It has been nearly five years since the first portable media players hit the market. Coming into the new millennium, many companies turned their focus to begin developing Flash-based digital music players. Archos, however, was several steps ahead of this new market, and instead introduced in 2001 the world's first hard disk drive (HDD)-based portable video recorder.
The Archos Jukebox Multimedia 20, an early portable media player
In hindsight, it is clear that the enhanced features of the original portable video recorders were essential to the expansion of the digital audio market. However, back in 2002, when the digital audio market was still gaining mass-market acceptance on its own and consumers had only begun to learn what an “MP3” was, designing a device that was dependent on an HDD and focused on video/imaging was a risky undertaking, considering it was larger and more expensive than audio Flash-based devices. However, Flash modules could contain only a small sampling of a user's available music, and never more than a few image files or brief video clips, if they even had the processing power capabilities to decode them. At 10 GB, the HDD on the first Archos Jukebox could contain thousands of songs and images, as well as complete movies. Early adopters quickly embraced Archos' insight, leading Archos to release a 20 GB device with 3.8” screen and a module to record TV in real time within months.
As the MP3 revolution progressed in the years that followed and TiVo was introduced worldwide, consumers began to understand the true meaning of "any content, anytime" and realize the possibilities that a multifunctional, mass-storage device could enable in both the home and portable markets. Because of its early foresight into the direction the portable market would take and its months (if not years) lead over its competition, Archos, with its fifth-generation of players, continues to drive the portable media player market into new territories. The company's recipe for success – proven technology, integration, flexibility, advanced functionality and connectivity – has culminated in the AV700, a Mobile Digital Video Recorder with 100 GB HD capacity and gaming functionalities in addition to TiVo-like capabilities.
Flexible, Flexible, Flexible
Critical to the success of Archos' portable media players is its flexible underlying architecture. Even though performance is a key requirement, multimedia players need agility to adapt to shifting market demands. While the MP3 standard gave the portable audio market its initial technological boost, a variety of new codecs are emerging, improving playback quality while reducing bandwidth. As the bandwidth requirements for a given quality of video are decreasing, the processing horsepower required to decode this content is increasing. Software powerhouse Microsoft continues to be a major force in digital audio and multimedia with its Windows Media Audio (WMA) and Windows Media' Video (WMV) codecs, while other companies are focusing specifically on the Portable Media Player (PMP) video codec market. Developed in parallel to these codecs are other enhanced services, which promise to further expand and propel the PMP market, such as digital rights management (DRM) which enables secure online distribution of content under new and innovative business models.
To accommodate all of the different codecs and other technology enablers in the growing and changing multimedia content market, Archos required a programmable TV centric platform optimized for video, photos and music mobile applications that would not only provide high-quality recording and playback, but also offer sufficient headroom to implement enhanced product-differentiating functionality. Additionally, to help Archos reach the market first, the platform needed to be power efficient, maximizing playback time, and have the right mix of peripherals and memory to simplify overall design, keep device size down and lower system cost.
Finally, Archos wanted silicon that was field-proven and could form the foundation for a robust multimedia platform, leading the company to base its core design around Texas Instruments' Digital Media processor family.
By creating a hardware platform based on TI’s programmable architecture, Archos PVRs are compatible with most multimedia standards. Users are not limited to a single content format, but can natively use almost any digital codec available. TI helped match Archos with the proper codec provider through its third party partners. Transparent playback eases the user’s worries about file formats and first having to transcode the file from an unsupported codec to a player-compatible codec. By implementing codecs in software rather than relying on a hard-wired silicon engine, Archos devices have been able to stay current longer than comparable devices. For example, users of the first PMP were able to download software upgrades, enabling them to add new functionality to their player that did not exist when they bought the device.
“Archos is a visionary company that knows the mobile multimedia market and what its customers want,” said Henry Crohas, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) from Archos. “Today, the market is on the edge of a completely new era, far beyond simple audio playback. By selecting a flexible platform, we have been able to harness technology to bring our ideas to reality.”
The Archos Pocket Media Assistant PMA 400
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