I purchased this player almost a month ago and I could not have made a better choice. I work in a electronics store and had the option of buying virtually any player on the market but I like the fact that the screen is very large as a ratio of the player size and it's compact flash media, while not being as enermous as a 60Gb hard drive is very inexpensive and readily available. I purchased two 2Gb cards to supplement the included 512mb card that the X2400 comes with although I'll probably buy more since I'm finding more and more movies that I'd like to carry around with me.As a media player the x2400 has a large easy to read display and a thoughtfully designed menu system. MP3 files, JPEGS and AVI files are all accessed through the "library" file and can be paused, rewound or fast forwarded through. The voice recorder with built in mic and some of the other more fluff functions I have yet to use but the quality of audio and video is excellent either through the built in speaker or through my headphones.
It is video recording though that really shows the x2400 off to full advantage. The SUPPLIED AV cables can be attached to a TV, camcorder, digital camera or dvd player and record any amount of programing up to the limit of your media card in real time. Most of my Dvd collection is encrypted and so DVD ripping software like Nero just sits and spins but with the x2400 I can record the DVD's into MP4s and watch them on the go. I did pay for them after all and I am glad to get the chance to actually veiw them somewhere other than my living room.
Pros: Light weight but sturdy construction, big, bright screen, good quality audio and video, awesome recording capabilities and cheap readily available media.
Cons: Batteries are replaceable but not yet available for purchase from RCA, screen and case are highly attractive to fingerprints and smudges, battery life is great on audio but video will take a battery from full to dead in 6 hours. Battery is supposed to charge from USB but mine does not
All in all this little guy is a fantastic sleeper product, seemingly overlooked in favor of higher capacity hard drive based players and the cheaper non-expandible flash units. This product is brand new as of the time that I write this review so only time will tell wether it will catch on and get the notice that it deserves.
It's a little annoying to have to convert any pre-existing video clips and photos you may own into a format that the player can work with. It's also a little annoying that the software refused to start because it thinks my version of Windows Media Player is older than the required 9.0. In actuality, I am using version 11, but I don't know how to get the software to recognize that, and the help files as well as the Blaze Video web site have been written by someone who is undoubtedly more fluent in their native language than in English. Installing and running the Blaze Video Magic software on another XP machine went fine, as did installing it and running it on a Windows ME laptop. I expected the software to give me that same message about Windows Media Player not being new enough, since the laptop only had version 7.0, but interestingly enough, the software started up without a problem and performed all of the conversions smoothly.
The Windows ME laptop is a Pentium III with 128MB of RAM, so the video conversions would likely take much less time on a more powerful machine. The amount of time needed for a conversion to an avi file (XVID codec, 25 frames per second) is to some extent determined by the type of video file being converted. The software took a 53-minute mpg video file stored on a USB hard drive and converted it to the necessary format in about 85 minutes; the converted file was stored on a second USB hard drive connected to the laptop, so the laptop's own hard drive was never involved. Converting video files of other types to the particular avi format required by the X2400 sometimes took less time per megabyte, sometimes more.
Blaze Video Magic converted an avi file created with another codec into the X2400-required format quickly and flawlessly. It has also converted Quicktime video (.mov) files, Real Media (.rm), Windows Media (.wmv) files, mpg files and mp4 files, all with no difficulties and with excellent results when viewed on the unit's 3.5" LCD screen. Usually, the resulting avi file was smaller than the original video. The software is supposed to be able to convert vob files from a dvd, but I haven't tried this yet. I tried converting an asf video file and ran into problems; the resulting avi file it created couldn't be read by the X2400 or by Windows Media Player. I haven't tried any other asf files, so I don't know if it's a persistent problem.
My television has video-out and audio-out RCA jacks in the back, so using the supplied cable made it simple to hook up my X2400. The good thing about connecting to the X2400 this way is that my tv doesn't have Macrovision protection, so dvds or other copyrighted video sources can be digitized to the X2400 very easily. The bad thing about this particular setup is that whatever shows up on the tv screen (such as an on-screen time display or the main menu of a dvd) will be included in the recording. Furthermore, adjusting the color contrast or the brightness or any other setting on the television affects the video being recorded onto the X2400. When setting up a timed recording on the X2400, remember that there is no way to choose a particular channel. You can tell it when to turn on, and how long to record, but it assumes you intend to record the current channel. If you want to record ESPN Sportscenter, but you are watching Jay Leno when the X2400 starts recording, it will record Jay Leno. In that situation, it would be necessary to tune to ESPN and then use some other tv in the house to watch Jay Leno. Shows don't have to be recorded by way of the timer; there is an "instant-on" button to start the recording immediately.
A recorded video can be made in two different sizes 320 x 240, or 640 x 480. Either of the two sizes can be recorded in good, better or best resolution, which is roughly equivalent to recording in SLP, EP or SP on a VCR. A 640 x 480 video recorded at the highest resolution requires around 12 MB per minute, whereas a 320 x 240 video recorded at the lowest resolution uses up only about 4 MB per minute. All of the recording is done on Compact Flash memory cards; the X2400 doesn't have any internal storage to supplement the Compact Flash storage. A 1-gigabyte Compact Flash card used to record a video at the lowest resolution would give you a little over four hours of recording, which might exceed the battery life on the X2400 if the battery is not fully charged and if you don't have the included AC adapter hooked up. Playing mp3's and viewing photos drains the battery much less quickly than playing or recording video, in my experience.
Included in the box is a pair of earbuds, but any headphones with a 1/8" plug will work fine. Similar to most portable dvd players, the built-in speaker on the X2400 will give you a tolerable sound quality, but plug in headphones if you want to have excellent sound quality. Also in the box is a USB cable for transferring files back and forth from your computer, but the cable isn't proprietary, so any USB cable with a mini-B plug will work. It also has the aforementioned video cable with yellow, white and red RCA plugs, an AC adapter which fully charges the X2400 in about 3 hours, a mini-cd with the registered version of Blaze Video Magic 2.0 (the required registration number is printed on the cd), another mini-cd with the instruction manual in pdf format and with drivers for a Windows 98 machine, a 512MB Compact Flash card containing a large (318 MB in size, 22 minutes in length) sample avi file, and a lanyard. The product description provided by Amazon indicates that a screen cleaner cloth and some sort of adjustable stand would also be provided, but neither of those were in the nicely-packaged box I received. The video cable with the yellow, white and red RCA plugs can be used for recording, as mentioned previously, or for playback; connect the white and red RCA plugs to an amplifier, for example, to listen to mp3's on your home stereo, or connect to the audio-in and video-in RCA jacks of your television in much the same way you would connect a VCR.
I can't give the X2400 the full five stars primarily because of the necessity to convert pre-existing video files into the particular format required by the unit. In addition, I have learned that the avi files created by the conversion software can't be viewed by software which can normally view avi files. Windows Media Player, for example, can play the original video files just fine, but the converted avi files created by Blaze Video Magic look out of whack and are basically unwatchable on Media Player. So, if for example you have an mpg file that you want to watch on the X2400, the conversion software will make it happen, but don't delete the original mpg file or else you won't be able to watch the video using anything other than the X2400.
Buy RCA Lyra X2400 Compact Flash Video Recorder with 3.5" Color Screen Now
This is a pretty cool little multimedia player. Basically I think of it as an IPOD that does video much better. This unit will record from your TV or DVD player. Very compact size but good size screen.I do wish it would play more formats. Basically it plays MP3's, and MPEG video files. It does come with converter software so you can convert your own video files. Also their tech support and user manual are very poor. It is hard to find some specific info (like what it the biggest card that I can use?). The phone support did tell me that the largest card can only be 1GB. So that kina sucks. It would be nice if it would take bigger cards (I don't want to have to lug around a handful of cards).
You can also use it as a photo viewer.. which is nice. But I can't get it to zoom into the pictures. There also doesn't appear to be a brightness or contrast adjustment.
Overall it's a nice player but there are a few things that are missing that would make it a great buy.
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UPDATE after about 7 months of using the lyra, it stopped working. I took very good care of it and one day it would not turn on. Luckily I got a warranty on it and was able to get my money back. It was great until it died.
Read Best Reviews of RCA Lyra X2400 Compact Flash Video Recorder with 3.5" Color Screen Here
When my husband bought this for me for Christmas it wasn't exactly what I wanted but it was really cool that you could do so much with it. I just wanted a MP3 player for when I worked out but he thought that it was really neat that you could do all the other stuff with it. It is really neat but I am a medical school student that doesn't have time to download TV shows and watch them that's why I have Dish Network DVD recorder for 5 years down the road when I can actually watch TV :)Anyways I started having problems with it the middle of April where it would start cutting off. At first I thought it was the battery, but now the screen does this weird line/fuzzy thing and it makes a weird loud humming noise. I have to take the battery completely out to get it to shut off and then it may or may not start back. Usually I just get frustrated with it after it does that a couple of times and give up.
I have never dropped it. It has been well taken care of. The only thing I really use it for is music. I think that the reason it hasn't stood the test of time is that I didn't use it as a DeskTop MP3 player. Any moving around or jarring motion (like with walking) will definintly pay its tole on this device.
Hope this helps someone decide.
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I have only been able to record a video on this device one time, from a DVD player. It never worked with my helmet cam, which is the reason I bought it, and now refuses to record with any video source. AV Record mode only shows "no signal", regardless of input. The support section of the RCA website has been removed from the server. The included software (Blaze Video Manager} told me my free trial period was expired the first time I used it. Also, putting the software on mini CD was a poor choice for those of us with slot load drives, since other media is needed to load on our machines. The device works fine for the USB transfers and I am using a 4GB card to store my JPGs and AVIs. I really like the controls and the menus. I found that it actually worked better with my Mac, since all the necessary file conversions are easily done with Imovie and Iphoto and can be imported and exported easily without the Blaze video manager needed with the PC. The other complaint is the infrequent lock ups or crashes. Removing the battery is the only way I found to recover from this problem. I feel that since tech support is presently nonexistent, I need to buy something else for recording and just use the LYRA for a player. It does a good job of this and unlike the comment from other reviewers, it has a much bigger display than my Ipod. I will have to pay more but I should have been more careful about my selection. I was only interested in a recorder that was light & small and would survive offroad motorcycle use.(no hard drive) Now I have a player.
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