- 20 GB hard drive and digital multimedia player
- Plays MP3 formatted audio and is MP3pro ready
- Stores any file type, including word processing documents, presentations, spreadsheets, and more
- Comes with MusicMatch personal music management software
- Uses USB interface to connect to you computer
The one thing that kept nagging me was how the 40GB mp3 jukebox was $299 and the Lyra AV was $399, so why not spend the $100 more and get the video player/recorder?
At first I loved the RCA AV device and spent the entire weekend playing with the features that were available. It was good improvement over just a pure mp3 jukebox, however after a few days the drawbacks and limitations became clear.
These are some big problems:
1. The video you capture is in ASF format and not avi, which makes editing in a common video editor a far tougher task.
2. The picture play back is only for .jpg files and not all jpg compression files worked.
3. Battery life with video only or mp3 only was very close to the same, which is alarming. The battery indicator also would go from full charge to 1/2 to 3/4 and never showed the correct charge. In one mixed function test the system ran for almost 3.5 hours. After another full 6+ hour charge it ran for about 2.5 hours in the same conditions.
4. The latest January 15 firmware adds a few features and fixes some problems, however a large amount of functionality is still missing.
5. RCA restricts users from backing up copyrighted works. People have figured out a work around, however there are several things that could be done to tighten copying, which severely restricts the usefullness of the device.
6. The system OS also runs slow. Checking the Lyra status screen took more than 2 minutes for some reason. At random times switching songs, stopping playback, or performing simple functions gives you 10-30 seconds of lag and it almost appears as if the system locked up.
The best things about the RCA AV jukebox include the nice TFT screen, the sleek form factor, the lower price, how so many accessories are included in the box, and how it forced Archos to lower the prices on their competing products.
If the RCA came out with complete functionality, recorded in avi format, and offered the same functionality as the Archos players it would have been a serious hit.
As it stands the RCA player is functional, has some good points, but it fails in a side by side comparision with the Archos. The promise was there, but the delivery was not.
Perhaps with jukebox 2 from RCA or after 6 more months of firmware updates the Lyra will be better competition, however there is a good chance future devices will be even further restricted as time goes on because media companies will just blame them as tools for abuse, ignoring the fact that any PC or Mac out there is a far better tool for any person wishing to pirate media.
I initially gave the Lyra a 5, but now feel it deserves a 2.5-3 for what it currently delivers. I am moving to a Archos AV340 because after my experience with the Lyra and after further research it appears the additional money is well worth it when it comes to these types of devices.
Buy RCA RD2780 20GB Lyra Personal Digital Multi-Media Player Now
I gave the RCA lyra AV 4 stars only because it is a bold new product that has few competitors and deserves praise for being a high level of versitility out of a 1st generation product. That said, if there were many PVPs out there on the market, then I would not recommend buying this particualr one because it has many quirks.Cons:
1) Battery life is pretty short. But this isn't such a big deal to me. It comes with an AC and car adapter so the only place you have to wrroy about this is outside.
2) When recording video, it is slightly out of sync. I recorded the Matrix Reloaded onto it yesterday and the lips were slightly out of sync. Just enough to be bothersome, but still watchable.
3) Many JPEGS show up as "format unreadable." For no reason whatsoever the RCA lyra chooses not to read some JPGs while allowing others to be read.
4) Limited readablity of video formats. Simply put, if you dont have a program with AVI MPEG layer 4 codecs, dont get this. It is annoying that it doesn't read a wider range of formats.
5) The included software is NOT Apple MAc compatible. I am an Apple user, and while the RCA lyra AV showed up on my desktop as a disk drive PERFECTLY without installing drivers, the included Musicmatch and firmware transfer sowftware is for PC ONLY. When you recieve your Lyra, you will absolutley NEED to update the system's firmware. YOU MUST have acess to a PC-compatible computer in order to do this. NOT A MAC! But otherwise, transfering movies, pics, and mp3s to the lyra on a mac is a simple drop and drag procedure.
6) You CAN NOT read Text, Excell, Word, PDF, or any other files on this machine. This is slightly decieving, because the description DOES make it seem like this is possible, by saying "view files such as word and excell documents." What this means is that you can LOOK at the file NAME and see that it is there, but cant look at the FILE itself!
7) Not to be petty, but the machine looks GREAT, except for these odd orange stripes ugglifying the back panel. Poor choice of color.
8) Cheap buttons. It has these little plastic joysticks that feel loose. One of mine is not even centered. This machine, for this price, should have touch sensative buttons like the apple iPod. This is only a minor drawback though.
Pros:
1) AMAZING sharp screen. A pleasure to watch video on. I mean, I never thought I could sit there and watch a movie on a little screen like that, but this screen is so crystal sharp that I was blown away.
2) Even though lips are out of sync, the sound and video quality of video recorded directly onto the lyra is SUPERB! I mean, it is just freaking incredible. The sound will blow you away. Again, a pleasure.
3) The look of this machine is great. Except for the buttons, it feels solid. Nice silverish color and black screen. The operating system is flashy and full of colorful graphics and sybols. It looks pretty.
4) Although I dont LIKE the case it comes with, the fact that it comes with a leather case at all is a plus. Any case will extend the life of a product.
5) Lots of great features. Allows you to set the recording time so you can start the recording at the begining of a 1 hour TV show, and it will automatically stop at after 1 hour. This is great so that you dont have to attend to the machine.
Overall, I think this is an AMAZING first generation product with about as many quarks as a typical first generation product has. It deserves 4 stars because I believe that it delivers everything it promises. Dont believe anyones review that says "THIS IS AMAZING!! BEST PRODUCT EVER!!" or "THIS THING IS TRASH!! GARBAGE!!!" They are extremes and dont accuratly represent the RCA Lyra AV. The truth lies in the middle.
My verdict: If you ABSOLUTELY MUST have a PVP, and cant wait a few more months untill the consumer market grows with many more PVPs, then get the RCA LYRA. I promise you wont be dissapointed. But if you are weary about getting a PVP, and are (...) and want a perfected top notch machine, wait it out. Hopefully Apple will come out with one and will blow away all of the competition!
But for now, I say the RCA Lyra AV is just plain fun to use!
-propynyl
Read Best Reviews of RCA RD2780 20GB Lyra Personal Digital Multi-Media Player Here
This item is excellent.... i give it 5 stars i have had a long time to review this so i would know...all the problems that people have can be fixed with updates,warrantys, or by this review...(lol)Mp3 sounds wonderful..the movies are good...butthis item has its glitches.. as long as you update right when you get it and before you put anything on it or do anything with it, it will be fine..... a little slow cf transfer and it is picky with the different types of movie files are allowed on it....
here are some helpful tips
HOW TO RECORD A COPYRIGHTED DVD ONTO THE LYRA:
step 1: pick your dvd and plug the cables into the dvd player...
step 2: start recording your dvd and after 6 seconds stop the movie (where you are allowed to resume it) or unplug the connection cables attached from the RCA to the dvd player... the LYRA takes about 9 seconds to determine a copyrighted dvd so after about 7 more second replug the cable back into the dvd player and there you go...BUT NEVER STOP RECORDING ON THE LYRA WHEN YOU UNPLUG THE CABLES...it wont work...
HOW AND WHERE TO REPLACE THE BATTERY ON THE LYRA:
This website i am about to give you sells the battery for the lyra and gives instructions on how to replace...there are screws on the lyra that you need a certain screw driver for (included with the purchase of a replacement battery)..FOR those who said it couldnt be done..you were wrong....(...)
NEW SOFTWARE UPDATE INFORMATION:
Reliable sources from RCA tell me that hopefully soon to be released updates will allow more movie transfers and new features that arent available already.. also they are hoping to come out with a digital camera attachment for the lyra...(release date unknown) the camera is a rumor but RCA said themselves they are going to work with the rumor... Many new things might be available in the next year
-possible longer battery life
-more hard drive space
-more advanced audio features
-for movie buffs, different movie types being allowed....
that is all i have heard so far.. hopefully amazon will post this so all the wondering eyes looking for good reviews can find this .
Want RCA RD2780 20GB Lyra Personal Digital Multi-Media Player Discount?
As many other reviewers have stated, this device is really cool. Essentially for the same price as the Apple iPod 20GB, you get Video, too!BUT... RCA was clearly not ready to release this thing. You have to be fairly A/V and computer saavy to fully use this thing. First, you have to update the firmware and the software that came with the unit. Then you have to figure out how to dump video to this sucker. You could always encode off of the line-in, but that's too pedestrian. Most of us want to capture video in my case from a TV tuner card and dump the TV show or clip to the Lyra for later viewing.
The problem is you can't do this with the software that comes with the unit!
So I went and bought a fairly inexpensive package, Roxio's VideoWave, and tried to create my shows. Still no good, because until they update the firmware to support the widely available codecs, you *MUST* encode in AVI format such that the audio is MP3 and the video is either MPEG-4 SP (standard profile) or DivX. I only have MPEG-4 Version 1-3 codecs on my brand new box.
Luckily, you can save yourself a lot of time and hassle by just going to the following site and downloading the *FREE* DivX codec: http://www.divx.com
Now everything works fine, and I only spent about $50 for the additional software, which will be useful anyway for creating videos.
If you already have capture software, the only thing you have to watch out for is to make sure you can specify the audio compression algorithm (MP3) when creating an AVI. Some (many?) packages simply use uncompressed PCM audio, and that won't play on the Lyra! Besides, it will make you AVI file substantially smaller if you compress the audio.
I contacted RCA/Thomson to attempt to find a place to repair the unit, to be informed that it needed to be sent in to the warranty center. So I posted it to the warranty center with the specified copy of the bill-of-sale, and was informed that I would need to wait a week or more for the company to "receive" it.
Once it was received, I was then informed that it would not be repaired, it would be replaced. And that they were allowed one month to replace the unit. So I waited one month. Upon finishing that month, I was informed that the company would be paying me the cost of my unit, that this was the only option. So I re-sent in the bill-of-sale to a fax number. I was then told that it would take 6-8 weeks for them to send my refund.
Yesterday (3 weeks later), I was contacted by a supervisor and informed that I would not be receiving a refund for my defective property because it wasn't purchased from a recognized dealer of RCA Lyras. And today I am informed that I will also not be receiving my defective equipment back from RCA/Thomson.
So far, Thomson has repeatedly misled me about expectations, wasted hours of my time in dealing with a poorly-staffed and poorly-managed call center, and I'm now informed I can receive neither my property or a refund from Thomson.
Not only will I not purchase another item from RCA/Thomson, I will be letting people know through a variety of online and RL connections exactly how poorly their product is made and supported by the company.
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