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The Archos 43 Vision is a new 8GB portable media player very much aimed at the budget end of the market. It can be easily found for around only £85 so it weighs in at a fraction of the price of most of the Archos range as well as other similar players such as Apple’s Ipod Touch.
Upon unboxing the player my first impression was one of real surprise. The Archos 43 Vision really does look and feel like a player you would expect to have paid a few hundred pounds for. Also, it weighs nearly 10 ounces which is abnormally heavy for a player of its kind. The player is operated by a touch screen, very similar to that found on similar players such as the Ipod Touch.
Unlike the more expensive models in the Archos range, this model does not run the Android operating system. It actually runs on a system designed specifically for this player. The operating menu is very simple to use and navigate, with available options such as Video,Music,Photo etc. all selectable from the main screen. One small criticism I would make about it though it that it is pretty bland, but other than that it does the job.
The Archos 43 Vision gets its name from its 4.3’’ screen which is a fair size for this kind of player and I found no problems whatsoever watching films on it, even subtitles were easy enough to read. The operating system allows films to be cropped to fill the whole screen, so there are no black borders visible when watching films shot in the very common 2.35:1 aspect ratio. The video playback is very crisp and the colours are clear and vibrant, very impressive indeed for such a cheap player. The audio playback is sadly not so impressive as many films seem to be extremely quiet, even when played on full volume. It was fine when using it in an environment which had little in the way of background noise, but in noisier places such as airports, this player does seem to struggle. I got around this problem by using my own ‘’bud’’ style earphones. This made a huge improvement over the standard earphones which came included with the player, which to be honest are pretty poor. Another issue I had was on certain video files, when I paused and then resumed playback the audio track would continue out of sync. Although I did find that stopping the file and using the ‘’resume playback from last position’’ feature did seem to rectify this problem. Photo’s look fantastic on this player and it can display images in JPEG,BMP or GIF formats. There is also a sound recording function which I suppose could be handy for recording things such as lectures ? The quality of these recordings is not great though and I feel this function is something of a gimmick to be honest.
The touch screen is sadly one area in which this player really does disappoint. You can adjust the sensitivity of the screen in the operating systems settings but even on the maximum (and supposedly most sensitive) settings the selections are pretty unresponsive. For example : if you attempt to scroll down to select a media clip the player would seem to pause for a second before shooting straight past it. I would say it is the biggest flaw in the player and it really does let it down.
The Archos 43 Vision can play most video files without having to go to the hassle of re-encoding them to any specific format. It is able play the likes of Avi,MPEG,WMV,FLV etc. as long as they do not exceed a resolution of 800 x 480 or a bitrate of more than 1.5 Mb/s. One point that is worth noting though is that this player is not supposed to be able to display video files if they encoded at a rate greater than 25 frames per second. However I did find that some files which initially did not appear to play correctly (sound was fine but the screen went green) did work OK when I turned the player off and then back on again ? I did contact Archos customer service about this as well as the previously mentioned audio sync issue and they did not respond to either enquiry. I had heard that their customer service was perhaps not the greatest, but to get no response whatsoever doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence should I ever get a serious problem with this player. As for the transferring of files to the player it really could not be easier. Simply select the file you wish to transfer, right click,then send to and that is it. No software is required at all, which is a blessing for anyone whose PC may have issues with programs such as Apple’s Itunes application.
The battery life of this player is very impressive if you go by Archos advertised statistics. They claim the player has a 6 hour battery life for video playback and an 18 playback for music files. I watched 2 films with a combined running time of about 4 ½ hours and the battery was down to showing a single bar. I seriously doubt that I would have been unable to watch another film without recharging the battery. As mentioned you can easily watch 2 full length films off one charge which I feel is reasonable for most instances that I would be using a player such as this. The battery does charge pretty quickly as well so topping it up between uses really is not that much of a problem.
Another point worth mentioning is that as well as the players internal 8GB flash memory the Archos 43 Vision also accepts Micro SDHC cards should you wish to expand the memory. These cards are very cheap these days and I would imagine many people may even have the odd spare laying around the house. It is certainly a very cost effective way of increasing the amount of files you may wish to store on the player, should the standard 8GB not be enough for your requirements.
Since buying this player I have read reports that this player is not actually made by Archos themselves. Apparently they are produced in China by a third party and simply badged as Archos machines. If this is true then it may explain Archos lack of customer service as it maybe that their support staff are not yet completely clued up on these players ?
Overall I would definitely say that there are better portable media players available than the Archos 43 Vision but not at anything like this price. It is not without more than a few niggling problems here and there but it is generally suitable for the purpose for which it was made.
Pros :
Price
Very easy to use
Excellent video playback and picture quality
Full screen mode
Reasonable battery life
Good build quality
Can play a wide range of video files
No need for any additional software
Memory easy and cheap to expand
Cons :
Unresponsive touch screen
Sound quality is OK but at times it is just too quiet
Pausing playback can cause audio sync issues
Headphones supplied are poor
Archos Customer Support is terrible
Sound recorder is not very good
[B]7/10[B]
Upon unboxing the player my first impression was one of real surprise. The Archos 43 Vision really does look and feel like a player you would expect to have paid a few hundred pounds for. Also, it weighs nearly 10 ounces which is abnormally heavy for a player of its kind. The player is operated by a touch screen, very similar to that found on similar players such as the Ipod Touch.
Unlike the more expensive models in the Archos range, this model does not run the Android operating system. It actually runs on a system designed specifically for this player. The operating menu is very simple to use and navigate, with available options such as Video,Music,Photo etc. all selectable from the main screen. One small criticism I would make about it though it that it is pretty bland, but other than that it does the job.
The Archos 43 Vision gets its name from its 4.3’’ screen which is a fair size for this kind of player and I found no problems whatsoever watching films on it, even subtitles were easy enough to read. The operating system allows films to be cropped to fill the whole screen, so there are no black borders visible when watching films shot in the very common 2.35:1 aspect ratio. The video playback is very crisp and the colours are clear and vibrant, very impressive indeed for such a cheap player. The audio playback is sadly not so impressive as many films seem to be extremely quiet, even when played on full volume. It was fine when using it in an environment which had little in the way of background noise, but in noisier places such as airports, this player does seem to struggle. I got around this problem by using my own ‘’bud’’ style earphones. This made a huge improvement over the standard earphones which came included with the player, which to be honest are pretty poor. Another issue I had was on certain video files, when I paused and then resumed playback the audio track would continue out of sync. Although I did find that stopping the file and using the ‘’resume playback from last position’’ feature did seem to rectify this problem. Photo’s look fantastic on this player and it can display images in JPEG,BMP or GIF formats. There is also a sound recording function which I suppose could be handy for recording things such as lectures ? The quality of these recordings is not great though and I feel this function is something of a gimmick to be honest.
The touch screen is sadly one area in which this player really does disappoint. You can adjust the sensitivity of the screen in the operating systems settings but even on the maximum (and supposedly most sensitive) settings the selections are pretty unresponsive. For example : if you attempt to scroll down to select a media clip the player would seem to pause for a second before shooting straight past it. I would say it is the biggest flaw in the player and it really does let it down.
The Archos 43 Vision can play most video files without having to go to the hassle of re-encoding them to any specific format. It is able play the likes of Avi,MPEG,WMV,FLV etc. as long as they do not exceed a resolution of 800 x 480 or a bitrate of more than 1.5 Mb/s. One point that is worth noting though is that this player is not supposed to be able to display video files if they encoded at a rate greater than 25 frames per second. However I did find that some files which initially did not appear to play correctly (sound was fine but the screen went green) did work OK when I turned the player off and then back on again ? I did contact Archos customer service about this as well as the previously mentioned audio sync issue and they did not respond to either enquiry. I had heard that their customer service was perhaps not the greatest, but to get no response whatsoever doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence should I ever get a serious problem with this player. As for the transferring of files to the player it really could not be easier. Simply select the file you wish to transfer, right click,then send to and that is it. No software is required at all, which is a blessing for anyone whose PC may have issues with programs such as Apple’s Itunes application.
The battery life of this player is very impressive if you go by Archos advertised statistics. They claim the player has a 6 hour battery life for video playback and an 18 playback for music files. I watched 2 films with a combined running time of about 4 ½ hours and the battery was down to showing a single bar. I seriously doubt that I would have been unable to watch another film without recharging the battery. As mentioned you can easily watch 2 full length films off one charge which I feel is reasonable for most instances that I would be using a player such as this. The battery does charge pretty quickly as well so topping it up between uses really is not that much of a problem.
Another point worth mentioning is that as well as the players internal 8GB flash memory the Archos 43 Vision also accepts Micro SDHC cards should you wish to expand the memory. These cards are very cheap these days and I would imagine many people may even have the odd spare laying around the house. It is certainly a very cost effective way of increasing the amount of files you may wish to store on the player, should the standard 8GB not be enough for your requirements.
Since buying this player I have read reports that this player is not actually made by Archos themselves. Apparently they are produced in China by a third party and simply badged as Archos machines. If this is true then it may explain Archos lack of customer service as it maybe that their support staff are not yet completely clued up on these players ?
Overall I would definitely say that there are better portable media players available than the Archos 43 Vision but not at anything like this price. It is not without more than a few niggling problems here and there but it is generally suitable for the purpose for which it was made.
Pros :
Price
Very easy to use
Excellent video playback and picture quality
Full screen mode
Reasonable battery life
Good build quality
Can play a wide range of video files
No need for any additional software
Memory easy and cheap to expand
Cons :
Unresponsive touch screen
Sound quality is OK but at times it is just too quiet
Pausing playback can cause audio sync issues
Headphones supplied are poor
Archos Customer Support is terrible
Sound recorder is not very good
[B]7/10[B]
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The Archos 43 Vision is a new 8GB portable media player very much aimed at the budget end of the market. It can be easily found for around only £85 so it weighs in at a fraction of the price of most of the Archos range as well as other similar players such as Apple’s Ipod Touch.
Upon unboxing the player my first impression was one of real surprise. The Archos 43 Vision really does look and feel like a player you would expect to have paid a few hundred pounds for. Also, it weighs nearly 10 ounces which is abnormally heavy for a player of its kind. The player is operated by a touch screen, very similar to that found on similar players such as the Ipod Touch.
Unlike the more expensive models in the Archos range, this model does not run the Android operating system. It actually runs on a system designed specifically for this player. The operating menu is very simple to use and navigate, with available options such as Video,Music,Photo etc. all selectable from the main screen. One small criticism I would make about it though it that it is pretty bland, but other than that it does the job.
The Archos 43 Vision gets its name from its 4.3’’ screen which is a fair size for this kind of player and I found no problems whatsoever watching films on it, even subtitles were easy enough to read. The operating system allows films to be cropped to fill the whole screen, so there are no black borders visible when watching films shot in the very common 2.35:1 aspect ratio. The video playback is very crisp and the colours are clear and vibrant, very impressive indeed for such a cheap player. The audio playback is sadly not so impressive as many films seem to be extremely quiet, even when played on full volume. It was fine when using it in an environment which had little in the way of background noise, but in noisier places such as airports, this player does seem to struggle. I got around this problem by using my own ‘’bud’’ style earphones. This made a huge improvement over the standard earphones which came included with the player, which to be honest are pretty poor. Another issue I had was on certain video files, when I paused and then resumed playback the audio track would continue out of sync. Although I did find that stopping the file and using the ‘’resume playback from last position’’ feature did seem to rectify this problem. Photo’s look fantastic on this player and it can display images in JPEG,BMP or GIF formats. There is also a sound recording function which I suppose could be handy for recording things such as lectures ? The quality of these recordings is not great though and I feel this function is something of a gimmick to be honest.
The touch screen is sadly one area in which this player really does disappoint. You can adjust the sensitivity of the screen in the operating systems settings but even on the maximum (and supposedly most sensitive) settings the selections are pretty unresponsive. For example : if you attempt to scroll down to select a media clip the player would seem to pause for a second before shooting straight past it. I would say it is the biggest flaw in the player and it really does let it down.
The Archos 43 Vision can play most video files without having to go to the hassle of re-encoding them to any specific format. It is able play the likes of Avi,MPEG,WMV,FLV etc. as long as they do not exceed a resolution of 800 x 480 or a bitrate of more than 1.5 Mb/s. One point that is worth noting though is that this player is not supposed to be able to display video files if they encoded at a rate greater than 25 frames per second. However I did find that some files which initially did not appear to play correctly (sound was fine but the screen went green) did work OK when I turned the player off and then back on again ? I did contact Archos customer service about this as well as the previously mentioned audio sync issue and they did not respond to either enquiry. I had heard that their customer service was perhaps not the greatest, but to get no response whatsoever doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence should I ever get a serious problem with this player. As for the transferring of files to the player it really could not be easier. Simply select the file you wish to transfer, right click,then send to and that is it. No software is required at all, which is a blessing for anyone whose PC may have issues with programs such as Apple’s Itunes application.
The battery life of this player is very impressive if you go by Archos advertised statistics. They claim the player has a 6 hour battery life for video playback and an 18 playback for music files. I watched 2 films with a combined running time of about 4 ½ hours and the battery was down to showing a single bar. I seriously doubt that I would have been unable to watch another film without recharging the battery. As mentioned you can easily watch 2 full length films off one charge which I feel is reasonable for most instances that I would be using a player such as this. The battery does charge pretty quickly as well so topping it up between uses really is not that much of a problem.
Another point worth mentioning is that as well as the players internal 8GB flash memory the Archos 43 Vision also accepts Micro SDHC cards should you wish to expand the memory. These cards are very cheap these days and I would imagine many people may even have the odd spare laying around the house. It is certainly a very cost effective way of increasing the amount of files you may wish to store on the player, should the standard 8GB not be enough for your requirements.
Since buying this player I have read reports that this player is not actually made by Archos themselves. Apparently they are produced in China by a third party and simply badged as Archos machines. If this is true then it may explain Archos lack of customer service as it maybe that their support staff are not yet completely clued up on these players ?
Overall I would definitely say that there are better portable media players available than the Archos 43 Vision but not at anything like this price. It is not without more than a few niggling problems here and there but it is generally suitable for the purpose for which it was made.
Pros :
Price
Very easy to use
Excellent video playback and picture quality
Full screen mode
Reasonable battery life
Good build quality
Can play a wide range of video files
No need for any additional software
Memory easy and cheap to expand
Cons :
Unresponsive touch screen
Sound quality is OK but at times it is just too quiet
Pausing playback can cause audio sync issues
Headphones supplied are poor
Archos Customer Support is terrible
Sound recorder is not very good
[B]7/10[B]
Upon unboxing the player my first impression was one of real surprise. The Archos 43 Vision really does look and feel like a player you would expect to have paid a few hundred pounds for. Also, it weighs nearly 10 ounces which is abnormally heavy for a player of its kind. The player is operated by a touch screen, very similar to that found on similar players such as the Ipod Touch.
Unlike the more expensive models in the Archos range, this model does not run the Android operating system. It actually runs on a system designed specifically for this player. The operating menu is very simple to use and navigate, with available options such as Video,Music,Photo etc. all selectable from the main screen. One small criticism I would make about it though it that it is pretty bland, but other than that it does the job.
The Archos 43 Vision gets its name from its 4.3’’ screen which is a fair size for this kind of player and I found no problems whatsoever watching films on it, even subtitles were easy enough to read. The operating system allows films to be cropped to fill the whole screen, so there are no black borders visible when watching films shot in the very common 2.35:1 aspect ratio. The video playback is very crisp and the colours are clear and vibrant, very impressive indeed for such a cheap player. The audio playback is sadly not so impressive as many films seem to be extremely quiet, even when played on full volume. It was fine when using it in an environment which had little in the way of background noise, but in noisier places such as airports, this player does seem to struggle. I got around this problem by using my own ‘’bud’’ style earphones. This made a huge improvement over the standard earphones which came included with the player, which to be honest are pretty poor. Another issue I had was on certain video files, when I paused and then resumed playback the audio track would continue out of sync. Although I did find that stopping the file and using the ‘’resume playback from last position’’ feature did seem to rectify this problem. Photo’s look fantastic on this player and it can display images in JPEG,BMP or GIF formats. There is also a sound recording function which I suppose could be handy for recording things such as lectures ? The quality of these recordings is not great though and I feel this function is something of a gimmick to be honest.
The touch screen is sadly one area in which this player really does disappoint. You can adjust the sensitivity of the screen in the operating systems settings but even on the maximum (and supposedly most sensitive) settings the selections are pretty unresponsive. For example : if you attempt to scroll down to select a media clip the player would seem to pause for a second before shooting straight past it. I would say it is the biggest flaw in the player and it really does let it down.
The Archos 43 Vision can play most video files without having to go to the hassle of re-encoding them to any specific format. It is able play the likes of Avi,MPEG,WMV,FLV etc. as long as they do not exceed a resolution of 800 x 480 or a bitrate of more than 1.5 Mb/s. One point that is worth noting though is that this player is not supposed to be able to display video files if they encoded at a rate greater than 25 frames per second. However I did find that some files which initially did not appear to play correctly (sound was fine but the screen went green) did work OK when I turned the player off and then back on again ? I did contact Archos customer service about this as well as the previously mentioned audio sync issue and they did not respond to either enquiry. I had heard that their customer service was perhaps not the greatest, but to get no response whatsoever doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence should I ever get a serious problem with this player. As for the transferring of files to the player it really could not be easier. Simply select the file you wish to transfer, right click,then send to and that is it. No software is required at all, which is a blessing for anyone whose PC may have issues with programs such as Apple’s Itunes application.
The battery life of this player is very impressive if you go by Archos advertised statistics. They claim the player has a 6 hour battery life for video playback and an 18 playback for music files. I watched 2 films with a combined running time of about 4 ½ hours and the battery was down to showing a single bar. I seriously doubt that I would have been unable to watch another film without recharging the battery. As mentioned you can easily watch 2 full length films off one charge which I feel is reasonable for most instances that I would be using a player such as this. The battery does charge pretty quickly as well so topping it up between uses really is not that much of a problem.
Another point worth mentioning is that as well as the players internal 8GB flash memory the Archos 43 Vision also accepts Micro SDHC cards should you wish to expand the memory. These cards are very cheap these days and I would imagine many people may even have the odd spare laying around the house. It is certainly a very cost effective way of increasing the amount of files you may wish to store on the player, should the standard 8GB not be enough for your requirements.
Since buying this player I have read reports that this player is not actually made by Archos themselves. Apparently they are produced in China by a third party and simply badged as Archos machines. If this is true then it may explain Archos lack of customer service as it maybe that their support staff are not yet completely clued up on these players ?
Overall I would definitely say that there are better portable media players available than the Archos 43 Vision but not at anything like this price. It is not without more than a few niggling problems here and there but it is generally suitable for the purpose for which it was made.
Pros :
Price
Very easy to use
Excellent video playback and picture quality
Full screen mode
Reasonable battery life
Good build quality
Can play a wide range of video files
No need for any additional software
Memory easy and cheap to expand
Cons :
Unresponsive touch screen
Sound quality is OK but at times it is just too quiet
Pausing playback can cause audio sync issues
Headphones supplied are poor
Archos Customer Support is terrible
Sound recorder is not very good
[B]7/10[B]