Neuros Audio LLC sent us in for a spin their latest versions of their two main products, the Neuros 442 Digital Media Player/Recorder and the Neuros MPEG-4 Recorder 1. UPDATE: Firmware upgrade adds timer recording, pause recording and a shuffle option for audio files.
Post a Comment
Member since:
2005-06-29
Fans: 2
Member since:2005-06-28
Fans: 15
Member since:2005-06-29
Fans: 2
Member since:
---
Fans: 0
The screen is very bright but it has a low viewing angle and it's "slow" (you can see the interlacing lines when playing back video).
It's not slow, it is displaying interlace video on a progressive display with no ability to deinterlace the video. Either it has no deinterlacing capability, or your video material was encoded without deinterlacing it.
Member since:2005-06-28
Fans: 15
Member since:
---
Fans: 0
Can't say anything for these products, but I own a 20GB Neuros II, and I must say that thing is fantastic, supports just about EVERY audio format you can think of, open source firmware, built in Line In, built in RF port, built in FM Transmitter/Reciver. It's just fantastic.
Member since:
2005-07-06
Fans: 1
Member since:2005-06-28
Fans: 15
No, there is one more. And I am going to review it next week. :-)
That device is based on uClinux and that is not a broadly known fact (LinuxDevices.com never reported on it for example). I found out about it myself when snooping around in its firmware files after I used a hex editor with them (hehe...). I contacted its manufacturer to ask about it, and indeed, last night they replied, it's based on uClinux with kernel 2.4.19.
If you can't wait until Monday for the details, email me.
Member since:
2005-07-06
Fans: 13
Neuros are currently working on their next generation developer hardware, which will be the basis for a later hardware revision of the 442 and also the Neuros III. It's notable for being designed to provide _much_ higher audio quality than most DAPs, using high-end Burr Brown ADC and DAC and providing a true line-level output (as well as an amplified headphone output) and also SP/DIF digital out. Nice stuff. The 442 doesn't excite me much (even in the second version), but I can't wait to replace my Neuros I with a III...
Member since:2005-09-08
Fans: 0
Member since:2005-07-06
Fans: 13
Member since:2005-09-08
Fans: 0
Member since:
2005-07-06
Fans: 1
Member since:
2005-07-06
Fans: 0
Open source, community friendly, geek oriented, but... Why is there always so little support for Ogg-Vorbis?
The Rio Karma plays them quite nicely. iriver has a couple of players that support Ogg, but that's about it. I almost bought the old Neuros but ended up ppicking up the Karma, because Ogg support was not very clear.
A shame, really. I think Neuros are doing a great job, and with Rio recently gone... Tsk.
Member since:---
Fans: 0
Member since:2005-11-08
Fans: 0
Member since:2005-07-06
Fans: 0
Member since:
2005-07-19
Fans: 0
Member since:
2005-07-06
Fans: 13
Member since:
---
Fans: 0
I bought a Neuros 2 audio player from them about a year ago. It shipped late by a week or two, and they sent my shipping notice to me via e-mail about a week after it arrived at my door. Nice.
I figured it would be a great audio player since you could buy expandable hard drives for it. Now go to their web site. The audio computer is hardly mentioned at all! And forget about buying upgraded storage. This month they apparently completely discontinued sales! I found my unit to have far less battery life than claimed. The damn unit crashes while going through the menus quite often. I can honestly say that the Neuros audio computer is expensive crap.
I have had nothing but disappointment from my Neuros purchase. I think anyone would be crazy to buy any of their products. They'll probably sell you a marginal piece of hardware (the Neuros audio computer feels cheap) that crashes constantly, then drop support, or more likely go out of business, a little more than a year later.
Member since:2005-07-06
Fans: 13
Did you try calling for support? Neuros has a great tech support department who are good about fixing units with problems. What firmware version does it have? Early versions were a little unstable but I've never seen it crash in normal operation with a 2.1x or later firmware, so if you got a unit with earlier, you could try upgrading (the firmware updates are on the website). You can upgrade the storage yourself - you only need a Torx screwdriver to open it, and it takes a perfectly standard 2.5" IDE hard disk (that's why it's so big). I upgraded mine from 20GB to 30GB, it was easy and works fine. Just open it up, disconnect the ribbon cable, connect it to the new drive, and close up again. Easy as pie. You can also buy upgraded backpacks and stuff from this site which specialises in Neuros updates: http://www.cool4u2view.com/Neuros.html . Finally, not to sound churlish, but if you'd done a little research before purchasing one you would surely have found out they were near end of life; it's been widely discussed on the Neuros forums. I knew they were stopping selling the original Neuros two or three months ago, it was hardly a secret. It's been around several years now and is badly outdated, they want to focus on the recorder, 442 and the Neuros III (when it comes out) now.
Member since:
---
Fans: 0
Johan Abadie (jabadie@neurosaudio.com) to Neuros-beta
All-
We just received a firmware upgrade for the 442 (1.2.4). It will add a Timer Recording feature, Pause Recording and has a shuffle option. I tested it last night and it worked fine, but we want to make sure you guys test it too before we release it.