Customer Reviews

RCA DRC225N Progressive Scan DVD with Slim Tray Design

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I want to come to the defense of this player a bit. I think a couple of the reviews had more to do with support problems rather than specific hardware problems. I bought this player in November of 2005 so I have been using it for about 9 months now.

I purchased this DVD player because my previous DVD player (a Sony 300-disc library model) was beginning to fail. I chose to try this player primarily for these reasons: (a) price--I think I paid about $56 through amazon; (b) it is a progressive scan player, which I think makes for a better picture than interlaced; (c) it has component video out (and my TV accepts component video in, again for the best picture); (d) it claimed to play mp3 disks and I was looking for a way to play mp3's on my main entertainment system.

This DVD player lived up to all its claims and more. It does indeed provide progressive scan through component video cables for an awesome picture, and it plays mp3 disks (music, audio only) that I create on my PC.

Additionally, it will also play DVD's that I create myself using Sonic's MyDVD software, and also will play VCD's that I create (like a DVD, but on a CD-size disk). I recently backed up all of my music and pictures onto a DVD as a data disk and stuck it in this RCA player just for fun--it displayed jpeg images on the TV and would play the mp3 music as well. Additionally, it's very thin, a feature that allows me to put two separate components into a single slot of my entertainment center's cabinet.

All in all, I was very impressed with this player's capabilities, especially given the great price. I'm considering buying one or two more for other rooms in my house. The reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 is because the interfaces are a bit primitive. It will indeed play mp3's and display jpg's, but the number of characters of a file's name is limited so if you have long file names, it may be hard to distinguish them on the screen. Also, you can't create playlists on the fly, so you have to create them when you burn an mp3 disk by placing songs in a specific folder.

But those things are minor nit-picks. If you want an inexpensive player that will do progressive scan, component video, play mp3's and display jpg's, this is a great player for the price.

UPDATE: May 2008: I've had this unit for 2.5 years now and it's still performing well; I watch all my movie rentals on it and still play CD's and mp3 CD's on it as well. One small problem has developed over the years: the drawer onto which you place a DVD has a tendency to close by itself sometimes, causing you to have to be careful and quick when placing or removing a disc. However, this doesn't happen often and I still consider this to be a 4-star player.

About 6 months after I bought this thing it crapped out. I loved it at first. The slim size fit into the space that I had, the player worked well with my TV and other equipment, it played every disc I put in it. I was thrilled to have found something this nice... then it died. I was also the stupid fool who didn't send in her warranty card so now I'm looking at a cheaper player, clearly buying the name brands don't help! Why don't they make things to last???

After returning 2 DRC247N players because the power supplies emitted horribly loud high pitched squeals when powered off, I finally found this model. No optical digital output, no display on the machine itself, but other than it sticking twice for about one half second while playing the first 2 discs I tried, it really is a decent machine. Picture is smooth and artifact-free, sound is quite excellent, easily region-hackable, good looking cabinet. Except for no display on the machine I find this to be a quite satisfactory unit. Would like to have seen the remote be a bit larger and the keys a little better marked. No problems so far with performance. For a straight forward simple player, this is considerably better than about half a dozen other players I returned for various defects or lack of features. If it lasts as well as it performs I will be very happy with the DRC225N. I needed another player for Region2-PAL discs that I buy from the U.K. This does the job very nicely and I found it at K-Mart for under $50.00. Heck of a decent deal compared to so many fall-apart players out there in the same price range. Another thing I like is the color balance is much better than other RCA players I tried. Most had the typical RCA look of far too much green in the pix, and fleshtones much too orange. This one does not have the color problems. I'm keeping it.

I love this DVD Player. I have had mine for about a year now, and it works perfectly. Not only that, I figured out that I can play DVDs from other regions on it, which has allowed me to order DVDs from the UK. I also have an RCA VCR that I have had for 5 years and it is the best VCR ever. I also love my RCA TV that I have had for 3 years. I have never had a problem with RCA.

My first DVD player and it worked without a problem for about 5 to 6 months with minimum use and now it sits in a idle state while trying to load a DVD. I have tried several DVDs, ones that have worked before and brand new one, nothing. I am waiting to hear back from RCA support but I doubt they will do anything....

This DVD worked for only a month. That may be why they have only a 3-month warranty. Also, the RCA VCR that I bought (just before the DVD player failed) never worked.

Were talking NEGATIVE stars here! RCA, GE and Proscan are all owned by Thomson Electronics which is no more than Thomson Pharmaceuticals, a French drug company that bought those three companies. Thomson seems to know exactly nothing about electronics and less about customer service. I hand-carried a defective DVD unit to a local Authorized Service Center. The runaround began. A part was bad. The part was ordered. The wrong part arrived. Part ordered again. Part arrives broken. Part ordered again. No parts available anywhere in the country for a 5 month old unit. They say they'll send a new unit. More than a month later new one arrives at service center. Outside box is in perfect shape. Inside box is smashed. Unit is tested and found to be non-functional. They put a smashed-up box in a good box and shipped an already broken unit. I haven't yet mentioned that the whole time this was going on I logged literally hundreds and hundreds of minutes of long distance calls to Thomson because they have no 800 number. After two and one half months had gone by altogether since I'd dropped it off, another new unit finally arrived. I took it, unopened, as well as the other one I'd bought back to where I'd bought them and they gave me my money back. I went to Best Buy and bought two Panasonic DVD recorders for 10 bucks less apiece. They've been working flawlessly ever since. NEVER buy ANYTHING from RCA, GE or Proscan! NEVER!! Unless you enjoy banging your head against a brick customer service wall for more than two and a half months. If you read this and you still buy ANYTHING from RCA, GE or Proscan, you DESERVE the screwing Thomson is going to give you. I will dance a jig the day I hear Thomson goes out of business. I hope this review helps to speed that process.

This is an extremely poor quality unit. Not worth your money. After a very short time (but too long to return it) the sound got very hissy, taking a *lot* of joy out of watching. The other issues (zoom that doesn't use the whole screen, etc.) pale in comparison.