RCA DRC7005N Digital Video Recorder with Progressive Scan DVD

One extremely cool feature is the unit's ability to store digital media files loaded off optical media discs. Want to watch digital photos or listen to MP3 files from your TV or merely in your living room? Load them into the DRC7005N through the disc tray and store them on the hard drive for as long as you'd like, using RCA's Digital PhotoView technology for customized slideshows or the onboard MP3 jukebox feature to encode and/or stash as many as 1,000 MP3 files--no PC or CD-Rs are required.

Whether your living room is currently home to an HDTV or you're thinking of "someday," the DRC7005N stands ready to deliver the full potential of your DVDs. 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.

The DRC7005N also performs 3:2 pulldown. DVD mastering introduces a common distortion when adjusting 24 frames-per-second movies to 30 fps video; 3:2 pulldown digitally corrects this distortion, removing the redundant information to display a film-frame-accurate picture.

Front-panel audio/video inputs--including a USB 1.1 port--foster easy hookups with flash-memory devices, camcorders, gaming consoles, or VCRs, while a set of rear-panel inputs is perfect for more permanent connections (including an S-video input jack). 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 digital-audio outputs (one each of RCA coaxial and Toslink optical) for direct connection to a full-featured audio/video receiver.

What's in the Box
DVD player/DVR, an RF cable, an analog audio/composite-video interconnect, an S-video cable, an RF cable splitter, 2 AA remote batteries, an IR Blaster with cable, an AC power cord, a user's manual, and warranty information.

Not even phone line connection needed. 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. Get's guide through TV signal.

I see the full listings, highlight the show I want, and it records. I can set it for one time record, or weekly. Don't know what the other guy is talking about, this device records beautifully, manually and automatically. 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. Mines gets the local listings for all my channels automatically from the local PBS channel. Nice universal remote included.

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. My emotions are mixed on this unit. 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. 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. It simply won't do what it's supposed to do.