Record, Transfer, Enjoy: The Ultimate Smartphone Accessory: Step-By-Step

In the following step-by-step instructions, you’ll discover how to use the Neuros MPEG-4 Recorder 2 to capture and transfer video onto your Smartphone.

Record

Optional Preparation: Install TCPMP

TCPMP is a free media player for any mobile device running on Windows Mobile or Palm OS. It's compatible with the 3GP files that the Recorder 2 produces, and If your device is running these operating systems, we highly recommend installing TCPMP. It will resolve compatability issues, it will make file browsing easier, and it will play back your video files more consistently and with higher quality. Although TCPMP is known to have good compatability with the Recorder 2's 3GP output, you may be able to play videos from the R2 with your device's native player. If you would like to try this, there are samples of the R2's video output here.

1. Set up the R2

Plug it in, connect it to your TV, power it on and do all the great set-up things you’ve read about in your owners manual. The R2 pretty much records from any device that produces a video signal out of a yellow-red-white set of RCA plugs. Got a VCR, DVD player, cable box or TiVo? The R2 can capture video from any of these. Do you have a secret network of video security cameras? (Hey, who are we to judge?) The R2 can connect to these, too. In a nutshell, if you've got a set of RCA plugs that output a video signal, the R2 will digitize it.

2. Insert a memory card

The R2 works with both Compact Flash and Memory Stick Duo cards. If you can use a card that is accepted by your Smartphone or PDA, use it in the R2. Video takes up quite a bit of space. A large capacity (say, 512MB or 1GB) card gives you plenty of room to store several hours of video. Gently but firmly insert your memory card into the slot in the front of your R2 unit.

3. Load the Main Menu

If you are not already at the main menu display, press Home on your remote. The main menu consists of 6 icons, displayed in a row at the top of your screen. It looks like this.

4. Select the Recorder

Move the menu selector to Recorder (the film clip with a red dot inside) by pressing and . When selected, a live preview appears below the menu line. It shows you whatever video is playing on the device you’ve connected to your R2.

5. Enter the full-screen live preview

Press enter . The live preview goes full screen as the main menu hides. You should be able to see and hear the video as it plays.

Notice the writing at the top of the screen. It’s important. If you don’t see it, press the display button . The top-left corner indicates the kind of card inserted (in this case, a compact flash card), the amount of free memory on the card and the number of minutes you can record at the current settings. Here, there’s just over 750 MB to spare on this CF card—plenty of room to record nearly two hours of video at these settings.

The top-right corner shows you what those settings are, in this case 320x240 pixel video at Normal quality. The proper setting for most smartphones will be 320x240, 3GP, Normal or Fine quality.. If your settings are okay, skip to step 11, otherwise continue on. The next few steps walk you through the settings adjustment procedure.

6. Open the Recorder Menu

While in the full-screen preview, press the menu button on the remote. The Recorder Menu options open, cutting off the live preview. (The sound and video will stop playback.)

This menu consists of two columns. The first, which you cannot select or do anything to, identifies the name of each option. The second lets you adjust its value. Notice the light blue rectangle that surrounds the selected setting.

7. Set the Resolution

Use the and buttons to move the blue selection to the Resolution row. Then, use and to choose the QVGA option. (Other options are QCIF, WQVGA and TV VGA). QVGA records at 320 by 240 pixels, which is a good size for most smartphone screens. Make sure you select the QVGA - 3GP option, not just plain QVGA.

8. Set the Quality

Move down to the Quality row and select the Normal quality option. Although most smartphones can play back Economy, Normal, Fine and Superfine, Normal produces good quality with reasonable file sizes. Choose Fine or Superfine if you want higher quality, but it may not be noticeable on a smaller screen. PDAs or Smartphones with slower CPUs will also play Economy or Normal files more easily.

9. Return to the full screen live preview

Press to exit the recorder menu and return to the live preview. You should once again be able to see and hear your video.

10. Check your settings

Press display to bring back the overlay text you saw in step 5. Confirm that the top-right corner says both 320x240 and either Economy, Normal, Fine, or Superfine. That "Off" in the upper left corner? It means you are not yet recording video.

11. Queue up your video

Adjust your video source (by rewinding, etc) so it’s ready to begin from the start of the sequence you want to record.

12. Record!

Here’s where you need to be quick. Start playback and then press record . The text in the upper-right of the screen changes. A red recording indicator appears at the top-right corner of your screen just underneath the name of the new video file.

13. Let your video play through

Watch and wait as the R2 does it job and your video records to your memory card. After it plays through, press record again to finish recording.

14. Return to the main menu

After recording, press on your remote to leave the recording session and return to the main menu.

Transfer

1. Place your memory card in your computer

After you finish recording and return to the main menu, gently remove the memory card from your R2 and insert it into the Smartphone's memory card slot. You can now play the video directly from the memory stick, congratulations!. If you aren't using a memory card compatible with your phone, you can still take your memory card and put it into the card reader on your personal computer. It will mount as a new drive.

2. Find the movie file

Open the new drive window. In Windows, access it from My Computer. In OS X, you can reach it from your desktop. Navigate down to the MP_ROOT folder and then to the 101MNV01 inside it. Inside this subfolder you’ll find your newly recorded video. Each one’s named M4V followed by a number, like you saw in step 11 (e.g. M4V00003.MP4). You should now rename the files to something recognizable, i.e "Superbowl 2006.MP4" .

3. Connect your Smartphone to your PC

Use your Smartphones USB cable to connect it to your PC. It may appear as an external drive, or you may need to use your Smartphone's sync capability to move the files from your PC to the phone. Please see the phone's user manual for the precise method used here.

4. Drag your video file onto the Smartphone or sync

Now, copy the video file to your smartphone's memory card.

5. Wait

It may take several minutes for your video file to fully transfer. Once it's done, disconnect the Smartphone from your PC and get ready to enjoy your video!

Enjoy!

The only thing left for you to do is to watch. Disconnect the smartphone from the PC, plug in your headphones and find a comfortable place. You will be able to browse to your new video file using the TCPMP interface, it's just like browsing for files on your PC.

It will be listed among your other video selections. Select it, play and kick back. Cool, huh?
In this article, you’ve discovered how to use the Neuros MPEG-4 Recorder 2 to record videos for your Smartphone. The step-by-step instructions walked you through the process of setting up your recorder, capturing your video and putting it onto your Smartphone. As you’ve seen, it’s not rocket science, it’s not neurosurgery, it’s just fun. The moral of the story? You can take it with you. So why don’t you? If you’ve got a Smartphone, don’t you need an R2?

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Got other questions about using your Neuros MPEG-4 Recorder 2 or Neuros 442 Digital Video Player? Watch this spot. More how-to articles are on their way.