Customer Reviews

RCA DRC7005N Digital Video Recorder with Progressive Scan DVD

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Don't know what the other guy is talking about, this device records beautifully, manually and automatically. Mines gets the local listings for all my channels automatically from the local PBS channel. I see the full listings, highlight the show I want, and it records. I can set it for one time record, or weekly! Granted, it's not the world's nicest interface, but for the price, included DVD player, and all the money saved on fees, it's great! No $12.99 to TIVO or $300 lifetime ReplayTV fee. Nice universal remote included.

I've been using this DVR for over a year now and I love it. It's not perfect by any means but I can't imagine ever going back to using a VCR. The interface is pretty straighforward and easy to use. I found that the response from the remote control it came with was poor and lagged so I bought a universal remote which fixed that problem immediatly.

For about 6 months I used the feature which loads up a tv schedule and lets you pick programs to record. I finally stopped using it because it became too much of a hassle. In order for the DVR to download a tv schedule you have to turn off your DVR and leave it off for many hours. It usually downloaded only at night too. When I want to record something now I just enter in each new program in the recording schedule. I think this is a better way to do it anyway because the DVR would frequently miss the very beginning or end of a program when you pick programs to record from the tv schedule because different tv stations start their programs at slightly different times. When you manually schedule programs you can pick exactly when you want it to start/stop recording resulting in you almost never missing any part of the show.

The system also has frequent bugs and glitches which I have fixed by either turning the power off or simply unplugging it from the wall with no ill effects thus far. It's annoying but since I haven't lost any content because of the bugs or glitches it doesn't bother me that much.

Besides those minor problems I love this DVR. It has definitely made my tv watching experience much more fun and easy and also allowed me to record even more programs than I used to on my VCR. If you are looking for a DVR with NO fees whatsoever that does it's job adequately then this one is for you.

Very good recording quality even at basic quality ( it has from high to medium, to basic, then low (don't use low))
DOESN"T record DVD's, that would increase the price another 100 bucks.
You can easily upgrade the HDD to 137 GB with almost any IDE HDD for up to 40 hours of highest quality or 120+ hrs of good quality.
It also plays mp3 and pictures.
Best device ever.
FREE on-screen guide, with sort by letter feature, etc. Not even phone line connection needed. Get's guide through TV signal.

My emotions are mixed on this unit. The DVD portion of the machine works beautifully, but I didn't buy this unit for the DVD player.....I bought it for its ability to replace my VCR, hoping that I'd no longer have to buy VHS tapes in order to record TV shows. This unit is supposed to record up to 40 hours of programming on its hard drive, which would make it ideal for anyone going on a long vacation. But the only way I can get it to record is by turning on the unit, setting it to a channel, and hitting the record button. This means that you have to MANUALLY turn the record function on.....as well as turning it OFF!! The RCA folks were of no help, in that they read from the same manual that I do....the one that comes with the unit.

So, be very careful if you're looking to this unit as a replacement for your old VCR! It simply won't do what it's supposed to do!