There have been many rumors lately about a potential video iPod that's around the corner... However, what about the existing mobile A/V solutions? We took the RCA Lyra RD2780 for a spin, the audio/video recorder/playback jukebox that's currently selling for only $219 at Geeks.com.
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Member since:the only people who bought portable TVs in their "hayday" were Radio Shack hangers-on (today's geeks) and creepy loner types who lived in cabins in the woods. That's the same market these devices target. All the people I know who bought them found out later on that they had no use for them. I mean really, when would you use something like this?
Long mass-transit commute? Lots of travel? I could see the use. Damn near anything else? Worthless. It just doesn't seem to justify the hype and expense.
"loner types who lived in cabins in the woods...." Now that just sounds ridiculous.
I got my Lyra for Xmas in 2003 and have had it for some time now and have enjoyed it. Right now I have about 10 DVD movies on it (and it didn't take me 5 hours to rip and encode it) that I copied straight from my DVD player. Currently I am continuing my education and during the free-time between classes I listen to MP3s and watch episodes of the Simpsons that I recorded from the television. Whenever my wife drags me to the mall to shop for clothes, I whip out my Lyra and listen to music, or at times watch a football or baseball game that I recorded earlier that day. My wife and kids make yearly trips to Los Angeles and is a 6 hour drive for us. My wife records her "soaps" from the television and she has 6 hours of programming at the palm of her hand. She just plugs in the included car adapter and she is fine.
What's cool is that the Lyra has a TV out to play on the big screen but it can also play on the little screen. We have a 10 inch portable DVD player that allows for video-in so whenever we go out with the kids I record a few episodes of Dora the Explorer or Oswald and hook up the Lyra to the portable DVD player and play through the big LCD and speaker for the kiddies. This is good for travel or when visiting a relatives house and they get bored.
I also use he Lyra for my daily walks on the treadmill. I watch the DVDs that I recorded from my dvd player or if I get bored, I record a television program or news program and watch it while I walk on the treadmill. The Lyra is pretty compact, so I made a strap that will mount it on my treadmill so I can walk and watch without having to hold the thing. If I want to run or jog, I listen to the MP3 player and it works fine without any skips.
So you see, there are plenty of uses for the player, and I live in a 4 bedroom house and not in a cabin. The lyra is good for listening to music,working out with, and travel like you said, but also free-time when you want to kick back and watch a show or dvd. You just have to think outside the box to see its true potential.
Member since:
2005-07-06
The use case of an mp3 player is this:
- select a song (more likely a playlist)
- push play
- drop the unit in your pocket
- do something worthwhile
Notice that at no point does the user interact with the unit for long periods. They don't stare, they don't watch, they don't fast forward. That's the whole point. Minimal interaction. So why try to put video playback on one of these devices? It's not the same use case.
As I've said before, the only people who bought portable TVs in their "hayday" were Radio Shack hangers-on (today's geeks) and creepy loner types who lived in cabins in the woods. That's the same market these devices target. All the people I know who bought them found out later on that they had no use for them. I mean really, when would you use something like this?
Long mass-transit commute? Lots of travel? I could see the use. Damn near anything else? Worthless. It just doesn't seem to justify the hype and expense.