I love my new Archos AV-700 portable media system. It can record video directly, has tons of disk space, is a music player, photo album and can show movies in a variety of formats. None of which are compatible with my DVD player, alas. So how the heck do I copy one of my movies onto the device?
The Archos AV-700 is indeed a sweet little device with lots of capabilities and a lovely big 7-inch screen, in a unit no bigger than a paperback book and less than an inch thick. You can read all about this slick device at Archos if you want to learn more. If that’s not enough, the Archos portable AV line (including the 700) are what’s powering the new Dish Network PocketDish program.
Fortunately, Archos loaned me a unit so I could put it through its paces, and that’s how I’m able to write about how to convert a commercial DVD into a format that’s appropriate for the AV-700 device. Unfortunately, they’re going to insist I send it back soon. I want one!
But let’s stay focused, right?
The biggest problem you have with copying your DVDs onto the Archos device is the same problem you have copying it for any purpose: commercial DVDs have a variety of different protection mechanisms to foil your migrating the data from one device to another, making backup copies, or otherwise consuming it as your lifestyle requires.
There are a variety of different programs you can download for your Windows XP computer that will help circumvent these protection mechanisms, but generally they’re all illegal to sell in the United States, so you’ll find that their authors are all based overseas to avoid any problems. Is it ethical or legit to wantonly copy DVDs that you get from Blockbuster, Netflix or your pals? Of course not. That’s a problem and I don’t endorse that behavior for a second.
On the other hand, I have at least four different devices that can play movies, including a Sony PSP, an Apple iPod Video, an Archos AV-700 and a Wolverine MVP-100 multimedia device. If I want to take a movie that I already own and push it out to these devices, are organizations like the MPAA really expecting me to dutifully buy five copies of the movie, one for each platform? That’s incredibly anti-consumer in my opinion. And so, I am offering up this tutorial on how to copy your movies (read that again: your movies) onto an Archos device.
The first step is to get a software program that removes the encryption and other protections from your DVD player on your PC, and after having tried out a bunch of free and pay solutions, I haven’t found anything better than the $24 AnyDVD1 application from Antigua-based SlySoft. What’s particularly nice about their solution is that it’s invisible: once you install it, programs that access the data on your DVD drive go through the AnyDVD app and never see any encoding, encryption, CSS, Macrovision, or regional encoding limitations. It’s like waving a magic wand over the DVD disks you put in your computer. You can get a sense of how it lets you interface with your DVDs by looking at its settings:
Once you have that set up and running (it requires a reboot and injects itself into the DVD driver, so it looks kinda like spyware, but as far as I can tell it’s benign and only accomplishes the one task of helping you access your DVD disks), you’ll need a program that can read the data on the disk and convert it, compress it, and repackage it for the desired output device, in this case the Archos AV-700.
There are lots of solutions in this space, including many commercial applications you can find from mainstream publishers like Roxio, but Slysoft’s the winner here again, with its terrific and super easy-to-use CloneDVD Mobile1 program. Combined, AnyDVD and CloneDVD Mobile will set you back about $50, less than two new DVDs, and it can produce output for just about any modern portable media device.
Let me step you through how I copied one of my favorite movies, Singin’ In The Rain from DVD disk to the Archos AV-700. First step was to get AnyDVD running, then I launched CloneDVD Mobile and selected the output media format:
Notice that it supports producing video for Apple iPod Video devices, Sony PSPs (in two different formats!), Windows smartphones, Creative Labs Zen Vision devices, and, most importantly, the Archos AV 700 device. That’s what I choose, and clicked Next:
To proceed, I clicked on the tiny donut-shaped icon just below “Help”, and selected the VIDEO_TS folder on the DVD itself (on my computer the DVD drive is E:, but yours might be D:, F:, G: or just about any other letter). It then shows me the various titles on the DVD: simply select the longest one and that’ll be the movie. As you can see, Singin’ in the Rain‘s running time is exactly 1:42:43.
To make a nice icon for the file, I stepped the preview forward until it was a mnemonic frame, as you can see, rather than just a generic black screen which is how just about every movie starts. Again, I clicked Next to proceed, and:
Most DVDs have more than one audio track: make sure you select the one you want at this point (and some movies, like Hero have a default track that’s not English. In the case of Hero the default language is Chinese, in fact) and again click Next:
Just about ready to start up the program. The only step left is to specify the output filename: here you can see that I’ve specified “singing-rain-av700.avi” so I’ll remember the optimized format for this particular clip. You set this by again clicking on the little donut-shaped icon just to the right of the “filename to write” box.
At this point I also recommend you change the label to something friendly and mnemonic too. “DVD DATA”, for example, isn’t a very device-friendly name! You might also move the video quality slider to determine where you want to balance quality against file size. Needless to say, the higher the quality, the bigger the output file: at quality level 23 this 1:43 movie is over 1GB in size.
Everything looks good, so let’s Go!
This is the screen you’ll now see while the CloneDVD Mobile program is running. I’ve found that it takes just a bit over an hour on my Pentium WinXP box to convert a movie into the desired output format. That might be dramatically faster or slower than your own computer depending on DVD disk speed, RAM, CPU speed, and various other factors.
Once it’s done, you can pat yourself on the back. You’ve done by far the hardest part of this process. Now you have a nice (albeit big) file ready to copy onto your Archos device. That can be done quite simply, by plugging the device into your computer using a mini-USB cable, then turning it on. Within a few seconds it should show up as a removeable hard drive within Windows, and you should be able to browse its contents, finding this:
Almost there. Now you just need to drag and drop the new AVI file:
Finally, it’s done, it’s copied and boy, it looks great on the Archos device:
So it’s a bit of work, but with an elapsed time of less than 90 minutes per DVD, you can easily copy a half-dozen of your favorite movies onto the Archos before your next flight (and convince at least a dozen people on the plane that they need to buy one of these beauties before you land too!)
the easiest way I found was to load it onto your laptop. convert it to avi format then send it to your rv700 tv
hi Dave when i looked at the Archos 70 internet tablet demonstration they show the user downloading and being charged for a movie do you know of any services that provide this. i see they have a dvd attachment for 99.00 would this allow a movie download and allow me to save on Archos 70 and watch at a later time thanks Larry
Hi Dave, I just purchase the archos 5, and I’m not able to download anything i tried all the program which was mentioned above and nothing seems to work any other Ideas.
Steven, download the terrific program VLC and try using it to watch the content on your computer… http://www.videolan.org/
Hello,
I have a question and get find an answer, I was hoping you can help me out. I play my dvds on my t.v. and copy them onto my Archos 504 so I can watch them later. When I then try to copy the movies onto my computer (my Archos crashed twice) I copy it but can’t view the movie, I get a copy protected message. How can I view the movies on my computer? thanks a lot for all your help.
Steven
My Av700E charger port on the top that plugs into the Archos wiggles and is not a strong connection. How can I fix that or where can I go to fix it? Is it easy enough to take apart and sodder the piece in stronger or something. PLEASE HELP ME
Mark Burrell
402-320-6104
followed the above steps and it worked great,thanks for the useful step by step guide with pics,if someone like me,who can just about turn a pc on,can do it then anyone can 10/10
I did not see any reference to Handbrake (an open source solution) It uses VLC (another open source program) for its decryption, so you have to download that as well. Both run on Macs, Linux, and PCs.
VLC is not terribly user friendly, but fortunately you do not have do anything but download and install it. Handbrake automatically finds it an integrates. I found Handbrake to be as user friendly as any of the other programs I looked at for straight copying, but it also has many quite advanced features if you want to take the time to play with them.
I thank you for publishing these instructions. however, I recently bought an Archos 5. Will AnyDVD and CloneDVD mobile work with the newer version I purchased? I was using another program and find all the transfer do not sync video with audio. Very frustrating after all that work!!
thanks a million? but i use axara video converter
Hi dave spot on thanks a million . liamski .
Debra, I have very good results using the AnyDVD program itself. Movies convert into about 700MB AVI files that are then easily playable – and look quite good full screen – on my ASUS Netbook. Grab AnyDVD here:
http://www.slysoft.com/en/anydvd.html?aid=50283
Then download a copy of the great video player VLC onto your Netbook here:
http://www.videolan.org/
Hope that helps out!
Question: I just bought a netbook running Linux. Can I copy a DVD to my windows pc (windows XP OS), then to flashdrive, to view on the netbook? If so, what extension do I need to use for the DVD file (there seems to be millions of options) and what software do I need? Thanks!
What a great article. I’ve been looking for a way to transfer my ever growing collection of Spooks DVD’s to my iPod to enjoy on my commute into London each morning. This fits the bill perfectly and the bundle pricing from SlySoft makes this oh so affordable!
Thanks Dave,
Jason
i cant find the movie i coppied using clone dvd mobile eh!!! where oh where could it be eh!!!?? tks
try making each video by chapter not one film…. plus you can skip chapters
When I turn on the AV 700 the screen is messed up. I can hear the audio just dont have video. The screen has cracks in it and there are two black spots in the screen. What happened to my video and how hard would it be to get fixed?
If you need a converter for converting DVD’s by bypassing the copy-right protection use HandBrake and select the preset for the PSP you can average on a convert time of 45mins on a 1hr 45min movie which isnt bad. I have had a excellent time using it. It converts straight to MP4 and does not create any lag!!
I have a AV500 60 gig (UK) and when using the clone dvd mobile software it rips the borat movie ok except for one thing……the dialogue is slightly out of sync with the lips of the actors. any ideas for a remedy?
I have the 404 camcorder and I followed your instructions for the 707 and it still worked. Thanks so much!
Robert – If you have issues, the best places would be either the ArchoFans forum (http://forum.archosfans.com/), although it’s down due to being upgraded right now, or the SlySoft support forums, e.g. at cdfreaks.com.
Doubt Ron’s still reading, but for the record, the CloneDVD mobile setting of “Archos AV/PMA/Gmini” looks to be the one to use & as I understand it, true MPEG-4 files should work fine.
We have purchased an archos av700. If I purchase the two programs you’ve suggested and we have problems like the above cases, will you still help us? I am not good with computers.
Dave:
I just bought the ARCHOS 504 80gb. Any suggestions on which Slysoft any dvd mobile setting for the Archos products (The 504 is not listed)to use to copy my movies over with? Slysoft is great and I use it in conjunction with Any DVD. Never had any problems with coping to my iPod. Any reason why .mp4 files will not play on the ARCHOS? Do I need to buy a plug-in for the Archos to fix this? Right now I have to use .avi files.
I am having the same problems with the ends being cut off. I do my syncing through drag and drop, using all of the archos’s as a hard drive. THis is happening to alot of my players. It plays all the way through on the pc. it even plays all the way through from the archos on the pc. and nothing.
I believe the problem with file sizes > 1Gb is in the Archos drivers and their interaction with WMP (or a bug in WMP itself).
I just switched the player to Hard Drive mode, and copied an AVI to it without using WMP to do the transfer (copy/paste from hard drive to Archos), and the file plays through completely. When using WMP to do the transfer, the file stops playing after the equivalent of 1Gb. This happens with AVIs ripped from DVDs using CloneDVDmobile as well as .tivo files converted by WMP to .wmv – the resulting file is much smaller than the .tivo file (say, 250Mb instead of 2.1Gb), but only plays the equivalent of 1Gb of the original file (the first 33 minutes of a 1-hour show).
Hope this helps.
I have an AV700.
I’ve tried the DVD copy procedure above.
When I try to copy the avi file to the AV700 I get the error message that the file is incompatible with the AV700. It won’t copy.
Any suggestions ?
The Archos AV700 has a hard drive file size limitation of 2gb. This may be why your movies are getting cut off. i belive it uses a Fat system, but not sure. I know the unit will cut the DVR recording if you go over 2gb and make part 2. Hope this helps.
Hi
I have just bought an AV700TV, after being used to an AV700 100GB, I find the disc rather small on the 700 TV, any ideas on swapping the 40 GB drive for a 100GB one.
Yours faithfully
Alan
i am having troublegetting dvdnextcopy to find the path to my reader and it says anydvd is turned off however when i check my settings it is on.
I’ve found I have to copy dvd’s with “DVD for free” then copy the dvd’s through my dvd player on the audio/video cables with the Archos. They then will play on my TV. The video is comparable to a vcr on a 32″ LCD TV, I would like to find a program that will up the quality.
Dave, same probelm as people above. All movies getting cut short: 50 – 70 minutes (usually close to end) and like the person above said “The AV700 shows the correct movie length in the browser, yet once launched, the scroll bar only shows the 50-70 mins length.”
Help.
rr
Dave,
I’m having the same problem as the gentlemen above. We I use cloneDVD mobile to copy one of my movies to the Archos, I only get about 70 minutes of the movies. My PC shows it is all there. Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance.
Dear Sir:
Got me an AV700, and actually purchased AnyDVD and CloneDVDMobile, and (as hard to believe as it may to hear from a Russian:) all of the movies I am trying to rip are legit, Region 1,2, and 5 (PAL and NTSC). I encode at the maximum quality setting.
Unlike previous posts, I do get audio (albeit at too low a volume), but I only get to view 50 – 70 minutes (usually about half) of the movie, after which it simply ends. The DivX files plkay just fine on the PC. The AV700 shows the correct movie length in the browser, yet once launched, the scroll bar only shows the 50-70 mins length. What gives?
PS C’mon, getchaself a calculator, stop torturing people! 🙂
Hello Dave. I boought the Slysoft’s CloneDVD Mobile1 moblie clone package and when I copy and paste on the archos I get a “not supported by this device” message. Any Ideas?
rr
I’m having a similar problem as reported above – CloneDVD Mobile makes a great looking video copy, but no sound. Any tips appreciated…
Thanks for the great information regarding getting DVD’s ready for the AV700. I have tried the methods you have suggested but I am finding that I cannot get any audio with my films. I generally have three audio tracks to select from two are the same (English Dolby AC-3/6 and one AC-3/2). So far none have worked so can you suggest what the problem could be. How do I know which is the right audio track to select?
Regards