Unlike a certain popular portable music player that's been massaged into a personal video player (think different), RCA's Lyra X3000 was designed from the outset for video. When it comes to peering at a portable's video screen, size does matter, and by going with a landscape layout, the X3000 manages to squeeze in a 3.6-inch screen compared to that other player's 2.5-incher. With its 20-GB hard drive, the X3000 can swallow up to 80 hours of video, 300 hours of music, or 10,000 JPEG photos — not bad, although some competitors can handle more. Unlike most other players, however, the Lyra can also record directly from both analog and digital video sources via the included docking station, which also allows you to play content stored on the X3000 through a full-size display. The package includes everything you need to use it as a home video recorder — built-in timer, remote control, even an infrared blaster that will switch the channel of your cable or satellite box when it's time to record. You can move files on or off through the USB port, and there's also an SD card slot for transferring pics from your digital camera. Coolest of all, once the DirecTV2Go service rolls out later this year, you should be able to transfer recorded shows from any DirecTV recorder to the X3000 at a blazing 10 times faster than real-time recording. The $399 X3000 is in stores now. — Michael Trei