Do you want to watch television and videos on your Treo? You can follow our instructions to copy your favorite DVDs to your Treo, or you can use the Neuros MPEG4 Video Recorder 2 PLUS. After two weeks with the Neuros recorder, I am totally in awe. The Neuros is like a mini digital VCR that eliminates fees, hassle and conversion of files. We owe a special thanks to mytreo.net member EazyE for this discovery.

The Neuros recorder looks like a card reader. It's compact and light (4.6 inches x 3.42 x .71 inches at 4.9 oz.), with 2 slots which seem to hold any kind of storage I've tried to stuff into it. (More on that later.) It comes with an a/c power cord, two standard RCA interface cables, and a remote control. The idea behind the Neuros recorder is simple: use it like you would a VCR, but record to your removable storage card instead of a tape. After recording, all you have to do is pop the card into your Treo and use TCPMP to enjoy your show. Using Fairuse Wizard, you can copy a DVD to a file, but the Neuros recorder will copy DVDs, programs direct from your television, videos you've downloaded from the net, those old tapes left from when your VCR (or Betamax!) was the latest technology – anything with RCA output. The limit is your imagination.

How it works

Setup can be as simple as connecting the RCA cables between the recorder and your television set. Being the high-tech babe that I am, my setup was a whole lot more complicated and involves a TV, a DVD player, my DirectTV satellite receiver with built-in TiVo, and a switch box. But it was worth the time it took me to figure out what to plug in where. The important thing to remember is that the Neuros recorder's output must go directly to the TV. Input can come from any device, but all the menus are onscreen, so you want to make sure the first thing you do is plug the Neuros recorder directly into your TV.

As far as I can tell, there are only three actual limitations to the Neuros recorder. The first is that the remote is your only access to the menus. There are no buttons on the recorder itself. The second limitation is two hours per file, and the third is the lack of pause during recording. The most severe of the three is the remote: lose it and you'll be left with a $138 card holder.

There are six on-screen menus. The first allows you to view photos, the second is for music, the third is video, the fourth is the actual recorder (preview screen), the fifth is where you set up things like date/time/language, and the final screen is a file browser. There is also an option within the recorder to set the video quality (output size). Let's just say there are a lot of options here. The file size is comparable to what you get using one of the methods recommended in the Knowledge Base, but without the hassle, and the quality is brilliant.

Of course, the nice part about all of this is that you save directly to your storage without having to do any conversion and without having to use your computer. The Neuros recorder has slots for CF and MMC/SD/MS Duo. This actually means that you can use any of the following (* indicates the need for an adaptor):

Memory Sticks:
Sony MS Duo (tested up to 128MB)
Sony MS Pro Duo (tested up to 2GB)
SanDisk MS Pro Duo (tested up to 1GB)

Compact Flash:
Type I and Type II
Hitachi Microdrives with CF type II interface (tested up to 6GB)
IBM 1GB Microdrive
SanDisk CF (tested up to 1GB)
Protec CF 256MB
Pretect CF 128MB
Hagwara sys_com CF 512MB
Kingston CF 512MB
PQI CF 128MB

SD Series:
SD, Mini SD* and Micro SD*

MMC Series:
MMC, MMC Mobile* RS-MMC*

Obviously, the ideal is to record to your SD card and then pop it in your Treo for viewing at your convenience. However, with the price of SD cards constantly dropping, you can save as many programs as you want to cards, and either keep your video library on sd cards, or use them to transfer to your computer or any storage device.

With my setup, I have been recording tv shows that I've TiVo'd, programs as I watch live, and (of course) DVDs. It's perfect for premium channel preview weekends or PPV. Since I have one shelf left on my entertainment center, I may hook up my old vcr and digitize all my old family movies next.

Recording is as simple as pressing the record button on the remote when you're ready to start recording, and pressing it a second time when you're finished. Of course, you can set a timed record so that recording will automatically stop one or two hours after it's started, or set it like you would your vcr to record at a specific time on a certain day.

Its size makes it completely portable. I'm planning on taking it with me on my next trip so that I can view video from my sd card with my family on the hotel TV. I love my Treo, but this will be so much better than having everyone crowding over my shoulder to view its small screen!

Conclusion

Converting DVDs the "old fashioned" way is free. But it's time consuming and not simple. The Neuros MPEG4 Video Recorder 2, on the other hand, takes absolutely all the guesswork out of converting any video into digital, plus audio is never out of sync after the conversion. It's amazingly easy, portable, and great fun.

Pros:

• Small/Portable
  
• Simple to use
  
• Records in multiple formats
  
• Accepts wide variety of storage

Cons:

• No buttons on the device itself
  
• Two hour recording limit
  
• No pause during record for removing commercials
  
• Documentation could be a little clearer

Related Links

Purchase the Neuros MPEG4 Video Recorder 2 PLUS

View the Knowledge Base guides on copying dvd movies

Discuss Accessories in the Treo Discussion Forum

Download TCPMP to watch videos

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