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The HT Guys HDTV and Home Theater Podcast #314 - Black Friday predictions and Neuros OSD
By The HT Guys
Braden Russell and Ara Derderian
Posted on September 25, 2008
Category: General Interest
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Today's Show:
Dennis from Medina OH sent us a link to an article that ran down a list of Black Friday Predictions  at BlackFriday @ GottaDeal.com. We want to do the same thing. The only rules we had were not to read the article prior to making our predictions. The article has predictions about computers, computer peripherals, GPS, and all things electronic. Our predictions will stay in the realm of HDTV and Home Theater.

We also recently received an email asking us for a good solution to archive old family videos that are locked away on VHS tapes. Many options require you to use the hard drive of your computer for the recording process. Today we take a look at a devices that easily connects to your analog sources and records to multiple destinations. The Neuros OSD lets you convert your treasured videos to digital so they can be enjoyed for years to come.

Black Friday Predictions
Ara:
HDTVs
  • Target and Wal*Mart will have a tier one (SONY, Panasonic, Sharp) 32 inch LCD for less than $500.
  • BestBuy and Circuit City will have a 42 inch Plasma for $750
  • BestBuy and Circuit City will give away a Blu-ray Player with the purchase of a 60 inch Plasma
  • No one will have a door buster for a rear projection TV. Costco will have the best bang for the buck deal on one. And that deal is available today! A 65 inch Mitsubishi Medallion Series DLP  for $1900.
Blu-ray 
  • Wal*Mart will have a no name Blu-ray player for $150
  • You will be able to find a name brand Blu-ray player that supports the full Blu-ray specification for $200. 
  • Target will have a buy one get one free deal on Blu-ray Movies.
Receivers
  • The Onkyo 606 will be found for less that $300 at Circuit City
Remote Control
  • The Harmony One will go for $150 (Online Only)
  • The Harmony 880 will go for $50 after Mail in rebate (Online Only)
Braden:
HDTVs
  • 42" plasma for less than $600
  • 40" LCD for less than $600
  • 60" or greater DLP for less than $1300 to beat Tiger's current deal of a 73" Mitsubishi DLP for $1999
Blu-ray 
  • Blu-ray players for $130
  • Blu-ray movies for less than $10
Other
  • 1 TB External Hard Drive for $100
  • Brand name HTiB for under $100

 

Neuros OSD ($175 Buy Now)
The OSD is a small device that measures 14 x 14 x 3.2 cm (5.5 x 5.5 x 1.25 inches) and weighs 230g (8oz). Its made out of plastic and feels sturdy in the hands. The OSD comes with the necessary cables to connect the analog source and playback equipment. There is also an included remote which is required to navigate the OSD's onscreen menus.  The main features of the OSD include:

  • Video Capture - Record any analog video in MPEG-4 format to any USB storage device. You can even record directly to a computer of NAS device over your network.
  • Audio Recorder - Record analog audio in MP3 or AAC format to any USB storage device. You can even record directly to a computer of NAS device over your network.
  • Video Player - Play video from any USB storage device and Youtube
  • Music Player - Play music from network or USB Storage
  • Photo/Image Viewer - View Photos from USB and Network
 
Setup
Setup took five minutes. Connect the inputs, outputs and power. For our tests we used an old VCR that was laying around the house. It was kept so one day Ara could convert his old family videos to digital. So for this review even Ara's wife was excited about the potential. 
 
Once the connections were made you set the date and time. Since we also wanted to record to a network drive we tried to connected to a shared drive on Ara's video server however, the OSD could not find shared drives on any of the computers on the network. It may work better with a Windows box or NAS device but we had no way to know for sure.

Performance
We converted a bunch of old videos that were shot on VHS and VHS-C. The results we quite good. Well, as good as 10 year old VHS tapes can be. So many precious memories starting to degrade away! The digital version of the video looked every bit as good as the tape version.  A thirty minute tape was reduced to a 565 MPEG-4 video clip. The actual details are 2.6Mbps, 640x480, 30 FPS, AAC Stereo. 
 
The conversion obviously happens in real time so it will take a commitment to convert your family's video memories. At least it is a plug and play proposition. 
 
The Neuros OSD also plays back files from your computer or your attached USB storage. It can play back a wide range of formats including: 
 
  • MPEG-4 SP with MP3 audio, 30fps up to D1 resolution (720x480)
  • Quicktime 6
  • MPEG-4 AAC-LC stereo
  • MP4 format at up to D1 resolution
  • H.263 with MP3 audio
  • FLV (for Playback of YouTube videos)
  • ASF
  • AVI (including Divx and Xvid)
  • MP4
  • WMV (up to QVGA)
  • MOV
  • MPG MPEG
 
It had no issues playing back any videos we threw at it. 
 
Other than the device not recognizing the shared drives on the Mac the only other complaint we had was the GUI. While we didn't expect Apple like flare, it did leave us wanting a better experience.
 
Conclusion
The Neuros OSD is a simple and convenient way to convert your old VHS tapes to digital. It was so much fun to see videos of my children growing up and of my late father. The OSD is the kick in the pants we all need to go out and digitize our family memories! It's HT Guys tested and wife approved!

Posted by The HT Guys, September 25, 2008 11:47 PM

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About The HT Guys

The HT Guys, Ara Derderian and Braden Russell, are Engineers who formerly worked for the Advanced Digital Systems Group (ADSG) of Sony Pictures Entertainment. ADSG was the R&D unit of the sound department producing products for movie theaters and movie studios.

Two of the products they worked on include the DCP-1000 and DADR-5000. The DCP is a digital cinema processor used in movie theaters around the world. The DADR-5000 is a disk-based audio dubber used on Hollywood sound stages.

ADSG was awarded a Technical Academy Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2000 for the development of the DADR-5000. Ara holds three patents for his development work in Digital Cinema and Digital Audio Recording.

Every week they put together a podcast about High Definition TV and Home Theater. Each episode brings news from the A/V world, helpful product reviews and insights and help in demystifying and simplifying HDTV and home theater.