What would you expect from a $25 TV?  TV Now is all that and not much more...

I recently purchased the Tiger (Hasbro Brand) TVNow Portable video player and recorder as I'm interested in below-cost technology and what it can do for me.

Here's a few warnings- firstly, TV NOW is NOT A TV. It has no on-board tuner. It will only record that which is fed TO it- for instance, a DVD,CD, VCR, TV/Satellite tuner, etc. I expected this as I read the package thoroughly so I was not surprised. However, one might assume that you were able to view TV through the device- this is not the case if the unit is not recording.

So, that being said, how does it function? The unit has a built in 2.5 x 3 inch LCD viewing screen. While the screen is color, the resolution is not optimum and can be equated to a QVGA photograph (320x240 or  .1 megapixel). Text is not readable if would not be at least 1 inch high on a 25" monitor. The screen is backlit and there is a contrast control near the AV input port.

This is a REAL-TIME recording unit which means that you must have the output PLAYING to the unit when you hit record for the unit to actually do so. Your specific input method to the unit should have some sort of FRONT AV cable connecters- otherwise you would have to unplug your video-to-monitor (TV) to plug the unit in. Since you can not view what is taking place until you press record, you might have some difficulty with this process. 

There is an onboard speaker present on the unit (mono) and a stereo headphone output (headphones not included). Volume control DOES NOT WORK while the unit is recording. Thus, you should make sure that you have headphones plugged into the unit as you're recording. Audio quality is diminished on playback, and volume decreased by 1/4.

Despite a report to the contrary on this site, and on the Tiger site at Hasbro's page, the unit has 128 MB of BUILT in memory (another review says that the memory is on a removable SD card, Hasbro's says 126 MB- suggesting their tech-writers don't seem to be too concerned with details either). It has 3 quality settings for the video, each taking progressively more memory.

• Standard quality accepts about 1.25 hours of programmming with the built in 128MB onboard memory.
• Better quality reduces the recorded time to 43 minutes
• Best quality reduces the recorded time to 30 minutes.

The unit accepts HIGH SPEED SD cards up to 2 GB. I emphasize HIGH SPEED because, while the unit will function (sort of- this remains to be seen) with the older style, a rating of less than 10 mb/s will cause the unit to function NOTICABLY slower than a high-speed card. The outer packaging does not suggest that performance will suffer using a slower speed SD card.

This is a REAL-TIME recording unit which means that you must have the output PLAYING to the unit when you hit record for the unit to actually do so. Your specific input method to the unit should have some sort of FRONT AV cable connecters. I can not find any information on loading files from the card to a computer or vice-verse - I am going to experiment with this.

The unit comes with a DC power adapter (6 Volts, 500 ma), and AV connectors (4 plugs [Video in, Aud L, Aud R, and a 3/4 inch headphone adaptor] to one 3/4 inch [headphone style] connector).

The software appears to be very simple. The menu has 4 funtions: set up, Video, Audio, and Record. Select the Setup function to set the auto-off (the unit powers down if not used/playing for 3-5-or 10 minutes; this function can be disabled). Setup also sets the quality (as above) and allows the reformat of the SD or onboard memory. Video allows the playback or deletion of memory files, likewise for audio.

The record function allows the unit to record for a set amount of time starting up to 24 hours following the recording setup, and you may record for a set-amount of time, or until the unit runs out of memory. 

The unit accepts 4 AAA batteries. We haven't had a chance to run performance testing on the battery life yet with the use of the unit. If it holds to the standard that most of these types do, the batteries will probably last between 2 and 4 hours.

I was going to buy this unit and give it to my kids along with one of my cast-off video recorders so they had the TV tuner to use as a low cost, relatively low foot-print entertainment deal. It would have been a huge mistake since they would not have been able to view their shows without recording them.

All in all, again, what do you expect for 25 bucks? I don't think I got taken- although I wish the package had been more specific. The performance issues with the SD card is my biggest Sticking point. The flexible real-time recording functions and the potential to save files that this unit MIGHT have (given the look of the file structure) are things that I would enjoy exploring more. Maybe the unit will be worth more if hacked- but as is, it's a great $25 toy; I wouldn't be willing to pay more.