I'm writing this review to help out folks who are looking for useful information on the Dish Network Pocket Dish AV500e. I did an extreme amount of research on this item and found that I could find information on the Archos AV500e but very little on the Dish Network version. I finally ordered my PocketDish and have been playing with it for about a week now and here is my review on the unit.

Size and Hardware: Well this is one thing I was worried about as not being able to actually hold one prior to purchasing. I have found the best way to describe the size is to make 3X5 photo and print it out, add an inch to the thickness and that is precisely the size of the AV500e. To be honest the unit is a little bigger then I imagined but screen size by far makes up for the larger size. Although it is bigger than I imagined, portability is not an issue just not the nice small package as an IPOD. The unit comes with many accessories so there is no need to purchase any other items. One fault I have found is on the carrying case. The button on the strap has a tendency to swing around and hit the screen. Despite my carefulness this has happened a few times but luckily no scratches have resulted, speaking volumes for the screens durability. The interface on the buttons does take some getting used to but nothing that I can warrant to discourage you to purchase this unit.

Software: The software for the most part is pretty basic and if you familiar with Windows Explorer then you should have no problem maneuvering around your Pocket Dish. As far as inputting media, it basically can be done two ways. First you can sync with Windows Media Player but I have found it just as easy to cut and paste your music files to the music folder and you video files to the video folder. The nice thing is that you can create folders within folders just as you can in windows. One downfall is that when you create a play list in Windows Media Player that play list does not sync to your Pocket Dish and creating play list on the Pocket Dish is not the most user friendly process. As for transferring Video's from you DVR it's as simple as plugging in your device into your DVR and following the prompts. One thing to be warned about is to check the compatibility of your DVR. Some DVR's do not support USB 2 and that will result in a long transfer time. My DVR does support USB 2 so it takes about five minutes per hour of video, but even if you do transfer at the slower speed, you can still watch television while the DVR updates to the PocketDish in the background, I don't think this would be a deal killer.

Music Playback: I have found this to be slightly superior to my niece's IPOD mostly because of the larger screen and the ease of maneuvering around within the music folders. I am a PC kinda person so the Windows format suites my liking more so then the IPOD but again this is just personal preference. The quality is as good as the mp3 you input. (I.e. 128 kbps sounds better then 64kbps) The provided cable allows you to connect the Pocket Dish to you home stereo thus providing a very pleasant sounding system. The audio allows for the basic bass, treble and balance adjustments. There is also a bass boost that does have an effect on the music. As mentioned above, if you're a play list kinda person, I have found the setting up of a play list to be quite cumbersome and if it was important to you, I'm sure with some time the process would become second nature. This is not a big issue for me because I usually just put on Shuffle and let the music play. All and all this unit performs just as well as an MP3 player as does the IPOD, if not better.

Video Playback: This is where this unit has the potential to make the IPOD obsolete if Archos and Dish Network would just do some marketing. As mentioned above the transfer of Dish Network DVR programs are a cinch and the quality is as good as watching it directly from your DVR. One thing is that files transferred over from the DVR are in a proprietary protocol and thus you cannot click and drag them to your computer and watch them on your computer. This is completely understandable as they don't want to contribute to the already corrupt world of illegal media sharing. This process uses about a GB per hour of your hard drive space but again the quality is outstanding. They unit also comes with MPEG4 converter that is very easily installed on your computer but you will need to be familiar with Windows to copy and paste the folders over to your computer then simply install the applications. This is a bit tricky but most Window users should be able to handle it. The MPEG4 converter is very simply to use once you get it installed and does work very well. One thing to remember that it only converts; it does not improve, so if you convert a poor file you will get poor results, don't blame the Pocket Dish if the quality is not there. I have a video capture c... (Read more)

by bthornbrugh (See profile) - December 31, 2006 7:46 AM PST

My wife bought me a PocketDish for Christmas and I spent the next two days trying to figure out how to use it. All of the "Free" software that comes with it are trial versions, and it winds up costing more to be able to use it. It isn't bad, but it could be more user-friendly.

by redman_7 (See profile) - December 29, 2006 4:08 AM PST

Dish Network fails to mention that the PocketDish is on 100% compatible with only one of their receivers. The receiver sells for an additional $799.00.

by michael413 (See profile) - December 16, 2005 12:56 PM PST

I see that the PocketDish AV500E (made by Archos.com) will only work with DishNetwork receiver and not other Satellite or Cable Company recievers, otherwise this would be a good product if I needed to switch to another satellite or cable company.

Archos.com cannot provide exact answers on this issue about their own version (AV500 Mobile DVR) being compatible with any cable or satellite receiver in case customers need to switch carriers! Archos/PocketDish support if very incompetent when trying to provide exact answer on this important issue!

by ezedp (See profile) - October 24, 2005 4:30 PM PDT