I’m a big fan of digital media recorders. I have owned my Series 2 TiVo for years now and I love it very much. I’m not sure how I got along watching television without one. What it doesn’t give me - awesome as it is - is the ability to easily take recordings off of it and move it to my laptop or iPod. What are the options? Well you can build your own MythTV box, but that takes a lot of work and technical know-how that most of us don’t necessarily possess.

ThinkGeek is selling the Neuros OSD Linux Media Recorder, which setting up is as easy as plugging it in to your TV and give it an analog video input from your DVD or cable box. Its ability to encode video in various formats for your portable devices is a TV lover’s dream. Files can be stored on and played back with either using media cards or using an USB external hard drive plugged in to the Neuros. For the more advanced technical people among us (and for whom a Linux OS is Heaven on Earth) will be delighted by its wealth of ports and the completely open source firmware. Here’s a very short list of all of the available features:

Product Features

• Standalone Linux Based Media Player connects to your TV
• Record from any external analog audio/video source such as a DVD player or Cable box
• Automatically encode video/audio for playback on mobile devices such as PSP and mobile phones
• Playback a variety of media formats on your TV including MP4, AVI, ASF, MP3, OGG, WMA, AC3
• Timed recording feature allows scheduled recordings in advance
• Storage via media cards (SD/MMC and CF) or external USB hard drive
• Browse and watch YouTube videos on your TV
• Display your Photos and Play Music Files
• IR Remote Learning and Playback
• Network Attached Storage functionality
• Updateable Open Source Firmware

Complete System Includes

• Standard A/V RCA Interface Cables (European units also contain SCART adapters)
• 110-240V AC/DC Power Supply
• Stand
• IR Blaster
• Remote Control
• Abbreviated Users Manual

Full details at ThinkGeek where you can purchase one for yourself for $199.99. It’s not cheaper than the TiVo, but it’s way more customizable.

[ThinkGeek]