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Review: Neuros OSD - one device to organise all of your media

by Parm Mann on 28 January 2008, 16:04

Tags: Neuros OSD, Neuros Technology

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qalgh

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Final thoughts

The Neuros OSD has the potential to be a great solution for today's media needs. It can already do an awful lot, and with continuous firmware upgrades and plentiful community and developer support, it'll only grow to do more. The clearly apparant quirks, lacklustre interface, no built in wireless and no high definition support, don't hamper the device as you'd expect. The Neuros OSD still remains a powerful open source device that will allow you to record whatever you want, wherever you want on anything you want.

Pros

Open Source

Will playback everything you can throw at it

Always improving with firmware updates

Cons

Poor user interface

No support for high definition

No built in wireless

No power button


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HEXUS Forums :: 16 Comments

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Posted by Methanoid - Mon 28 Jan 2008 20:16
I wish the review had gone into a little more detail.

What settings are available on record? What resolutions - I see 640*480 but what about 640*352 for WS or 576*432 for 4:3 or is it configurable however we want? What file formats/codecs? What bitrates? What is the quality like (subjective)?

What devices can your record to (USB stick, memory card, NAS or PC over network connection)?

A/V devices often give you more questions than they do answers. I'm still waiting for Hexus to respond on my offer to review the Ellion digital video recorder (a little like this) and I'd have done this too :(
Posted by Funkstar - Mon 28 Jan 2008 20:30
A very tidy method of creating a library of all your DVDs.
how is this different from ripping? something that is banned on the forums, yet here you are suggesting it in a new article.

Cool little device though. I agree with Methanoid though, not a lot of depth in the article.

The community involvement, how does it work? is everything in the firsware update, or are there optional modules or plugins, like the Thecus module system for their NAS boxes, that you can install over and above the firmware.

Are there new skins available?

What is the scope of the openness of Neuros? Is everything GPLed, or is it just not locked down and a few API's have been published?

I know I could go and look, but this is Hexus, you readers are going to be expecting that kind of technical details :)
Posted by Parm - Tue 29 Jan 2008 12:09
Thanks for the feedback chaps, always appreciated. :)

I've updated the article slightly and Methanoid, here are the bits you asked for:
Recording proves to be useful, but playing back is less so. The OSD records in the standard MP4 format and though a choice of quality settings are available upon recording, the standard 640x480 VGA quality doesn't quite live up to expectations in today's high-definition world. Available resolutions are; 320x240, 352,240, 512x384, 640x480 and 672x448. Video bitrate options scale from 256kbps up to 2500kbps and audio, recordable in MP3 or AAC format, has a maximum bitrate of 128kbps.
with playback, recordings can be saved to any device you choose to connect, including networked locations. Another handy recording feature is that the OSD comes complete with preset recording settings for devices such as Sony's PSP and Apple's iPod. Selecting any such preset will define all recording resolutions and settings as appropriate for playback on the chosen device.

Funkstar:
The OSD's standard theme and indeed its standard below-average screensaver can be changed with a little tweaking, but I would have preferred to have something a little easier on the eye straight out of the box.

As for the community involvement, anything new is delivered via firmware updates. If Neuros approve of community-created components, they'll consider implementing them into a future release.

In terms of openness, almost all of the source code is released under the GPL.

I've also added a few more external links to the last page of the review, the link to the developer wiki may be of interest. :)

Thanks again for the feedback. If you've any further questions, feel free to ask.
Posted by Methanoid - Tue 29 Jan 2008 12:46
Parm

Nice work thanks… would I be really taking the pee to ask if there are any clips recorded at the higher resolutions from a good source so we could see? Just 10 seconds or so of each?

I'm seriously interested in this device. Obviously good for playback of downloaded content but I'd like to see how recorded content compares to downloaded content in quality terms. Hell the record to iPod feature might even get me buying an iPod! :)
Posted by Parm - Tue 29 Jan 2008 13:49
I'll see what I can do, if I have time this evening I'll capture some TV for you. At the latest, it'll be tomorrow. :)

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