Reviews and Quotes:442
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[edit] Reviews
Neuros 442 Review By Judie Hughes at the-gagdeteer.com "The Neuros is extremely easy to hook to an analog audio / video source, and recording directly to the device is a breeze."
Neuros 442 Review by Eugenia Loli-Queru at osnews.com "The interface is really spiffy and battery life is very good..."
Neuros 442 Review by Adam Z Lein at Pocketnow.com "...the video playback and video recorder capabilities were excellent..."
[edit] Quotes from our beta testers
“It is a really fantastic move forward for the brand� Alutsky
“...a milestone for Neuros� Derek
“If someone tried to take it from me, I would beat them over the head with a steel chair.� -Michael S.
"...wow what a great product!" Greg R.
“This device rocks…� Trig
"The simple recording ability is the best feature of the 442... Quick, simple and super easy." americantechpushers
[edit] Quotes from our gamma testers
[edit] Reviews from our beta testers
I have been using the 442 for about a month now and wow what a great product! Who needs Tivo To Go when you have the 442? I can easily take my Tivo recordings with me on my two hour work commute by using the in-line recording feature on the 442. I have stayed up to date on Big Brother 6, Rockstar: Inxs, Battlestar Galattica, and many other favorite shows that I normally don't have time to watch during the week due to my crazy commute.
A sharp picture, clear sound, and ease of use makes the 442 the perfect portable media player for us folks on the go. I even took my 442 on a recent trip to Cancun...didn't have to watch the stupid edited airline movie!
The 442 simply ROCKS!!!
I'm one happy 442 customer :-)
Greg R.
I have always been a technophile. Ever since I was a little kid, I have had the urge to gets my hands on the latest and greatest gadgets. Whether video games, PCs, or video players, I had a primal need to have the newest item on the market. I bought one of the first MP3 players ever on the market, the Diamond Rio, in 1998. I purchased my XBOX on launch day. I was one of those geeks who waited in line to buy Windows 95!!!!
As I have gotten older and Mom and Dad stopped subsidizing my little addiction, I have changed a bit. I still strive to own the latest technology, however, I also look for the item that provides the best value for the money. Low cost, High value is as important as strong and powerful technology in my vocabulary. In the Neuros 442, I have found both.
When I first laid eyes on my Neuros, I was impressed with it greatly. Its chrome casing gave it a sleek look, and the unit was small enough to not be a burden to carry. While not the size of an IPOD, it is about the size of my Nintendo DS, making it very easy to carry with me.
The screen was a large size and sits right in the middle of the unit, giving ample room on each side for one to hold it in their hands. The control joystick is not bad, although I have never been super in favor of this type of interface. I would like to see this changed in future versions however, to something a little easier to use that has less of a chance of breaking.
The casing is chrome which does get smudged easily, but the unit includes a free softcase to protect the unit and keep it smudge free. I would like to see a different color however on future units... maybe Black, Blue etc.
When I turned the unit on, I was extremely impressed with the picture quality. I was just looking at the splash screen but it looked fantastic. The menu system was very intuitive and straight forward.
Transferring files to the 442 was a breeze. If you have used an external HD, you will easily be able to transfer files to the 442. No special software is needed, it is simply drag and drop. I did run into a small issue with the unit not recognizing my files, but I chalk that up to it being a beta unit. A simple re-formatting of the drive (through the 442 menus only) did the trick and fixed the issue.
The video playback on the 442 is fantastic. The quality was great and the sound quality was wonderful. I would like to see a built in speaker to allow multiple people to watch playback, but that may not be possible. It would definately be a good accessory to manufacture. It is easy to forward and reverse through a video file. There were only two complaints that I had. The first is that there is no bookmark feature. If I exit the file and then go back to it, I start from the beginning. That should be an easy fix however. The other wierd thing was that if you are in the middle of playback, you can't view other menus or turn the unti off. You have to stop playback.
The recording feature is a nice one. You plug the 442 in-line with your TV system. The quality of the recording was excellent, and it has a feature that will tell it to stop recording after a certain amount of time. The output to the TV was not super sharp, but I have not fully tested this ability. I tend to believe the issue lies not with the 442, but with the fact that the output is a progressive signal and is going into an interlaced TV. I would be curious to see the quality out to a digital TV. There is an annoying banner mid screen on the recording screen that blocks viewing until you push record. I believe this will be changed however, based on all the negative feedback. It doesn't affect quality, but it is annoying. The other major issue is that it only records in ASF. While the format is not bad, its compression is not great AND due to Microsoft's fanatical licensing issues there are not a lot of free products out there that work with it. I had a hard time finding any kind of editing software for ASF, and what I did find was not very good. However, Divx or XVID recording will probably be added as soon as possible. This was probably the most requested feature during the beta testing, along with OGG support.
Overall, I love my 442. If someone tried to take it from me, I would beat them over the head with a steel chair. It has become a part of my life, given that I take the train every morning. It beats a PSP or a PDA for watching movies because of the massive HD. It is a device that can be given to kids during car trips in lieu of a portable DVD (to protect your DVDs), can be taken on a train or plane or can just be enjoyed at home in bed without waking your spouse. One of the best things about Neuros is the community at large. You can generally get most problems solved ASAP. For example, I had issues with some of the XVID files I created myself with AutoGK. The files just would not play. I proposed the issue to the group and it was figured out pretty quick. Now there is an FAQ for doing files with AutoGK (a free program). This type of support sponsored by the company is lacking with most major manufacturers. It adds a lot of value to the product. I highly recommend the 442 and am anxiously awaiting the move to open source.
Rating - 9.1 out of 10
Pros - Easy to use, excellent picture quality, supports playback of most file formats, great sound, excellent support.
Cons - No Divx or XVID recording (yet), No OGG support (yet), No bookmark feature, No way to look at other menus while file is playing, Battery time (although this is a general complaint of PMPs. The 442 has the same battery time that a PSP and most other PMPs have.), proprietary cables to hook up to TV.
Michael S.
From the beginning, even after previewing the Neuros 442 in Chicago months ago, American Techpushers have been lukewarm on the product. After 2 weeks with the Neuros 442 We can honestly say that has changed drastically. We now extremely excited about Neuros 442.
Why are we so excited? Well there are many reasons, but without question, the number one reason behind our excitement is Neuros 442 rather simple recording ability.
Not only can your record your favorite TV show, the Neuros can record directly of commercial DVD’s. We have recorded 10 full movies from commercial DVD’s without a single glitch. The average file size was about 1750MB per 2.5 hours recorded.
While we are certainly impressed that it was able record from commercial DVD’s the thought of having to convert the recorded video to a format that was watch able was bringing us down and in fact was the source of our initial lack of interest in product. After all it was our contention from the beginning that the average user would not be willing to go through such a lengthily process. Even for fast computers Trans coding video can be a very long time consuming process. We where extremely excited to learn that no such conversion was necessary!
The ability to record, then immediately watch what your recorded without having to go through the process of converting the video is priceless. In fact we never even connected the player to a computer for the first several days we had it. We where recording, watching and deleting files with extreme ease. For mobile users and those that have no interest in saving or watching their recordings on a computer or another device, this simplicity is a must.
It also nice I might add that moving files off and on the 442 requires no software. Its simple cut/copy and paste/
However for you advanced users out there, we think that improvements can be made.
One of the first things we like to see is changing the format the Neuros records to. The ASF format just does not cut the mustard. Just because I can Trans code ASF file to something more acceptable, does not mean I relish doing so. Personally I like to see Divx as the default recording format.
Currently when selecting the time of a recording you can increase your recording time in half hour intervals. I like see more flexibility here. If I know a movie is 1 hour and 43 minutes long, I would like to be able set the reordering time to that time. Currently I would be relegated to selecting 2 hours.
We like to see play to record message reduced as it’s just to big. (although this might be nick picky)
Not even touched the audio yet…
More thoughts later…
Keith Ashwood American Techpushers
[edit] Reviews from our gamma testers
I Love this Thing!! Granted it still has some bugs to be worked out and maybe a few hardware upgrades, but I have to say that this can be the gadget of the year. I was just on a flight from NYC to Chicago filled with business travelers and the 442 was the center of attention of everyone arround me. The guy sitting next to me first brought out his iPod photo, showing off his "color screen" and the slide show. Not to be outdone, I pulled out the 442 and gave him a quick tour. His jaw dropped faster than the JETS chances of winning the SuperBowl. In the world of gadget envie, I just became the John Holmes of the gadget guys. My biggest gripe, other than the obvious firmware upgrades, is that you can't charge the battery through the USB port. Carrying yet another charger is just out of the question.
I think that everyone that has used this has been more than impressed with the initial quality, screen, video & sound quality. I like the fact that it is solidly built. Leave the iPod Nanos for the hippsters. This is the ultimate road warrior convergience item. I can't wait for the MPEG4 recorder to take this to the next level. Great product, just make sure you fix the little annoyances so that this can blow out everyone at the starting gate. --David Cohan 21:42, 28 Sep 2005 (CDT)
