Does anyone know whether the Neuros MPEG4 Plus Recorder works and works easily to record programming for playback on the 770? It lookslike it might record directly to a MMC card to plug in for playback. Does it work and work that easily?

I'd love to know more about this. It seems the relevant wiki page to keep such information on the Neuros OSD wiki would be this one:
http://wiki.neurostechnology.com/ind...s%2C_Handhelds

It doesn't appear the Neuros supports SDHC cards, which would be a fatal flaw for me, since it would limit you to 2gb cards or maybe the 4gb non-SDHC cards. When it comes to video, that isn't much space. There is a similar device from SanDisk that does support SDHC but, from the reviews, it sounds like the video quality isn't as good as the Neuros.

I have asked that same question before and got no answer. From the seat of my pants: Given the spectrum of decoders on the OSD and the availability of settings, I would be surprized if it couldn't be tweaked to produce Itablet-ready video.

Me, I'm now using my Archos PMA430 as a poor man's OSD (ironic, as the PMA new cost more than the Neuros OSD, but it has the advantage of an on-board 30GB hdd). However, I rarely record directly to a N800-friendly format; my recordings go on my hard disc/media server for TV playback and I always transcode for the N800.

Also, the PMA is a lot less user-friendly than the OSD: No card slot means that I have to unplug the PMA from its base station and hook it up to my PC or media hdd (that's the advantage of having a USB host port on a portable device) to transfer and/or edit recordings (VirtualDub is great for editing out commercials and stuff).

My media hdd is now a 500 GB CiBox. Still not enough room for everything, but it'll do until prices for 5 TB drives come down and I can bung a new one in.

Sidenote: It's amazing how quickly media recording and playback have evolved in our house; five years ago all we had was a crummy VCR and a cabinet full of slowly crumbling magnetic tape. In those five years I've gone through a DVD-recorder (which burned down!), a PVR with DVD-recorder and hdd and now, with the PMA, I've gone completely off DVDs. Later this year, fortune permitting, I can see a Neuros OSD (always go for the Open solutions!) beckoning. DVDs are nice because, if stored properly, they can last a decent amount of years, but I see no further use for them other than as backup medium.

i found this itemin their FAQ that confirms it does not support writing directly to SDHC cards:
http://www.neurostechnology.com/node/377

However as Karel points out, I'd doubt one would record directly there.

I've did a few short recording using a Sandisk V-mate (with default low res Nokia phone output settings) and it works fine with a friends OS2007 N800 media player. I've not tried it with high res/bitrates (or with mplayer). It is VERY easy to use, just like a simple VCR. And is supports PAL and NTSC.

According to http://worldcadaccess.typepad.com/gi...isk/index.html someone as used a 4Gb SDHC card with it.

I've not really used it a whole lot though.

Chris

The Sandisk V-Mate is indeed nice, and very easy to use. It's also a lot cheaper than a Neuros OSD, but I'd still go for the Neuros; the openness of its architecture has already generated many community-driven gems.

Still, if OSS wasn't an issue for me, I'd probably go for the V-Mate. So there.

It sorta is an issue for me, because I believe SDHC-compatibility is adamant these days. Then again, when the OSD came out, SDHC was still in it's (commercial) infancy and with the plethora of ports on the OSD, plugging in a USB SDHC card stick is a very viable alternative.

I just got this Neuros MP4 recorder.
I haven't tried using an SDHC card yet. I don't think I will since I have so many 1GB and 2GB cards lying about.

The UI sucks and the manual is near useless.

The video quality is superb on my N800.
4:3 video is really good. Played back fine on my N82 as well.
It has a PSP (368x208) setting for widescreen video.
The problem is that it cuts that picture out from a 4:3 feed.
I had to mess with my DVR to output a letterboxed 4:3 picture so nothing gets cut.

I'm quite happy with my purchase. I spent $80 on it. I would not pay the $170 price tag I saw on Amazon, though.

I have the OSD as well & I hooked up a WD 500gb usb HD to it. Plus I will then push/pull files from my NAS on the network....

I am glad that I picked it up as I am digitizing everything I have in order to get the tapes/disks up away from my kids (3) sticky fingers.

I love it!