Customer Reviews

RCA RTD217 5-Disc DVD/CD Home Theater System

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

We just set this up in our 500 square foot living room over the holidays. And its been working perfectly. Lots of features, power and flexibilty for the price. We also combined it with the Rocketfish Wireless Surround Speakers for total Home Theater Effect!

Set Up: Was simple. Being our first 5.1 System, the copious amount of wiring threw us off at first but we soon had everything connected and tucked neatly away.

Sound and Play Back: 250 Watts may not seem like alot but it fills the 500 square foot space with "rich" sound. Meaning we do not need the TV or Radio turned all the way up loud to hear all the features in the sound. At low to middle volume the sounds from Movies and TV shows come clearly thru each channel, with the rear surround speakers working perfectly in harmony to provide the extra effects. The subwoofer and Center Channel Speakers are also very clear and loud.

Features: DVD/FM-AM/CD/USB connector for iPod & MP3 Players/AUX input for Cable box all work well. I love how it quickly burns CDs right to your MP3 players without having to turn on the computer and dealing with ripping the CD first to your computer's hard drive before installing the tracks onto your MP3 Player. The 5 DVD Tray loads quickly and you can switch between any 5 DVDs/CDs during playback and always go back to where you left off. The FM/AM antenna could've been better and longer but we still get the stations clear. You can easily purchase a better antenna or just get Siruis/XM radio. You can also modify the preset modes easily between Stereo, Surround, SubWoofer, and Equalizer settings which is good and adds flexibilty for what you are using the system for.

Quality and Design: The reason I picked this up was that it was smaller than other similar systems and the design was clean, simple and non-obstrusive. The quality of the plastics, metal and wiring is really good for what the system costs. also the wires are all color coded and easy to follow. It was on par, if not better, than what I saw and experienced from the other $900-$3000 systems sold at the store.


PROS:
Very clear and balanced Sound, top notch build quality, easy set up, Tons of features, makes 250 Watts sound like 1000 Watts when set up properly in a 500 square foot living room, Surround Sound theater effects are awesome, DVD playback much quicker and has more features that other pricier systems. Small and Sleek housing and speakers.

CONS:
FM/AM antenna could've been better. Could've used another one or two extra Audio-In ports for Videogame consoles or other devices. (This isnt a problem for us...but I can see it being a problem for the person with alot of gadgets that need to be hooked up to one sound system)

BOTTOM LINE: I totally reccomend this system to anyone that wants something simple, sleek and very functional. And if you don't need a million watts in your home and just want a clean crisp and rich sound without the wires and bulk then this is perfect for you.

It's really a great system for the price. I bought this for my boyfriend for Christmas (even thought I'm the one who really wanted it and uses it) and it's great. We watch all TV on surround sound now.

- At first I thought it would be too many speakers for our relatively small living room, but it's perfect for a 12 X 12 room. The problem is that the speaker wire that came with it doesn't support a room this size. I haven't bothered to buy speaker wire because it's all color coded in the back, and with six inputs, it's just trading one hassle for another.
- I wish the radio antennae got better reception. The radio was one of the main reasons I bought this unit.
- The remote isn't very advanced, but easy to use. I have DirecTV and wasn't able to get their universal remote to control the home theater system. I don't think that is RCA's fault though.
- The DVD quality is great. I'm not the kind of person to just replace electronic equipment just because it's old, only because it's no longer working and I am super impressed with the quality difference from my 10 year old DVD player I replaced.
- The USB feature is also great. I haven't used it much, but I'm happy it's there.

All in all, the only regret I have with this system is that I didn't spring for a more expensive model with wireless speakers, which would have been much more expensive. This is a great unit for the price.
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For the price, you can't beat it. I put it in my bedroom and not only was it easy to hook up, but the sound is excellent. I just like all the features it has (mp3 player, five disc changer, AM/FM radio)for such a good price. I'd recommend it.

Great sound from such a small package. I love not having to bother with changing CDs -- it will play continuously from the 8gb flashdrive. I thought it would record from a CD to the flashdrive, but it will not. My daughter tells me that is because the flashdrive, unlike an MP3 player, is a multi-media device.

I was so shocked when I got the box for these speakers, it was relatively small when compared to my current set. I took everything out and within about 15 minutes it was set up and running. The wires were color coded, the controls were so intuitive that even my mother (who does not get along with electronics) found the controls to be simple. It took about another 5 minutes to set up the presets on the radio and everything else.
The sound was surprisingly good as well. We had spent a fair amount of money for our last set of speakers and they were HUGE, half of the entertainment center was speakers with a mess of cables and wires running from the tuner to the DVD to the TV. This set puts out the same quality sound and I can barely see the speakers. It also saved a bit of space by combining my DVD and tuner.
Overall this is a great set of speakers at a very good price. This is not a set of Bose speakers though. The high end is not quite as good as a bigger set and its not going to shake a filling out on the low end. It does have a good high and low for daily use such as TV, movies and your favorite songs and I would recommend this to anyone looking for a good quality system without spending upwards of 300 or more.

as usual, great service from amazon. internet information after purchase was timely and accurate. package arrived in good condition and was easy to install. installed in a living room that was 18' by 14' and the sound is excellant. i did not use the speaker cords that came with the unit as i considered them to be rather flimsy. purchased heavy duty speaker cord from wal-mart for the install. nothing was wrong with the stock cord other than the fact that it was not copper and was rather lightweigh. i would recommend this product to anyone who is on a budget but would still like a system that provides all the needs of a normal viewer who doesn't care about all the high-priced frills.

I have a tight budget and the RCA Home Theater system was within my price range.The installation instructions were fairly easy to follow,and the sound quality when viewing DVDs is very good.I live in a small apartment,and the effect is immense.

I bought this unit when my old Zenith 5.1 home theater system died. For the price this is definitely a decent unit, but you do get what you pay for.

The speakers seemed a bit weak to me, and so I'm actually using the speakers from my previous system. But it pumps out decent sound, pretty clear, there is a quick 1-4 setting for how strong you want the subwoofer, which is a nice thing so you don't have to dig through menus to change it.

Player works as expected. I never really needed a 5-disc system, but it works well since I rent from Netflix and I can just have them loaded in there for whenever I want to just switch over to a movie. I use the Aux input for my tv or my computer audio (radioshack switch), and it works well.

I like that you can change the other discs while watching a DVD or in any other function, and when you close that drawer, the player doesn't try to automatically switch to that one. I have not tried the USB functions of the system.

Overall, it is a decent unit, slightly under where I think it should be for the price.

I've always wanted a dvd Home Theater system. I bought this product almost two years ago and its still going strong. The sound is excellent and the picture comes out crystal clear. I recently watched Stop Making Sense by The Talking Heads on this and it was an awesome experience. You can hear movies in a new way, and pick up sounds you've never heard before. I know Blu Ray is the future of dvds (or so its said) but im going keep this system for a very long time. You can also burn tracks
onto an MP3 player with this set, it does a heck of alot. I cannot recommend this theater system enough.

Also, I cannot believe the price of this product. I bought this system for about 130 brand new, and i've seen other stores sell for less then a hundred at one point. I'd check out some local mega retail stores for this product because its well worth it if your a movie lover.

Update: The player worked well and I was viewing a film and it just paused. It stop playing dvds and I couldnt get any disc to spin. I had an extra dvd player laying around and just used that. I kept trying the RCA player and it would play about half an hour but it would just pause and stop. The next day, I hooked up the new dvd player, a Sony, to the RCA and it just kept on buzzing. I didnt want to lose this nice speaker set. I noticed the right side was making the buzzing sound and I got annoyed so I unhooked it and plugged the Sony dvd into a seperate outlet. Then I thought eh i'll try to watch the RCA player just to see what will happen. I've watched four dvds in two different trays and it has yet to pause on me and seems to work fine. I don't know if the Sony player somehow recharged the RCA player but i'm hoping the RCA keeps on working for awhile. I still have the Sony hooked up, in case the RCA stops working.

Yes I know the update can be confusing to read, sorry just wanted to share information with you.

Cheap product is what you get when you do not spend the money for something better. I should have known better than to buy a RCA product. It only took one week for the dvd player to stop functioning, all five of the trays. The only thing decent on it is the radio turner, at least that works.