Despite the fact that lots of big companies such as Apple, Sony and Microsoft have got in on the portable video player market, there hasn't been a huge uptake of the products. Part of the problem, as we've discovered from reviewing these devices, is getting video on to them.
Neuros's MPEG4 Video Recorder has been designed specifically to solve this problem, by recording analogue video directly into a format that your portable media player supports. If nothing else, it cuts down on all that time-consuming recoding.
The MPEG4 Video Recorder is best used by PlayStation Portable (PSP) owners, as it supports the Memory Stick card format. It captures composite video, encodes it to MPEG4 and stores it directly to the Memory Stick. Simply plug the Memory Stick into your PSP and play the MPEG4 file. Video quality is acceptable, although it's not as good as video from Sony's own UMD movie discs. However, it's good enough for watching your favourite TV programmes.
You can select a number of resolutions, including widescreen 368x208, which is the most suitable option for the PSP. An hour of TV at this resolution amounted to 376MB of video, though, so you'll need a 1GB Memory Stick if you want to watch an entire movie.
The only other card type the Video Recorder supports is CompactFlash, which limits its usefulness to owners of other devices. We'd have liked to see support for the more common SD and MMC formats in the same unit. Unfortunately, this device has no USB output either, so you can't transfer the files to a PC without a memory card and compatible reader.
Connecting the device to your chosen video source can be a hassle. It has no tuner, so you'll need to connect a DVD player or Freeview box to the provided SCART adaptor. The Video Recorder also has a composite video output, which you must connect to your TV to see what you're doing.
The video output lets you see the simple but ugly menu system, which you control using the supplied mini remote control. There are no controls on the device itself, however, so losing the remote would be bad news. You can schedule recordings through the menu, but you'll have to leave your Freeview box running on the correct channel.
If you want a simple way to record video to a Memory Stick, the Neuros does the job. However, it is expensive, and connecting the leads every time is a chore. The end results are very pleasing, but only real TV addicts will be able to justify the high price.
CAPTURE DEVICE Composite input and output, phono input and output, MPEG4 capture format, MS and CF storage formatsAuthor: Seth Barton
Neuros MPEG4 Video Recorder