Archos delivered some exciting news this week with the introduction of the Generation 5 lineup of portable media players and the new Archos TV Plus product. PC Magazine has an excellent writeup of what they saw from Archos – I’ll try and summarize the major points here.

First, let’s go over the Generation 5 lineup. There are four new models that comprise the Generation 5 product line. They are the Archos 105, 405, 605, and 705.

The Archos 105 comes in a nano-like design supporting both video and audio playback. It’s as thin as the nano but a bit wider than the Apple player.

The Archos 405 is also a flash based player and comes with an SD slot for additional storage space. It offers a 3.5 inch display and comes with 2GB of space and will sell for approximately $170.

The Archos 605 is available in both flash based models and hard drive based models. The flash model comes in a 4GB configuration while the hard drive model comes in 30GB, 80GB, and 160GB configurations.  Archos posted up information on the 605 on their website here but I’ll go over the high level specs really quickly:

  • 800 x 480 resolution 4.3 inch TFT LCD touchscreen display with 16 million color support
  • Support for MPEG-4, WMV – up to DVD quality resolutions
  • Support for H.264 and MPEG-2 via software plugins
  • Support for MP3, Protected WMA, WAV
  • Support for AAC, AC3 via software plugins
  • Support for JPEG, BMP, PNG
  • PDF viewer
  • Records NTSC/PAL/SECAM in MPEG-4 AVI format at 640 x 480 at 30 or 25 f/s via optional DVR Station/DVR Travel adapter
  • Wi-Fi support
  • 3.5 mm jack
  • 17 hour battery life for music playback
  • 5.5 hour battery life for video playback

Perhaps the coolest thing that PC Magazine mentioned with regards to the 605 is it’s DVR capabilities when coupled with a DVR Station from Archos. Previous Archos models had DVR capabilities also but the Generation 5 PMP has a built in TV Program Guide which can retrieve program information about your cable service. What’s even cooler is the sweet looking UI that the player utilizes for program guide info. All of this is possible when the 605 is coupled with the DVR Station component which will set you back about $100. With the DVR Station, the 605 is capable of streaming content wirelessly from a PC to your TV – up to DVD quality video. 

The 605 also has support for something called the Archos Content Portal which allows you to download content wirelessly and directly to your Archos 605 player. Finally if you get the optional Web browser plug-in, you’ll be able to browse the web via the Wi-Fi support.

Finally, PC Mag says the Archos 705 is a large PMP player with a whopping 7 inch screen. We assume that the 705 will have similar features to the 605 but we’re not sure as of yet.

Finally, the most exciting news from PC Magazine about Archos is the new Archos TV Plus media extender device. The TV Plus looks similar to the Apple TV device and comes with the following specs:

  • 80 GB to 250GB of storage space
  • HDMI output
  • Component in/out
  • RCA audio out
  • Ethernet port
  • Wi-Fi support
  • Supports streaming of audio and video from PC to your TV
  • Stream up to 720p at 24 fps

Unfortunately the device is still under wraps so PC Mag couldn’t show off any pictures. Bummer.. but the device certainly sounds exciting. Truth is – the key will boil down to the user interface. I’m curious though as to why the TV Plus has component inputs. Was that a typo? Weird.

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