all 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...:)

The first RCA LYRA portable to incorporate video playback, the palm-sized 20GB RD2780 RCA LYRA Audio/Video Jukebox delivers a complete digital entertainment experience in the palm of the hand. About the size of a small picture frame with a 3.5-inch Thin Film Transistor (TFT) LCD screen, the RCA LYRA Audio Video Jukebox also acts as a computer storage device, compatible with multiple audio and video codecs, and can be easily connected to most standard television sets. Measuring a compact 5.2 x 3.14 x 0.98 inches, the versatile RD2780 can play mp3, mp3PRO and Windows Media Audio files.

"Adding video functionality to the digital audio product line is a natural progression for us as we continually seek ways to expand our consumer base and add value," said Redmond. "The RCA LYRA Audio/Video Jukebox is designed to go beyond the digital enthusiast audience and attract both young consumers and frequent travelers looking for an easily portable entertainment source that will deliver hours of entertainment."

Consumers can watch up to 80 hours of pre-recorded television shows, feature films, or home videos directly on the RD2780. It easily connects to a television set via its composite video output and includes both audio and video recording mode. Since the device is essentially a computer peripheral with a hard drive, the display screen can also be used to organize digital audio song files or other types of stored data, including computer files such as word processing documents and presentations. The RCA LYRA Audio/Video Jukebox is also a portable photo album, since JPEG images can be viewed on the RD2780, by either transferring them directly from the PC using a USB 2.0 high-speed connection or by inserting a Compact Flash memory card. The vast hard drive in the RCA LYRA Audio/Video Jukebox can accommodate up to 100,000 JPEG images.

Using the enclosed MusicMatch management software, users can also organize hundreds of hours of mp3 audio files using ID3 tag song data to display artist, album, song title and genre. Music fans can listen to their collection of mp3 files using one of nine playback modes, including normal play, shuffle and repeat, or by programming their own playlists. While listening to music files, the user can also navigate through the library and "tag" songs he or she would like to hear later, or delete from the device.

Other convenience features include auto resume, which "remembers" the track location and volume setting when the power was shut off, and returns to that same spot when the power is returned. Adding to the overall value of the RD2780 are the included AC/DC adapter, e.clipzä clip-style stereo headphones, an audio/video patch cable, carrying pouch and recharge cradle. The RD2780's car kit provides hours of audio entertainment through a cassette adapter. The RD2760 can play for up to 15 hours with its Lithium Ion rechargeable battery

I have an iPod Mini and i love it but it only plays music!!! Yet I still love it. I am thinking about buying this item because it look and seems better then the Archos and you can recorde video + dvds to this. So i would get this product over the Archos because im going to italy in april and i want somting to keep me occupied (for 7 houres) oh ya i also have a portable DVD player but it is way WAY to big so if your thinking about getting a portable dvd player over this dont unless your just going to use it for 1-2 houres at a time. <br />