RCA Lyra Audio/Video 20 GB Jukebox

[Archived in $300 - $400, Audio, Over 65 MB MP3 Players, Products, RCA]

Manufacturer: RCA
Price at amazon.com: $399.99
Usually ships in 1 to 2 weeks

New from $337.99

List price $479.99



Product Features:

• 20 GB hard drive and digital multimedia player
• Plays MP3 formatted audio and is MP3pro ready
• Stores any file type, including word processing documents, presentations, spreadsheets, and more
• Comes with MusicMatch personal music management software
• Uses USB interface to connect to you computer

Product Description:

RCA's® new Lyra™ portable audio/video jukebox with 3.5-inch backlit TFT color LCD monitor lets you watch and listen to your favorite movies, TV shows, music and digital photographs whenever and wherever you want. The built-in 20 GB hard drive holds up to 80 hours of video, 300 hours of music or 100,000 jpeg images. The intuitive graphic-based menu system with multifunction jog control lets you navigate through your table of contents with ease. Advanced music selection and navigation: navigate and browse other files during playback; tag files for inclusion/deletion. The multi-line display lists name of artist, song and elapsed time. Choose from five preset DSP modes: Flat, Bass, Rock, Pop or Jazz. Use the A/V input jack to record movies, TV shows and music directly from your TV, VCR or stereo. The high-speed USB 2.0 connectivity allows for quick transfer of MPEG-4 and MPEG-1 movies, MP3 files, jpegs or any other computer file. Mac and PC compatible. Your purchase includes high-quality X-Phone™ stereo headphones, music management CD-ROM software, USB and A/V cables, carry case and car-stereo adapter cassette. Measures 5 1/2" x 3 1/4" x 1" and weighs less than 10 oz. Runs up to 4 hours on the rechargeable lithium ion battery (charging cradle and AC/DC adapter included). One-year warranty.

Average Customer Rating:

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Comment: Delivers what it promises!!! Rating:
I was skeptical about this product. Unlike most new products that the manufacturers scramble to release before the holidays, the Lyra A/V jukebox is bug free. Some reported bugs like freezes during fast rewind, etc. were fixed by the latest firmware. There are many fancy features that the unit does not support yet, but will support in the future. But the main features that, I'm interested in, work flawlessly. The unit can record from any video source with rca a/v out (tv, vcr, satellite receiver, etc). The unit plays back video recorded directly from an a/v source OR DivX encoded video transfered though the USB interface. The unit can also playback video on a TV. If you're planning to buy this unit, do yourself a favor and also buy a copy of DrDivx from Divx.com. DrDix can encode any DVD into DivX format directly playable by the Lyra A/V jukebox. If you travel a lot, with 35-40 movies on the palm of your hand, this gizmo is your dream come true!!!

Impatient, non-computer-savvy people are giving this unit a bad name. Those who don't know how to rip a dvd, or re-encode a video file to various formats, I suggest you stick to a portable dvd player. This unit is not for you. For the rest of us, this is what we've been waiting for!!! An added PDA functionality would have been nice, but I am happy with what this unit has to offer!!!

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Comment: More to Come Rating:
This will not be a comprehensive review but rather a few points I do want to enter into the fray.

I have a love/hate relationship with the RCA Lyra A/V Player.

As a tech gadget lover (but not wealthy enough to buy many of them)I think this purchase will definitely give me more than my money's worth by the time it's all through. As such, it delivers on it's main functionality- video (most of which I have recorded off my TV thru the included RCA cables), audio (a nice mp3 collection) and photos.

The thing I hate about it most at this moment is having to wait for new firmware releases, of which the Lyra is in need of.

Battery life: I've consistently gotten 4 plus hours from the device, but I was told I'd get 12 hours audio and/or 4 hours video. I have yet to come close to the 12 hours of audio.

Backlight: It doesn't turn on/off on the timer set like it's supposed to, ergo, I have to turn the backlight off in order for me to conserve battery, yet it still doesn't seem to conserve battery. Frustrating.

Even with these qualms, I still stand by the product. It serves me well and I know this product will have a bright future. It's only on firmware 0.14.10, so the software engineers have a long way to go to make it as good as it can be. I look forward to seeing it's evolution into what I desire and expect out of my gadgets.

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Comment: The answers you want Rating:
I've had a few days to play with this device now. It works very well for recording from any video source with RCA plugs. I've been using it to record shows from digital cable to watch at work. However, there were a few questions that I had before I bought that I couldn't find answers to so I decided to answer them for you.

1. The battery is sealed in the unit, you can't buy a spare.
2. The battery will last for about 4 hours of continuous use.
3. The .asf files that the unit records can be played back on any Windows PC. They are MPEG-4 video with MP3 audio and don't seem to have any DRM protection.
4. It doesn't have a built-in speaker...
5. You can copy images from a compact flash card to the unit without a PC so it works great as a portable hard drive for digital cameras.

Overall, the device is awesome. It's great for travel and as a distraction at work. ;-)

Posted at November 11, 2003 07:59 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)