Editorial Review:Item Description:Thomson provides a wide range of video technologies, products and services to consumers and professionals in the entertainment and media industries. Offering an array of state-of-the-art digital products and services, Thomson adds value to hundreds of millions of consumers around the world every year.PRODUCT FEATURES:DVD Recorder/Hi-Fi VCR combo;DV-input with DV CAM control;One-touch copy VHS to Disc;Time Base Corrector with Digital Noise Reduction;Disc Library;Smart Record.
Amazon.com Item Description:Get the best of both worlds with the RCA DRC8312N combo DVD player/recorder and VCR, which offers all the VCR playback and recording features you've become accustomed to and adds the power of a multi-format DVD recorder. The 4-head VCR features three-speed playback (SP/LP/SLP) and two-speed recording, a real-time counter, digital tracking and auto head cleaner, and a 1-year/8-event programmable timer with a built-in calendar.
The DVD portion records onto DVD+R/RW discs--up to 4.7 GB of data--and it can play DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW, CD-R/RW, VCD, and SVCD discs (and discs with burned MP3 files). The DRC8312N has six record modes, ranging from one hour to eight hours. It has a built-in NTSC standard 181-channel tuner, enabling you to record programming without having to hook up to a TV, and offers a 30-second skip feature.
The Time Base Corrector feature helps to reduce digital noise, as well as eliminate picture jitters from videotape playback and restore distorted vertical and horizontal sync and color burst signals when copying from tape to disc. The SmartRecord feature automatically adjusts the Recording mode (quality) to fit recorded contents on the available disc space. The Disc Library feature stores a database of up to 400 titles that have been recorded, making it easy to access previously recorded programming.
It offers Dolby Digital and Dolby DTS 5.1-channel surround sound output as well as SRS TruSurround virtual surround sound. It has the following video connections:
- Composite AV In (RCA): 2 (1 front)
- Composite AV Out (RCA): 1
- S-Video In: 2 (1 front)
- S-Video Out: 1
- Component Video Out: 1
- RF In: 1
It also features a high-quality digital connection for transferring your DV camcorder home videos to disc, and includes a camcorder control.
What's in the Box
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
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* junque ...
recorded just five disks.
Then, it "freezes" on future recordings. Requires removal of power cord to "reset".
Many features, but the basic ones do not work.
I have two other DVD recorders that work well. The RCA does not.
***UPDATE*** after six weeks in RCA authorized repair, and four follow-up phone calls, they seem to have fixed the problem.
Rating: -
* Freezes; fan never turns off ...
I agree with the negative reviews.
One reviewer wrote: "There is a cooling fan in the rear of the unit which cools the player completely while it is in use but the fan turns off when the power is turned off."
The fan does NOT turn off on my machine, so I unplug it to get some peace and quiet.
Like many others, I had trouble with the unit freezing during large editing jobs (hours and hours of inserting chapter markers) requiring unplugging.
Unfortunately I did not bring it back to Target by the return date.
I give it 2 stars because I have not had any problems that could not be fixed by unplugging the unit. However, it is not dependable, so I give it a low rating.
Rating: -
* Worthless, nonfunctional, out-of-the-box boat anchor ...
I did something really stupid last night. On an impulse (triggered by the ON SALE sign at the local Target) I bought this worthless unit. I was excited and could not wait to copy a videotape to DVD. No such luck. Hours of wasted time. This thing simply does not work. I tried different DVD+R's and none would format. Even the DVD+RW that was supplied with the unit would not work. I will take this back to Target today for a full refund or replacement with a unit from a different manufacturer.
Don't be suckered by the RCA brand name. It used to mean quality but not any more.
Rating: -
* stay away ...
probably the worst piece of electronics we ever bought. bad vhs quality, bad vhs copying, does not pick up our tv signal with a disc in so we have not been able to record any TV shows. BUY SOMETHING ELSE. we sent this to the electronic recycler after a few months!
Rating: -
* RCA DRC8312N: Great product concept, lousy implementation ...
I needed to transfer many VHS tapes of family onto DVD's to share. I looked into all units available, and, being an electronics engineering consultant who once worked in RCA's color TV research at David Sarnoff Labs, I spotted the feature called "Time base corrector" built-in. This is a "must have" in my opinion, to make a rigid interlace from VHS. Maybe other machines have it de facto but don't tout it. Nevertheless, I bought it IN SPITE of the bad reviews I read about it. To my dismay, the reviews about it being an unreliable TURKEY are all true. When it works it performs exquisitely. The trick is getting it to work. Immediately after unpacking it, the first 5 minutes of recording were interrupted by it turning off its power. I coaxed it to make a recording without shutting down, and got a complete disc. Subsequently, I cannot coax it to work again, and it keeps turning on and shutting down, altering its clock setting, and generally throwing a tantrum. This fidget-widget has me cursing. I am making NEWEGG.com take it back and issue a refund. AVOID THIS FIDGET-WIDGET !!!!!
