RCA DRC8030N 80GB Recorder @ Walmart $198.97

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RCA DRC8030N 80GB Recorder @ Walmart $198.97

louv68 posted 2006 Dec 25 11:12

This recorder appears to be a Walmart exclusive, not found elsewhere.
Does anyone have an unbiased opinion on this unit based on price/value?

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5030815

masochrist posted 2007 Jan 02 20:01

I got one of these on eBay for $156 shipped. It works well as a DVR however editing functions are somewhat limited to chapter marking and deletion. Menus are a little wierd and take getting used to. Title naming is very easy. It seems like the only discs that can be recorded to the hard drive are discs that are created on this machine. Recording from hard drive to disc is real time only and I believe you are forced to watch it although there is a PIP function I haven't figured out yet.
NOW, Upgradeability..... I just replaced the 80GB WD800BB with a 160GB WD1600. Just open the case and remove 4 verticle screws holding the HD side brackets to the circuit board. Pull out the drive and remove IDE and power cables. Set the new drives jumper to SLAVE, swap on the brackets and carefully reinstall. It's a tight fit so watch how th cables run.
Put the cover back on, plug it in and turn it on. A screen will popup that says somthing is wrong with the HD with choices to reboot or reformat. Choose reformat. In a few seconds it will shut off. Turn it back on and your in business. Recording times increased as follows. #1 from 22 t0 46 hrs, #2 from 33 to 70 hrs, #3 from 48 to 102 hrs, #4 from 66 to140 hrs. #5 from 98 to 207 hrs, #6 from 131 to 278 hrs. I have been unable to get DVD+RW's recorded on this machine recognized by my computer, but +R and -R work fine with dvd decrypter and dvd shrink. [/b]

next posted 2007 Jan 02 20:52

Does it reformat even if the HDD has been installed before?

By this I mean if you have installed a HDD and recorded to it and then decided to install a different one - when you install the first will it reformat?

masochrist posted 2007 Jan 02 21:36

Didn't try that NEXT. I would assume it would probably either format or just work as is. The drive I used was new in the box. I also tried reading the old drive with the computer but it was not recognized. I'm using XP w/NTFS.

joelko posted 2007 Jan 03 08:14

On the 8030N, I was wonder if this con be used in conjuction with Directv.

Can it replace the current DVR?

Can it be setup after the Directv receiver if it cannot replace the Directv DVR?

thanks
joel

Webster posted 2007 Jan 03 10:04

masochrist :

I also tried reading the old drive with the computer but it was not recognized. I'm using XP w/NTFS.

Was the 80G drive still working before you removed it from the recorder?

masochrist posted 2007 Jan 03 16:29

The old 80GB was working fine. I used it for a few days before I upgraded to make sure every thing was working right so I could tell if I screwed anything up. I'm sure it will work on the computer once I format it. As far as using it with Directv you have to feed the receiver output to the RCA. I do the same with Dish Network. I don't know about your receiver but Dish has a record to VCR function that turns on the recorder instead of recording to the Dish DVR. One neat thing the RCA does is label the recording with the Dish channel, like say TVLAND or ComedyCentral unless you want to change it.

backwardbullet posted 2007 Jan 03 21:06

I cant get my dish network receiver to turn on the RCA unit what remote code did you use? If you dont mind me asking.

masochrist posted 2007 Jan 03 23:52

I haven't tried it yet with the RCA as I just got it last week. Thought it would be a good solution if it could be made to work. I usually record things manually.

Webster posted 2007 Jan 04 08:44

masochrist :

Hmmm, I wonder if RCA is formatting the drive using some kind of Linux based system..... :?: :?: It would be interesting to find out. If it is, you can access the recorded files and edit them :)

Thanks for the info. I may get one of this recorder and playing around with it once I have enough cash in my pocket.

handyguy posted 2007 Jan 04 11:26

I pretty much gave up buying anything RCA years ago.

lordsmurf posted 2007 Jan 04 13:05

Last RCA I saw was really lacking in image quality. The MPEG encodes were fairly noisy at all settings, and there were few settings.

GTLifter posted 2007 Jan 04 13:32

for the price i may have to get this, dose it have time slip?

also check it out: 150$ Delivered
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16882125056

masochrist posted 2007 Jan 05 00:53

No hard drive on the one at Newegg.

dkll3032 posted 2007 Jan 08 10:06

hey i just got a rca 80gb dvd recorder and after setting it up with my brighthouse digital box. i can't seem to get all the channels listed on the rca except for channel 3.
does anyone use their rca with a satellite box and figured out if they can get more channels.
thanks

masochrist posted 2007 Jan 08 17:40

I would imagine your box only outputs channel 3. Just change channels the way you did before.

dkll3032 posted 2007 Jan 08 18:12

masochrist thanks...i did but without a channel search on the dvr player which is hooked up the way it is recommended. tv to dvr to digital box to wall, basiclly. i won't be able to watch one channel and a different one thru the digital box. end result being what ever channel i am watching on the dvr the same channel is playing on the digital box. i guess my next question should be, when connecting as recommended did i miss something when it says you can connect tv n cable box about watching one channel "click input on the remote "so you can record one thing and watch another

kking posted 2007 Jan 08 18:13

I'm looking at this item, but want to be sure I can use it to burn a DVD from my digital camcorder. Does this model have the ilink connection? This is a IEEE 1394 (Firewire) cable with a very small connector.

backwardbullet posted 2007 Jan 09 06:45

Nope this model does not have firewire.

iMick posted 2007 Jan 13 16:59

Does anyone else hear a fain "heartbeat" sound when viewing recorded shows and dvd's? When I burn one of my shows to a dvd, I hear this. It's very annoying. I've tried the dvd on other tv's and have the same problem.

Compubooth posted 2007 Jan 26 11:31

Ref iMick's posting of Jan 13, 2007 as follows: "Does anyone else hear a fain "heartbeat" sound when viewing recorded shows and dvd's? When I burn one of my shows to a dvd, I hear this. It's very annoying. I've tried the dvd on other tv's and have the same problem."

The sole reason I am now a member of this forum is due to my research looking for a review of the RCA DRC8030N 80 GB Recorder which I had purchased at Wal-Mart.

I too immediately noticed the "heartbeat" sound when viewing recorded shows both on the HD and the DVD medium. I did try everything I could think of related to my old 30" Toshiba CRT TV but to no avail. I thought about trying it on the TV in the bedroom but after reasoning it out, I just didn't believe it would help. I exchanged the first recorder I purchased for another just like it but the same "heartbeat" sound could be heard.

I liked the subject recorder exceptionally well especially the libraries. I had tried several types of DVD recorders mostly DVD/VCR combos but this was the only unit I liked enough to keep. However, since I could not resolve the "heartbeat" sound problem, I gave up, returned it to Wal-Mart and got my money back.

If anyone has an idea what causes this sound problem, please advise.

theewizard posted 2007 Jan 29 22:20

I bought my unit early last week and connected it Thursday night, i have not noticed this sound in my recordings, and i have not had any problems with the tuner.

my only real problem was when transferring a 2hr recording ( made in #1 quality , 1hr per DVD ) from the Hd to DVD, the automatic quality reduction ( too fit it on the DVD ) was a washed out ,too bright picture with NO contrast

recordings made in lower settings , copied to DVD with no change and are quite good, even the 1hr recording in #1 quality copied to DVD with NO problems

I would like to see a ' tivo' style hack, where the HD can be accessed by a PC.

specs #6 8hrs on DVD, #5 6hrs, #4 4hrs, #3 3hrs, #2 2hrs, #1 quality BEST mode 1hr per DVD

xxiangg posted 2007 Jan 29 23:57

Radioshack has a similar 80G/DVD recorder for $99.
It is in store only. I do not know its quality. But it
seems the price is good.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2123209& ... age=search

FulciLives posted 2007 Jan 29 23:59

xxiangg :

Well damn ... that's a new price point. First stand alone DVD recorder with a built-in HDD for $100 that I have seen on the market.

Of course it's probably shit LOL

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

theewizard posted 2007 Jan 31 23:37

well my first 'major' disapointnet, this thing refused to transfer 'any DVD' I made on my PC to the DVR HD

nothing has any CP, these were the wifes 'Olympic' videos I made last yr from TV captures

so far the only thing, i have been able to transfer to the DVR-HD is from the RW disc made on the machine

I did have some I hoped to store on the HD, for watching at anytime.

i am not likeing the idea of REALTIME transfer via S-video connection from another DVD player

although that maybe what i have too do

will any other DVD-DVR do a NO cables transfer from internal player to internal HD

and tonight while playing a movie I heard the 'heartbeat' for the first time, this from a DVD burned on PC, not on the RCA

maybe i need to shop for the Polaroid 2001G or the accurian from radio shack

FulciLives posted 2007 Feb 01 00:13

Just buy a "real" DVD recorder ala the Pioneer DVR-640H-s or the Toshiba RD-XS35

Also the Pioneer does what you want ... copy a DVD-R to the HDD then back to a fresh DVD-R ... as long as there is no copy protection.

My guess is the RCA only works that way when it is a VR mode DVD disc.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

theewizard posted 2007 Feb 01 00:31

im guessing by real you mean much more expensive , if I had that money I would, I only want to go one way, from the the burned DVD that plays to the HD for archive and easy play, mainly the wifes stuff.

the 'APRECIATION' points are enormous are worth all the effort

FulciLives posted 2007 Feb 01 01:02

theewizard :

So your wife is too lazy to put in a DVD when she wants to watch something?

Is this what you are saying?

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

trhouse posted 2007 Feb 01 02:07

FulciLives :

Also the Pioneer does what you want ... copy a DVD-R to the HDD then back to a fresh DVD-R ... as long as there is no copy protection.

It can but if it is a video mode disk it does it in realtime which means it is re-encoding the disk much like if you just play the video back into it from another player.

The Pioneer can only copy back to the hard drive in high speed mode a VR mode -r/-rw disk without re-encoding.

FulciLives posted 2007 Feb 01 02:11

trhouse :

FulciLives :

Also the Pioneer does what you want ... copy a DVD-R to the HDD then back to a fresh DVD-R ... as long as there is no copy protection.

You can copy a Video mode DVD-R to the Pioneer and then copy it back to a fresh DVD-R ... like burning an ISO IMAGE to the HDD and then using it to burn one or more DVD-R discs. No re-encoding is done BUT you can not use the HDD copy for anything but to make a new DVD-R copy. It can't be "played back normally".

I thought this is what was being talked about at first. I guess it wasn't.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

theewizard posted 2007 Feb 01 03:45

you know i thought this was a good forum, with good members, I guess I was wrong

comments about my wife are out of line, I bet yours loves searching thru 100's of DVDs to find her favorite stuff too.

I guess the only thing your archiving DVR HD , is your GORE movies

the discs i tried were all RW, the only one that would transfer back was one the rca unit had made from a program i recorded to the HD drive

I don't want a flame war so , i guess i'll stick to lurking and reading instead of asking intelligent questions

so any thing you want to archive ON any DVD-DVR HD, combo has to recorded in realtime into DVR-HD period, NO matter what DVR unit you buy ?

I guess, I might as well return this thing, and set about building my own media system DVR setup, as least then i can have a HD libary of DVD folders AND avi-mpeg files and play what ever I want

FulciLives posted 2007 Feb 01 09:57

theewizard :

I guess, I might as well return this thing, and set about building my own media system DVR setup, as least then i can have a HD libary of DVD folders AND avi-mpeg files and play what ever I want

Well you either do this OR you learn to use the equipment you have as it was intended ... after all you did buy a DVD RECORDER ... a device made to RECORD to DVD DISCS.

Sure it has a built-in HDD but that is only there to assist in recording (so you can record multiple programs without the limitation of the capacity of a single DVD disc and for editing). The HDD is not meant to magically turn a DVD RECORDER into some sort of jukebox DVR type machine.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

theewizard posted 2007 Feb 01 12:22

then why are so many people on this forum intent on installing biigger HDs , even racks with external HD's if they aren't using/making video jukeboxes ?

it seems to me that is exactly what all the hacking is about
I guess almost everybody here , is intent on doing something different than the mfg intended

acoffeygirl posted 2007 Feb 02 11:02

I purchased one of these from Walmart and was able to connect my regular cable line to the DVD recorder and input all the channel, and the recording etc was all working great.

THEN....I got digital cable.

I hooked everything up as the instruction manual indicated but I can only use the DVD recorder if I hit the video out button...and the DVD recorder is set to channel 3. I then have to change the channels through the Cable box. The problem with this, is that I can not set up multiple stations to record over a weekend etc... It will only record what is on the cable box channel.

If I hook the cable line directly into the DVD recorder, I can input the channels...but it only "find" 72 or so channels...and with digital, I have many many more than that. So, with this set up, I can record on multiple channels, but I don't have access to many of the channels - like the sports package I paid extra for!!

Any suggestions or ideas?

Cornucopia posted 2007 Feb 02 14:01

theewizard :

It sure seemed to me that what was said was more a lighthearted crack toward YOUR opinion--the possibility that you might be pigeonholing/stereotyping her ability to understand DVD-R/DVR technology...

'Course, you certainly don't need to return with cracks of your own. FulciLives was trying to give you good info, even if it was not totally geared toward your ultimate goal.

Make like a duck and let the water run off your back. Keep on asking Q's...

Scott

theewizard posted 2007 Feb 02 22:29

acoffeygirl :

IS it possible to program the cable box, can it be set to come on ch74 for 2hrs then turn off and then 96 for 1hr on the next day ?

there are plenty of people with vcrs and NEW or old cable systems, the cable box aalways out puts to the same ch, so if its programable, you progam it for the correct ch and time

and the dvr is always chx but fo the correct time

acoffeygirl posted 2007 Feb 03 00:59

I don't see anyway for the cable box to be programed to turn on and off at different times on different channels.

FulciLives posted 2007 Feb 03 01:37

acoffeygirl :

I don't see anyway for the cable box to be programed to turn on and off at different times on different channels.

Most modern cable TV and satellite TV boxes have this capability built-in. Some DVD recorders also come with a special IR REMOTE thing that you stick on the sensor of the cable/satellite box and when the recorder is programmed properly it will not only turn itself on to record but via the IR REMOTE it will also turn on the cable/satellite box and set the channel.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

acoffeygirl posted 2007 Feb 03 02:21

hmmmm....I have to look into this more. I'm going to give the customer support a call tomorrow to see if they can be of any assistance. I'm sure most of my problem, is I probably just don't have a clue what I'm doing!!!!

FulciLives posted 2007 Feb 03 02:25

acoffeygirl :

Maybe it would help if you tell us what cable system you have and most importantly the model of your cable box. Someone with the same box may have some comments on how to use the box for programming or if the box even supports it.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

InXess posted 2007 Feb 03 03:27

FulciLives :

acoffeygirl :

I don't see anyway for the cable box to be programed to turn on and off at different times on different channels.

Toshiba DVR's came with what was called "IR blaster" that did exactly that. You need to check the manual if you can get it as optional component, otherwise I don't know of any digital box able to follow whatever you program your DVR for (PVR and TIVO excluding).

theewizard posted 2007 Feb 03 18:28

many cable boxes are programmable

BUT the IR blaster simplifies things by allowing you to program only one unit the DVR, it then acts like the remote for the sat / cable box

without the IR blaster/remote adapter you have to program both units

the cable box gets and the channel & time , but the DVR only gets time, it will always be set to the same channel ' the one the cable box out puts too'

if the cable box has AV or s-video output then the DVR is always set to that line only the DVR timer is changed NOT the channel or lAV line

lordsmurf posted 2007 Feb 04 15:57

Did anybody actually see these in stores?

update: Yes, they do! I found one 60 miles away, a quick 3½ hour round trip.

theewizard posted 2007 Feb 04 22:51

the store were I bought mine, still has a couple on the shelf, saw them today, the price is down too $169.97

walmart, panorama mall, panorama, ca

FulciLives posted 2007 Feb 05 01:03

lordsmurf :

Did anybody actually see these in stores?

update: Yes, they do! I found one 60 miles away, a quick 3½ hour round trip.

Did you end up buying one?

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

lordsmurf posted 2007 Feb 05 18:14

I did. I'm testing it. From what I've read in press releases, it uses the Zoran chipset, so I have decent expectations. It has it's share of flaws and benefits, but I'm still weighing them.

It's not crap. How good it is, however, will take a tad longer to consider.

JVC and Toshiba XS are easily better. Others, not so sure.

lordsmurf posted 2007 Feb 08 23:18

Okay. The unit does okay in 1-hour and 3-hour modes. Looks great. It cleans noise mildly. Not a huge amount, but just a tad.

You need to finalize the content to a DVD and watch in another player. The playback of content recorded on the unit is too dark and over-saturated. Not sure why. It looks fine everywhere else. Since I edit on a computer, then watch, not a problem.

The mono tuner adds whine to the audio. Avoid it. Since I'm using a cable box, stereo connection, so no problems for me.

Menus are easy, everything moves fast, tends to work well. Only thing crappy is the disc library cannot be deleted without the disc it was made from. So that feature is useless, because it quickly fills itself up with DVD+RW discs you make (and of course re-use, hence the original is gone).

Burner works fine. Takes SONY DVD+R just fine. Takes quite a few DVD+RW just fine.

Fan cuts off when unit goes into standby.

I see negative comments about other RCA models and the clock being goofy. I've not seen this yet, but I'm keeping an eye on it, since I exclusively use this for timeshifting late night and work-hour shows I want to see.

davideck posted 2007 Feb 09 10:24

I reluctantly have to give this unit a thumbs down. As a VCR replacement, its operation is just too sluggish compared to a Toshiba (the response time of the skip forward, skip back, and other commands is noticeably longer). In addition, the editing, authoring, and burning options are minimal and tedious.

The tuner is mono. Most stations have picture interference. I have also experienced the "heartbeat audio" issue.

It's too bad. I really like the look and size of this unit, but it is otherwise a poor implementation of a good product specification IMO.

It has made me appreciate the sophistication of the Toshiba units even more...

TBoneit posted 2007 Feb 09 10:27

dkll3032 :

You missed that the antenna is only for analog channels that are not encrypted. AFAIK there are no DVD recorders that decrypt digital cable with a Cable card to allow recording or watching.

A HTPC to hold many videos to watch....

Thought about a DVD Changer... 3, 5 or 400 disc models are available. I know on a Sony like mine you can input titles, catagorize and add thumbnails for easy selection...

Or Titlewrite the DVDs and use JACKET_P for auto thumbnails and titles. Still one remote no need to rip commercial discs etc. Simple remote with all DVD playing features.

theewizard posted 2007 Feb 10 03:31

i've only heard the 'heartbeat sound' one time,,

I have no rolling and NO noise in the picture and NO audio whine,

maybe 'i got lucky', it won't copy my 'PC made' DVDs to the HD, but, I can do a real time, copy from a another player.

a minor gripe but NOT a quality issue

lacywest posted 2007 Feb 10 05:31

There are two Panasonic DMR-EH50 DVD Recorders ... on Ebay right now.

One is bidding for $170 and the other is $160 [ current bid ]

100 GB Hard Drive. They also copy DVDs to the hard drive.

Very nice editing features for editing out commercials.

I know ... I have two of them ... one in my bedroom and one in my living room. And two extras ... just in case. 3 of them were bought on Ebay and one from Circuit City. The two from Ebay are working just fine ... the fourth one [from Ebay also] ... can't say ... I haven't fired it up.

Note ... I have no idea who the persons are that are selling those units ... I'm just helping out with my spare time at work ... I'm doing graveyard shift at the moment. And the 24 men I'm babysitting are all sleeping ... it is 3:31 AM ... as I am typing this.

lacywest posted 2007 Feb 10 05:47

theewizard :

Well ... the Polaroid DRM-2001G unit with the ability to put a larger Hard drive in ... is just a tinkerers dream ... by my standards. I bought one at Wal-Mart last weekend and I've already put a Maxtor 300 GB in it and I've also bought another on Ebay and am expecting it to arrive soon and I will put it in my living room.

I like to mess with stuff ... and this Polaroid DRM-2001G is perfect for messing with.

But I will admit ... the method it uses for editing out commercials is terrible ... I like the way the Panasonic EH50 works ... very easy and decently precise.

When I'm editing commercials out with the Panasonic EH50 ... I can pause and go forward or backwards to get to the spot where the TV Show fades to the commercial.

But the Polaroid DRM-2001G with the included remote only goes forward. If I miss the spot where the transition between the commercial and the show begins again ... I have to use reverse or fast forward and ... it's a bitch.

When I'm editing commercials out from the HD in the Panasonic EH50 ... I can even use the Panasonic E50 [doesn't have a HD inside] remote [in my left hand] to edit the commercials out. I sit in my Lazy Boy chair with two remotes ... editing out the commercials. :lol:

lordsmurf posted 2007 Feb 10 14:49

The RCA does not edit as much as it just splits.

masochrist posted 2007 Feb 10 19:43

If you would take some time to learn how to do it , editng on the Polaroid is easy and precise. Make use of the PAUSE/STEP and SLOW buttons along with REV and FWD. After some practice, editing can be done very quickly exactly where you want it. The RCA chapter markers can be placed exactly by using PAUSE button to enter frame mode and FWD and REV buttons to move to the chosen frames. Then just hide unwanted chapters. I complained too, at first, then it became very easy. You can't play a piano without practicing.

Webster posted 2007 Feb 11 00:28

lordsmurf :

The playback of content recorded on the unit is too dark and over-saturated. Not sure why. It looks fine everywhere else. Since I edit on a computer, then watch, not a problem.

This is kinda odd, I'm having the oposite result. My recorded disc came out a little bit light. I'd agree with you about the quality 1 and 3 hours though. It does looked decent for an inexpensive recorder.

I recorded 2+ hours to the HD at higest quality setting then transfered to the disc via the copying function. The machine auto convert the data to #3 and wrote to the disc without problem. The result disc seem to be decent (It was a cars race I recorded) I saw minimal pixilation on the disc's video. All in all, I think it is a decent recorder for its price.

Oh, by the way, I pick this thing up in a local store. For some strange reason, the price posted on the shelf was $219.00 but the register rang up at $198.00 :? :?

lacywest posted 2007 Feb 11 05:45

masochrist :

But the REV button can not be used with pause ... I've tried it and I didn't get it to go backwards in slow motion. If you did ... please explain ... I would love to know how.

With the Panasonic ... I can move slowly backwards to the spot where the TV show ends and the black portion begins ... just before the commercial begins.

Sometimes ... there is no black portion in between. The commercial just starts immediately.

What I did yesterday before some sleep ... I started a 90 min recording session and then I started ... The Avengers ... on the BBC channel ... previously recorded on my Directv Box.

lacywest posted 2007 Feb 11 06:29

With the Polaroid DRM-2001G ... is it possible the remote control described in another post could activate the Polaroid DRM-2001G ... and get it to go into reverse in slow motion.

masochrist posted 2007 Feb 11 07:09

You are correct, you can't go slow in REV, but if you miss your mark going fwd on PLAY or SLOW just hit REV for a sec, PAUSE, and STEP or SLOW. If you step to your marking point it's hard to miss.

jwray18 posted 2007 Feb 11 11:49

I just bought this unit yesterday at Wal-Mart. It was on clearance for $100.00. I haven't hooked it up or anything at this point. I've bee reading the posts here and I'm not sure if I should keep this or not. I've been reading about these DVD recorders and was looking for one that had a HDD so I could record to the HDD and burn to a DVD if I wanted too. I want to be sure the recorded DVD would not have a problem playing on other players and looked good. I currently have a DVR from directv and really like it. Would this unit be a comparable to the DVR I'm currently using? I know there are some limitations to this unit, but for what I'm using if for, I think it'll work fine, and seeing it only cost $100.

What are your thoughts?

Thank you in advance.

theewizard posted 2007 Feb 11 13:23

using video output from the 'direct dvr' to RCA video input, you will get a great picture,

if you use RF/coax from the 'direct unit' to the RCA, it will depend on how lucky/unlucky you got.

some have tuner interfernce some don't

eboll posted 2007 Feb 11 19:56

I just bought The RCA DRC8030N 80GB Recorder and thought I would put my 2 cents in, So far I like it, has a few things I do not like, but the one thing I do like is, if I record a program onto the internal hard drive and there is another show I want that comes on right after that one and not going to have time to stop that recording and start the next one, I just let it keep recording and when it is done use the split title and that seperates the 2 programs, also comes in good when you record at one of the top 3 better speeds and then doesn't fit on a dvd, you can use the title split. It happened to me this afternoon, but I was able to get 2 of the shows onto a disc at the #3 good speed and the third program will wait until i have enoght to fill another disc. Do not use the Smart Record, if you do, you will have to watch the show over again as it records it onto dvd at real time and shrinks it so bad that the recording is bright and not good to watch.

cdreece posted 2007 Feb 20 15:36

where is the option to finalize the disk just copied to disk but it did not ask me to finalize disk will not play in other dvd player. cant find this option

trhouse posted 2007 Feb 20 17:35

Hit the "menu" button on the remote, that should give you a screen on the left. The top item is "Watch TV", the second is "Disc", scroll to disc and click ok, the next screen will have as the fourth item from the top "Disc Actions", scroll to that and click ok, the next screen will have "finalize" as the fourth item from the top.

"Disc Actions" will not be available if the disc is already finalized.

lordsmurf posted 2007 Feb 21 04:46

Good gosh TRHOUSE, it seems you're using/testing most every DVD recorder right now. Having fun yet?/

trhouse posted 2007 Feb 22 00:15

Hi Lordsmurf,

I only have the ES10 and 531H. I had the 2001G briefly last year for testing, next the two M10's that came in for repair, and now this 8030N. It might seem like a lot but I returned the 2001G and the M10's have gone back to their owners.

By the way thanks for the advice about VirtualDubMod years ago. That set Gshelley61 and I on the right path to all this testing. The testing itself takes little time, but learning how to use these machines takes longer. You probably have noticed that the RCA and Polaroid have quite different user interfaces.

Sorry to see you are not as active as before. Work related I presume.

lordsmurf posted 2007 Feb 22 03:11

Between changes at work (for the better) and some other video-related side projects, yes, not as available for forums and whatnot, not for a while.

Trying to find a nice HDD recorder for myself has been a big hassle, so I'm testing machines whether I want to or not! :lol: :lol:

It's either that or stop watching tv, which is almost tempting sometimes, given the frustrations of HDD machines. I'm possibly going to look at a Toshiba before throwing in the towel.

This RCA unit is barely good enough, it has a lot of potential, like so many other machines do. It mostly just needs a good stereo tuner. You ever look into modifying those kinds of components? It's really the only thing that doesn't get picked apart by hackers so far. Drives, burners, firmware, etc... those are often attacked, customized, modified or exploited.

So you can fix JVC machines? Ever consider opening a service for it?

trhouse posted 2007 Feb 22 16:28

It mostly just needs a good stereo tuner. You ever look into modifying those kinds of components?

Stereo tuner is a bit of a misnomer. Here is an example of what what a tuner does.

Notice in the lower left, the output labelled SIF. That means Sound Intermediate Frequency. That signal has stereo information if it is broadcast that way, but what the recorder designer does with it is what determines if the recorder can only present mono sound from the tuner. In the RCA it means that it is parts on the main board with the mpeg processor that determine if it will have mono sound. I do not want to redesign their main board with the mpeg processor but it would require that.

So you can fix JVC machines? Ever consider opening a service for it?

I would not want to try to compete with JVC for repairs. They can do board swap which is the most efficient way to get a product fixed. I repaired the two M10's primarily to test the effectiveness of the "loading" bug factory fix for those who want to do it themselves or for some reason cannot have the factory do it for them. JVC is very responsible since they are willing to fix this problem well outside of warranty. I would recommend that route for anyone who does not want to open the box.

I prefer to help people help themselves rather than do it for them. Hkan has a great site for Pioneer like that at www.pioneerfaq.info.

P.S. You have a pretty nice web site yourself. Have you ever considered adding a self help section for upgrading and repair? There is a wealth of knowledge out there but it requires searching many threads to get it.

lordsmurf posted 2007 Feb 23 00:51

It's a thought. I'd add "mods" to that too, such as adding extra heatsinks and whatnot.

trhouse posted 2007 Feb 23 13:43

Seems like there is a lot of interest in these subjects. The Pioneer 520H hdd upgrade thread has about 180,000 hits but itself. The JVC M10S repair about 62,000 and another 61,000 for hacking the Pioneer 510.

Hkan is not doing all the work himself on his site. He has a long list of credits for all the people who contributed. Corona and I produced the pdf's for how to pull the TV Guide and Timer functions off a good Pioneer hdd, we submitted the code from my good drive for him to archive, and how to install it back onto a new drive. He was kind enough to credit us.

A problem with the threads, is that some material submitted does not work. For example, when I downloaded code submitted early in the 520H hdd upgrade thread for loading into a Philips Pronto remote, I found every button worked except the "9". My CPRM code had two "9's" in it. I was lucky that later on, Mark Venture posted a link to code that worked.

Hkan's site has filtered out some of these issues and he has it nicely organized. I was surprised that nearly 1000 people have downloaded the archived Pioneer TV Guide and Timer code. I hope his donations are rolling in.

P.S. I found the the 8030N can record a mode 2 ( two hour mode ) title for eight hours on the hdd before it creates a new title. I found nothing about that limitation in the manual. I had it set to timer record from 7am to 9pm and found it created two titles from 7am to 3pm and 3pm to 9pm. The Pioneer has a similar limitation but the Pioneer's maximum recording time per title is 12 hours.

Webster posted 2007 Mar 01 11:24

masochrist :

NOW, Upgradeability..... I just replaced the 80GB WD800BB with a 160GB WD1600.

Here is a simple image file showing how to swap out the drive for those who couldn't leaving thing well enough alone :lol: :lol: . Thanks masochrist for showing me the way.... :oops: .

Bee46 posted 2007 Apr 18 00:50

Recently made my purchase of the 8030N which my local WalMart had on clearance at $125. I agree with most of the pro and cons mentioned here in the forum along with my two cents.
I successfully increased the hard drive to a 200G drive. The slow time amount for recording increased from the advertised 120 hours to 351 hours. The recording times for best increased to 98 hours.
In reading about the "heartbeat" noise that a few others have mentioned, I must admit that my system also has it and although not overly loud, it is annoyingly noticeable, and therefore I'll be reinstalling the 80G drive and exchanging for one more system and if it too has the audible noise, then I will reluctantly shop for something else at a higher price.

kasitrol posted 2007 Apr 18 15:01

Bee46 or any one else with informatin on hard drive replacement. Does the brand of hard drive make any difference? Does the RCA auto detect the hard drive heads, cyl., etc.?

Also has anyone figured out the operating system? or the partition information?

Partition commander sees the partition as free space and Windows XP home edition does not see the drive at all (refering to the 80 gig drive that came with the recorder.)

I would really like to make the drive removable to edit recordings in my computer.

I purchased two of these recorders for $85.00 at Walmart on clearence

Fernando.cesar posted 2007 Apr 18 16:02

kasitrol :

Hi. I have a Toshiba RD-KX50SU with a 80 GB HDD and Partition Magic sees as free space too. I don't know what type of file system is used to format theses HDDs. By the way, Toshiba's HDD is failing and I tried to replace the HDD. When I power on the recorder it locks with an error code. So avoid buying Toshiba recorders, I think it's impossible to replace the HDD. Now I purchased a DRC8030N. It will arrive here in Brazil next Monday.
Best regards from Brazil............Fernando

Bee46 posted 2007 Apr 18 16:18

kasitrol, nice job on scoring an excellent price for those. A Walmart down the street has them down to $159. But even with the minor audible noise, I'd keep mine for what you paid. Let us know if you hear the noise that has been referred to as a "heartbeat", albeit an irregular one.
As for the hard drive swap, I noticed the original post on this idea, the person used a WD 160G, I used a Maxtor 200G 7200rpm/8M cache and the system formatted and recognized it fine.
I don't have any other detailed info on the hard drive, but would like to know the answers as well. Would also like to know if there is any firmware updates available. As far as I can tell, not on RCA's website.
Good luck.

kasitrol posted 2007 Apr 18 17:15

Hello Bee46 and Fernando. Thanks for the replys. I am learning as I go.

I have not heard the heart beat sound but my hearing is poor to start with so I am not sure I hear what everyone else hears. My wife has not mentioned it and she has excellent hearing.

I have not opened the 2nd recorder box as yet. It is still factory sealed. I am frustrated because I want to use VideoReDo to edit out commercials and I cannot do it due to the fact I can't find any files listed on the "free space" partition.

I also have a Accurian 80 gig recorder I got from Radio Shack a few months ago and it uses a Dos partition and file structure. I can easily make the HDD external and swappable and I really would like to do the same with the RCA.

Still I couldn't beat the price and Walmart sold out in two days. This one was located in Houston, Texas.

I love to play with this stuff and I love the challenge. I hope someone has figured it out and will read and reply to this post

So far I have not found anyone (looked in several forems in different web sites)who has figured out the HDD partition information.

SingSing posted 2007 Apr 19 07:01

trhouse :

It mostly just needs a good stereo tuner. You ever look into modifying those kinds of components?

Stereo tuner is a bit of a misnomer. Here is an example of what what a tuner does.

The Xc2028 should have a stereo output mode, since it has dual D/A.

Note : This Devices does not recover the stereo pilot tone from the RF signal, so it is not suitable for mobile application, like automobile.

Bee46 posted 2007 Apr 24 00:27

kasitrol :

Hello kasitrol and fernando,

Wanted to check and see if you have heard the infamous heartbeat yet? I have since bought two more units, the last one locally on clearance, and one from walmart.com (for a total of three) and right out of the box, both had the problem. I am contemplating checking the warranty options for repair on one of them and if that looks promising, then I may go that route on one or two of them. But more realistically, since I have yet to find any mention of resolve for this online, I will probably just re-populate Walmart's shelf.

kasitrol posted 2007 Apr 24 09:32

Hello Bee46,

I still have not noticed the heart beat sound that you are describing. My wife and I watched a recorded movie this last weekend and it was ok as far as I know. She still did not complain

I should mention that I record everything in Best mode and also from Dish network Satellite. I do not record through the air or use the built in tuner. I go directly into the composite video and audio inputs bypassing the tuner. I have heard complaints about the tuner but for my purposes I don't use it.

I still have not opened the box on the second recorder as yet. The date code on the unopened box is 6644CA. I don't know what the date code on the opened unit is but they were purchased at the same store one day apart.

I did buy a 200 Gig Maxtor HD ($49.99 at Frys Electronics Houston, Texas) this weekend so that I can change out the drive but I have not done so yet.

Do you know how large the hard drive can be? I have a 320 gig I would like to try but I do not want to run the chance of damaging the drive or recorder.

I tried putting a larger drive in the Accurian Recorder from Radio Shack and it wiped out the Firm Ware on the Recorder and I had to send it in for re-programming. It was covered under warranty but I do not want to run the chance with the RCA.

Does anyone know how to extract a copy of the firmware out of these machines? I don't know if it can be done but I would like to have a copy for archive purposes so if I do glitch the recorder I can re-program it myself.

Fernando.cesar posted 2007 Apr 24 14:08

Hi Bee46. My recorder arrived yesterday. I recorded some programs to test, and I did not hear the heartbeat. I will make some more tests today.............Fernando

kasitrol posted 2007 Apr 24 16:09

Hello Bee46 and Fernando,

Bee46, did you put a blank non-partitioned 200 Gig drive in the recorder or did the drive have an existing partition? Since the recorder re-formats the drive I was curious if the drive was new out of the box without any partition or it had an existing partition from being used in a PC. I have Fdisk and Partition Commander available so I can do whatever is necessary but there is no since gambling if you have the answer.

I hope you enjoy the recorder Fernando. Keep us posted.

Fernando.cesar posted 2007 Apr 24 16:30

Hello Kasitrol. Thank you. The only thing that bothers me is my Toshiba recorder. It is an expensive recorder and it's impossible to replace internal HDD. Now it records only using medias (DVD-R / RW). :-(
I think it's a big feature that RCA makes easy to replace HDD. Here in Brazil it's impossible to find a service center that fixes these recorders with HDD.
Sorry about my poor English. Best regards from Brazil.......Fernando

kasitrol posted 2007 Apr 24 16:50

Hi Fernando,

I don't know if this will help but it is worth a visit to the website. www.manualsparadise.com.

I did a cut and paste on their information. I hope this helps. It might be a good place to get information.

I hope this helps----Good Luck! By the way your English is fine.

Products for Toshiba RD-KX50SU

Product Format Language Price Cart
Service (repair) manual [1] Digital (Acrobat .PDF) English US$ 25.0
Schematic diagrams [2] Digital (Acrobat .PDF) English US$ 20.0
User/Owner manual [3] Digital (Acrobat .PDF) English US$ 10.0

Product Types Explanation

[1] Service (repair) manual: Depending on the type of product, it includes schematic and block diagrams, printed wiring boards, waveforms, parameters and IC pin descriptions, parts list, drawings and schematics of mechanisms. Please note that a service manual includes schematics, unless the product description mentions the opposite. Also please note that in some cases we also offer just the schematics as a separate product at a lower price, but that doesn't mean the service manual doesn't include them.

[2] Schematic diagrams: Includes only the schematic diagrams.

[3] User/Owner manual: Contains information on how to operate the device. It doesn't contain information on how to repair/service it.

Fernando.cesar posted 2007 Apr 24 17:09

Kasitrol, thanks for your help.

Two weeks ago I purchased service manual for RD-KX50SU. Believe it or not, it only explain this:

1. REPLACEMENT OF MECHANICAL PARTS
1-1-2. HDD
1. Peel off two tapes (1).
2. Remove four screws (2).
3. Disconnect the flexible cable (3) and the connector (4).
4. Remove four screws (5), then remove the dampers (7) and HDD (8).
Note:
• After replacing, attach the tape (1) to its original position.

It shows diagrams explaining the sequence. but after replace HDD, when recorder is turned on, it stucks with error code ER7034. I sent several e-mails to Toshiba in USA but they say they only support products used in USA. So I don't know what's the meaning of this error code.......Fernando

Bee46 posted 2007 Apr 24 22:49

kasitrol :

Hello there,

Here's the test I use to find the heart beat sound. I like you run from a cable/satellite TV signal box into the DVR and do not use the built in tuner, and I run out of the back from the composite video to the TV and the digital coax out to a receiver/amp (but also tested using the regualr audio outputs and went directly to the TV).
Now tune into any channel and once audio and video are present, shut off your satellite box, which should result in no more audio or video signal, but the DVR should still be on. Now turn up the volume of your receiver (or TV as the case may be) and see if you don't pick up the heartbeat. For the most part it is masked while watching/listening to TV or a DVD.

As for any formatting of the 200G hard drive that I put in, I did nothing and put it in straight from the box. I didn't check on this one, but am thinking that any more some/most hard drives are coming straight out of the box pre-formatted w/ the whole drive being one partition and formatted in FAT32. Could be wrong on this one as I didn't check, but the "reformatting portion performed by the DVR itself did not take even a minute before shutting itself off. I was so quick that I was concerned that it did not work, but it was successful.
Let us know if you attempt the 320G. I would not think that any damage would come to it or the DVR as I had no problem with the 200G install, but can understand your leeriness after what happened on your Accurian.
Good luck.
btwe, sure miss shopping at Fry's. Had one in Austin before we moved from there.

lordsmurf posted 2007 Apr 25 04:39

Bee46 :

btwe, sure miss shopping at Fry's.

Me too. :cry:

I have to do everything online now. That means 1 week minimum in most cases. No more quick 30-minute round trips down the road.

kasitrol posted 2007 May 02 17:05

[/quote]

Hello there,
As for any formatting of the 200G hard drive that I put in, I did nothing and put it in straight from the box. I didn't check on this one, but am thinking that any more some/most hard drives are coming straight out of the box pre-formatted w/ the whole drive being one partition and formatted in FAT32. Could be wrong on this one as I didn't check, but the "reformatting portion performed by the DVR itself did not take even a minute before shutting itself off.

quote]

Hello Everyone,

I have been busy for the past few days and I have not had a chance to log on.

I will try the sound test as soon as I get home--out of town for a week or so.

I wonder if the RCA DRC8030N has a hidden partition? Some how it sounds like it might. I don't think the drive comes out of the box preformated or partitioned but I am not sure either.

If there is a hidden partition that could explain the free space and no files present. I don't know about the quick format though.

I will try to look at the 80 Gig system drive with fdisk and see what I find if I ever get the time. I have not tried the drive exchange yet as I have not had much play time.

I did try the edit function of hiding chapters and for the most part I thought it was very poor. Maby I don't understand it very well.

I have checked at Wally World in several Texas towns over the past couple of weeks and I did not find any of the DRC8030N's on the shelves. They may have been dropped from the stores.

Marvingj posted 2007 May 02 18:19

Well I just brought from Wally World open box RCA DRC8030N 80GB Recorder for 129.00, couldn't resist that price. So I guess I will not sleep tonight. New toy to play with..

TBoneit posted 2007 May 03 09:37

New hard drives never come formatted retail or OEM. That would be silly.

Customer a wants it fat 32 and 3 partitions.
Customer b wants it NTFS and one big partition
Customer c wants it for linux
etc.

Bee46 posted 2007 May 03 10:34

TBoneit :

A hard drive being pre-formatted doesn't preclude anyone from reformatting it in any of the configurations mentioned and more.
So what would be silly is to make a blanket statement that no hard drive ever came preformatted. That is unless you can say definitively that you have purchased a hard drive from every manufacturer. And it is very common for external drives to come out of the box preformatted.

Bee46 posted 2007 May 03 10:58

Marvingj :

Well I just brought from Wally World open box RCA DRC8030N 80GB Recorder for 129.00, couldn't resist that price. So I guess I will not sleep tonight. New toy to play with..

How are you liking your new toy so far? Have you heard the infamous "heartbeat" yet? Owning two and having tested four in all sort of configuration setups, I think it a safe assumption that all units have it, it's just a matter of finding the situation where it is more audible. Still for that price, it's hard to beat. Unless you're kasitrol, who got his for $85! :)

TBoneit posted 2007 May 03 13:21

Externals true, however the drive here was internal. I have opened and installed 1000's of drives from MFM 20Mb Seagates to current days. The seagates had to be low level formatted first as I remember it.

I've bought drives retail and wholesale and the only formatted one I ever had besides external was a previously used drive that was being passed off as new at a computer show.

It i spossible that if you order a drive for a HP for example that has a special recovery partition they might ship a drive with the rcovery on it to you. Never tried that route.

However I stand corrected as I had forgotten external drives come formatted for the most part.

Bee46 posted 2007 May 03 14:05

And I concede that we are indeed talking about internals here in this case.

I have only installed dozens of hard drives over the years starting with a huge (at the time as well as expensive) 120M drive, so my experience with them is no where as vast, but I thought at one time some of those came pre-formatted, so it could just as easily be me that stands corrected.

As for the 200G hard drive I installed in the RCA DVR, I can't really explain how it was able to format that drive in well under a minute. But then again, it seems to be a mystery on what the format is or what the bios of the DVR system itself is. Previous posts state that the drive, once formatted in the DVR is unrecognizable in a a PC, something I will confirm with the 80G that came factory installed.

But the format of the factory installed hard drive and the bios of the DVR itself are the real $64K questions.

TBoneit posted 2007 May 05 09:13

A Quick format is not hard to do quickly.

My best guess is that since it is a DVD Recorder it has a routine that detects a unformatted drive bungs on a preset partition table and sets up whatever it uses as a filesystem and does not do a defect scan, So no reason it shouldn't be quick.

Using the MS Win98 OEM setup disc's Oformat to format a brand new never formatted drive takes seconds to quickformat once it is partitioned. The standard format command checks and won't quickformat a new never formatted drive.

Anyway when you partition and format using the /u switch, full format, it is really just using the partition table to decide where the FAT tables go. Then a /u it actually just does a read test to be sure the sectors of the drive are not damaged and marks any bad ones as bad. That is one reason the unformat utilities work so good. And the reason there are secure wipe utilities.

Cheers

Fernando.cesar posted 2007 May 05 16:06

I'm having a strange situation with DRC8030N. The last 2 recordings I have made, Heroes and Desperate Housewives, one hour each, split in 2 titles at library (first with 20 minutes, and second with the remaining 40 minutes). Heroes split in 3 titles (first with 9 minutes, second with 20 minutes and third with the balance time). What's happening? Thanks in advance for your help....Fernando

ron123 posted 2007 Oct 30 08:00

]My first post here. I hope someone can help. I have a RCA DRC 8030 N. My problem is I can't delete items in my disc library. Hopefully someone can help. Thanks in advance
Ron[/b]

lordsmurf posted 2007 Oct 30 09:54

The DISC LIBRARY feature is useless. You can't delete them. I put recordings to DVD+RW and then transfer to hard drive on computer, edit, burn nice discs. Re-use DVD+RW again and again. Each DVD+RW burn is a new "disc" in the disc library, and these can never be deleted.

ron123 posted 2007 Oct 30 10:08

Thanks lordsmurf. What happens when it reaches it max of 300. Does it reset???

lordsmurf posted 2007 Nov 01 08:36

ron123 :

Thanks lordsmurf. What happens when it reaches it max of 300. Does it reset???

I have no idea. We'll see when I get there.

Webster posted 2007 Nov 01 22:34

ron123 :

My first post here. I hope someone can help. I have a RCA DRC 8030 N. My problem is I can't delete items in my disc library. Hopefully someone can help. Thanks in advance
Ron[/b]

From Main menu --> Library --> Disc Library --> Show All Discs --> select the disc # you want to delete --> right arrow and scroll up or down and choose Delete Disc option --> press the <OK> button on your remote --> choose "yes" or "no" with <left> or <right> arrow --> push the <OK> button to delete.

lordsmurf posted 2007 Nov 02 00:42

Last time I tried that, it gave an error message on screen. I'll go try it again.

EDIT: It worked this time! Thanks. :D

swissarmour posted 2007 Nov 04 01:02

hi everyone im new here does anyone know how to unlock region to this specific model so it can play mexico dvds? need it bad thank you everyone ps pm me just in case im still getting the hang of this board looks great tho

swissarmour posted 2007 Nov 04 11:24

anyone can help?

golfer238 posted 2007 Nov 21 22:29

I saw this in another forum, have not tried it myself. Let me know if it works.

1. Go to the main manu.
2. Open the Tray.
3. Press OK on setup.
4. Hightlight disk options
5. Press 9 2 1 3 x where x is the region you wish to use. Use 9 for all regions.
If you typed 9 2 1 3 9 it will quickly say region 9 on the display.

Good luck.

:D

lordsmurf posted 2007 Nov 22 00:47

golfer238 :

Nope. :(

golfer238 posted 2007 Nov 23 21:35

Sorry, it's 8 2 1 3 x. I just tried it and it said Reg 9 on my display. I have no disk from other region to try it. So lordsmurf, please give it a try and let me know. :)

golfer238 posted 2007 Dec 07 23:11

I finally borrowed a zone 2 DVD from a friend and it played with no problem!

lordsmurf posted 2007 Dec 08 03:55

Thank you. :)

Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.

That worked perfectly. A large percentage of my DVD collection is PAL, from UK (R2) or Australia (R4). I popped in my newest buy (Inspector Gadget, Box 2 from Australia), and it played perfectly.

The PAL output on this thing looks very nice. It appears to be using the crop method, but unlike other machines I've seen, it crops from both top and bottom, not just the bottom. It's not resizing, so you "lose" about 4% more image on screen. There is minimal blurring, so I don't know what is happening with the framerates. I might run some tests sometime, see exactly how it's treating the output. Most machines have a good deal more blurring (even the LiteOn and JVC, which are my benchmarks for PAL playback).

It looks great, and this gives even more value to a great machine. If the tuner worked better, it would be an almost-ideal machine for recording from non-VHS sources and playback both.

This recorder is in a room where I previously did not have PAL playing abilities. So this is a nice upgrade.

Again, thanks! :)

Webster posted 2007 Dec 08 06:58

lordsmurf :

It looks great, and this gives even more value to a great machine. If the tuner worked better, it would be an almost-ideal machine for recording from non-VHS sources and playback both.

Now if you can figure out a way to get rid of the built up heat inside when you are using the hard drive (especially one that run at 7,000RPM) and it become a fantastic recorder :) . The heat flow for the machine is poorly designed. That tiny fan in the back barely move any hot air out of the machine. It'd fried one of the machines I got. I've end up running a cable outside the box for the hard drive (in a removable enclosure) to keep the inside temperature cool. It make the machine look butt ugly, but at least I can swap the drive for a new one when the old drive filled up (and it filled up really fast if you record at 2hr level) :oops: :oops:

TBoneit posted 2007 Dec 10 11:33

I don't have one of these machines, However maybe you could do what I did on another brand that ran so hot it fried itself, Under warranty fortunately.

The One I had, had slots on the top cover so I just Hot melt glued a Standard Computer case fan so it was under the slots and piggybacked the power cable onto the DVD Burner power. Then it ran nice and cool.

It also ran cool with the top off, However after getting a pretty fair shock off of the innards nixed as a method for cooling.

Webster posted 2007 Dec 10 20:00

TBoneit :

It also ran cool with the top off, However after getting a pretty fair shock off of the innards nixed as a method for cooling.

I've also done this for a while until the wife yelled at me to put the cover back 'cause we have kids in the house... :)

looseye posted 2008 Feb 12 22:12

Hello all,

I hope this thread is not dead. I realize I'm coming in a bit late, but there are a few issues for which I have not seen answers. I hope I might be able to find a few answers as well as be some help.

1. One burning question from the beginning is the type of file system the RCA 8030N uses? Just wondering if anyone has checked this out....

2. As far as transferring content from DVD recorded on a PC, there are a few factors I would consider: the type and quality of media being used, the file format or layout of the file system on the media, and whether or not the media was finalized in the PC drive before being transfered to the DVR. So far any retail DVD I've tried cannot be copied to the internal HDD. So guess I'll be building a Multimedia PC for "archiving" my DVD collection.

3. I'm not quite sure why the split title feature is not available on any of my recordings. I tried to record a 12-hour marathon on internal HDD, and it split into one 8 hour title followed by one 4 hour title. However, it won't let me take any recordings and split the title.

4. I upgraded 80GB to 160GB no problem. I'd like to try 320GB or larger. Does anyone know the max size HDD the RCA 8030N will support?

Thanks in advance to anyone that responds.

lordsmurf posted 2008 Feb 12 22:19

Splitting is done by using PLAY ALL CHAPTERS and then hitting the EDIT button the remote when you get to the point in the video that you want to split, at which time you can pick the "SPLIT TITLE" option on screen.

jewishtoe posted 2008 Feb 18 12:07

So i've been all over the web and back again, but i can't seem to find an answer to my problem. HOPEFULLY someone here can help.

I got this back in november, new. Its worked great until recently - now the video output won't work no matter what i do. The sound works, so the system is on, but when ever i plug it in and turn it on, it sits for a moment, goes to the menu for about 1.5 seconds and then blacks out.

I can play a dvd and hear it playing.

Its obviously not the RCA cables, because i've tried two different ones, and not to mention i AM still getting a video feed, albiet quite briefly.

I wasn't sure if this was a hard drive issue or a board/hardware issue.

Any help would be great.

David

wabjxo posted 2008 Feb 18 12:53

What do you mean by "when ever I plug it in"? Isn't the DVDR plugged in all the time?

zoobie posted 2008 Feb 18 12:55

sounds defective...try taking it back?

jewishtoe posted 2008 Feb 18 23:58

Well the unit is plugged in all the time yes, but i tried 'resetting' it by unplugging it and plugging it back in - because even if you hit the off switch the thing is still running. I haven't found any recorded instance of this happening anywhere else, so i am afraid i might indeed have a defective unit. :(

lordsmurf posted 2008 Feb 19 17:25

Mine locks up on crappy DVD+RW's, have to pull plug, wait a minute, plug in and QUICKLY hit eject ONCE (it will take up to 20 seconds to actually acknowledge the eject, and kick out disc between start-up and disc load time). If it starts to load the disc, you're screwed, must repeat process.

What you describe sounds like a blown capacitor on the power board. This is common in many DVD recorders (JVC, Panasonic, etc). You can always open it open, and look for brown leakage on the top of some of the caps. I recently had my Panasonic repaired, works good as new!

looseye posted 2008 Feb 23 21:47

lordsmurf :

I recently had a chance to try this and it worked...kinda. It actually split the title at the next chapter mark, for some reason, instead of the spot where I paused the recording. Realizing that the editing functions are a bit limited on this unit (from what I've seen so far) and I haven't had the time to play with it (thus I am still learning), may be factors of my small issue. Only time will tell...

Click here for the original forum topic.

Forum archive - RCA DRC8030N 80GB Recorder @ Walmart $198.97

RCA DRC8030N 80GB Recorder @ Walmart $198.97