Neuros MPEG-4 Recorder 2 Digital Video Recorder

Other products by NEUROS

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.2 x 2.8 inches ; 2.4 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000COYZR8
• Item model number: 4030200
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #26,009 in Electronics (See Bestsellers in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: December 1, 2005

Product Description

Amazon.com Review
Video is no longer limited to TV screens, but has made its way onto a myriad of handheld devices. Using everything from an iPod to a Sony PSP, from a smartphone to a PDA, people of the 21st century are going mobile with their video. If you're already a part of this mobile revolution, the Neuros MPEG-4 Video Recorder 2 could be the one device you need to simplify and control the process of getting the video you want onto your handheld. If your fear of complex technology has kept you away from the video on the small screen, take heart, the Neuros has you covered.

Download the Neuros demo video (Quicktime or Windows Media).

View a comparison of the Neuros MPEG-4 Recorder 2 to other solutions.

Watch your video on a broad range of video-capable devices.

What It Does
As the name suggests, the Neuros Recorder 2 replaces the original Neuros Recorder. Improvements include better video quality, easier to use menus, and a slot for Sony Memory Stick Pro. The job of this device is simply to help you record and move video content from your TV, DVR, or DVD player onto your handheld. Acting like a small digital VCR, it can record all of your favorite TV shows and encode them into the format of your choice in real time. It does the same thing with DVDs, storing the recordings on whatever memory card you have in place. All you have to do is pop the memory card into your PDA, Sony PSP, or smartphone and enjoy your show or movie on the go. It works beautifully with iPods also, requiring only that you load the video into iTunes on your computer, sync, and go.

Design
With its shiny silver and black finish, and small and sleek design (4.6 inches x 3.42 x .71 inches; 4.9 oz.) the Neuros will blend in with any entertainment system. The front holds the memory card slots, along with power and recording indicator lights. A/V connections are made from the back. Note that the Neuros has no harddrive, but relies on whatever memory cards you want to use for recording, which you must supply yourself.

Setup and Operation
Getting the Neuros up and running requires almost no learning curve. All you need to do is connect one of the included A/V cables to your Cable Box, DVR, or DVD player and the other to your TV. The Neuros then uses your TV screen for all menu controls. With its credit card-sized remote it's a cinch to move through the menus needed to set up the device. Within ten minutes we were capturing TV programs in iPod format. And here the user-friendliness of the Neuros really shines. All you have to do is scroll through a list of choices based on what handheld device you want to use for viewing--smartphone, iPod, or PSP, for example--and the Neuros encodes it properly for you. You don't have worry your little head about things like framerates, bitrates, or codec types, which leaves you more time at the gym to watch the latest episode of "Lost" while you get fit on the treadmill. It even includes programmable and timed recording, so that you don't have to be there when the device is doing its stuff.

Video Quality
Although you can use the Neuros to watch captured video on a TV or desktop computer, it is not designed for this purpose and will appear grainy and pixilated on a large screen. On a small screen, however, video looks great. And the range of choices for encoding video it provides is ideal. Note also that the Neuros cannot handle High Definition video, and because high quality, big screen viewable video is not in its job description, it uses a normal A/V cable only. Forget about S-video, component, or better connections.

Do It Yourself and Save
If you buy media for your PSP on expensive UMD disks, or download video from the iTunes store, this device can save you money. You're already paying for cable TV and DVD rentals, so why spend more money every time you want to watch on the go? If quick and easy handheld analog video is what you are after, this little device may just fit the bill.

Pros

• Easy to setup and operate.
• Wide range of pre-set formats make encoding a snap.
• Can be programmed to record while you're away.

Cons

• No hard drive. Must supply your own memory cards for recording.
• Compressed video suitable for small screen viewing only.

What's in the Box
Neuros MPEG-4 Recorder 2, standard A/V RCA interface cables, 110-240V AC/DC power supply, remote control, user manual driver, and bundle software pack.

Product Description
The Neuros MPEG-4 Recorder is a digital VCR for the portable video age. If you own a Video iPod or Sony PSP, the Recorder 2 is a must-have. Instead of buying proprietary UMD discs at 20 each or downloading TV shows for a fee from a limited catalog, you can now create open digital video files from all the content you already own. You can watch content whenever and wherever you want on your Video iPod or Sony PSP. The MPEG-4 Recorder is like an easy-to-use, free-standing VCR that records onto digital memory cards instead of VHS tapes so that the video is playable directly on the PSP , other handheld devices or ready for easy transfer to the new Video iPod.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WOW!, July 18, 2006

By	L. Martzinek "LUIGI" (NY, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I've been converting videos for my ipod since November, and just started converting for my PSP a month ago. I've converted hundreds of hours worth of video and used at least 3 different programs for each device. Nothing has given me anywhere near the video quality that this does.

I've bought TV shows on Itunes and watched them on my 27" TV and been amazed at how good the image quality was, but I've never been able to do as well with videos I've converted myself - until now. At the highest quality setting the recordings look just as good as anything I've bought on Itunes, and with 60GB of memory on my ipod file size isn't an issue. (I recorded before and after I installed a very recent firmware upgrade - if you buy this, go to Neuros' site and get the upgrade, it makes a difference)

Converting for PSP is easier than with any program I've used. You record directly onto the memory stick, and then just pop it into the PSP and there it is on the video menu. You only have to deal with the PSP's #&%$@# file naming requirements if you want to move the files off the stick to archive them.

The other big advantage this has over everything else I've used is that this is a one step process - you record it and you can watch it on your device immediately. Everything else I've used was 2 step: you recorded or ripped in real time, then you converted, in real time or longer. This is half the work.

There are only 2 real downsides: You have to hook up the video out to a tv because it has no display of it's own, and it has no memory you can record onto - you need a memory stick or cf card. A potential third issue is the remote - you need it to do everything, even turn it on, so you really, really don't want to lose it.

Overall, this thing is amazing. I wish I had bought it when I got my ipod. I could have saved over $100 that I spent on converting software, and a lot of time.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It does what it says it does, and it does it well., July 24, 2006

By	Andrew Gray - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The Recorder 2 makes it trivially easy to get movies and TV shows onto my PSP. You pretty much just press the record button and it does the rest. Recommended!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars smith3675, September 13, 2006

By	M. Smith (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The product does everything it claims. However, they could have spent a few more hours and bucks working on the instruction manual, adding another LED to actually let you know the product is active when you hit the on button (because of the slight lag time between functions), not to mention adding a key pad to the top of the device. It took way to long to figure out how to set up this simple device, a couple of extra hints in the instruction manual would be of help, like: video output is on video one, etc. All in all the device is great once you've figure it out. The only items which keeps me from rating this device as the next best thing to sliced bread is the instruction manual and the lack of a attached keypad to the top of the device.