Talk:Product Description:The 442
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[edit] What, No Ogg Vorbis ???????
Hmmm. What about Vorbis for audio and video? - Cory Christison[May/31/2005]
does not come with the proprietary firmware, but will be added later. --Yono[May/31/2005]
[edit] When is this slated for release?
Are you guys going to market and sell this on newegg?
Can someone post some links to some real use images? It would be helpful if I could see this thing being held in your hand.
[edit] A Beta Tester's 442 Review
(Just as a note, I am simply a beta tester. I have no affiliation with Neuros and was not paid to test the product.)
My Neuros 442 Review
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.
[edit] TV tuner
It's unfortunate that this thing doesn't have a TV tuner. It would be a great replacement for those Casio/Sony/whatever handheld TV's, that would also be able to record programs off the air, like a TV/VCR combo. Also (my application) it would be great as a portable video recorder for remote cameras that broadcast on TV frequencies.
