Rating: Summary: I love it yet.. Review: Wow i just wrote a long hate letter to put on here but the profanity was too strong so im just gonna write one little thing. RCA you are all absolute morons it seems like you are run by a dung throwing monkey. OMG why would your realease a product before it is ready!(morons). All I gotta say is that you killed such a good product and I hate you. I still love my Lyra and will never return it but to the creator who is hopefully reading this just get up walk over to the window and jump out.Ahhh glad i got that out
Rating: Summary: So close, but yet so far... Review: Last week I bought a Lyra 40GB mp3 jukebox and really enjoyed the storage, how it functioned as a hard drive, the sound, and ease of use.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.
Rating: Summary: I want some accessories Review: thats it my subject pretty much said it. I want to be able to play games, take pictures, and whatever else u creative little RCA people can up with.(i hate you)ummmm i dont liuke that we are kept in the dark i would like it if you could tell us what is in development or give us some forums. Also you RCA people are probably not even reading this but what the hell im bored.
Rating: Summary: Worst. Device. Ever. Review: Nice idea, unfortunately almost every feature of this device was not active and was awaiting some "future software update". Totally beta level release. In addition, it had the most painfully slow operating system I've ever had the misfortune of using. Save your money for the next generation one from Creative that debuted at CES this year. The Lyra is garbage.
Rating: Summary: How to get your videos to play on this device Review: Ok to get your videos to play on this device you need DivX go to www.divx.com and get the program called Dr. DivX this program allows you convert all your videos to DivX in 3 easy steps. Its very easy to use. This device should really come with this program included. Too bad thier support doesn't even know this.
Rating: Summary: Mac help Review: Does anyone no how to upgrade the firmware to the rd2780 using a mac.
Rating: Summary: Has video been fixed? Review: The RCA website has terrible customer service so I'm asking users of this product, did RCA ever fix the terrible pixelation of dark areas yet? I'm gonna buy this as soon as possible based upon all of its good reviews*. *reviews that have been written after the firmware updates.
Rating: Summary: Waiting for Non-Beta Firmware Review: I recieved this product for Christmas and was confused by the controls and recording areas but after a day or two, I had mastered both. Recording TV doesn't have any copyrighting problems, but you must use the techniques talked about below to copy DVDs and VHS from the player directly. XViD codecs do not play properly, but I imagine this will be fixed in the future. The latest firmware has some problems with folders and I am waiting for this issue to be resolved. The video playback is so/so, once again, it will be fixed in the future. Dark areas are garbled and video is occasionally squished. There aren't any performance or audio issues in the video or audio.
Rating: Summary: 4 stars for now Review: Got this a couple of days ago and love it. The image quality and UI is pretty awsome. I was disappointed with the lack of features availability so I called yesterday and talked to the Lyra support people. He said they are dropping codes about once/month. Wouldn't you know it they just dropped 15.19a yesterday. I also wrote an e-mail to them asking for more features like "COPY ALL" from CF. I have a digital camera and was looking for a combo MP3/photo wallet device. the RD2780 gave me these plus a PVP. I looked at the Archos Gmini but the UI and display are kinda cheesy and unimpressive. I would recommend everyone calling and writing to RCA asking for more upgrades quickly. The Lyra # is 580-634-0115 Option 2.
Rating: Summary: Any one see that new update that just came out today? Review: Isnt it all the same features that it got on the other update? am i crazy here? i havent had my lyra in a week due to my horrible accident with it(brother) but i kinda remmebr most of the featuers they mentioned. just wondering if i was the only one? LYRA ROCKS!!!!:):):):)5 stars!
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