Archos is taking on Apple with a Wi-Fi-enabled digital set-top box, the Archos TV+, which UK boss Tony Limrick unveiled yesterday in London.
It starts as a simple PVR or DVR (Personal or Digital Video Recorder) that can record TV programmes. It also lets you stream files to your TV from your PC. Add the Opera browser (at extra cost) and you can surf the web on your TV screen, using the little Qwerty remote supplied. You can also sync your TV programmes with your Archos PMP (Portable Media Player) and take them away with you.
Limrick describes it as "the missing link" between your TV and the net (no PC is required), and reckons Archos has succeeded where other companies (cough*Apple TV*cough) have tried and failed.
He's certainly undercutting Apple on price: in the UK, the Archos TV+ costs £179.99 for the 80GB version and £249.99 for 250GB. But you may also have to add £19.95 for the Opera browser. The MPEG2 and H.264 codecs are also extra-cost plug-ins. This probably isn't going to go down too well with buyers, but Limrick says that this way, users don't have to pay for them if they don't want them. (US prices are $249 and $349.)
TV programmes are recorded in VGA format (640 x 480), and there's no HD support at the moment. Archos does support DRM-protected WMV and WMA audio and video files, so you can use most music libraries, except Apple DRM-protected iTunes.
The TV+ also has a USB port so you can transfer photos from a PC or digital camera and show them on your TV screen.
The TV+ is based on Linux, like the TiVo.
There are, obviously, other things on the market. The Microsoft Xbox 360 is another way to get PC content on a TV set, though it doesn't record TV programmes (unless you get them from an IPTV supplier such as BT, I think). You can roll your own media center with Linux and MythTV, and so on. But Archos could succeed by providing a small, smart-looking box that makes it simple, at a reasonable price.
This whole market has been a bit of a flop so far. Are people simply not interested, or are they just waiting for the right product to come along at the right price? If so, has Archos nailed it?
