RCA DRC232N ClearPlay-Enabled Parental-Control DVD Player , Black

by RCA

Product Details

Product Manual [1.78mb PDF]

• Shipping Weight: 7 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B0002ARJAC
• Item model number: DRC232N
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #365,073 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

RCA's DRC232N offers great format compatibility, superior progressive-scan video quality, and unparalleled parental controls using preloaded and updatable ClearPlay content filters. So whether you're spinning your homemade MP3 and WMA music mixes, entertaining guests with slideshows of your digital photos, or making your movie viewing suitable for any member of the family or household, the DRC232N is up to the task.

Progressive scanning, referred to as 480p for the number of horizontal lines that compose the video image, creates a picture using twice the scan lines of a conventional DVD picture, giving you higher resolution and sharper images while eliminating nearly all motion artifacts. Interlaced component-video outputs help minimize digital and line-scan artifacts on compatible advanced televisions, while composite- and S-video outputs bring compatibility with nearly any television.

ClearPlay provides family-oriented software filters for watching movies on standard, studio-issue DVDs, skipping or muting over graphic violence, profanity or explicit sex. Each compatible movie gets its own unique filter. This lets families view a movie at home without worrying about the presence of inappropriate material. It's as if you had super-fast fingers and were able to press the remote buttons fast enough and accurately enough to skip and mute objectionable content without spoiling the film's continuity or entertainment value.

Audio mutes and video skips are timed to be as unobtrusive as possible. Sometimes mutes or skips are noticeable, but the majority will probably not interrupt your viewing. According to ClearPlay, its filtering does not affect picture and sound quality--and if a DVD supports 5.1-channel surround sound, you can still listen in 5.1 surround if ClearPlay is active.

The DRC232N comes loaded with ClearPlay filters for approximately 100 movies. When you load a DVD, the player searches the available ClearPlay filters and looks for a match. You can turn ClearPlay on or off with a single setting, and you can customize your filter preferences through 14 different criteria for a total of 16,384 potential configurations. ClearPlay takes great care and effort to maintain theatrical continuity despite its virtual content removal, and many say the end result is similar to watching an airline or television presentation of a film.

If you want to expand your selection of filters, you have 2 options: 1) ClearPlay New Releases: for $4.95 a month (or $49 a year) you'll enjoy access to the complete library of all ClearPlay Filters, including new releases; and 2) ClearPlay Classics: a one-time charge of $40 buys access to filters that are 90 days old, and the $40 charge includes free updates for 3 years.

You can add filters by inserting a ClearPlay update CD into the DVD player. (ClearPlay can mail you update CDs, or you can download the updates and burn them yourself.) The DVD player can store filter information for about 300 movies, depending on the specific filters. You can always select filters for removal from the player's memory.

A set of left/right analog-audio outputs channel audio to Dolby Pro Logic receivers and stereo televisions. Both Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1-channel surround-sound signals can be routed through the player's coaxial digital-audio output for direct connection to a full-featured audio/video receiver. A 96 kHz/24-bit digital-to-analog converter ensures optimum decoding of all disc formats.

The supplied remote control operates most TVs and VCRs that carry the RCA, GE, or Proscan brands. The following list (in alphabetical order) provides basic information about how these buttons will operate when in TV or VCR mode.

What's in the Box
DVD player, remote control, remote batteries, user's manual, stereo analog audio interconnect/composite-video cable.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ClearPlay Rocks!, November 4, 2004

By 

Gizmo Fan - See all my reviews

This review is from: RCA DRC232N ClearPlay-Enabled Parental-Control DVD Player , Black (Electronics)

I am so excited to see this product on the market. This is technology that I've wished existed for years. It is great to now be able to sit down and watch movies without all the garbage the directors insist on including in movies. I can now safely even watch a lot of PG titles with my kids. The movies are cleaned up even a little better than the tame airline versions. I was surprised at how many titles they have already released filters for, including many titles that I already own. They even already have filters for all 5 Star Wars movies. There's even a filter for the all time greatest movie ever - The Princess Bride - which skips over the bad word near the end. With filters available for over 850 titles, and more continually added, I have a huge selection to choose from when I go the video rental store.

ClearPlay has done a great job of maintaining the continuity of the movies they filter. Where they can, they skip over the inappropriate language. When that would be too choppy they simply mute the sound briefly for ears that would be offended.

I was even more impressed with the unit after plugging it in an looking at the menu options. You can require a password to view movies above any rating you want to pick, and can select which filters individually that you want the player to use. The parental controls are terrific and versatile.

If you want to keep getting the latest movie filters you'll have to subscribe to their service for a small fee. Then you can download all the filters they have to your computer. You just need to burn the filter file to a CD. For a couple of bucks they'll mail you a CD if you don't have a CD burner. Just put the CD in your RCS ClearPlay DVD player and select the filter(s) you want to use.

The DVD player is shipped with filters for 100 movie titles. It will hold up to 300 of the 850+ titles at a time.

When you put in a DVD it will check for the filter for that title automatically.

The player recognizes so many CD and DVD formats, and also has progressive scan, S-video, and surround sound outputs if you have a home theater set up. If not, simply use the standard audio/video cable that comes with the unit.

I am so happy that my old CyberHome DVD player broke. I don't plan to ever purchase another DVD player without ClearPlay.

This cool machine definitely rates 5 stars out of 5. And I'd give it a 6th one if I could. This is the best thing since TiVo (which is also a must have!)

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Plays Dual Layer DVD's flawlessly!, September 5, 2004

By 

Darryl Howell (Smyrna, GA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: RCA DRC232N ClearPlay-Enabled Parental-Control DVD Player , Black (Electronics)

There's alot of talk these days about the new DL recorders, but no one is talking much about compatibility issues with the regular DVD players connected to our TV's. I got a first hand initiation a couple weeks ago with several stand alone players including the RCA DRC232N.

I've read all the media discussion about how the Dual Layer recorder manufacturer's have gone out of their way to make them compatible with set top units, but let me tell you, it's still touch and go. I had an opportunity to try several set top units, but most of them had a problem, including a Sony unit I recently purchased. Not so with this RCA unit.

Here's the models that I tried that would not work:
Norcent DP313
Sanyo DWM400
Sony DVP-NS575
Symphonic SD200E

And the model that worked perfectly with two different DL disk I had burned -- the RCA DRC232N.

Hope this helps some of you guys out there find a great unit that is compatible with your Dual Layer DVD's.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars So far, so good, December 18, 2004

By 

Steven Hellerstedt "SH" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: RCA DRC232N ClearPlay-Enabled Parental-Control DVD Player , Black (Electronics)

I've owned this dvd player for two months now, and can confidently say I'm satisfied.
Favorite features - The dvd player remembers previous disks, and it replays them from wherever you left off. This happens even with disks that have been removed and replaced in the tray.
I don't use the clearplay feature, although it seems a good idea.
The remote is somewhat clumsy. The dvd buttons I use most - pause, stop, fast forward, etc. - are located in the bottom right corner. Using the remote becomes a two-handed operation. I balance the remote with the left hand, mash the button with the right thumb. It doesn't help any that the remote bulges along its back spine to accomodate the batteries. A flat remote and better button placement would have helped.