So close yet so far!
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Topic URL: http://www.neurosaudio.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6306
Printed on: 03/24/2006
Topic:
Topic author: manny
Subject: So close yet so far! I almost bought one of these Recorders thru J&R; Music world until I came to this site and saw the specs.
Replies:
Posted on: 07/08/2005 12:40:57 PM
Message:
What the market needs is this:
MPEG-4 recorder that records at least 640x480 in .avi format (with either MP3 or AC3 for its audio). ASF format is a horrible idea.
Portable idea is great. USB2.0 & SD card support is great but it must also be able to support the newest generation of Ultra II SD cards including its 2GB cards.
It would also be great if it allows you to record unto a USB portable hard drive instead of just memory cards.
It should have DivX & XviD playback support. It would be better if it can record directly into either DivX or Xvid.
I don't care about DVD or CD playback. Just a strictly portable MPEG4 recorder.
The price that I saw on J&R; for the current model is good enough. Again, I almost bought it until I saw the specs. What killed it for me was the low resolution it records (less than 640x480) and that it records in .asf format.
This unit, however, is the closest to what I have been looking for. Perhaps your next generation recorder will have what I need.
Thanks,
Manny
Reply author: JoeBorn
Replied on: 07/09/2005 7:10:38 PM
Message:
If you buy this one, we'll promise to invest the proceeds into a next generation player! Just kidding.
We do support CF II and the microdrives up to 6GB now.
VGA encoding is a common request actually and we'll support it in the next generation of products. Likewise on the Divx support.
The current recorder is really targeted as a recorder for your portable devices. QVGA is the right resolution for those devices, PDAs, Treo, PVP, etc.
Since you bring it up, take a look at these two samples
http://open.neurosaudio.com/recorder/test_recording.mp4
http://open.neurosaudio.com/recorder/TL640X240-6.ASF
Let me know what you think. These are two samples that were generated in engineering tests. I understand they are not Divx, but just focus on the video for this feedback.
jborn (at) neurosaudio.com
Reply author: jamie(at)videorocketry.com
Replied on: 08/05/2005 8:19:07 PM
Message:
How about making this one record at 30fps?
And a one touch recording button on the case with a small LED indicating it's recording?
I plan to fly the one I got off ebay in one of my next rocket projects (check out www.VideoRocketry.com) but the process of getting it into record mode is a bit if a pain.
It requires me to bring a video monitor to the launch pad (luckily my camcorder has video inputs).
So, I contributed by buying one, if you want me to test the 640x480@30fps one touch recording version - I'll be glad to shake it down for you!
jamie
Reply author: jamie(at)videorocketry.com
Replied on: 08/05/2005 8:24:03 PM
Message:
BTW - I couldn't get either of the videos to play. The ASF said it was corrupt and the MP4 couldn't find the needed codec. (and I have DivX and Xvid and MS Mpeg4)
Reply author: psyzygy
Replied on: 08/06/2005 9:03:09 PM
Message:
I like it. I received mine today and have recorded in several different formats using my 1GB SD cards. Recording in SuperFine seems like the only quality setting needed, other than 1/4 mode, for my needs as I use a product like Smart Movie to make the conversion to my Nokia and PDA anyway.
MPEG 2 recording would be ULTRA useful in a device like this, as would an optional IDE adapter (Has anyone tried using a CF to PCMCIA adapter with a PCMCIA hardrive yet?) to use with laptop drives.
USB 2 out is what most folks will request for this application, but I would suggest that a Compact Flash to IDE adapter would give the best result for the least overhead and thus more satisfying results.
Haven't tested the quality of the MP3 recording yet, but I notice my Tivo is recording Robert Earle Keene (Go Aggies!) right now, so I sense an MP3 test in its immediate future, as is a conversion from MP3 to OGG to add to the growing library of OGG files in my phone. 
Reply author: manny
Replied on: 08/06/2005 10:48:04 PM
Message:
Greetings Joe! Thanks for your reply. I downloaded both videos. The first one worked but the second one wouldn't play back. The first one looked somewhat grainy. I will wait for the next generation, although the Neuros 442 looks promising!
Reply author: JoeBorn
Replied on: 11/20/2005 06:50:07 AM
Message:
quote:
Originally posted by manny
Greetings Joe! Thanks for your reply. I downloaded both videos. The first one worked but the second one wouldn't play back. The first one looked somewhat grainy. I will wait for the next generation, although the Neuros 442 looks promising!
THe next generation is here, it's not AVI, but .MP4 but it is 640x480 with AAC audio, so I think you'll be pleased.
you can order now here http://www.neurosaudio.com/store/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=DigitalInnovationsCatalog&product;%5Fid=4030200&keyword;=psp&searchcat;=products
and there's information on the wiki right now
http://www.theneuros.com/index.php/Category_Roadmap:The_MPEG-4_Recorder_Series
jborn (at) neurosaudio.com
Reply author: manny
Replied on: 01/15/2006 5:01:22 PM
Message:
I went ahead and bought the Recorder II. I will get it sometime this week and will test it out and gave you my honest evaluation. I look forward to trying it out.
Manny
Reply author: manny
Replied on: 01/25/2006 1:11:14 PM
Message:
Alright, I got my Recorder II and ran a bunch of tests on it. It is easy and effortless to record video off the TV, VCR, or DVD. However, even at its highest recording setting at 640x480 resolution, the quality is not sharp or crystal clear. I do manage to see visual artifacts on the recorded material. I don't know if this is hardware related (i.e. the chip can only do so much) or firmware related (i.e. it could be tweaked further more to produce better results).
For video playback, I was disappointed to discover that it doesn't support Xvid videos. Since I have a bunch of Xvid videos, I went ahead and purchased video conversion software. After the software converted the Xvid videos to MP4 format, I played it back off the Recorder II. A test video file was doing extremely well until 16 minutes into the video file when suddenly I began hearing an audio echo. Unfortunately, the annoying audio echo did not go away. The same MP4 video file played well on my computer with no echo. This I believe is firmware related.
Furthermore, if the video file is large (say over 600 MB), the Recorder II slows down quite a bit when highlighting or previewing the video file (before you actually select it to play back). I found this annoying.
Consequently, I would give the Recorder II an 8 out of 10 for video recording and a 5 out of 10 for video playback.
Am I keeping it? Yes, but I will mostly use it to record video. Maybe the next generation recorder will be just right.
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