RCA DRC8000N DVD Recorder

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RCA DRC8000N

Write
~~CDR~~
~~CDRW~~
~~DVD-R~~
~~DVD-RW~~
~~DVD-R DL~~
DVD+R
DVD+RW
~~DVD+RDL~~
~~DVD-RAM~~

Read*

CDR
CDRW
DVD-R
DVD-RW
DVD-R DL?
DVD+R
DVD+RW
DVD+R DL
~~DVD-RAM~~

*based on user reports.

Desktop, USB

$400

6.3/10
19 votes
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comments
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DVD Player features:
Video formats:
~~DivX~~ JPG
Audio formats:
MP3 DVD-MP3 ~~WMA~~
Other features:
Progressive Scanning

Visit manufacturer's site
Region code free hack

DVD Media comments for this DVD Recorder (click on the link to read the comments):
1 CompUSA 2.4xDVD+RW (INFODISCA01) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 HP 8xDVD+R (CMC MAG.E01) comments, 0 good, 0 mixed, 1 poor.
Post your DVD Media comments here

Comments

25 comments, Showing 1 to 25 comments

Misha from United States reported August 02, 2005:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR? CDRW?	DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL?	DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL?	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3? CVD?	over 1 year	7 of 10
DVD-RAM?
Comments:
Correction on my last post. Compuserv media should read Comp USA Brand does not work at all on this RCA dvd burner. Sorry fingers worked faster than my brain.

Misha from United States reported July 29, 2005:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR? CDRW?	DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL?	Few DVD+R DVD+RW DVD+R DL?	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3? CVD?	over 1 year	7 of 10
DVD-RAM?
Comments:
I have burned apx 300 discs so far and have found this machine to be fairly reliable, but it has some quarks. I have recently run into a problem with the new media 8X or higher. It will not record. I called RCA and they were of no help. They refered me to a service center who had no more information than RCA. After going to RCA.com and Thomson I still have no answers and there doesn't seem to be a customer teck info anywhere. I found this forum and after reading comments by another person "Too bad Thomson/RCA chose not to release firmawre updates on their DVD recorder products." I fear I am stuck with a lemon if 4X media should dissapear. I will never buy another RCA product again simply because customer service is not avaliable!!! The booklet that came with product says that after a time the library needs to be deleted but no instructions as to how to do that. I finally figured it out for myself. Don't ask me how as I manage to do it by hit and miss. RCA TOLD ME HOW TO ERASE ALL OF THE LIBRARY. HOLD STAND BY BOTTON AND STOP BUTTON FOR 3 SEC. THIS WORKS BUT YOU LOOSE ALL LIBRARY INFO AND IT GOES BACK TO 1. I found some media works some doesn't. ALL ARE 4X PhillipsR+W,FugifilmR+W,Maxell+R video,Memorex+RW,Imation+RW Compuserv+R didn't work and any thing 8X didn't work. Anyone out there know other brands that works?

JimW from United States reported July 25, 2005:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR? CDRW?	DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL?	Few DVD+R Few DVD+RW DVD+R DL?	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3? CVD?	over 1 year	8 of 10
DVD-RAM?
Comments:
The problems with media are no so much a brand issue but an issue of write speed strategy and newer 4X-16X media burning characterists. This unit was manufactured to use with 2.4X media and will work great with 2.4X media. This is one reason people have had better experience with +RW (mostly 2.4X until recently) than +R. Experience of burning with +R at 4X is mixed and +R at 8X and above is terrible. Results very with brand at higher speed but Verbatim has been a bit better than other 4X and up. Too bad Thomson/RCA chose not to release firmawre updates on their DVD recorder products. They may no be designed with flash upgrade components but that seems unlikely. It is a really solid unit and a performs quite well when fed 2.4x media.

jonthevideot from Canada reported June 18, 2005:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR CDRW	DVD-R DVD-RW DVD-R DL?	DVD+R DVD+RW DVD+R DL	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3 CVD?	120 days	9 of 10
~~DVD-RAM~~
Comments:
Great recorder. Bought it for $129 (Canadian, not real money) as a lark to see if it would work. Did everything I expected and more. Guide Plus is a great feature that was unexpected (it's a TV guide that downloads every night that you can browse through and,if you want to record a program, all you do is press a button on the remote). 3 hour mode is still waaaaay clearer than VHS. I would have given it a 10 rating, but it is finicky (sometimes it freezes if you ask it to do too much at one time and you have to pull the plug for a while). Just yesterday I tried to play a genuine Stargate SG-1 DVD and the machine shut itself down, turned itself on again, and then shut down again. Now Guide Plus will not come on. I think some code on the DVD reprogramed the machine. Still worth a 9 considering the price is little more than a DVD player plus pocket change.

Olive E Thomas from United States reported April 08, 2005:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR? CDRW?	DVD-R DVD-RW DVD-R DL?	DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL?	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3? CVD?	180 days	1 of 10
DVD-RAM?
Comments:
This lousy POS unaccountably decided to shut down just after finshing a once in a lifetime recording of Pope's funeral and now I can't access the disc! Thanks a lot RCA! Should've recorded it on a Betamax. Also, there's no way to edit or delete the "library" listing of DVD recordings.

Wolf from United States reported January 05, 2005:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR? CDRW?	DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL?	DVD+R? DVD+RW DVD+R DL?	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3? CVD?	90 days	9 of 10
DVD-RAM?
Comments:
This is a followup to my comments made a few months ago in which I didn't give a numerical rating. My DRC8000N is still working great, and I haven't had any problems. Not a lot of features, but it does everything it's advertised to do just fine. Two minor gripes: 1) Recording on +RW disks, each program consumes a couple of minutes more than the actual length of video recorded, So, for example, if I try to record three 1-hour programs to fill up a disk in 3-hour recording mode, the last program will report only 58 minutes or so of recording time available. Maybe it's a matter of overhead from RW formatting. 2) The disk library is nice, but it has renumbered some of my disks after I erased the content. For example, the disk it originally gave disk number 6 is now number 1. However, the unique disk label that I can create for each disk is still OK. It's just the auto-numbering that is getting messed up. Just it's just a matter of relying on the disk label, not the disk number that the system generates automatically. Overall, I'm very happy with this recorder.

Caleb from United States reported November 29, 2004:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR CDRW?	DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL?	DVD+R DVD+RW DVD+R DL?	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3 ~~WMA~~ CVD?	300 days	8 of 10
DVD-RAM?
Comments:
Ups: - Incredible Progressive Scan; Haven't seen one DVD skip since I've had it - Plays almost everything I put in it - Records TV, VHS, and Camcorder onto DVD Downs: - Sometimes freezes up on you - DVD menus stink - Won't play WMA discs Feature not to miss: USB port for showing pictures and playing music Recomendation: Best Progressive Scan I've seen, will play almost anything, has a USB, and you can record off of anything you stick into an input. Great buy.

Wulf from United States reported November 13, 2004:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR? CDRW?	DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL?	DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL?	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3? CVD?	N/A	No rating
DVD-RAM?
Comments:
I'll wait a few more weeks before I give this recorder a rating number, but so far after about two weeks it's worked very well. I have recorded a total of 30 to 40 hours on ten different Sony +RW disks with no problems. Some recordings have been copying from a PVR, and others were timer recordings. The Guide Plus also works well in my area, but I haven't used it for setting up any recordings. The recorder has really worked flawlessly and video quality is excellent up to 4-hour mode. It does take a while to respond at times. For example after deleting a recording, it might take a minute for it to be ready to accept the next command from the remote. I don't think that's a problem, just the way DVD recorders work. My unit is a refurb bought on ebay.

Bob R. from United States reported November 11, 2004:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR? CDRW?	DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL?	DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL?	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3? CVD?	N/A	1 of 10
DVD-RAM?
Comments:
This recorder only worked for 4 months and has been in repair center for months. RCA warranty center says they will not honor their warranty as listed on their internet site! RCA warranty center claims they have the right to change terms of their warranty at any time! I will never buy another RCA/Thompson product!

firefoxv from United States reported August 10, 2004:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR? CDRW?	DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL?	DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL?	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3? CVD?	N/A	9 of 10
DVD-RAM?
Comments:
I've had this recorder for about 15 months. The Guide+ has issues working with my cable provider, but I've yet to have an issue with timer recordings. I manually set all the pertinent info and the unit records like clockwork. Overall for my first standalone DVD recorder, I've no regrets.

Larry from United States reported June 01, 2004:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR? CDRW?	DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL?	DVD+R DVD+RW DVD+R DL?	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3? CVD?	5 days	8 of 10
DVD-RAM?
Comments:
I mainly bought the RCA DRC8000N DVD Recorder to be able to convert my VHS video tapes to DVD (mostly baseball and hockey games). Since I wanted to hook up a VCR with DirecTV AND hook it up to a stereo/surround sound, I can say the diagrams and directions are poor and I had to “play “ with the cables until I got what I want. When I first hooked it up, I was able to watch one show while taping another, but couldn’t hook up the VCR properly so I could tape them. After playing with the cables more, I was able to record off the video tapes, although I somehow lost the ability to watch one show while recording another. Since that feature isn’t important to me at this time, I decided to just leave it as it and begin recording DVDs from VHS. I needed an audio splitter to connect the audio out jacks from the DVD recorder to the AUX jacks in the stereo since the audio out jacks on the DVD recorder were already used to go out to the tv in jacks. The first time I recorded from VHS, I had problems. Every time you stop a recording, the DVD recorder builds a “title.” But one time, I was in the middle of recording and it attempted to build a title. After 20-30 minutes, I knew it wasn’t right and had to unplug after 3 hrs of recording. After completing the recording and finalized it, only the last hour was showing, so I lost the first 3 hours. (I was frustrated and wanted to return it.) However, since that time, I have recorded about 10 DVD’s from VHS with NO PROBLEMS. Here’s something important that I didn’t see in the manual. Since you can’t manually insert chapters, I kept stopping the recordings to build new titles. But later, I realized that the DVD recorder automatically inserts chapters every 3-6 minutes (I guess based on how long the recording is). Wish I knew that in the beginning. So a 3-4 hour DVD has about 30 chapters built in evenly distributed. So even though they’re not where you want them, at least they’re in the DVDs. A couple of times I tried to record from a licensed VHS and got the message “can’t copy, etc.) but other times, I didn’t and was able to copy. Like others, I also wish the user could set the length of the DVD to be recorded from the remote, but it only takes a minute. It’s important o remember to do it. Based on previous reviews, I’ve recorded at 2, 3 and 4 hours, but wouldn’t try 5 or 6 for fear of loss of quality. Finalizing the DVD upon recording only takes 3-5 minutes as someone said, so that’s no problem. I have used TDK and Maxell DVD+R and they also play on my other DVD players (Apex and Precision) with NO problems. So after only having it for 5 days, I’m very happy. I’ve recorded 8-10 ballgames and a bunch of tv shows totaling about 10-12 DVDs and 35 hours. I still don’t understand the library where it holds 400 DVD recordings, but I don’t care. It’s not a feature I really care about.

Laddy from United States reported March 01, 2004:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR? CDRW?	DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL?	DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL?	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3? CVD?	N/A	1 of 10
DVD-RAM?
Comments:
I've had this recorder since last November. While its recording quality is superb in the 1, 2, 3, and 4 hour modes, it is simply an unreliable recorder with respect to timed recording. My unit continually locks up from time to time. If I'm lucky, I can get back to the menu to find out what caused the recording to stop prematurly. Most of the time it simply locks up and the only way to unlock it is to unplug it. Sometimes it says the recording stopped because the disk is faulty. Yet I never have any problems burning a movie to the same disk using Nero. Furthermore, disk checking software indicates no defects in the disks. This problem occurs with all different +RW media I've tried. This recorder is simply not ready for primetime. I'm sorry I wasted my money. Don't waste yours.

checkin it out from United States reported January 20, 2004:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR? CDRW?	DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL?	DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL?	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3? CVD?	N/A	No rating
DVD-RAM?
Comments:
Regarding the freezing of the RCA when using the Tivo series 1 (which I have), I too have experienced freezing. The problem seems to be eliminated by installing a Sima Copymaster (www.Simacorp.com)- ($60.00) on the video input from the Tivo series 1. It can be connected on the S-video input or composite video input. This somehow stabilizes the picture and prevents the RCA from freezing. checkin

checkin it out from Other reported January 12, 2004:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR? CDRW?	DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL?	DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL?	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3? CVD?	N/A	No rating
DVD-RAM?
Comments:
I just tried TMPGEnc DVD author based on Igo's former suggestion. It rocks... and works under Windows 98se. No producing the video or demultiplexing, you just edit the video and it saves in DVD format - total time about 20 min. It cuts HOURS out of the process, since no encoding of the video takes place. Since I have Win 98SE, it saves in a DVD folder and I use Nero to burn. This is the fastest and easiest way to go!

checkin it out from Other reported January 12, 2004:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR? CDRW?	DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL?	DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL?	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3? CVD?	N/A	No rating
DVD-RAM?
Comments:
last update (hopefully) I previously said that when I demultiplexed the video using womble mpeg-vcr, it worked. I was wrong- I got an error saying "there is no common media type between these pins" However, when I changed the audio from 48khz to 44.1khz, produced it, then demultiplexed it and brought it into MYDVD (version 4 that came with my Sony DVD burner), everything works! The DVD is now produced! The sound now syncs perfectly!!! Ahhh, life is good!

Jason from Other reported January 12, 2004:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR? CDRW?	~~DVD-R~~ ~~DVD-RW~~ DVD-R DL?	DVD+R DVD+RW DVD+R DL?	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3 ~~WMA~~ CVD?	N/A	2 of 10
~~DVD-RAM~~
Comments:
The one I bought at radio shack was of poor quality. I had it for 2 weeks, and of teh three retail dvd movies i played, it would skip 3 or more times on play back, though I did only play the movies on 1.5 zoom. I had limited success w/ udf mp3's (most files would not be shown), and had better sucess w/ iso dvd format. The 3 hour record mode was normal tv quality, the 4 hour mode was only slightly less quality. Plays dvd backups made w/ ifoedit just fine, infact, even better than original (because you could use 1.85:1 aspect ratio instead of only the 2.35:1 a.k.a. 16:9. The channel guide was of no use to me since i have digital cable, and the IR blaster was pointless. The remote was a joke, small buttons, and few of them on a small remote. The dvd player it self wasn't overly nice lookinf, only the magnavox looks worse. You are only given a standard complement of inputs and outputs, except that you get both a digital coaxial and optical output. Setup was easy enough. The recorded tv seemed to play flawlessly, though the clock was fairly inaccurate. I would lose 10 minutes a week, perhaps if it were pluged into regular analog cable, it might self correct. The LCD display was nice and large, and recording starts immediatly after pusing the record button. The usb 1.0 port seems a little outdated considering that ther is now usb 2.0, and DV input now available. The mp3 play menu is a little tricky and slow, but usable. The fan is a little annoying if you sit too close to it. Perhaps if my player had worked, I might have kept it and given it a 4 rating w/ a 10 probably being the most expensive model on the market, but once I learned about the pioneer 310s, I saw what a dvd recorder should be. Once mine comes in to the store, I'll write a full review after i test it, but all I can say is time slip on a dvd-RW :) :) :)

checkin it out from Other reported January 11, 2004:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR? CDRW?	DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL?	DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL?	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3? CVD?	N/A	7 of 10
DVD-RAM?
Comments:
one more update: I had trouble importing the edited mpg video (taking out the commercials) into Sonic's MyDVD- it would not accept the video. However, once I took the extra step of demultiplexing the video into mpv and mpa files using Womble's built in demultiplexer and importing the resulting mpv files into Sonic's MYDVD, everything works. MyDVD automatically associates the MPA files (created on demultiplexing) with the MPV files and links the files (part 1, part2, etc seamlessly for the entire program. The sound seems to sync pretty well with the picture.

checkin it out from Other reported January 10, 2004:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR? CDRW?	DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL?	DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL?	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3? CVD?	N/A	7 of 10
DVD-RAM?
Comments:
Update on my prevous comment. To burn a DVD-R using Nero, simply use DVD2one and copy the files directly from the DVD+RW to the hard drive using movie only mode. There seems to be duplicate titles, I just choose the first one. The resulting files can be burned using Nero.

checkin it out from Other reported January 09, 2004:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR? CDRW?	DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL?	DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL?	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3? CVD?	N/A	No rating
DVD-RAM?
Comments:
Just bought this unit from Sam's club for the low price ($339) and the easy return policy. Works fine with Ritek DVD+RW. Plays back on my portable Panasonic fine as well as my Sony DVD player. In respose to the comments below about how to transfer video to DVD-R, I can rip the video with DVDdecrypter in movie only mode, combine the VOBs into one using DVD2one in movie only mode (you choose the first VOB and it connects the rest), then burn using Nero. If I wish to edit out commercials before I burn, the Womble mpeg2vcr will do that and convert my VOB's to mpg which I can then author and burn using Sonic's MYDVD. All in all a good DVD writer. It gets a 7 because it will not burn on DVD-R directly, and it's remote is kind of small, but so far I'm pretty happy with it.

Gus from Other reported December 24, 2003:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR CDRW	DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL?	DVD+R DVD+RW DVD+R DL?	VCD XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3 CVD?	N/A	7 of 10
DVD-RAM?
Comments:
Overall this is a good unit, but I have had it jam up on me a couple of time, requireing me to unplug the machine. Zero coasters, though. Love the Sat controls integrated with the timers. Guide+ is neat . Been using Verbatim DVD+RW's with no problems. Also been using Ritek DVD+R's with no problelms. Plays MP3's real well - and it even displays the song title on the screen as a part of the screen saver. Menus are easy to use. The remote is a little on the minimalist side, but also easy to use. The "fastest" three speeds are real good for programs you intend on keeping. The "Normal" speed is good for everyday use, and "basic" is good for 6 hr recording while away for a while. The "Low" 8 hr mode is rather poor, but if total legenth is your concern, it works. As with anything, the better the input source, the better the recording. Flexibility of renaming menus and the like is real good. However, if you fill the disk up, you will not be able to rename anything. One thing, though, is when you record from Guide+, it automaticly adds the name of the program as the title, as well as the description. Good unit for the price. Sam's has the best price right now.

Gary Bubar from Other reported December 21, 2003:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR? CDRW?	~~DVD-R~~ ~~DVD-RW~~ DVD-R DL?	Few DVD+R Few DVD+RW DVD+R DL?	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3? CVD?	N/A	6 of 10
~~DVD-RAM~~
Comments:
This player/recorder will not play DVD's copied using XCopy (from my computer). The player will turn itself off at the XCopy warning. I have had no problems with coping TV programs. The DVD's it copied play on this and other players which I have. I have been using Verbatim, Memorex and Fuji DVD media. I purchased this player/recorder at Sam's Club for $338.00 with a $50.00 rebate, for a total price of $288.00. Considering the reason I got this recorder was to record TV programs it meets my needs.

Igo Fasch from Other reported December 11, 2003:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR? CDRW?	DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL?	DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL?	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3? CVD?	N/A	8 of 10
DVD-RAM?
Comments:
Very easy to use and DVD quality at 1 hour and 2 hour modes are great. Quality somewhat softer (but still nice) at 3 hour mode. Best thing about this recorder----you can record to a DVD+RW, take the disk to your PC and use TMPGEnc DVD Author and edit and burn to permanent DVD+R in less than 20 mins. I had another brand of DVD+R stand alone recorder and TMPGEnc DVD Author nor any other DVD editing program could read past the first VOB file. The RCA recorder is great!

Dtune from Other reported December 03, 2003:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR? CDRW?	DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL?	DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL?	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3? CVD?	N/A	No rating
DVD-RAM?
Comments:
This is my first standalone dvd recorder so I don't have much prior experience to compare it to, but overall I have been impressed with this unit. I also got mine at Sams Club and found the $50 rebate online (I'm holding off on the rebate until I'm past the return period for Sams, in case of a problem...or a better deal comes along...) Recording is a snap with this unit. I've been using Imation dvd+r and have had no problems. The recordings look very good. The Guide+ makes setting up timer recordings very easy off cable. I have a few dislikes, but they are minor; -the menus are sometimes confusing; it can be difficult to find the option to finalize the disc, or to find the disc # that is currently in the recorder (the recorder maintains a disc library in memory and assigns disc numbers) -the fan runs constantly, even when the unit is turned off (soft power off), and can be heard in a quiet room -my pc won't copy discs created in this recorder; Instant Copy and Nero5 both report an error on the source disc (I'm hoping to find a solution to this one); the discs play fine in a standalone dvd player

Axel Ahlberg from Other reported November 23, 2003:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR? CDRW?	DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL?	DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL?	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3? CVD?	N/A	7 of 10
DVD-RAM?
Comments:
I also bought from Sams Club for $338 and with the current $50 rebate from RCA this is definitely a bargain in today's market. I have had the unit 3 days now and have burned 4 DVDs, 1 in one hour mode - one in two hour mode and 2 in four hour mode. My original intention was to capture the 30+ hours of VHS and Hi-8 analog videotape I've got of my children growing up that span the last 21 years. For that purpose, at this price point, this unit is hard to beat. It is a minimalist unit, weak in documentation with little in-depth explanation, but seems to meet the basic needs. I haven't wasted any effort so far in learning to use the built-in timer feature of guide+ and haven't bothered to hook up the timer remote to my DishNetwork PVR since I really won't use it that way. What I have done is copy two movies off the PVR, copy one music disk off my old Pioneer Laserdisk system, and copy two 2-hour VHS tapes from 21 years ago. I have so far used only the 1-hour, 2-hour, and 4-hour recording modes and only on DVD+RW disks (Verbatim). So far, I'd rate the ease of use excellent for what I have done. No recording errors of any kind and all it has taken is cueing up what I want to record on whatever device is in use for playback and hitting the record button. The titling function works well and is straightforward. The only problem I've so far encountered is playback. On the one disk recorded in 1-hour mode and on one of three commercial disks I've played through it there are occasional ( about 3-4 per hour) slight pauses in playback - similar to the kind of pause you get on a layer switch on dual-layer disks, not offensive but noticeable. On the one 2-hour recording and on the two 4-hour recordings no playback artifacts have taken place. I've tried all four recorded disks on my PC player, a Pioneer DVD-115, and no playback pauses were detected - assuring me the problem with slight pauses is in playback and not in recording. My guess would be that the playback system of my unit may have problems with high data rate playback as only some commercial disks and the one disk recorded in 1-hour mode have experienced the problem. So far, I like this unit a lot - it will make preserving all my old video tape an easy chore. The quality of the copies it makes even in four hour mode are actually superior to the original tapes seeming to normalize color balance better than the original. In two-hour mode it copies from the PVR with almost identical quality. Hard to beat for the money - and with dual-layer recorders coming soon it's hard to justify coughing up a lot of money now for a high-end recorder when you can get the essential functions out of this player for under $300 net!

sid bertsch from Other reported November 21, 2003:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR? CDRW?	DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL?	DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL?	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3? CVD?	N/A	7 of 10
DVD-RAM?
Comments:
I purchased my unit from SAM'S Club for $338. I have recorded successfully onto Sony and Fuji DVD+R and DVD+RW media and have successfully palyed back them on my laptop CD/DVD combo drive as well as my standalone Sharp DV-740. It is a very basic unit but, given its price, works very well in basic functions such as timer recording. It does not always play nicely with the Series 1 Tivo that I use with DirecTV. I have to change the the satellite channels with the Tivo remote and the RCA has crashed (frozen) several times when I recorded programs stored on the Tivo drive. Specifically, if I stop the RCA recording just as the Tivo recording ends (Tivo displays a menu asking if you would like to delete the program or not), the system freezes and I can only clear the recorder by pulling the plug. Anything recorded to the DVD+R disk during the "interrupted" session can't be accessed. Other than than, my only complaint is that its response to commands from the remote control is slow. If you are accustomed to being able to grab a VHS tape and slam it into the recorder in order to record something on the spur of the moment, you'll need to get used to planning ahead.

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Original Equipment Manufacturer.

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Write support / Read support
DVD-R = Works
~~DVD-R~~ = Is not supported
DVD-R? = Not tested

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FireWire = Computer desktop DVD Writer with IEEE 1394/FireWire/i.Link connection (some standalone desktop dvd recorder supports this also but then it is usually to connect your DV camera to the recorder)

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