Archos AV400 User Manual
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• MPEG-4 Video Player & Recorder
• MP3 & WMA Music Player
• Photo Viewer
• USB 2.0 Hard Disk
• Digital Audio Recorder
User Manual for ARCHOS Pocket AV400
Manual version 2.0 pn: 103090V2
English Language User Manual
Please visit our website to download the most recent manual and software for this product.
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Table o f Conte nts
1 INTRO - Ports, Buttons and Connections 6
2 INTRO - First Time Usage 8
2.1 Plugging in the AC Adapter 8
2.2 Turn in g on the AV 400 8
2.3 Shutting off the AV400 and Battery saving features 8
2.4 Changing the Language 9
2.5 Foreign Character Sets 9
2.6 Charging the Batteries 9
2.7 Caring for the AV400 10
2.8 Hardware Reset 10
3 MUSIC - Playing Music Files 11
3.1 Button Control 11
3.2 Playing Through your Stereo System 12
3.3 Artist, Album, Title … ID3 Tags 13
3.4 The ARCLibrary (Browsing by Album, Artist, or Song name) 13
3.5 Setting a Bookmark 14
3.6 The Resume Function 15
4 MUSIC - Playlists 16
4.1 Playing a Playlist 16
4.2 Creating a Playlist 17
4.3 Saving a Playlist 17
4.4 Adding songs to a Playlist while listening to Music 18
5 MUSIC - Recording Music 19
5.1 Cable Connections for Audio Recording 19
5.2 Recording Procedure 19
5.3 Where is the Recording Saved? 21
5.4 Audio Editing 21
6 MUSIC - Using Windows™ Media Player 9 23
6.1 Installing Windows Media Player 9 23
6.2 Installing the WMP9 Service Provider Plug-in 23
6.3 Copying Music to your AV400 24
7 MUSIC - Using iTunes™ with your AV400 25
8 VIDEO - Playing Video 26
8.1 Setting a Bookmark 27
8.2 The Resume Function 27
8.3 Display Format Settings 28
8.4 Playing Video Files from the Internet 28
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9 VIDEO - Recording MPEG4 Video Files 29
9.1 Setting the Recording Parameters 30
9.2 Where is the Recording Saved? 32
9.3 Copy Protection 32
9.4 Manually Setting the Scheduler 32
10 Automated Yahoo!® TV Recording Scheduler 35
11 VIDEO – Setting the Infrared Emitter Code 37
11.1 Part 1: Choose your Device, Brand and Model 37
11.2 Part 2: Testing the Emitter codes 38
12 VIDEO - Editing Video Files 40
13 VIDEO - Creating MPEG4 video files with your computer 42
13.1 Installing the PC Software 43
13.2 Using MPEG4 Translator 45
14 PHOTO - Viewing Photos 47
14.1 Viewing Photos 47
14.2 Viewing a slideshow 48
14.3 Tran sferring photos to your AV 400 49
15 BROWSER - Using the Browser 50
15.1 Navigating the Directory Structure 50
15.2 Navigating the Directory Structure 51
15.3 Using the Virtual Keyboard 53
16 Connecting/Disconnecting the AV400 to/from your PC 54
16.1 Connecting the AV400 54
16.2 Disconnecting the AV400 from your Computer 57
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17 SETTINGS 59
17.1 Sound Settings 59
17.2 Play Mode Settings 60
17.3 Clock Settings 62
17.4 Display Settings 62
17.5 Power Settings 64
17.6 System Settings 65
17.7 TV control 65
18 Updating the AV400 Firmware Operating System (OS) 66
19 Technical Support 68
20 Troubleshooting 70
20.1 USB Connection issues 70
20.2 Charging and Power issues 71
20.3 AV400 locks up (freezes operation) or Stops 71
20.4 The Computer locks-up (freezes operation) or Stops 72
20.5 File issues, corrupted data, formatting, and partitioning 72
21 Technical Specifications 75
22 Legal 76
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Dear Customer,
ARCHOS thanks you for your choice of this exciting AV400 product. Never
before has one been able to carry with him or her so much information, be
it MP3 digital music, MPEG-4 digital videos or digital photos, and be able
to enjoy these without a computer. We are sure that your AV400 will give
you years of listening and viewing enjoyment. Of course you can always
use it as a regular portable hard disk too.
This guide will explain to you the functions of the AV400. Our engineers
have packed this product with many functions and capabilities. The
better you know how to use it, the more enjoyment you will get from it.
Remember, with the AV400, you can…
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• View JPEG and BMP images and slide shows
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• Use it as a voice recorder
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• Create music Playlists
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We wish you many years of enjoyment from your AV400 product. Please do
register your product at our website www.archos.com/register/products.
html to ensure that you get access to our help line and to be informed of
free software updates for your product.
Wishing you the best Video, Music, and Photo experience,
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a Hard disk activity indicator (red)
b On indicator (green)
c Battery charger indicator (green)
d Move UP (also increases volume during media playback)
e Move DOWN (also decreases volume during media playback)
f Move LEFT (also plays previous song or fast reverse through song or video)
g Move RIGHT (also plays next song or fast forward through song or video)
h On/Enter/Play/Go
– Hold for 4 seconds to turn on
i Escape/Stop/Off – Hold for 4 seconds to turn off device
j Left function button – Activates the left on-screen menu item (p)
Also buttons lock.
k Center function button – Activates the center on-screen menu item (q)
Also speaker on/off
l Right function button – Activates the right on-screen menu item (r)
m LCD/TV button – Hold down for 3 seconds to switch between LCD and
external TV display
n TFT LCD screen 320 x 240 pixels
o Built-in loud speaker (hold down on button k for three seconds to turn
speaker on and off)
Screen function buttons which correspond to j, k, l
INTRO - Ports, Buttons and Connections
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a LCD/TV button – Hold down for 3 seconds to switch between LCD and
external TV display
b Microphone – for making digital voice recordings
c CompactFlash™ Type I slot
a USB 2.0 port (USB 1.1 compatible) to connect the AV400 to your computer
b Power Connector (use only the supplied Archos power charger/adapter)
c Multi-connect jack* – for headphones, TV Cradle, and AV in/out connections
*The optional multi-connect adapter and AV cable allow for audio and video
playing/recording without the TV Cradle.
Multi-connect Adapter AV Cable
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Please take the time to read though this manual. There are many
things that this device can do that you may not be aware of.
2.1 Plugging in the AC Adapter
• Use only the included ARCHOS charger/adapter.
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• You may use the Archos Video AV400 while its battery is charging, but
it will then take longer before the battery is completely charged.
2.2 Turn ing on th e AV 400
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2.3 Shutting off the AV400 and Battery saving features
To sh ut o ff th e un it, pr es s and h ol d t he S TO P/ ES C/O FF bu tt on
for 3 seconds.
In the Power menu [Setup Power: Battery Operation]
there is a Power Off parameter. It is factory set to 2
minutes. Thus, if your AV400 is idle for 2 minutes, it will shut
off. This setting can be changed from one to nine minutes
or to ‘never’.
In the Power menu [Setup
Power: Battery Operation]
there is a Backlight Off parameter to save battery power
(the lighting of the screen consumes a lot of the battery
power). It is factory set to 30 seconds. That is, if there are no buttons
pressed, the screen will shut off in order to save battery life. To turn the
screen back on, just click once on any button. See section 17.5 for a
complete explanation.
INTRO - First Time Usage
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2.4 Changing the Language
The AV400 interface can be set to English (default), French, or German.
• To change the language, move the joystick to Setup and
then click PLAY/ENTER .
•
• Using the joystick to highlight the Language parameter.
• Now move the joystick to the Right or Left to choose the
desired language.
• Choose French, German, or English.
• The language displayed will change immediately.
• Click on the STOP/ESC button to
exit this screen.
2.5 Foreign Character Sets
font folder under /Data on the AV400 hard disk or on the Archos website
under the heading Software. If, for example, you would like to have the
folder /system on the AV400 and shut down and restart the AV400. File
names, folder names, and ID3 tags written using the Microsoft® codepage
for the language will now be displayed in that character set. Only one
will be set to English.
2.6 Charging the Batteries
Other chargers or adapters may damage the AV400. The green CHARGE
indicator lights up to indicate that the external adapter is connected.
The batteries will charge automatically when the AC adapter/charger
is plugged in. Once the batteries are fully charged, this light will blink,
indicating that you can disconnect the charger/adapter. Once charged,
you can get up to 12 hours* of MP3 music playback time and up to
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4 hours* of AVI video playback time (on the built-in screen) from the
batteries. Some AV400 models are made with integrated batteries which
are designed to last for the life of the AV400. This means that you will
not have to change them. If, in the exceptional case, the batteries need
changing, this should only be done by an Archos technician.
* depending on how you use it (start/stop/writing, etc.)
2.7 Caring for the AV400
The Archos Video AV400 is an electronic product that needs to be treated
with more care than typical consumer electronic products.
• Do not subject it to shock.
• Do not subject it to heat. Keep it ventilated (especially when connected
to a computer).
• Keep the AV400 away from water and excessively humid areas.
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• Keep any connected cords to the AV400 neatly arranged. This light
product could fall if a cord is accidentally pulled by a child.
• Do not open up the AV400. There are no user serviceable parts inside.
Opening will void your warranty.
2.8 Hardware Reset
In the event that your AV400 freezes operation (due to electrostatic
phenomena for example), you can actuate a hardware reset by holding
down on the STOP/ESC button for 10 seconds. In normal operation,
the STOP/ESC button will shut down the AV400 after being held down
for 3 seconds.
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When you click on this icon in the main screen, you will be
sent directly to the Music folder. Use the direction buttons
to highlight one of the factory installed music selections and
then Click on PLAY
you have adjusted the volume control on the headphone cord. By clicking
on the Music icon in the main menu screen, you will enter into a ‘music
listed if you enter the folder via the Browser.
Current Directory Play Order Play Mode: One Directory Status: Playing Volume (maximum:31)
Song elapsed time
Song time remaining
Song Length
Battery level (full)
Time of Day
*APIC Album picture
Volume l evel m eters
Go to setup options Show Music Options Browse the hard disk for other tracks
3.1 Button Control
Increase the Volume
Click once: Play the previous song
seconds of song) otherwise go to the
beginning of the song.
Hold: Fast reverse through the song.
Click once: Play the next song in the
folder or playlist.
Hold: Fast forward through the song.
Stop Song
Decrease the Volume
Play/pause/resume song
MUSIC - Playing Music Files
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To l ock t he AV 40 0 bu tt on s, p re ss a nd h ol d t he l ef t
function button for three seconds. The AV400 will
display the message “Buttons locked!” on the bottom
of the screen. Press this again for three seconds to
unlock the buttons.
What the Icons indicate
Status Play Order Play Mode
Stopped
- no icon Play once
See section 17.2
Blinks while playing
a track
Repeat playing
Pause
dom)
track selection
Recording a track Playlist
3.2 Playing Through your Stereo System
On your HiFi there are two RCA type connectors that are labeled Aux
in, CD in, or Line-in. Typically they are color coded white and red for
left and right stereo channels respectively. Just
take a stereo mini jack plug to RCA cable (not
included) and connect the mini plug to the
AV400 headphone jack and the other end to the
Aux in, CD
in, or linein of your stereo system. Or better, connect
the Archos TV cradle’s AV Out red and white
connectors directly to your stereo auxiliary
inputs and place AV400 into the TV Cradle.
On the front of your stereo, select the
corresponding auxiliary input or CD input that you plugged into on the
back of your HiFi system. Press Play and then adjust the AV400 volume
(UP/DOWN buttons) in order to supply your stereo system with a signal
that is neither too weak nor too strong. If the sound is distorted, you will
need to reduce the AV400’s volume. You can turn on and off the built-in
speaker by holding the center function button for three seconds.
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3.3 Artist, Album, Title … ID3 Tags
ID3 Tags are information about the recording which found inside of an
has the option of adding information to it. This information can include,
among other things, the name of the artist (Wes Burden), the album
name (Brave New World), the title of the song (Mirror), and a small image
of the album cover (only jpeg images not progressive jpeg). If these data
are present, the AV400 will display them on the screen when it plays the
of the parent folder, the name of the current folder, and then the name
As of the writing of this manual, there are two versions of ID3 tags that
AV400 can read either version of tags, and display the information. If both
sets of tags have information, the data from the ID3 version 2 tag will be
displayed. Other tag information may include year and genre of music.
These other tag data are not displayed by the AV400, but are used to
index your music in the ARCLibrary (see next section).
3.4 The ARCLibrary (Browsing by Album, Artist, or Song name)
The ARCLibrary is a system for choosing your music by its characteristics.
It can be turned On or Off in the settings from Setup > Playmode.
As shown in this screen capture, you can select your music by Artist,
Album, Song Title, Genre, or Year. MP3
data tags to hold information about
you purchase a song from a music
download service, the songs will have
this information. If you have an MP3 or
ithout this tag information,
then you can add or change it by going
®
Explorer. Once you re-index into
the ARCLibrary, you will access to this track with the ARCLibrary. Audio
and Album = Audio Recording. The ARCLibrary indexes all the music on
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your AV400’s hard drive regardless of
which folder you placed it in, by using
the ID3 information in each song. When
you transfer music to your AV400 from
your computer, it goes directly to the
AV400 hard disk without the ARCLibrary
knowing about the new song. Thus, in
order for your new songs to be indexed
into the ARCLibrary, you must update
it with the Update button as shown here in the Setup > Playmode
screen. You have the following options to set the ARCLibrary.
Off – From the Music Music.
On – You can browse music by its characteristics (ID3 tags) but you will
have to manually update the ARCLibrary each time you add new music
from your computer to your AV400.
Automatic – The ARCLibrary will be set to On and it will automatically
update the library each time it notices that you have disconnected from a
computer. A message screen will appear indicating that it is updating the
ARCLibrary contents.
3.5 Setting a Bookmark
If you are listening to a song, or perhaps a long recording, and would like
to place a bookmark in it in order to pick up from this point at another
time, you can use the Bookmark function. You simply click on the center
function button labeled Options, then
choose Set Bookmark. This will
at the current position. You can
it will have a yellow check mark on its icon
within it. You can have a maximum of 16
will then start to erase the oldest bookmarks. The next time you play the
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Resume: Start playing from the bookmarked position.
Ignore: Keep the bookmark but start playing from the very beginning.
Clear
beginning.
3.6 The Resume Function
When you turn on your AV400 you will sometimes notice that the
icon which is highlighted on the main screen is not the Browser
but rather the Resume icon. This icon is highlighted when the
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MUSIC - Playlists
A Playlist is a list of songs that the AV400 will
automatically play one after the other. The AV400
can load one playlist at a time into its internal
memory. You can create new playlists, add or delete
type .m3u) to be used another time. There is no
limit to the number of playlists you can save on the
AV400 hard disk. Playlists are indicated by a special list icon (circled icon
to the left).
4.1 Playing a Playlist
To p la y a Pla yl is t, yo u si mp ly sc ro ll to t he
Playlist, such as ‘Jazz Music’ shown to the
left, and click on PLAY . The list of songs
will be loaded into the internal memory
of the AV400 and then be displayed in a
separate panel.
Click on PLAY and the songs will
be played in the order shown. To
order, you can click on Playlist,
then choose . You can open
on
your computer with a text editor such
your AV400, you are only deleting the list and not the music itself.
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4.2 Creating a Playlist
To create a Playlist, press the RIGHT
► button while you are in the Music
browser. A second window will open
on the right side to display the Playlist
contents. You can now start adding
songs to the current Playlist. In the left
window, search for the songs you would
like to add to your Playlist. Once the
song is highlighted, click on the Add
function button to add it to the Playlist.
The song will be added to the Playlist and a small mark next to the music
icon will be made to indicate that it is in the Playlist. Continue searching
the Add or Insert button when highlighting a folder. All the contents of
the folder and its subfolders will be added or inserted into the current
playlist.
You can jump back and forth between the brow se r and the playlist by
clicking on the LEFT ◄ and RIGHT ► buttons. A Playlist can have a
maximum of 5000 songs. We recommend that you save your Playlists.
4.3 Saving a Playlist
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4.4 Adding songs to a Playlist while listening to Music
This can only be done if you have entered your Music
folder via the Music icon and not by the general
browser. To add the song you are listening to or any
other song to the current Playlist, do the following:
• While playing a song, click on Options and choose
Edit Playlist. A browser window and the Playlist will
open.
• Click on the LEFT ◄ button to go to the hard disk
browser window.
• Select the song or folder of songs to add, then click
the button Add.
• Click ESC to return to the playing screen.
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With the AV400 series, you do not need a computer to create digital
an analog line source (ex: HiFi system, Boombox, CD Player, etc) into a
standard Windows® WAV format, either PCM (uncompressed) or ADPCM
(compressed).
5.1 Cable Connections for Audio Recording
If you are using the Archos TV cradle, then you will have to plug the
or other audio device that you are recording from. If you are using the
optional multi-connect adapter and AV cable, you should plug the AV
cable into the AV IN side of the adapter, and then plug the adapter into
the AV400. Now connect the Red and White connectors of the AV cable to
5.2 Recording Procedure
Before the actual audio recording begins, there is a pre-recording screen
which will allow you to adjust your recording settings.
MUSIC - Recording Music
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3. Click on Settings to reveal the recording parameters screen as shown
above. Be sure to set the correct
Source. You will hear silence during
recording and playback if the incorrect
source is chosen.
* You should try some test recordings before deciding on which recording level gives the
best sound quality. Don’t be tricked by the volume of the headphones which can be
adjusted independently with the UP and DOWN buttons.
The built-in microphone is located on the top of the AV400 unit. Make
sure that you have selected Microphone as the input source in the
pre-recording Settings screen.
You can record from any line-level audio source to the AV400 . Make
sure that you select the Analog Line-In as the input source in the
pre-recording Setup screen. If you have the TV cradle unit, you can plug
the Red and White connectors of the AV In cables to the output of you
home stereo system or the audio device you are recording from. If you
have the optional multi-connect adapter plug, you can enter a stereo
audio signal into the AV400 directly. Be careful that the source audio
volume on the player will work if you are using the headphone out signal
as the one Archos sells as an option.
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5.3 Where is the Recording Saved?
The default location for audio recordings is the folder called Music. If you
click on the Music icon in the main menu, you will go to this folder. Notice
that the right function button is labeled Record. Each time you use this
button to record audio instead of the AudioCorder button on the main
menu, you set the recording default location to the current folder. For
example, let’s say you have a folder called . If you
go to this folder and then make a recording using the right function button
Record, you will set the default record location to this folder. Now, each
time you use the AudioCorder icon to start a recording, your recording will
be saved in the folder
5.4 Audio Editing
wish included. If you would like to edit an audio recording, you have the
possibility to “crop out” the exact section of the recording you would like
to save. For example, you have recorded a lecture of 33 minutes and 22
seconds in length. You would like to cut out and save just one particular
important section from 12 minutes and 15 seconds to 21 minutes and 5
seconds. The diagram below illustrates the situation.
Desired audio section
00:00 (0min 0sec) 12:15 21:05 33:22
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To ke ep j ust thi s se ct ion ( cr op pi ng i t) , yo u w il l:
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• Select Edit from the File menu in order to enter the edit mode
• In the edit mode, set the cut-IN point (12:15 in our example)
• Next, set the cut-OUT point (21:05 in our example)
• Save the edit
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MUSIC - Using Windows™ Media Player 9
The AV400 is designed to work seamlessly with
Version 9 of Windows® Media Player (WMP9).
By installing the Archos Service Provider plugin, WMP9 will recognize your AV400 as a
connected music device. You can then easily
copy your CD collection to your AV400. WMP9
will encode each song into the WMA format (preferred compressed
format of Windows™) and then store them on your connected Archos
device. This Service Provider plug-in will also allow you to play purchased
music from on-line music services such as Napster.com, MusicNow.com,
BuyMusic.com, and Liquid.com.
6.1 Installing Windows Media Player 9
If you do not already have
Windows Media Player version
9 running on your computer,
you can install it from the
Archos Installation Utility.
Connect your AV400 to your
computer. In Windows Explorer,
open up the hard drive labeled
JUKEBOX. It may be called
JUKEBOX (E:) or with another
letter. Open the folder Data,
then the folder PC Installation,
E:\Data\PC Installation\setup.exe. Click on the icon according to your
operating system. Follow the on screen instructions.
6.2 Installing the WMP9 Service Provider Plug-in
Player 9 as explained above. To install the Service Provider Plug-in to
Windows Media player, run the Archos Installation Utility as explained
above, and then chose Archos Media Player Service Provider Plug-in.
Follow the on screen instructions. If you have accidentally deleted it,
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you can download it from
the Archos website ‘software’
category (www.archos.com).
With your AV400 still
connected to your computer,
start Windows Media Player.
Normally, you will connect
your AV400 to your computer
before you run the WMP9
program. If you connect it after WMP9 has been started, you will have
connected AV400.
6.3 Copying Music to your AV400
Run Windows Media Player.
6.4 Copy Protected Downloads
With music download services such as Napster.com, MusicNow.com,
BuyMusic.com, and Liquid.com, you can purchase music on-line and
Microsoft® copy protection system. When they are downloaded to your
computer then transferred to your AV400, they will play only on your
people’s portable music players.
1. Choose Copy to CD or Device and then check
the songs from your Music Library that you want to
copy to your device.
2. Choose the AV400 device
then select the folder you
want to copy your songs to.
Now click on Copy.
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