RCA Lyra Video Device Released

[Suhit Gupta]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://news.designtechnica.com/article5510.html' target='_blank'>http://news.designtechnica.com/article5510.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"RCA has announced a new Lyra audio/video personal media player that allows recording of TV directly onto the unit for $449. The RCA LYRA Audio/Video Jukebox lets TV junkies record their favorite programs directly onto a pocket-sized device - without the need to use a PC. The 20 GB RCA RD2780 is a "virtual VCR" in your pocket, featuring a 3.5" screen that easily connects to a television set via an analog composite video output and can record up to 50 hours of video content directly from an analog video source. The RD2780 also plays back digital audio files and JPEG photos."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/rd2780.jpg" /><br /><br />Earlier, it was the swarm of portable MP3/audio players, now it is the more versatile portable personal audio/video/media players. But since I am a big fan of convergence of technologies to result in an all-in-one kind of player (whether camera, pocketPC, MP3 player or video player), I don't mind news about PVPs. The Lyra Video device costs about $450 and has a 20GB drive, but the device is small and light. This article is a good write up on the many functions of the RCA Lyra.

[Philip Colmer]

In the UK, Sky (the satellite broadcaster) is close to launching an enhanced version of their PVR - Sky+. The main visible improvements are a larger harddisc and USB ports.

The tie-in with this article, though, is that people are reporting that they've seen demonstrations of recordings on Sky+ being downloaded onto a Lyra!

If this is all true, this would be really cool. At the moment, the only way to preserve or move video off a Sky+ device is to play it, realtime, to a video recorder, computer or some other video capture device. This doesn't make it much easier to then take that content and watch it away from home.

Being able to download programmes onto a handheld device like this would be sweet! Anyone want to buy me one for Christmas? :-)

--Philip

[The Yaz]

This press release is not about a new product. RCA is reminding people about their product and going over their list of features.

When the Lyra was first released, it had categories for features like personalized play lists & virtual equalizer that were unavailable. The unit would display a message saying that this feature would be made available in a future rom update. With the latest update released in April, almost all of the feature set they promised has been made available.

It's not a bad unit. In the Eastern US, the retail price for one is closer to $300 US. I bought one for my daughter so she wouldn't need to use my PocketPC to watch copies of her favorite tv shows on long car trips. With the built in AV input and output, she has no problem hooking the unit up to a tv and recording (and she's only 8yrs old).

The only negatives to the unit are no built in speakers and no support for wmv files (only mpg and avi). Also cannot play wma files with drm.

If you want more info, let me know.

Steve 8)