Customer Reviews

Neuros MPEG-4 Recorder 2 Plus Digital Video Recorder

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The recorder works just fine, but I found the manual not as clear about some of the operations as I would have liked. It took me over an hour to figure out how to complete some of the operations, and I've been working with electronic products for over 30 years. That's why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5. I use this recorder with my home survellience system, as I have 2 cameras monitoring my home when I am gone. I have to use it in the 640 resolution because my monitor is a TV set, and in this highest resolution it will only record for 5 hours. But that's better than the 2 hours I was getting when recording to my DVD recorder.

Originally picked up a V-Mate from Sandisk, but the Neuros outperforms in terms of features and video quality.

I just bought this product and wanted to post a little review after my first initial recordings and a little time spent on the Neuros Technology forums. Here are some of the pros and cons I came up with about this recorder:

Pros: The movie I recorded using the Recorder 2 showed up immediately on my PSP. No extra conversion to deal with. I was also able to use it to put a movie on the my friends Zune although it took the Zune's software about three hours to complete that task. Of course, I was able to import the movie into my iTunes library and sync to my iPod which took about 3 minutes!

Cons: The on-screen display is circa 1997! Would be nice to see it updated. Also the recorder cannot be operated without the remote! No buttons on the neuros at all. Be aware that although you can record for as long as your memory card has space, it will create a new file after two hours. That's right, DVD movies over two hours long will result multiple files! I was able to splice the two together using video editing software but who wants to go through that! The last thing is that the quality is slightly under what I would have expected but I think it may be the quality of the RCA cables it came with. I think I will take a suggestion from a neuros forum member and buy Monster Gold camcorder cables and see what happens.

Overall, it works for what I bought it for which is to expand movie selections for the PSP. If it works with Zune (can't really be sure yet), great! It definately works with my iPod and Smartphone. I can't complain about that because so far so good there.

I give four stars for the cluncky interface which is difficult to navigate and may be impossible for a novice!

Works great!!!!!! Is so easy to use and install. Now I'm watching all my favorite programs on my spare time.No more hassle of converting files just put the sd card record and watch it on my PDA.

At last a product that works as advertised. I record my tivo'd shows to my memorystick, pop it into my Psp and take it with me wherever I go. I watch my favorite shows on the crosstrainer at the gym, on my lunch, or while waiting for an appointment. It even makes taking my wife shopping painless. I can record from Dvd, Tivo, cable, vcr, etc.. On the lowest quality recording I fit four hours of recording per gigabyte on my memorystick. The video quality when played back on my Psp is outstanding, even on lowest setting. My only warning is, do not lose the little remote that comes with the unit. There is no other way to operate the device.

This product generally did what I purchased it to do, mainly record video from several sources, DVR and digital video camera and allow me to play them on my ipod. The recorded quality was very good and I was able to view my videos on both my ipod and smartphone. My only complaint is with the build quality. Both the cable connections for the video and the power supply shorted in and out when wiggled even slightly. Had this not been a problem I would have rated it with 4 or 5 stars.

I find this unit not very reliable for recording - the flimsy 1/8" connectors for A/V on the back cause video to come and go and I have to jiggle it to get a picture for recording - them sometime in the middle of recording it'll move just enough and leave me with a blank video screen with audio. OR I'll get the video channels but one of the audio channels will be off - just the left channel is recorded.

Additionally on the highest level of Quality (TV mode) the video compression is still poor and very blocky - I was expecting much higher quality at this setting then I get.

If you're considering buying this I recommend considering instead a A/V capture card for your computer - which should not have the flimsy connectors to it to cause you grief.

I only gave this product a star because I couldn't go any lower. This machine is completely unreliable. When it works it works wonderful, but it has not worked more than it has worked for me. The main problem was the formating requirements to make the memory card compatible with the recorder. If your really computer savvy it may be worth buying. But it your not, like me, I would strongly recommend against it.

The Neuros MPEG-4 records video very well. I record alot of my favorite Family Guy clips off of my TIVO and then put them on my IMAC or my PSP. They look and sound great. My only gripes are that the interface is a little confusing and the remote control for the device is a little clumsy. These are really the only two things holding it back from getting 5 stars. It does get the job done and is well worth the money!

The good news is that if you want to make copies of video suitable for an iPod or other small screen device, you can do it as long as the video source has a single analog out for video and one or two outs for audio.

The bad news is that the manual is opaque and you have to be very geeky to understand how to set this thing up. The video interface is something out of PacMan circa 1978. This device is not for the non-technically inclined.

The other bad news is that even at the highest resolution, the video quality is marginally suitable for TV watching. It's OK for watching on a small device like an iPod, but even when you modestly blow up the image to something like 26", you can see just how splotchy the blacks are and how grainy the image is. It's like watching a mediocre VHS tape.

This device will not be particularly good for archiving old DVDs or even VHS tapes because of the image degradation. The company suggests a different device for archiving, their OSD. That device has an extra video in, S-Video, in so it might be a little better. But if you are using RCA jacks on that device, I'm guessing you'll have the same problem as you'll have with this device in terms of poor archival video.

The bottom line is that this device is a pretty good one trick pony if you're technically inclined. And that one trick is that it can record low quality mpeg4 video suitable for an iPod or PSP onto an SD card.