Many people on this board already know how to, and do, rip dvd's and throw them onto their memory sticks to watch on the PSP. Others, including myself, sometimes just don't want to be bothered with having to rip the DVD, then convert the file, then put it onto the memory stick. I was a bit excited to see one of the recorders was finally released, as there are about 3 MPEG 4 Recorders about to be available, but this is the first one out..the Neuros MPEG 4 Recorder II. How did it fair? Read on.....

Included in the box is the unit itself (about the size of a standard USB Card reader), a remote control and 2 Composite-to-Mini jack cables. Setup is simple enough...connect DVD player to unit and unit to tv...that simple. Upon powering up, you are treated to a basic on screen menu, where you have such options as listening to MP3's, viewing pics and watching videos already on any of your memory cards. You can also go through your file folders on either card and even copy form card to card. The unit supports both MS Duo cards and CF cards, but for this test I used my MS Duo card. Beyond this, I went straight to the "Record" area and was ready to see how well the unit does.

Recording is also very simple. You hit Enter to enter the recording screen. From there, you can enter a sub menu where you can change the quality and resolution sizes. The available resolutions are QVGA (320 x 240), WQVGA (368 x 208..for PSP use) and TV VGA (640 x 480..for TV viewing). Note: You cannot record in the 640 x 480 mode for the PSP as, obviously, the PSP won't recognize that high a file. You can record in Economic, Normal, Fine and Superfine modes, but once again, only Economic and Normal are available for PSP recording use. In all modes, on a 1GB card, you can squeeze in 250 mins. in Econmic mode and 143 mins in Normal mode. For TV VGA, you can squeeze in 111 mins. in Fine mode and 60 mins. in Super Fine mode.

Ok, now for the real info....how do the movies look? I have to say very good! I just won't record in Economic Mode (it's just like EP mode on VCR/DVD Recorder), so I only use the Normal Mode and the files look good. Some look better than others and it also depends on the quality of the source too. I would say it's bettwen VCR and DVD quality for everything I have recorded. Everything runs smoothly at 30FPS and no audio issues whatsoever (hiccups, out of sync, etc.). I also tried both QVGA and WQVGA and, although the latter is supposed to be formatted for the PSP screen, I like the regular QVGA mode as I can zoom in perfectly with whatever file I record.

Overall, I really like this product. Quality is good on both the video and audio portions and it's beyond simple to record to. I figured there are a few people out there who don't want to bother ripping dvd's, etc., on their PC's, so here's a very simple way to record movies for your PSP with no hassles and very good quality. Thumbs up!

P.S. - In a very near-future upgrade, the company plane to implement the user being able to edit the movie title and/or change the thumbnail pic for them, which is a welcome little addition