RCA Lyra RD2780 (20 GB) Digital Media Player
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- Number of Songs: 5000
- Usage: Music Video Photo Viewing
- Interface: USB
- Screen Size: 3.5 inch
- Main Storage Type: Hard Drive
- Expansion Slots: CompactFlash Card
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User ReviewRead All Reviews »
Does well what I bought it for
Pros
Very portable good value for money personal Digital Video Recorder/Player. UPDATE proves reliable
Cons
Disk glitch flashes, below DVD resolution, UPDATE Still waiting for PAL fixes
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
If you want portable video in transit or plug into hotel TV's at a good price, order now.
Update after 4 months. Machine is still performing well. I do not understand how people get it to crash. My only problem has been recording on battery and the power running down, then it locks up. So you stick a pin in the reset hole, real technical!
One thing is bugging me - the lack of software updates. There are still synch problems and flashes on recordings made in PAL and areas of functionality like picture controls which are not supported and there have been no software updates since April.
Customer Support is good at technical issues (eg until the next update to delete a folder you have to connect to PC and do via USB connection) but they have no information on when the software will be finished and the next release issued.
Still glad I bought it though and no faults after use issues.
I wanted a portable device to record video and audio off TV and watch on short haul flights, hotels and airports. I wanted something I could take to US and European destinations. So I read the reviews for this and the Archos and was met with reviews that varied from "my life has changed forever" to "this is the worst product ever from anyone". The issue is these devices can theoretically do so much, mp3 audio, mp4 video, portable hard drive etc. So I limit this review to what I bought it and use it for. I bought it from J and R in NY opened the pack spent 5 minutes reading the quick start, installed the software on my PC, went to the RCA website upgraded the files and was in business. Total time 20 minutes. Manual is quite astoundingly friendly. However if you cannot use a PC then find a friend or this is not for you. It plugs into the TV or TIVO / DVD Recorder and records with no adapter to lose. You decide the quality setting, whether you want a fixed time length for the recording (really useful if you want to record the Late show and fall asleep) and press go. Playback on the unit is switch on and press to play. easy. If you are in a hotel room you switch to external TV and plug it in round the back, select 0 or AV and check you are set to NTSC in US or PAL in Europe (If you are in France read a book). Quality is excellent on the small screen. When played back on a Hotel TV (27") it looks like a film transmission (not as contrasty as video is normally). If you are a distance from the screen (say on the bed) you don't notice but if you are close (at the desk, say) you will notice. You get a flash (looks like a disk glitch) every 20 mins or so. This is literally one frame and no worse than digital artifacts I have seen from other digital recording systems ( quite a few DVD's these days have odd glitches). Audio is not noticeably different from off air. You get 20 hours on High Quality, 40 on medium and 80 hours in fuzzy vision. The batteries last about 2 hours which gives me what I need for a short 2 - 3 hour flight. If you fast forward and rewind a lot you can induce sync drift where the picture and sound are out of synch by about 5 frames. If you record on battery power and you try to rename or save when it goes red it can fail to rename as it shuts down but I have not lost any recorded material. It does get hot but this does not seem to trouble it. Comes with case and screen guard and pop out stand which is really useful on plane (no balancing on the Salt and Pepper Shakers). One good feature is it will remember where you stopped so you can watch part of a show on the way out and resume there on the flight home. For European use you will need an RCA - Scart adapter. If you want to watch video on the go then I really recommend it. The buttons took me a week to figure out but now they fall to hand and the thing is solidly built. It has been shaken, re-re-x-rayed and stared at by TSA officials many times with no ill effects. If you are expecting to record HD TV quality and play back through your home theater looking for 720p resolution do not buy this. If you are looking to pirate DVD's do not buy this. What put me off the Archos is the lack of case and accessories, the lack of stand and need to carry a separate recording adapter ( I always lose adapters at TSA). You can buy an Archos with a much much larger capacity if it is important for you and you want to pay for it. I have my Panasonic DVD player for the long hauls, so 20 hours does me, even with weather delays. Tested the MP3 playback sounds OK but this is not important to me, that is what the iPod is for. Have not used as a hard-drive storage device.
One thing is bugging me - the lack of software updates. There are still synch problems and flashes on recordings made in PAL and areas of functionality like picture controls which are not supported and there have been no software updates since April.
Customer Support is good at technical issues (eg until the next update to delete a folder you have to connect to PC and do via USB connection) but they have no information on when the software will be finished and the next release issued.
Still glad I bought it though and no faults after use issues.
I wanted a portable device to record video and audio off TV and watch on short haul flights, hotels and airports. I wanted something I could take to US and European destinations. So I read the reviews for this and the Archos and was met with reviews that varied from "my life has changed forever" to "this is the worst product ever from anyone". The issue is these devices can theoretically do so much, mp3 audio, mp4 video, portable hard drive etc. So I limit this review to what I bought it and use it for. I bought it from J and R in NY opened the pack spent 5 minutes reading the quick start, installed the software on my PC, went to the RCA website upgraded the files and was in business. Total time 20 minutes. Manual is quite astoundingly friendly. However if you cannot use a PC then find a friend or this is not for you. It plugs into the TV or TIVO / DVD Recorder and records with no adapter to lose. You decide the quality setting, whether you want a fixed time length for the recording (really useful if you want to record the Late show and fall asleep) and press go. Playback on the unit is switch on and press to play. easy. If you are in a hotel room you switch to external TV and plug it in round the back, select 0 or AV and check you are set to NTSC in US or PAL in Europe (If you are in France read a book). Quality is excellent on the small screen. When played back on a Hotel TV (27") it looks like a film transmission (not as contrasty as video is normally). If you are a distance from the screen (say on the bed) you don't notice but if you are close (at the desk, say) you will notice. You get a flash (looks like a disk glitch) every 20 mins or so. This is literally one frame and no worse than digital artifacts I have seen from other digital recording systems ( quite a few DVD's these days have odd glitches). Audio is not noticeably different from off air. You get 20 hours on High Quality, 40 on medium and 80 hours in fuzzy vision. The batteries last about 2 hours which gives me what I need for a short 2 - 3 hour flight. If you fast forward and rewind a lot you can induce sync drift where the picture and sound are out of synch by about 5 frames. If you record on battery power and you try to rename or save when it goes red it can fail to rename as it shuts down but I have not lost any recorded material. It does get hot but this does not seem to trouble it. Comes with case and screen guard and pop out stand which is really useful on plane (no balancing on the Salt and Pepper Shakers). One good feature is it will remember where you stopped so you can watch part of a show on the way out and resume there on the flight home. For European use you will need an RCA - Scart adapter. If you want to watch video on the go then I really recommend it. The buttons took me a week to figure out but now they fall to hand and the thing is solidly built. It has been shaken, re-re-x-rayed and stared at by TSA officials many times with no ill effects. If you are expecting to record HD TV quality and play back through your home theater looking for 720p resolution do not buy this. If you are looking to pirate DVD's do not buy this. What put me off the Archos is the lack of case and accessories, the lack of stand and need to carry a separate recording adapter ( I always lose adapters at TSA). You can buy an Archos with a much much larger capacity if it is important for you and you want to pay for it. I have my Panasonic DVD player for the long hauls, so 20 hours does me, even with weather delays. Tested the MP3 playback sounds OK but this is not important to me, that is what the iPod is for. Have not used as a hard-drive storage device.
