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![]() RD2840, the RD2780 has two soft, depressable joysticks. They're comfortable, and their functions work well except for access to the top menu level. You should be able to get there by holding the navigation joystick to the left, but you have to press the Menu button on the side of the device.
![]() Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), such recording constitutes a felony.
In the third approach, you download content from the Internet. If you plan on going this route, you'd better know how to convert between various video codecs using, say, VirtualDub; unlike Archos, RCA doesn't include video-conversion software. The manual claims that the RD2780 supports movies encoded with DivX 4.x and 5.x, but the unit sometimes froze while playing ours, which we'd downloaded from the DivX site.
Unfortunately, the RD2780 adheres to the rules of Macrovision and other DRM technologies, so it won't record most DVDs and VHS tapes. The Archos AV320 ignores such copyright protection.
Unless companies start offering videos preconfigured for the RD2780, loading it with movies will continue to be a hassle. But once you've managed it, you can view the player's content on its LCD or any television with a composite-video input.
As for audio playback, the RD2780 serves up the regular selection of shuffle and repeat modes, and you can browse by artist, album, song, genre, year, or filename. The screen displays loads of information, including any album art in your audio files' tags. You can transfer tracks onto the device using Windows Explorer, but you'll then have to profile the hard drive so that it can recognize the new songs. That process will require a computer until RCA posts more-comprehensive firmware on its Web site. The current firmware also cripples other features: the equalizer; on-the-fly and standard playlists; song ratings; programmed playback; bookmarks; and brightness, color, and contrast adjustment.
On the same line-in jack that receives A/V signals, the RD2780 captures audio to the MP3 format at constant bit rates of 96Kbps, 128Kbps, or 192Kbps. The unit does not record to WAV, and since there's no recording-volume control, it's not ideal for live or semipro applications. The lack of a built-in mike means that you don't get voice-memo capability, either.
Finally, the RD2780 can accept your digital camera's memory cards. You can view the photos on the player's LCD or any television individually or in a slide show, for which you can choose accompanying music. If your camera uses media other than CompactFlash, you'll need to transfer shots from your computer to take advantage of the slide-show function.An HQ file looks slightly sharper on the RD2780's LCD than on the AV320's, but the difference is negligible. The "Preparing hard disk drive for saving settings" message occasionally appears during screen transitions and stays for up to 30 seconds; it's annoying, but at least it pops up only once per session.
The RD2780's HQ video looks like high-grade TiVo on a television, and SP approximates slightly pixelated VCR output. Even LP isn't that bad; it shows less pixelation than the AV320's equivalent setting. In fact, in terms of quality per kilobyte of disk space, this RCA's video compares favorably with the Archos's. But MP3 soundtracks rang tinnily in our ears.
We first listened to the RD2780 with its included earbuds. Audio files sounded clean, with a passable signal-to-noise ratio of 85dB. The volume was just loud enough, although in some environments, we had to use headphones with passive noise-canceling technology to hear properly. During video playback, we caught encoding artifacts, which became more noticeable when we switched to our reference headset, the Shure E3c.
When powering video playback, the AV320's battery lasts more than an hour longer than the RD2780's, but the Lyra does give you 2.3 hours, enough for one lengthy movie. On a single charge, you can listen to audio files for just past 4 hours--the same amount of time required to charge the cell. This relatively poor battery life is due in part to the fact that the LCD lights up as each song starts. There's no charging indicator light. Hide Review
Average User Rating 2.5 stars out of 25 user reviews Rating Breakdown -
5 star: 4 -
4 star: 5 -
3 star: 8 -
2 star: 4 -
1 star: 4 My Rating 0 stars click stars to rate product Most Helpful User Review 4.0 stars 9 of 11 users found this review helpful Pros Dude, it plays video(EVEN DVD AND VHS COPYRIGHT!!!), plays mp3 20gb, view photos(zoom in and out), audible, store documents, and regualr basic stuff liek calender, time, and eqs.... Cons kinda bulky, freezes, no wmv, have to go to menu to get another song(explained in opinions), 14hrs of life, Summary Listen to me, i know everything about this product so when you buy it you know what to expect, so no surprises. First- 20gb, 80 hrs of video, you CAN RECORD copyright VHS and DVD, you can record from t.v. and satelitte(the new version is coming the great ... Expand full review Summary: Listen to me, i know everything about this product so when you buy it you know what to expect, so no surprises. First- 20gb, 80 hrs of video, you CAN RECORD copyright VHS and DVD, you can record from t.v. and satelitte(the new version is coming the great about the new version, you can record you voice and a dock for an extra $250, es STUIPD). so wait for the new version to go down for people on budgets. it takes long to get ready and freezes kind of, have to go back to get another song for example you pick " gangstas paradise" and want to pcik antoher you have to go to the menu and do it for music, thouh-Dont get sad , YOU CAN GET ANOTHER SONG BUT TAKES TO LONG AND ITS FASTER TO GO TO THE MENU AND TO THE FOLDERS OF MUSIC. EARPHONES ARE ALRIGHT. CASE IS KINDA TO SMALL FOR IT. GREAT RESOLUTION VERY SURPISED, AND I DONT GET SURPRISES EASILY. VERY EASY TO PUT MOVIES IF THEY ARE IN YOUR COMPUTER-YOU JUST DRAG AND DROP(COPY AND PASTE). ITS PC COMAPTIBLE AND WINDOWS. CHARGES FAST LIKE IN 3 HOURS(ITS SHORTER THAN THE IPOD, ESPECAILLY SINCE THIS ONE DOES MORE), YOU CAN ZOOM ON PHOTOS AND ROATAE THEM GREAT FOR A PERSON THAT VIEWS PHOTS(IPOD PHOTOING SUCKS-dude you can only look at the picture, what kind of crap is that for ipod, but whatever the RCA wont do that to you). i like the batter 14 hrs and i beleive its 5 hrs for movies(i dont like that, but cmon this what the first PVP in the market give RCA credit, some PVPS are so crappy that only last like the PSP-2hrs.lol) great sound and the design to cool, not the best or cingon, but i like it.) music is like drag and drop super easy. USB 2.0 trasnfers so its like fast. it shows pictures of albums. ITS exactly like the ipod, but its better and bulker and has allot of other features and way chaeaper . Go to amazon and they sell them for brand new $250, dude a ipod 20gb new is like $300, for only music and crappy photos. this one has like craps loads of features. i travel allot and i chill in the airplane watching in movies. that rating 7.3 is not good, it derves at least a 8.0 rating(it has that rating of 7.3 becauase they "say it cant record vhs and dvd copyright" thats BS. you can. ill show you. you start recording the movie and press pause and wait until the warning and federal law explains leaves and when the movie starts 12 seconds from that point, press play to continue recording and there you go my firend and you got your movies on the go. YEAHHHHHHHHHHH. you buy it now and forget the ipod photo. G2g surfing. bye Most Recent User Reviews (Showing 2 of 25 reviews) Thanks for your submission!
- Device type: Digital AV recorder
- Display Type: LCD 3.5 in - Color
- Supported audio formats: MP3 AAC WMA MP3PRO
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