5. Home VCR

Through its base station, the AV 400 converts itself into a complete digital VCR. Installation requires a little time and patience.

The base station is a ball-shaped hub from which numerous cables can be run. It also acts as the base station for attaching a power cable to recharge the Archos when on its base.

There are four input cables. You have a choice between S-video and Cinch with two audio sockets and one video socket. A Peritel SCART connector is supplied. You have to connect the input on the VCR or satellite/cable decoder. That's important for what happens next. Depending on the equipment, you may need to use the Peritel SCART connector to be able to connect both the TV and the AV 400.

As for output, there are only three Cinch cables, two audio and one video socket. A Peritel SCART connector is supplied. The output connects to a television input.

A last, rather strange, cable will attract your attention. It is a little rubber probe that has to be attached by suction to the infrared VCR or decoder receiver.

Programmable

You then need to tell Archos whether you are using a VCR or a decoder. To do this, you first need to tell it the brand name. That's obvious for a VCR but not so obvious for a decoder. Once you've found out the brand, the AV 400 offers from one to ten codes that can be used for the device. You need to test all of them until the device can be controlled by the AV400. Once you've found the right code, you ought to be able to change channels and control the stop/start. Most device types can be controlled, and Archos aims to offer quick support for those that are not.

My Philips Cable decoder, for example, was not recognized but my Saba VCR was. Once recognized, you can allocate channels within the setting. The goal of this maneuver is to be able to program recordings just as you would on a VCR. All you have to do is enter the date, the start time and end time, as well as the channel, and the AV 400 will see to everything. Furthermore, by connecting the Archos to the PC, you can then download whatever you recorded to your PC and even burn a CD to store it. For DVD recording, the Archos is Macrovision-protected. But you can record a commercial DVD and watch it on the Archos. On the other hand, you can't copy it.