Rating: 
Summary: More to Come
Review: This will not be a comprehensive review but rather a few points I do want to enter into the fray. I have a love/hate relationship with the RCA Lyra A/V Player. As a tech gadget lover (but not wealthy enough to buy many of them)I think this purchase will definitely give me more than my money's worth by the time it's all through. As such, it delivers on it's main functionality- video (most of which I have recorded off my TV thru the included RCA cables), audio (a nice mp3 collection) and photos. The thing I hate about it most at this moment is having to wait for new firmware releases, of which the Lyra is in need of. Battery life: I've consistently gotten 4 plus hours from the device, but I was told I'd get 12 hours audio and/or 4 hours video. I have yet to come close to the 12 hours of audio. Backlight: It doesn't turn on/off on the timer set like it's supposed to, ergo, I have to turn the backlight off in order for me to conserve battery, yet it still doesn't seem to conserve battery. Frustrating. Even with these qualms, I still stand by the product. It serves me well and I know this product will have a bright future. It's only on firmware 0.14.10, so the software engineers have a long way to go to make it as good as it can be. I look forward to seeing it's evolution into what I desire and expect out of my gadgets.
Rating: 
Summary: Delivers what it promises!!!
Review: I was skeptical about this product. Unlike most new products that the manufacturers scramble to release before the holidays, the Lyra A/V jukebox is bug free. Some reported bugs like freezes during fast rewind, etc. were fixed by the latest firmware. There are many fancy features that the unit does not support yet, but will support in the future. But the main features that, I'm interested in, work flawlessly. The unit can record from any video source with rca a/v out (tv, vcr, satellite receiver, etc). The unit plays back video recorded directly from an a/v source OR DivX encoded video transfered though the USB interface. The unit can also playback video on a TV. If you're planning to buy this unit, do yourself a favor and also buy a copy of DrDivx from Divx.com. DrDix can encode any DVD into DivX format directly playable by the Lyra A/V jukebox. If you travel a lot, with 35-40 movies on the palm of your hand, this gizmo is your dream come true!!! Impatient, non-computer-savvy people are giving this unit a bad name. Those who don't know how to rip a dvd, or re-encode a video file to various formats, I suggest you stick to a portable dvd player. This unit is not for you. For the rest of us, this is what we've been waiting for!!! An added PDA functionality would have been nice, but I am happy with what this unit has to offer!!!
Rating: 
Summary: It's ok........ I guess
Review: Purchased early january. Love the video features. Did like the photo features. Mp3 features lack a few things. The video recorder/playback is cool, works fine for me. Being able to connect to the tv is great. The photos were cool until it lost the ability to read jpeg(i still see the photo but it doesnt fit the screen). I get an annoying, file format not supported. Mp3s play ok but you dont get the ability to search for another song while listening to the current selection. Adding costume album art creates, file format not supported, and no play. Desperately needs a current playlist to add songs on the fly. It takes eight seconds to load a song once selected. A lot of features still unavailable. Overall I feel I didnt get my moneys worth considering that two months later and im already troubleshooting problems. I have all current firmware/application updates. I use it with a brand new dell.
Rating:
Summary: I love it! But it does have problems...
Review: I have been carrying this unit on my daily 2-hour commute since buying it two weeks ago. I record programs I want to watch on the hard drive of my DVD recorder in my absence, then copy to the lyra. Saves me the cost of recording shows I don't want to keep permanently to DVD's just for portability. Wish the timer recording feature allowed selections of smaller than 1/2 hour increments, though. The video and audio quality are plenty good for me. But... the fast-foward bug is NOT fixed. I have to reset the unit several times daily. It should have come with an attached reset accessory. Plus the leather cover has to be removed to reach the reset hole - not good planning. Also, the cover's see-through plastic over the display ripples and reflects light so it's sometimes a struggle to have a glare-free picture. Battery life is not impressive -- under two hours for me so far. You can't name files using the unit directly, but you can re-name in windows explorer when attached to your PC. On-line customer support is non-existant. I've sent two inquiries -- one about buying additional accessories and the other reporting the FF bug remaining -- both replies came quickly but basically said they weren't equipped to respond. The buttons are quirky - and if you don't push in the precise direction, you won't get the result you want. Despite the problems, I really like this unit and will be keeping it.
Rating:
Summary: Would've been five stars if all the upgrades were available!
Review: As is, with the most recent firmware upgrades, the Lyra does a very good job on both video and audio. Many features still aren't available though - get to work RCA - with better support the Lyra RD2780 could be a grandslam. This device is ripe for some clever porters to vastly improve it. The unit seems very sturdy, compact, and well made. The control joysticks take a little getting used to, but they work well. The included accessories are more than adequate, I especially like not having to buy a case. Video recording is easy and works well, but RCA needs to incorporate a start time option. The "wait six seconds, pause the record, and then start it again at 11 seconds" method for recording copywritten DVDs is an absolute godsend. Video playback is awsome for such a small device. As noted in previous reviews there is some pixelation in the dark (black) areas of videos, but it's not a major problem unless your expectations are very high. I would put the video on par with, and maybe slightly better than, some of the less expensive portable DVD players on the market. It takes maybe 10-15 seconds to load a 2 hour video file before playing. Audio capabilities are more than adequate for me. Playback is smooth and clear. I don't experience the lag times some people have talked about between songs. It takes maybe 5-10 seconds to load a playlist, and then it plays all the songs smoothly. Here again though some features aren't yet available, RCA needs to get the equalizer feature working. Connecting to a PC is easy, and downloads are fast, no problem there. I haven't tried to download from a compactflash card. Battery time is really very good considering this is a hard drive based unit. I have watched 3 straight hours of video before running out of power. This was with the screen brightness turned way up. I've never run the battery out during audio playback, but I haven't used it for long periods of time. The battery meter is very rudimentary, and doesn't give a good indication of how much battery time is left...an area for improvement. The picture viewing feature works well and allows you to zoom and rotate. There are other picture features that don't work yet. Bottom line: The Lyra is a very good device that works well as is, and is well worth the money, but there is room for improvement. If RCA comes through with the promised firmware upgrades I'll be totally satisfied. The only reason I'm critical at all is that the potential is here for a really awsome device, and I'd like to see RCA (or someone) explore that potential. Suggestions for RCA: 1)Get all the features working. 2)Get the user manual finished and online. 3)Offer accessories such as an external battery pack (for those extra long flights), and maybe a plug-in video/digital camera...the possibilities are great for this device. 4)Get some smart programers to explore the unused capabilities of this thing (such as allowing people to customize the desktop/menu page, and better file exploring/manipulating capabilities).
Rating:
Summary: Potential is there
Review: I just got this new toy and at my first reaction was wow...what a great toy. But be aware, the lyra is about 1 inch thick, so it is bigger than what is shown on the picture -- they jsut angle it so it look slim.
Anyway, the firmware 0.17.10 SUCK, it made most of the divx movies unplayable while having the the stupid mpeg4-asp error message poping up. Luckily the new firmware 17.11 fixed this problem. Also, be aware that it only plays divx codec, and some xivx. As a result, you might be spending most of your time converting your darn movies you already saved into divx -- use dr-divx for this.
Once everything is done the machine was a joy to use. It works beautifully. But, it is really bright though. So much that it might dim the color a little. The images is very sharp.
the mp3 player have great sounds, comparable to the ipod.
Anyway, you have to be patience with the thing, but once you understand it, its a great thing to use. This product has many gret potiential that i hope the next frimware will add on more goodies, maybe for format being reconize? shesh, how long does it take to get a licence.
The fact that this product will only get better, conforts me. Beaware, this is for the computer savey, but the fact that your even thinking about it mean you must be savey about codecs in the first place.IF you thinking about getting the the Argoes instead, that toy is one is HUGE, and expensive, lyra is more bang for your buck.
Rating:
Summary: Very cool, but requires patience and a high GeekQ
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Above Par for a First Generation Product
Review: 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
Rating:
Summary: I LOVE IT
Review: i love my new lyra but i recomend u buy it from digitaldistributors.com Mine arrived broken and when i called they sent me a new one saying that i hasd just recieved a "lemon"... I sent mine back and got a new one the day after
Rating:
Summary: WOW!!! BEST PURCHASE I HAVE EVER MADE!!!!
Review: I just bought this thing from Amazon and all I can say is WOW!!!! This is probably the best purchase I have ever made. This thing is everything I ever expected and more!! It's easy to use as well - even my wife can operate it! I have to say, everyone out there who is thinking of buying this, stop thinking. I bought it and I am extremely happy with it the moment I powered this thing on. YOU ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY CANNOT GO WRONG WITH THIS PURCHASE! I GUARANTEE IT!!!
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