Getting to Know Neuros OSD - The Analog to Digital Bridge

...the analog jam is the problem we face when we have content stuck on analog outputs and no convenient way to get it digital. Neuros OSD is a killer solution to that problem... enough so that they should have called it the Neuros AJF (analog jam fixer).

Most of us in the tech biz often find ourselves wading through newer versions of the same hardware - this new HD-DVD player adds this feature, this new game system has more realistic graphics, or this new MP3 player that is supposedly better than the iPod. For the tech nerd like me, the yearning to play with a new device that isn't just a better version of a 10-year old innovation is the reason we exist. Innovations are always coming out, but truly unique devices, like Slingbox or TiVo, don't come around every year.

It's for those reasons above that I wanted to give the Neuros OSD a spin. When I first heard about it last year, I knew it was a unique product, but it wasn't until I got my hands on one that I figured out how useful something like this can be. Don't get me wrong, innovative doesn't mean perfect. It has plenty of features that could use maturing, but the core of the product can be extremely useful for those in the analog jam.

The Analog Jam

What's the analog jam you ask? First, it's a term I just made up (though I'm probably not the first to think of it). More specifically, it's a way to describe the difficulty of dealing with analog only media. Take your VCR for example. No doubt you still have plenty of VHS tapes in storage, be it commercial movies or home video, and no matter how much you'd like to get that content useful again by converting it to digital, there's just no "great" or "convenient" way to do it. Sure, you could haul out your VCR, connect it to your PC, and (through a combination of time, software, and headache) maybe get decent digital video files when you're done.

Need another example? Think about your DVR. If you're in the majority of DVR owners in America, you have a set-top/DVR combo unit from your cable or satellite company (TiVo owners can skip over this part). With a DVR, your storage capacity is limited to the amount of space on your DVR's hard drive. Yes, you may be able to fit an entire season of Smallville on it, but you wouldn't have room for anything else. Choice: delete shows / don't record anything new. What if there was a way to free content from your DVR so you could archive it for later viewing or easily watch that content on your iPod, PSP, or smartphone? The content is stored digitally in the DVR, but without a way to get it out of there its no different than those VHS tapes.

Simply put, the analog jam is the problem we face when we have content stuck on analog outputs and no convenient way to get it digital. Neuros OSD is a killer solution to that problem... enough so that they should have called it the Neuros AJF (analog jam fixer).

Getting to Know Neuros OSD

Neuros OSD is a tiny box that sits between one of your source components and your TV. Neuros has its own on screen display interface, which allows you to browse, play, and record audio and video. If the Neuros isn't needed at the time, it passes transferring VHS tapes to digital (which I'm asked a lot) or a device that will let them move shows from their DVR to a portable player, Neuros OSD would be at the top of the list.