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Thomson/RCA Pocket-sized Personal Multimedia Recorder

March 30th, 2006

Thomson today announced retail availability of the LYRA X3000 by RCA, a pocket-sized Personal Multimedia Recorder that easily enables direct recording of audio and video content from multiple sources without using a computer.

Content-hungry consumers can use the LYRA X3000 for watching favorite TV programs on the device, moving favorite shows to a different display as a mobile source of entertainment, and for storing and enjoying an enormous volume of music and photo files. The X3000 is now on sale with a suggested retail price of $399.

The compact LYRA X3000 enables consumers to watch up to 80 hours of video, listen to some 300 hours of mp3 music, or store up to 10,000 JPEG images.

The X3000 allows consumers an array of recording options. Using an included home theater docking base, consumers can easily record audio/video directly from an external source, such as analog TV, DVD player, CD player or camcorder. Video and audio recording can even be time shifted when using the docking base in conjunction with the included IR Blaster. When transferring video, the included DivX transcoder software enables conversion of video files to DivX format for playback of any video. Using a removable lithium ion battery, the X3000 provides up to four hours of constant video playback, enabling consumers to watch multiple movies on a single charge.

Compatible with both pay-per-song and subscription services, the LYRA X3000 can store hours of mp3 music, Windows Media Audio music, and Audible audio book files on its 20GB hard drive. Ready to entertain right out of the box, the X3000 comes pre-loaded with two country music videos from the American Music Channel, a free 7-day trial to Yahoo! Music Unlimited, and 100 free music downloads from emusic.com. ID3 tag song data with artist, album, song title and genre is displayed on the viewing screen. Music buffs can listen to their collection of mp3 files using one of nine playback modes, including normal play, shuffle and repeat. The included free Yahoo! Music Engine enables creation of playlists and facilitates management of personal digital music catalogs.

“If content is king, then LYRA X3000 is well worthy of the crown,” said Thomson’s Dan Collishaw, Chief Operating Officer of Thomson’s Americas Audio/Video and Accessory businesses. “The X3000 adds great value to the burgeoning portable video player market through its ability to record directly from external sources and compatibility with a wide range of audio download services” Collishaw added.

Additionally, this versatile jukebox offers the capability to create slide shows with zoom and photo rotation, as well as music accompaniment. Digital photos are easily transferred from an SD memory card or compatible camera without a computer, or audio, video, and photos can be moved from a PC to the device using the high speed USB connection. Further, a built-in microphone located on the top of the unit lets consumers record voice notes describing individual photo slides, and also lets the X3000 function as a voice recorder.

Although compact in size, the LYRA X3000 by RCA boasts a 3.6-inch TFT ultra-bright color LCD screen with 320 x 240 resolution for brilliant color reproduction. The lightweight portable entertainment device weighs under eight ounces and is only 3/4 of an inch thick.

Providing versatility and flexibility, the X3000 is packaged with a full accessory kit, including:

* Thick plastic cover case to protect X3000�s display from scratching and denting
*Two RCA input/output cables for recording in near DVD quality and playing back video with 480 lines of resolution.
* Car DC adapter for charging X3000 in the car
* Earbud style headphones
* 3- Device Universal Remote Control for recording from or playing content on the TV set

Entry Filed under: Communications