This is the second version of the video Recorder by Neuros Technology that we reviewed a few weeks ago. Physically the device looks exactly the same as its predecessor, but the new version has a completely new user interface, a new remote control and MemoryStickDuo support. It also comes with the TCPMP PDA media player in its CD which supports almost every format under the sun.
The new remote control is very nice and very small. It does the job and it's very easy to figure it out as it has enough buttons for most actions. The user interface has seen a huge overhaul, to the better. Now there are two levels of interface, the main 5 buttons on the top (photos, music, video, rec, settings, file manager) and their specialized screen below. For photos, music and video there is a listing of the CF's or MStickDuo's files and folders where the user can navigate to playback them. For Recording there is a preview pane of the current selected channel on the TV, for the System Settings there a number of available preferences (e.g. time, firmware upgrade, CF/MS format etc) and a dual pane file listing when on FileManager mode.
The Neuros Recorder II can playback mp3, wma audio files, mp4/avi/asf video (with aac encoding no less) and jpeg/bmp/gif with up to 16MP. The music playback engine supports basic tag attributing for the song and artist while it has repeat support. The Photo viewing feature supports zooming, slideshow and background music. It doesn't seem to support rotation.
The most interesting feature of the Neuros device is not the playback capability though, but the recording. NeurosTechnology believe that Digital Rights are important and they have released a document explaining their position here. When on Recording mode the user is presented with a preview of the current selected TV channel. Hitting "Enter" with the remote control the user can select from various settings (e.g. rec quality and resolution, quick timer recording (starts from 1 hour on) and auto recording which starts automatically when an input video is connected to the device) or by pressing directly the "Rec" button on the remote control recording starts immediately. The timing function is very interesting as it allows the user to program the device for a number of recordings. You can setup the date and time of the start and date and time of the end of the show to be recorded. It even allows you to set up the frequency of the recording: off, once, daily and weekly.
Unfortunately, MP4 videos are not fully optimized to consume less storage space. For example, with QVGA-Normal recording quality, a 20 minute recording video requires 100 MBs of space, while using another encoder (e.g. 3GConverter's) we could go down to 75 MBs for the same video size and quality settings. At any case, we tested the resulted recorded videos on the SONY PSP and they were playing back incredibly well. No hickups and no weird artifacts. PSP support worked as advertised and it quickly proved this little Neuros gadget to be a great companion for those who use their PSP as a media device as well as a gaming one.
Another thing that ticked me was the fact that Neuros removed the PC functionality (the old device was identifying as a flash reader when connected to a PC) and they also removed SD support. I am pretty unhappy about both these decisions and especially about the removal of the SD support which means that there is no direct Palm support anymore. PalmOS and some PocketPC users now have to separately purchase a USB flash reader to read RecorderII's CF/MStickDuo flash disks and then manually copy their recorded videos over to an SD card.
Overall, this release is a huge evolution software-and-codec-wise and it also comes with automatic PSP support. If you have a PSP, it's a must-have gadget! If you have a CF-based PDA, it's also a must-have gadget. And if you are using an SD-based PDA, it's still a great device, even if it will require a bit of manual intervention. The Neuros Recorder II is the ultimate hassle-free mobile multimedia creator!
Sample recorded videos for the PSP:
1. QVGA, Economy low quality
2. WVGA 368x208, Normal quality
3. VGA, Superfine quality
Overall: 9/10
- "Sony PSP as a Media Device"
- "The Neuros Recorder II"
