mp3 players

I found the negative reviews to be extremely unhelpful. I recorded a movie from my Tivo onto the Lyra and it plays back perfectly. The sound quality was outstanding. Nice surround effect. The picture quality is fairly good but not outstanding. It's definitely good enough to give friends the wow factor.

Recording from Tivo allows to you to "backup" movies. Of course you can not "backup" copyrighted DVD's from a DVD player. Unless, of course you get a Macrovision- disabled DVD player off the internet. Seriously, with a Macrovision-free DVD player you can backup YOUR DVD's (that you purchased) to the Lyra and have it for long trips. I found that 40 hours is the maximum video hours alloweable when using the "High quality" video setting and the "192 kb/s" - best audo setting. The Matrix Reloaded which was 2h 30min used up 1.10 GB.

My computer with Windows XP, recognized the Lyra instantly as a removable drive when plugged into USB port. Very nice. So you can just drag and drop files into the three main folders-"video, photo, audio."

For the reviewer who said, "there is no signal, unable to record." The video source, (Tivo, dvd player) must be on play or the Lyra will not recognize. If it's on pause it will not see the source.

However, some MPEG (not sure what MPEG format) clips I downloaded fromt the internet was not a "recognized format." Supposedly the Lyra will support "AVI and MPEG4-SP."

MP3 playback is outstanding. Excellent sound quality. And it loaded very rapidly via USB to the Lyra. I wish I had USB 2.0 on my computer because the Lyra does support 2.0.

For those complaining about screen quality- you would have to purchase a laptop with a excellent video card and LARGE battery to have better screen quality. I think the picture is fine considering the size and form factor. Any better will require a heavier larger battery. Ie- buy a laptop and lug that around.

I love my Lyra, considering it's size and price...:)

I have owned the Archos AV340 for about 4 months. Today I purchased the RCA lyra 2780. I got it as a gift for my girlfriend. I did not want to get the Archos for her because I read how the RCA would support more audio formats and More video codecs. For the past five hours I have been playing around with the Lyra. I have tried out every function and feel I have a good feel for what it does and doesn't do. I read some of the early reviews for both products. The lyra just came out this weekend 11/16/03, so I am not sure what some of these people were reviewing. Any one who gets their hand on both and think the Lyra is a superior product must work for RCA. I don't want anybody to take my word for it, before buying either one, go out and test both product. Do a side by side comparison of video quality, sound ( please bring your own headphones, the RCA ones are good, but the ones Archos provides SUCK) Compare the operating system and play with the controls to really get a feel for each product. After doing this myself I am almost convinced I will be returning the Lyra. THE ARCHOS IS HANDS DOWN A BEETER PRODUCT. The lyra is suppose to support more video formats codecs, but so far its seems to have problems playing most of the video files I have tested on it. The archos only pays DIVX files in simple format. Basically unless its encoded that way you have to convert the files using a program called virtual dub. The latest version is much easier to use than when I owned the Archos AV20. Please don't buy the Av20 you will be very frustrated using it. The lyra does support more Audio formats but Archos claims they will offer Firmware upgrades that will support more audio formats. The lyra main screen looks much better than the Archos but that seems to be the only thing better about the interface. The archos is easier to understand and works better. The controls for the lyra are scattered and feel so flimsy I don't think it will stand up to everyday use. Video quality on the Archos is much, much better. Even the demo video that comes with the Lyra is painful to look at. I tested video file downloaded from the web and recorded a video tape. The Archos is near DVD quality, the Lyra is near VHS. You see a lot of pixilation on the Lyra. The archos screen is better and can be viewed from more angles. The difference is very obvious. With the lyra you don't need a separate module to record video. Both products have almost the same plastic feel, the archos feels studier. The lyra comes with more goodies out of the box. (a nice case that allows acces to all the scattered controls) a car adapter and all the cables you need. The Archos comes with the video recorder module and cheap headphones and all the video and audio cables you need. The archos will eventually do much more when the Camera module is finally released. I have called archos several times to try to get a release date for the AV cam and so far every date they have given me has come and gone. Archos is not very good a keeping its own announced release dates. Please note you must update the lyra from RCA website to use some of the features. The Archos firmware must also be updated but you can use almost all of its features out of the box. I had great expectations for the lyra and I am very disappointed. I will continue to play with it for a while. The Archos is a MUCH, MUCH better products.
Nov 19th
OK, I've had this for about five days and I am returning it this weekend. To many problems and a lack of out of the box functionality. Its frozen on me several times and I had to reset it. The reset fuction does not seem to work the way its suppose to. Worse of all YOU CAN'T RECORD COPY PROTECTED DVD'S. I've recorded a few DVD's I OWN!!! to take with me on trips with the Archos av340 and they always look great, If archos had their act together they would rule the PVP market. The Av300 camera just came out today, months late, when I've recieve it??, I will post a review. I am still trying to decide if I will get the Archos for my girl.
NOTE TO THE PEOPLE AT ARCHOS: LETS GET OUR ACT TOGETHER. YOU HAVE THE MAKINGS OF A GOOD PRODUCT, BUT YOU NEED TO SUPPORT MORE VIDEO AND AUDIO FORMATS (WMA WOULD BE A GREAT START SO I CAN PURCHASE SONGS FROM NAPSTER, BUYMUSIC, ETC. I HOPE TO SEE SOME NEW FEATURES I FUTURE FIRMWARE UPGRADES.

Got this for my son for his teenage birthday. He wanted an ipod, but they're just so antiquated already. He loves this machine, and all the buds are clamoring over it because he can play movies, funny TV clips, all his favorite music, and show photos. It also can play stored movies and music onto a friend's TV or stereo, or do a slideshow from our camera's CF card. Also comes with a tape adapter to play your music on your car's tape player. The size is still pocket-sized and not too heavy (around 12oz.). The video screen is excellent and shows up much better than the Archos models. Comes with nice earbuds and has great sound quality. A HUGE plus is that it comes with all the accessories you need: case, USB cable, two audio/video in/out cables, self-contained battery, tape player adapter, etc. Has 20Gb memory, and if you go to the yahoogroups user site, you'll see that alot of techhies have upgraded their Lyras to 80Gb without much difficulty.