As someone who spends a lot of time on planes and subways I have been looking for a way to easily take TV shows with me. I have a Dell Axim x51v PDA and a Creative Zen Vision:M and use both to play video files.
My holy grail was to be able to record a show and be able to play it on both players without having to spend time converting these files. I also own a Slingbox and, until I bought the OSD, used Applan's At Large Recorder to record the Slingbox stream into wmv files which I then copied onto an SD card and used on my Dell. Unfortunately the At Large Recorder ties up your computer, is prone to crashing and doesn't always record the right channel at the right time, so my search continued.
Neuros OSD
The OSD is small, very easy to set up. It comes with the necessary cords and remote control. All the inputs and outputs are well marked and intuitive. This was an easy set up. The process of setting the IR blaster codes was also easy. (This makes it possible for the OSD to change the channel to the show you want to record.) Instead of wading through lists to find your cable box model, you just put your cable box remote control at it, press each digit and the OSD "learns" the codes. It detected the 2GB card I inserted and the external hard drive I connected (make sure your drive has a FAT32 file system, not NTFS as that isn't supported yet) and the navigation is like windows explorer. Using a wireless bridge, I connected it to the internet so that it can update the firmware on its own. It was easy to set the clock (which uses 12 or 24h time) and have everything up and running in no time. Strangely, it comes with a stand that is easy to knock over so after a few falls, I put the stand back into the box and do without.
I've played a few Xvid movies that I have encoded using DVD Decrypter and AutoGK and they play with no problems. The picture quality and sounds were as good as DVD. The quality will depend on the bitrate and other specs and some experimenting is necessary to find what works.
How is recording? Well, it's about 90% of the way there. I recorded a few shows off the TV and then played them to see what the picture and sound quality were like. I used the TV setting with Superfine quality and then tried the the "Advanced" setting, set the resolution at 640x480, put the Video Bitrate at 2500 kbps and the frame rate at 30fps. Even on these settings you can see a degradation in picture quality. While it advertises that you can use this to back up your DVDs, keep in mind that the finished product isn't going to be DVD quality. The picture quality on a regular (SD) set is good, not great. And there is a difference in picture quality between saving your files to an SD card versus an external hard drive. Programs saved to the hard drive look much better than the SD card and there is a noticeable improvement using S-video over Composite. I have also read in a forum that there are problems with recording a show that last longer than 2 hours.
Scheduling recordings is a bit quirky. I have tried scheduling a daily recording of the news to save directly to my SD card so I can pull it out and throw it in my Dell on my way out the door. It stops recording after a couple days for no apparent reason, even when there's room on the card and it was just formatted. But when I save the recording to the hard drive, it works properly, indefinitely.
My Dell Axim can pretty much handle anything the OSD threw at it. It could handle the top bitrate/resolution with ease. (My coworker, who also owns the OSD, had to reduce the fps to 15 in order to make the shows play on his Smartphone, so again you may want to experiment.) While the picture was more crisp than my Slingbox/At Large Recorder set up, the picture had some colour blocks in the darker colour ranges (blacks, dark greys, dark browns) at all the settings, which is a minor annoyance. But it isn't a deal breaker for me. I don't need a perfect picture on my Dell to enjoy the show. And while there are preset settings for the iPod and PSP, there isn't anything for the Creative Zen Vision:M and I couldn't find a way to transfer the files without conversion. It would be great to record a show, put in on my Creative and then hook up the video output cables on another TV and watch it there.
Overall, I am happy with it. This is Linux based, open source software and Neuros offers money to developers to tweak, fix and add features. So as time goes on, I remain hopeful that the picture quality will continue to improve and some of the quirks fixed.
UPDATE (10/26/07): The have released new firmware that finally brings the video quality when recording close to the original picture. You'll still see some degradation on fast motion shots, so you'll notice it when you record hockey or football games, but on regular programming it was fine. I recorded a nature program using the highest settings and couldn't see any difference from the original.
There is also support for viewing You Tube Video (though vids on You Tube generally aren't high enough quality to look good on regular TV) and there is a feature you can view photos and listen to mp3 files, though I find the set up and navigation clunky.
When I tell my friends what I have, I am met with blank stares. I understand them. It is a revolutionary product whose sole function is to turn video from any source into MPEG-4
Now MPEG-4 is the format that a DVR such as TiVO uses to store all your reruns of The Daily Show. More importantly it is the very format that your iPod uses to play video. Even if you are enough of a techie to get those Jon Stewart pieces off of your TiVo and into your iPod, this is only a partial solution to a much bigger problem-how in the heck can you copy your favorite DVDs onto your iPod?
The Neuros OSD is the answer. Basically it takes video-cable TV, DVD, camcorder, and even old VHS tapes and converts them automatically to MPEG-4. Once converted you can load it onto your iPod, or play it on your computer, or just store it forever on an external hard drive.
This product is a video converter and not a storage facility. You are going to need something to store its output. My first solution was to purchase an inexpensive 500 GB external hard disk. This works fine but it is a little like using an elephant gun to bring down a field mouse. The OSD has memory card slots. since a two hour DVD turned into a MPEG-4 has a footprint of less than one GB, a 2 GB SD card should be more than sufficient for most purposes. But SD cards are coming down in price as well. I have tried using 8GB and 4GB cards without success. Stick to the 2GB until the firmware is revised to accept the larger cards.
Now your iPod can be your storage device but it is necessary to put and keep it in the manual sync mode, and for me anyway that defeats some of the great joys of iPod ownership. Once on a hard drive or memory card it requires only a simple import command to load it onto your iPod.
Some of my friends when seeing this opine that they will wait till the OSD produces copies in HD. I do not see that anytime soon. First if you are going to watch it on your iPod or on your laptop how would you know if it was recorded in HD or not? Secondly the foot print of an HD recording on an HD recorder is about 5 times larger than a standard MPEG-4. Finally the really good stuff, the 1080p DVDs are exclusively the province of Blu-ray and (for a while anyway) Toshiba's HD DVD system. These disks are extremely complex electronically and simple conversion technologies will probably not produce comparable copies.
There are a few negatives. The interface, accessed with a remote, is clunky. It is a dumb device so you will need to name every recording you make. Otherwise you will have a whole bunch of video named "OSD.mp4". You also have to set the record time. The default time is 30 minutes, although changing the defaults is relatively easy.
Firmware updates are frequent. One solution is to check monthly or so and download onto the CF card that comes with the unit. An even better solution is to hook the OSD onto a home network and set it for automatic updates. This will require an ethernet connection.
As a final note, this appears to produce legal copies for personal use. Although I am a lawyer, this should not be considered legal advice. Ultimately courts will decide and they may agree or disagree with me. But it is certainly possible to misuse the MPEG-4s you create and to violate copyright laws.
Buy Neuros OSD Media Center (6011000) Now
The Neuros OSD promises to free your media. Why?
We all know DRM is rife, and it's not fair. Yet manufacturers still encumber their products with annoying restrictions to prevent theft of copywritten material, rather than trust their consumers. TiVo messes up recording so you can't watch them on your computer. Apple TV won't even touch your DVD rips. What has made us consumers so bloody complacent?
My OSD sits proudly on my tv, it streams all my videos from both my USB HD and computer via network cable. Different file formats (non-DRM of course) don't faze it, it just plays it. That's what I use it for, 99% of the time. Nice & simple.
I can record any input to mpeg file, so I don't need a VCR no more. I can play & edit these files on my laptop, no restrictions. Yay!
There are problems, high bitrate (DVD stardard) files result in frame drops, which is disappointing. High definition is a no no, which doesn't bother me really, I'm not buying into this fad. The GUI is not pretty & remote feels slow. Subtitles aren't supported, but I've been told (the Neuros community is very open & talkative) it's coming with a firmware update. As is an EPG and wifi support.
The OSD promises a lot, I think it already delivers about 90% it plays & records well with no restrictions. The last 10% has to be seen, for work still has to be done.
Summary: With the OSD, you can enjoy your video from your couch. That's freedom.
Read Best Reviews of Neuros OSD Media Center (6011000) Here
Hi, I hope this review and story helps those users that are caught between a rock and hard spot in deciding on one of a couple options in MP4 video recording.
This review is for individuals like myself that are accustomed to using the combination of a DVD Recorder or VCR, PC to rip and transcode video; and any variation of these four options to enhance and enlighten our entertainment personally at home.
In second week of March 07' I ordered and received my long anticipated AppleTV. It came in a typical Apple box, pretty and polished and up-n-running within 15mins; including the time it took to upgrade the firmware.
I used the AppleTV for three days and watched a few movies that I had ripped and transcoded to AppleTV format on my hard drive. Transcoding took 45 mins each on over 20 titles I had the desire to watch.
I was delighted to have FINALLY been able to not hook my PC to the video in on my big screen, I could actually stream the video via my wireless G network at home... I know there were a few devices out there so far that were Windows based and had LOTS of Digital Rights Management issues that barred my ambitions.
I then found myself spending a few hundred dollars on a device that ONLY got me half way to where I wanted to be, to never have to buy DVD-R's, Rip, Transcode and or print labels on my printer, buy cases for my new additions to my home library of hundreds of movies and shows!
This did not make any sense for me, wasting a few hundred on a device that only allowed me not having to chain my laptop to the TV! So................... I Googled... and Googled.... and finally found a few hits (results)
Results on Yahoo, Google, Froogle, MSN, etc. brought me to a device called the 442 and was a portable device and was capable of recording media to a memory stick of many sorts... but was WAY too expensive and lacked real needs.
Then a ran across a site that was NeurosAudio, was the manufacture of a few devices with MP4 ability but were primarily targeted to mobile users. I looked a little further and seen the OSD... Read the specifications and it was just the perfect device I wanted and desperately needed for a very long time!
I ordered the OSE on March 29th on their site, I then had a few questions right after I hit "Order"... Called their customer service number and I had a technical support person on the phone immediately.. Was very nice and if he didn't have the answer he got it for me.
I was notified by UPS of the shipment and got it in my hands on April 2nd 07'. I opened up the box from Neuros, the packaging, quality of printing, polished black device and instructions that would rival that of Apple!
I had it out and hooked up within the same amount of time of my AppleTV, I instantly put in my Sony memory stick and played back my AVI, XVID, MP4 video's. I then hooked up my satellite box to the OSD and recorded my favorite movie, shows, etc. with the ability to adjust the resolution, bit rate, audio bit rate, etc.
I found that the original factory firmware was behind in capabilities and used Neuro's option in the OSD to upgrade over the network from their site. A few issues where resolved with that upgrade.
I then began to educate myself on their site, while it is not "organized" in a friendly easy to navigate way, I found all the material I needed to understand the state of the product and where could I address issues and request enhancements.
I found the support ability on their site in the manor of forums, I also found their 800 support to be friendly and helpful. Once I learned where and how their company handles issues and requests, I began entering my issues online and within a few weeks I seen over 12 releases of firmware which showed me that this is one company that has their act together!I have not looked back and regretted my decision to sell my AppleTV and am grateful for my Neuros OSD!! Please check that auction number or paste the link in your browser and see for yourself!!
Best of all, I no longer have my DVD Recorder, I no longer have to RIP and Transcode my choices of video and source of video... I can record 2.5hrs of video and finalize my recording in 5 Seconds over my home network!! and store for playback via my network of about any video that I download!!
I have simplified my life, no longer waste time!!
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If you are looking for a Small portable device to record to psp/ipod/smartphone or simply archive your shows.. THIS is it! Having great encoding options ranging from Basic (very blocky on playback though) all the way to very high recording (beautiful resolution, but at the cost of alot of memory) in your formats encoding..
Sure you have heard of some others that can record to the popular formats, but can your unit watch you tube videos? Edit Video clips of 15 minutes and under, Perfect for you tube! So long as you input the A/v jacks you can record it! From Tv, cable, Sat. even Dvds.. if you wanted!
View pics in the popular formats, listen to your mp3 tunes with you while on vacation, So long as you have the CF/sd /ms pro duo/ or even psp/ipod/usb storage.. you don't need the computer to encode.. it does it all on its on, and that means on the go! I recorded my shows from a hotel room, while on vacation this past Labor day weekend. Still I could have left at it home and used the fantastic scheduled recording options..(once, daily weekly)and not worried about it. Yet I needed it to watch the recorded shows for my kids this time out.
The firmware updates have been leaps and bounds! With you tube video watching, video editing and a user-guide for recording as on Satellite menus in the works to come out for this unit! It is a great time to get a unit if you were on the fence or shopping for something that can do what you want and more! HEck even if you own one and shelved it due to you waiting for it to get better, PULL it out, dust it off and get the latest firmware! I cannot praise enough on the unit's versatility! With more options/features and firmware ( free and from the community of professional enthusiasts !) upgrades on the way, it is my best purchase other than my pc to date!
As great as the unit is, the support from the company itself is Extra-ordinary! They reply to all questions and help you out in every concievable way! I know you may have heard this before, but this compnay literally stands behind it's products! From helping you setup, to firmware to hardware problems... they will be there for you! I was impressed with the help they offer and best of all you talk to people,you interact with people! So again if you were on the fence and can't make up your mind, try it! You wil lnot regret it!
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