that each time you create a Playlist, you save it to a separate folder called Playlists.
51 13 1 3 MUSIC – Recording Music With the AV 500 series, you do not need a computer to create digital music files. It is capable of recording from any standard analog line source (ex: HiFi system, Boombox, CD Player, etc) into a standard Windows® .WAV format, either PCM (uncompressed) or ADPCM (compressed). 13.
53 13.2 Recording Procedure Before the actual audio recording begins, there is a pre-recording screen which will allow you to adjust your recording settings. 1. On the main screen, select AudioCorder then click on ENTER. 2. In the pre-recording screen, adjust the recording level* by clicking on the LEFT and RIGHT buttons. Click on the record action icon (or Enter button) to start recording. Attention, the first time recording you should adjust your Settings.
55 Incremental Recording While recording, you will notice the incremental recording action icon. This allows you to create incremental recordings. This means that the current recording stops and a new recording instantly begins. The next recording has an additional number appended to its name. Thus if you create multiple incremental recordings, you might, for example, have files names of REC0000_01, REC0000_02, etc. This is good for recording old cassettes and old vinyl records.
57 14 1 4 MUSIC – Using iTunes™ with your AV 500 The easiest way to transfer music files between a Macintosh® computer and your AV 500 is to use the Macintosh Finder™ to drag and drop the files to and from your Macintosh®. However, for Macintosh® users who do want to use the AV 500 with iTunes®, ARCHOS™ has developed a special i-Tunes® plug-in. You will find it in the folder /Data/i-Tunes Plug-in on the AV 500 hard drive or at the ARCHOS™ website. In this folder you will find a plug-in for Mac OS 9.
59 Rotate picture 90° left View previous/next photo Rotate picture 90° right • Move up the action icon menu to select a picture option. • Select the Zoom in/out action icon to change the number of photos in the carrousel view. Magnifying Photos Once the picture is displayed in full screen, selecting the Zoom in action icon will magnify the image up to two levels. Each successive click will magnify the picture one more level.
61 Photos from camera are shown on the left, and your AV 500 hard drive on the right. By using the Select right pane action icon, move to the right pane and choose the destination folder. Now return to the left pane and choose the Copy all files action icon. Your files will be copied to your AV 500 into the folder in the right pane. You can now unplug the camera from the AV 500. 61 62 16 1 6 BROWSER – Using the Browser The browser is used to navigate the file system on the AV 500.
63 16.1 Navigating the Directory Structure To navigate the directory structure you will use: ENTER: Open the highlighted folder (directory) or Play the highlighted file. ESC/STOP x : Go back to the main menu. Move the cursor up and down to the previous or next file or folder. RIGHT: Open the currently highlighted folder. LEFT: Go back up one level in the folder hierarchy. Example: Go from folder AV500/Music/Wes Burden/ to AV500/Music. 63 64 16.
65 Copying and Moving Files and Folders By using the unique ARCHOS™ double browser system, you can copy or move files from one location in the file structure to another (1000 files per folder maximum). The double browser can be used in: Photo View The left panel is the connected USB device (ex: digital camera or hard drive) and the right panel the AV 500 hard drive contents. Music View The left browser is the AV 500 hard drive contents and right browser the music Playlist.
67 16.3 Using the Virtual Keyboard It is recommended that you create folders and rename files or folders from your computer when it is connected to the AV 500. The computer keyboard is much easier to use. However, at times when you are not near your computer and need to enter text directly with the AV 500 (ex: renaming a file or creating a new folder). For this, the virtual keyboard screen will appear. The new text that you are typing Cursor Press ENTER to enter the highlighted key/letter.
69 Windows® XP Please verify** that you have Windows® XP and it is updated to at least, Service Pack 1. You must also have Windows Media® Player 10 (WMP10) installed on your computer. This way, you can take advantage of connecting it as a ‘Windows Device’. Connect it to your PC as enumerated above and you can then see the AV 500 in Windows® Explorer and WMP10.
71 Hard Drive Mode & Macintosh® Drag the AV 500 hard drive icon towards the trash can, the trash can will become a big arrow as shown in the screen shot to the left. Drop the hard drive icon onto the arrow. The hard drive icon will disappear from the desktop. You can now safely unplug the USB cable from your AV 500 and/or computer.
73 19 1 9 SETTINGS From the main screen, select the Settings action icon to reveal the menu items for various settings. 19.1 Sound Settings If you would like to customize the sound quality, you can adjust the Bass, Treble, and other audio settings to suit your particular taste. Normally you will do this while listening to music so that you can hear the changes you make. Simply click on the Audio Settings action icon while listening to music.
75 Repeat & Shuffle options Normal Plays your songs one after the other and then stops after the last song. Repeat Continuously plays through the current set of songs (Artist, Album, folder, or Playlist). Shuffle Randomly play through the current set of songs (Artist, Album, folder, or Playlist). Intro duration From 10 to 90 seconds. This is the time for which each song will be played when selecting Scan for Playmode settings. 19.3 Clock Settings The AV 500 has an internal real time clock.
77 19.5 Appearance settings Setting Description Wallpaper On, Off. When set to On, the selected picture (next item) will be displayed as the AV 500 screen background. Picture name This option will display the names of the JPEG images in the AV 500’s System folder that can be used for screen backgrounds (Wallpaper). You can add your own JPEG images to the System folder by dragging and dropping a JPEG file from your computer. You can also set the wallpaper within the Photo mode.
79 Parameter Description ARCLibrary Off: From the Music icon, you will just browse music files in the folder Music. On: (Only in USB Port mode ‘Hard drive’) Browse music via its tag characteristics but the ARCLibrary must be updated manually. Automatic: ARCLibrary is automatically updated when the USB cable is disconnected from your device. Update ARCLibrary This button lets you update the ARCLibrary if you have set the parameter above to ON. USB Port Windows Device (default), Hard drive.
81 ‘Hard Drive’ or ‘Windows Device’? If your AV 500 is seen as a hard drive, then you simply need to drag the Update_AV500.AOS file onto this icon, and Windows® will place the file into the top most directory (root) of the AV 500. It should not be placed inside any folder within your AV 500. Once this file is copied, safely disconnect (refer to the chapter on Connecting/Disconnecting) the AV 500 from the computer.
83 21.1 Remote Control Description Standby / Wake Up* Switch between Built-in & External Video Numeric entry This group of buttons acts as the navigation acceleration, and the Play & Stop buttons. Go up or down a channel if you have the e infrared emitter connected to your VCR, VCR R, cable box, or satellite receiver.
85 22.1 Connect & Test Method Even if connecting audio-visual equipment is not your strong suit, by following our instructions and applying our Connect & Test method, you will be able to verify that your connections are correct. Refer to the color connection diagrams in the back of this manual while reading through each section below. 22.2 Connection (1): Powering the TV docking pod Plug the included adapter/charger into the jack labeled DC-in on the TV docking pod.
87 22.6 Connection (5): the S-Video In If you would like to get a higher quality video recording, and your video recorder, cable box or other video device has an S-video output, you can connect a standard S-video cable from it to your TV docking pod. This will carry only the video signal to the pod and your AV 500, not the audio. The video pass thru feature is not supported for S-Video input. DO NOT PLUG IN BOTH THE S-VIDEO CONNECTOR AND THE STANDARD YELLOW AV IN CONNECTOR AT THE SAME TIME. 22.
89 23 2 3 Replacing the battery Your AV 500 has a removable battery. You may want to purchase a second battery for cases when you know that you will be unable to recharge your AV 500 before the supplied battery runs out. Refer to the chapter Settings – Power Settings for information about getting the most use from the battery. Before removing the battery, disconnect the charger/adapter and switch off the device. 23.
91 24 2 4 Technical Support In case you should encounter any technical difficulties using your product, we suggest you go through these steps in order to resolve any issues as efficiently as possible: 1) Please read carefully through the appropriate sections of this manual. Some subject areas may be treated in two different chapters depending on how the device is being used. 2) Look at the Troubleshooting section at the back of this manual.
93 WWW.ARCHOS.COM Worldwide Offices United States & Canada Europe & Asia ARCHOS™ Technology ARCHOS™ S.A. 3, Goodyear - Unit A 12, rue Ampère Irvine, CA 92618 USA 91430 Igny France Phone: 1 949-609-1483 Phone: +33 (0) 169 33 169 0 Fax: 1 949-609-1414 Fax: +33 (0) 169 33 169 9 United Kingdom Germany ARCHOS (UK) Limited ARCHOS™ Deutschland GmbH PO Box 1420 Business Park Vierwinden Southampton Konrad-Zuse-Str.
95 Problem: (Hard Drive mode) What do I do if I try to disconnect via the green arrow but keep getting “The device ‘Generic Volume’ cannot be stopped now. Try stopping the device again later.” Answer: Shut off any program that might be accessing data on the AV 500, including Windows® Explorer. If this does not work, shut down all programs, wait 20 seconds, then try the green arrow one or two times again. If this does not work, you can shut off your AV 500 with the Stop/Esc button and then unplug it. 25.
97 • Be patient, this may take a while. Windows® XP & 2000 Running Check Disk Utility (ChkDsk) – HARD DRIVE mode only If you still have problems with the file system on your AV 500 you can try to fix it using the DOS utility, check disk (chkdsk). Do the following; • Make sure external AC adapter is powering the AV 500. • Quit all running applications. • Properly connect the AV 500 to your computer as explained in chapter Connecting/disconnecting the AV 500 to/from your PC.
99 Physical Dimensions Approx.: 7.6 x 12.4 x 1.8/2.4/3.2cm - 3” x 4.9” x 0.7”/0.9”/1.2” Temperature Range 5 °C to 35 °C running ; -20 °C to 45 °C storage Minimum Requirements Computer configuration: PC with Windows® ME, or 2000, and USB 2.0 port. Macintosh® G3 with MAC OS v10.2.4 or higher, Macintosh® G3 and USB 2.0 port. For Playsforsure™ content: PC with Windows® XP SP1 or higher operating system, Windows Media® Player 10 or higher, and USB 2.0 port.
101 3. Any product without a warranty or serial number label. 4. Batteries and any consumable items delivered with or in the equipment. The end user is required to use this product only in conformity with its original purpose and is strictly forbidden to make any technical modifications that could potentially impinge on the rights of third parties. Any modification to the hardware, software, or physical enclosure of the product must be approved in writing by ARCHOS™.
103 Disclaimer of warranty: to the extent allowed by applicable law, representations and warranties of noninfringement of copyrights or other intellectual property rights resulting from the use of the product under conditions other than as here above specified, are hereby excluded. LCD Pixel Policy The LCD screen on your ARCHOS™ AV 500 unit has been manufactured to rigorous standards to provide a high quality viewing experience. Nevertheless, your LCD screen may have slight imperfections.
105 VIDEO – Installing the PC Software – MPEG-4 codec (compression/decompression) 9.1* VIDEO – Installing the PC Software – MP3 Sound Codec 9.1* Compression VIDEO – Playing Video Files from the Internet 4* VIDEO – Creating MPEG-4 Video Files with your Computer 9* MUSIC – Putting Music onto your AV 500 11* Connecting 2 USB devices Connect Devices to the USB Host Port 18* 10 19.3* 11.1 Date and time SETTINGS – Clock Settings Default location VIDEO – Where is the Recording Saved? 5.
107 MUSIC – Playing Music Files 10* MUSIC – Browsing through your Music Library 10.3* 5 Music lists (Playlists) MUSIC – Playing Music Files 10* MUSIC – Playlists 12* New music not showing in the ARCLibrary MUSIC – Browsing through your Music Library 10.3* SETTINGS – System Settings 19.6* New Playlist does not display SETTINGS – System Settings 19.6* NTSC SETTINGS – Display Settings 19.4* Operating system SETTINGS – System Settings 19.6* 11.
109 MUSIC – Playing Music Files 10* MUSIC – Playing Through your Stereo System 10.4* MUSIC – Recording Procedure 13.2* SETTINGS – Sound Settings – Sound parameters 19.1* Speakers VIDEO – Playing video files: Built-in speakers 3.1* MUSIC – Playing music files – Playing through your Stereo System 10.4* MUSIC – Browsing through your Music Library 10.3* Tags Text on screen during video playback (OSD) VIDEO – Video Playback Action Icons – On Screen Display (OSD) off 3.