RCA Lyra RD2780 (20 GB) Digital Media Player

Love that this gizmo is capable of carrying 80 hours of video which allows loading of the equivalent of 30+ DVD's and playing them anywhere. Taken along on a trip, it can be plugged into a larger screen and serve as the "player" for so many movies. Down size is limited battery time, but there are auxilliary devices that use "AA" batteries.

If you do a search for this player you will find a lot of refurbished players and not too many new ones. Why is that? I think these players were poorly designed when they left the factory and even refurbishing them cant fix the design flaws. Plus this is an old model.

I bought one of these refurbs and have had nothing but problems. Really short battery life, less than 2 hours fully charged while playing videos, problems playing loaded video files. Constant resetting or rebooting. DOESNT PLAY MP4 FILES, DONT BE FOOLED!! plays only MPG files well. Plays AVI files but with tricky settings. This is an old model that cant play the new file formats even with the updated files from RCA's website. In short I would avoid this player like the PLAGUE. The price might be good for less than $200 but dont be fooled. Spend a little extra and get a IPOD VIDEO. Less headaches and you get MP4 playback.

The player I have works correctly 70% of the time but its frustrating. So if you gamble on this player dont spend more than $125 or its not worth the risk. I paid $102 with shipping so I kinda got what I paid for but I wish I'd seen a review like this one beforehand.

It does have some positive but they get overshadowed by the negatives. It has very good picture qualiyt on the player and thru the output. Its recognized as a mass storage unit in windows so you can drag and drop files, no ITUNES to play with. The screen is bigger than the Ipods but the unit itself is kinda big for a portable player. It cant fit in your pants pocket.

This is just my experience with this player. Some others really like their players but just be aware of what may happen. I hope this helps you in your decision making.

Out of the box I loved the Lyra and palyed away for a full week and the more I played the more bad things I learned.

THE BAD:

1. Captured video is in ASF format, which makes editing more complicated.

2. Not any JPG will work in the picture viewer - be warned.

3. 6 Hour Charge = 2 Hour Playback.

4. CANNOT BACKUP YOUR OWN DVDS. RCA restricts users from backing up copyrighted works which severely restricts the usefullness of the device since you cannot backup your own dvds.

Although it has a NICE CLEAR TFT SCREEN, it had just too many bugs to be worth even a reduced $200 price tag. Go IPOD VIDEO -- better for the $$

I like the portability,and the screen is pretty good. Battery lasted for a trip from the east coast to the west coast. No problem with the sound volume while on the plane. Appreciate the separate volume control from all the other controls. Problems: 1)Hard to copy compressed video, 2) will not copy protected DVDs like an archos, 3) takes too many commands to start a playback.

I love just about everything about the music player. The one thing I don't like is the size. If you plan on using it when your working out I would buy a an apple ipod.

This unit is horrid...the software has issues,locks up needing a re-boot.And to top it off the plastic joysticks fall apart after only a few weeks use.You cannot brouse through your songs when one is already playing...and some jpgs lock it up.You cannot play songs while you view photos.

Battery life is horrible...and the first hard drive in mine died also...upgraded it with a 30 gig...and made my own cabled controller and soldered it to the units board after the joysticks quit.

I would not buy another one of these for more than $40...new.

Rest assured ....go ahead and buy it ...then you will remember you were warned.

Why do you think they are being unloaded on Ebay? And some are refurbished warranty returns from the folks who bought them a few years ago and paid big bucks....

Avoid!

Metalhead100

This versitile little device may not be the exhaulted "IPOD", but it does a super job with everything short of battery life. The best part is it is update-able by an ebayer who can replace the battery with a super efficient one and could even upgrade the hard drive for astronomical storage. Mine comes with me on airline flights and is perfect for sitting on the tray table. It carrys my vacation pics, favorite CD's and a dozen flicks at a time. I have a hard time giving a 13 year old a $200-300 dollar "toy" to carry around when they cant keep track of the hat they left home in this morning. Plus, if you want to be a little different, the Lyra surely gets notice. I've been able to record 90% of all DVD's I wanted and now, with the secret reveled earlier on this thread, I'll now be able to record ANY DVD I want, so there.... Buy one, you cant go wrong for the price.

I hadn't heard of this thing until I saw how cheap they were on eBay and wanted to see what it was all about.

It exceeded my expectations in every aspect of its functionality. No complaints. Anyone with even a basic understanding as to HOW these things work will love it. If you're a computer idiot and find iTunes hard then don't buy, you're stupidity will not allow you to enjoy this fine piece of RCA designing.

there is nothing to love about this product.worse voice quility and also you have to reset the palyer quite often.i don't belive that company like RCA makes worse product like this.

The RD2780
-has a huge hard drive
-big and clear screen
-long battery life
-comes with many goodies(TV out kicks ass)

RCA LYRA RD2780 is one of the few gadgets around that is totally a real value for your money. Its capabilities and advantages overtake its drawbacks.
+ Huge hard disk.
+ Clear Screen.
+ Capabilities.
+ Small size.
+ Useful accessories.


- Plays only MP4 Movie, not others a stated...
- Difficult menu.
- Low quality of production, especially the buttons.

Conclusion:
-----------
It definitly worth the $150 I have spent to buy it here at EBAY. Recommended to all. But, if you need sth better then try the CREATIVE ZEN VISION 30 GB (not the M black version).
Theodoros.

I bought this 2 years ago in 2004, it was ok when i bought it but once i used the headphone jack a lot bad things began to happen.. 1. the headphone jack is a P O S..it will break down and will not be usable...another thing is the battery life..very poor 2 hours for video...

on the flip side

it has a kick stand which is very nice..thats it!!

If you want a very good MP4 player.. I adivise you to get the Archos AV500...this thing is AMAZING!!! 100X's better than the LYRA

There is a trick to record dvd
hit record on a blank screen then after 10 seconds hit play on the dvd..boom.


JUST DONT BUY THIS!!

Decided to get it from my friend and was disappointed from the start. The only real use to this piece of equipment is for videos. The screen is nicely sized but lacks the games the PSP has and the processor and menus are extremely slow which put it behind the iPod video and PSP. Definitely not a good MP3 player but ok for videos despite its extremely low playback time.

Best - iPod Video
Better - Sony PSP
Good - RCA Lyra

This was an excellent purchase in my mind, I was very pleased with the metal casing and the high quality TFT screen. It is capable of enterntaining me anywhere I go. You can just sit down and watch a movie in class or listen to your favorite music. I have to say, anything under $200.00 is a steal when buying a lyra. This thing is very versatile and can fit into your hip pocket. Comes with a tape deck converter to allow you to play your favorite songs on a cassette deck in your car. Very much worth the money, no complaints here!

Probably better units out there and I bought mine on eBay used and through somewhat deceptive advertisement. All I have is a very fancy external hard drie,as it will not function otherwise, much to my chagrin. Buttons to navigate through menus on mine are broken, thus, it powers up, but can get it do nothing else. After examining the unit, I can see that they are flimsey in their design and construction and lead to pitfalls in operation. Lots of features, but I cannot access any, so lights on, but nobody home. Unnecessarily, expensive, elaborate external hard drive, of which I have several, so it is in my collection. I am back home in Costa Rica now, so cannot return unit, as it is prohibitive to do so. (Time and money-wise) Hope yours fair better than mine, but be careful, I can see that this occurance will inevitably happen to others with this unit, as they are poorly enginerred and designed. Buyer beware!!!

I liked how you can just plug it in to a tv and view the pictures movies or music right on the screen. Also very easy to manage software.

My friend bought one about two years ago and advise-me to get it.
I do not regret buying it. I can record all music, photos and movies and carry it for any kind of travel I do.

This MP3 player allows you to be very creative with your videos, audios, and pictures. Would highly recommend to all of my friends. Bought for a Father's Day gift and he hasn't put it down yet. It travels everywhere with us.

This is the best idea for a gadget ever. But probably the worst design in history. Sometimes i think it was engineered by a spy for apple. And made it suck on purpose. It is actually better then an ipod idealy. But it was just ill concieved. The step up (because this is the old Lyra) might be better. On a positive note you can equalize each song differently. And it remembers your setting for individual songs. Records off of tv. But the buttons used to navigate is... crazy. Its like a futuristic handheld with a 1920 housing. Its ok to own. Just dont pay an arm or leg for it.

This MP3 player is bulky and gaps gapless music. The screen resolution is not very good and has poor colors.

Overall, this unit has excellent video quality, average sound and a lousy battery. I modified this unit by installing a 100GB laptop hard drive and use it to store my Old Time Radio collection. Used for spoken words or audio books, this is execllent. To convert DVD's to AVI files, I use the freeware SUPER multimedia converter. Also, the 123 and multi file ID3 tag editors come in handy for managing the files. Right now there are 5451 mp3 files on the disk and it takes about 15-20 minutes to profile the disk. If the battery life was better, this would get a higher rating.

Archos is way better in every way!!! - size, support, user friendly interface, external speaker, battery life and battery is user replaceable for $10, build quality - everything! I have had a Lyra, Neuros and many Archos 420 units - the Archos is by far the best!

I bought an RCA LyraRD2780 (to replace my "no longer functioning ArchosAV320.) The Lyra worked for 1 day ONLY. The seller claimed it was NEW (used only once.)At best..she should have claimed it was "like new."
RCA tech support was of "no use" to me. I would have had to pay $125 to repair (or replace it.)
I will never buy ANY RCA product again.