Rating: Summary: I shed a tear Review: I absolutely love my Lyra so much but my brother my stupid stupid brother had to drop IT!!! Nothing is wrong with it except for my awesome back stand which doesnt close. AHY im so pissed. I had to put it away because I cannot look at it. I sent an email to customer support for rca and am awaiting an email telling me if i can get it repaired and where. I am so upset I love my Lyra so much.*cries*:(
Rating: Summary: THIS SUCKS Review: you may be like me and think that this is the coolest new thing to hit the market but its not its a great idea and all but its just not ready yet if you want somethign good get an ipod they rock.
Rating: Summary: UMMMM Review: THIS THING IS SO GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!! OK this thing is so awesome. at first you will have problems but ti will suddenly just click. dont listen to those geeks they have problems. I do not see anything on this that you can dis besides that sum of the features are not there look if you have just bought it and you need help send me an email at speedy064@optonline.net
Rating: Summary: ¿Your AVI's won't play? Review: I have had the same video formatting problem that a lot of people have had. Avi's won't play. It's just because the format of avi doesn't match. you must find video converter software. a good site to get one is here http://www.avsmedia.com/. hope i've helped.
Rating: Summary: The gadget to get... Review: I am fully aware that this product is still in development software wise, but the functionality out of the box, the price, weight, form are the qualities that swayed me from the ARchos. Out of the box, the basic functions of listening to MP3s, watching DIVx movies, and storing my photos are all there. When all the promised upgrades are implemented, this will be one hell of a Personal AV player.In size, quality and form, it beats the Archos. Where the ARchos seemed like a toy, the Lyra seemed more elegant. It is 50% textured plastic and 50% aluminum which makes it sturdy. I have successfully made a lot of DIVx movies for the Lyra using Intervideo DVDCopy. They all played without glitches but I am sometimes annoyed by the blockiness in dark or black scenes. I am sure this will be fixed by firmware/software upgrades soon. MP3 playes just beautifully. I really like how it feels in my hands, not too small to easily lose, not too big to warrant leaving it at home like the Archos. It is also cheaper than competition. Overall, I am satisfied. All the accessories included are way useful for me. For the Archos, you have to buy everything extra. For the Lyra it all came with the package which is thoughtful.
Rating: Summary: Poorest piece of junk on the market Review: I've had a Hango Personal Jukebox (10GB) for a number of years. An AV device seemed like the way to go for an upgrade. Don't buy a Lyra. The controls are difficult to use and too sensitive. Joystick style controls??? I test and review hardware/software for a living and anyone that tries to shove a joystick style control on a network device is immediately slapped for being CHEAP and stupid. The menu navigation is poorly contrived and missing most of the useful features (smart tags, playlists, etc...). And God forbid you try to "stop" an audio playback. You can't. You have to exit by manipulating a tiny button on the side of the device. I have long finger nails and it's nearly impossible to use the "menu", "on/off" and "record" buttons. The crappy leather case makes it even more difficult to control. From a performance standpoint, it will only accept 128kbps MP3s so if you've already got a collection you may need to rip it again. It does NOT do buffering of any kind (which the Hango PJB has done from DAY ONE) so if you try to move from one song to another (good luck - this in and of itself is a pain) you have at least a 5-10 second wait while the device finds the next song and begins buffering it. It definitely appears to be an embedded windows device - slow, slow and slower. Trying to use it in the car today was so painful I'm ready to have my husband take it back and throw it at whoever sold it to him. It is poorly designed physically and ill-conceived of in terms of functionality and usability. In short, it's a piece of crap that isn't worth much more than a paperweight. It is NOT worth the asking price. Buy an Archos if you want AV or a PJB from Hango if you want MP3 playback that's USABLE.
Rating: Summary: Lyra is a good looking piece of Junk Review: The Lyra is a great concept. Storing vidio, audio, and pictures display. The reality is that the product is not fully functional. So don't expect to have the features that will make it useable. You will constantly see "this feature will be availabe in a future release". The user interface is clunky and there are a number of file formats that are not useable. If you try to contact Thomson (RCA) to find out when updates will be available they will tell you nothing. It can only be surmised that the promised updates will never be available. When you install the basic operating software expect to be pushed marketing information. Buy this subscription, this software upgrade, and on and on. This product is a nice looking incomplete marketing night mare. Save your money
Rating: Summary: What's the problem? Review: I've got to say that after reading all the reviews listed here I was quite worried about how the Lyra A/V I had ordered would perform. After three months I finally got it and I am very relieved. I promptly installed the updates available on the RCA website and everything functions as it should. There have been a lot of complaints about some of the functions not being available yet but that's no big deal, I'd rather have a functioning MP3/MPEG-4 player now and get the non-essential functions later. Also, if you can't make the Lyra A/V work right all I can say is you must not know how to use it, try reading the instruction manual, you can also download that at RCA's website.
Rating: Summary: Ahhhh RELIEF(spelling doesnt matter) Review: I finally figured it out after 2 long days. Ok what you gotta do is go onto the www.divx.com and get the 15 day free trial for doctor divx. Then you just download an avi file then use the three simple steps of doctor divx to encode it in Mpeg4 format and you can easily just zip it over to your lyra. I already have about ten of ym favorite shows on it and some of them came pre encoded. Also if your like me you were confused with the recording thing. Just hook the end of that wire with the audio video at the end into the line in of your lyra. Them hook the audio video parts inot a dvd player ( has to be a free DVD player you will see the details in the older reviews)or VCR. then you simply press record pick your time and then the picture shows up on your little screen and it records. Only problem is the copyrighted stuff which you can easily get passed with a free DVD player which I have seen cheapest around $139 (yes I know It sucks). It really is amazing that this amazon review board has been more helpful to me than that cr**py RCA site of frustration.
Rating: Summary: Not Ready Yet Review: Overall impression after several days of use is that I am just disapointed. The hardware makes your drop your jaw in amazement but once you start using it the sodtware makes you scratch your head inc confusion on why this was released. About 80% of it advertised functions do not work yet because the software doesn't exist on it yet. WHen attempting to enter or view functions that aren't available yet you are prompted with the message "Feature will be available in furture firmware upgardes". You will get that message MANY times as you try to use the device. Also be prepared to Wait. That's right, I've seen some shorter load times on my playstation one. IT waits to save configuration information and it wait about 30sec to a minute to start playing an MP3 even when just moving to the next song. Video playback is a joke. Expect not to be able to play any of the videos you have on your computer as it will only play very specific video codecs. The batterly life is the BIGGEST draw back of the entire device. I have yet to have it last longer than 3 hours doing anything from only audio to watching video the whole time. This again is partially due to the software since the screen will be 100% on and bright during all function time unless you turn the backlight to off all the time in which you will have trouble seeing the screen. Expect to carry a charger around with it 24/7 or risk it going powerless extremely fast. It has never last a till I get home form work yet from the just over an hour commute each direction. Dispite all this bashing this device has GREAT potential. have about 6 more months of software upgrades it might actually be usable the all of a sudden worth is with better batterly life and functions that actually function.
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