Back in September I read a magazine article on the Archos AV320 with utter amazement. I have been using MP3 players since they came out. I was one of the first to have the original Rio PMP300. Then I bought the first portable CD player that had MP3 playback, ProVideo MP2000, then I picked up the Rio Volt SP100 so I could view the ID3 tags. Finally, the IPOD 20GB, (older model), changed my life. This thing was with me every time I left the house.

But now I was reading that a device could do everything my IPOD could AND record and play video. My hopes were stifled by the $650+ price tag. There had to be a more affordable PVP (Personal Video Player) available... right?

There she was... proudly displayed at amazon.com for only $399... the RCA RD2780. This thing was described on amazon's page as being able to do everything the AV300 could do and more... It could playback the hundreds of Mpeg-1 files I had stored on VCD. I just had to wait until it was released on October 1st. I place my order and waited, and I waited, and wow they discounted the price to $350 for me and I waited some more, and then some more... Are you getting the idea?

Well, it was finally released at Circuit City stores for $399. I promptly picked one up and canceled my amazon order. Once I got this thing home, I discovered that somehow I had been swindled into becoming a RCA beta tester for the low price of $420 after tax. I had nightmares of that stinking "Feature will be available in future upgrades" message box. I would say approximately half of the features touted on amazon's description webpage have not been implemented into the RD2780's operating system.

There were other problems as well.. The screen pixelated horribly during the dark scenes of the movie. This absolutely drove me crazy. The RD2780 did one thing very well, however... It drove the price of the AV320 down to $450. Compuplus.com also have a 3 year warranty extension available for under $29. I also ordered an 80GB Hitachi 9.5mm laptop hard drive to feed my new PVP. I figured that I would hold a showdown to figure out which device was worthy of my pristine 80GB drive.