Here's the next thing to give Hollywood fits: The Archos Video AV320. The AV320 is an iPod for video; It stores movies taken from DVDs on its hard drive. As its name suggests, it hold 320 hours of video -- 160 two hour films -- on its hard drive.

Hollywood's newest nightmare: The Archos Video AV320

Here's what the WSJ had to say about it:

"Archos's device, which costs about $500 to $900 depending on the model, ignores an anticopying code found on a majority of prerecorded DVDs. That means consumers can plug the Archos device into a DVD player and transfer a movie to it. Users also can transfer recorded TV programs and digital music files to the gadget. Using a video compression standard called MPEG-4, the Archos device is able to cram as many as 320 hours of video at near-DVD quality onto its hard drive, the company says -- the equivalent of 160 two-hour movies.

A second kind of anticopying protection thwarts users from recording a playable copy of a DVD movie onto the hard-drive of a personal computer and then onto the Archos. But videos can be transferred from the Archos to a PC, where they could be burned onto a DVD or sent over the Internet, though that would likely violate copyright laws."

It actually costs less than the Journal's quoted price: Amazon sells the Archos AV320 Video / MP3 Jukebox Recorder for $469.84

Oh yeah, baby. Daddy wants one now!

Source:
Hand-Held Device For DVD Movies Raises Legal Issues
KEVIN J. DELANEY
WSJ, January 7, 2004
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB107343191287572300,00.html

Archos, Inc.
http://www.archos.com

Archos Video AV320 at Amazon.com

Posted at 03:08 PM in Film, Media, Web/Tech | Permalink

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