Entered CNET Catalog: 06/16/2004
SKU: 0034909320181
Manufacturer: RCA
Manufacturer description
With a couple of button presses on the DVD Recorder/VCR Combo (model DRC8300N), consumers can easily transfer home videos from a VHS tape directly onto a DVD. More sophisticated editing is also a snap with programmable tape playback, allowing users to select only those scenes they want to copy before recording to disc. You can even split titles or hide unwanted chapters after recording the content to a DVD+RW disc. Incorporating progressive scan DVD playback capability and a 4-head HiFi VCR, the DRC8300N offers numerous features to enhance the viewing and recording experience. Scene Again instant replay accesses previously viewed DVD or tape segments in 10-second increments, and a 30-second "Advance" function allows viewers to skip ahead to preferred scenes on DVDs or tape. An on-screen DVD disc library stores up to 400 titles, allowing users to easily sort and locate any title they have recorded using the DRC8300N. You can even find the discs with the most available blank space for new recordings. The on-screen keyboard makes it easy for consumers to create and edit program names for all of their personal recordings. Six recording modes are available - ranging from one to eight hours and SmartRecord automatically adjusts the quality of the recording to fit the available disc space. Other features include S-Video inputs, for simple recording and playback from camcorders, an mp3 decoder for playing mp3 discs and Digital PhotoView for displaying JPEG files. The player also includes a time base corrector and digital noise reduction circuitry that eliminates picture jitters and reduces noise from videotape playback to significantly improve the quality of recordings from videocassette recorders or camcorders. Easily integrated into an existing home theatre system, the DRC8300N includes Dolby Digital and DTS compatible digital optical output, two composite video inputs, one composite video output, analog audio inputs and outputs, RF coaxial input/output and a component video output.Product summary
The good: One-touch VHS-to-DVD dubbing button on front panel; comfortable remote with nice key layout; S-Video inputs in front and back; reasonably priced.
The bad: Belabored menu navigation; no IR blaster or VCR Plus support; so-so recording quality.
The bottom line: RCA's combo VCR/DVD recorder does a good job of archiving old VHS tapes to disc.
Editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 09/28/2004
Like other DVD/VCR combo recorders, RCA's affordably priced DRC8300N is geared toward consumers who want a multifunction device that can easily archive noncopyrighted VHS tapes and camcorder footage to disc. Retailing for $400 (though available for less online), this attractively styled, mirror-faced model measures 17 inches wide by 14 inches deep by 4 inches high and is about the same size (read: somewhat bulky) as the current generation of VHS/DVD combo devices on the market. The included remote control isn't backlit, but the important buttons--such as Menu, Volume, Channel, Record, and Stop--are easy to find in the dark, and a curved ridge at the bottom of the control fits perfectly between your index and middle fingers, making for a comfortable fit.
Copying VHS tapes to DVD+R or DVD+RW (DVD-R/RW discs can be played, but not recorded) is easy as long as you're within arm's reach of the recorder. Between the VHS slot and the DVD tray is a one-touch Copy button; press it, and a confirmation window pops up with the current recording quality and the time remaining on the DVD. Unfortunately, unlike the GoVideo VR3930, you can't change the recording quality from the confirmation window; you must take the annoying extra step of selecting cancel and digging into the settings menu.
Another small gripe: Copying from the main menu takes more steps than it should. Instead of being able to copy tapes or DVDs from the primary menu, you have to dig down to a submenu (one for disc to tape, another for tape to disc), and you'll have to back up and drill down into yet another submenu to tweak the recording quality. (In case you're wondering, the recorder won't let you copy any tapes or DVDs with Macrovision copy protection.)
Unfortunately, the recorder doesn't have an onscreen electronic programming guide à la TiVo, which makes recording your cable or satellite TV feed a distinctly manual affair. Like a lot of competing combo recorders in this price class, the DRC8300N is missing an IR blaster--an infrared flasher that changes the channel on your cable or satellite box. That means you'll have to make sure your cable/satellite tuner is set to the right channel for timed recordings. Even worse, the ubiquitous VCR Plus (a feature that your old VHS player probably has) is missing, too. That leaves you back in the dark ages of digging through TV listings for the starting and stopping times of your favorite shows.
Connectivity is pretty standard: You get the usual DVD outputs--progressive/component, S-Video, composite video, and analog and optical digital audio out--as well as one set of A/V/S-Video inputs on the back and front panels. The back panel also includes VCR-style RF connections for analog cable or antenna hookups. Unlike some competing models, the recorder has no FireWire input for DV camcorders, and it lacks the ability to upconvert VHS signals for the component-video output. In other words, to record video from your camcorder, you'll have to use the S-Video and stereo inputs, and you'll need to toggle between two separate outputs (component and S-Video/composite) when switching from DVD to VHS viewing.
The DRC8300N's DVD recording quality is good, if not exceptional. At the highest quality setting (which gives you about an hour of recording time on a 4.7GB DVD+RW), the recorder captured about 450 lines of resolution, just shy of the maximum resolution a standalone DVD recorder can muster. At the two-hour setting (your best choice for VHS archiving), the DRC8300N's recording quality fell to a still-respectable 430 lines, while it's four-hour performance managed a meager, VHS-quality 270 lines. The recorder's eight-hour mode puts up about 250 lines, but it's plagued with MPEG artifacts that turn the picture into a pixelated, jumpy mess.
Lackluster onscreen programming features and so-so menu navigation aside, the DRC8300N will make relatively quick work of archiving your VHS collection to DVD. But if DV camcorder compatibility and component-video upconversion are important to you, consider instead the similarly priced GoVideo VR3930.
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4out of 4 user reviews
Who wrote the manual?
Pros: great TV resolution on an older TV
Cons: manual instructions not specific or detailed in easy terms.
out of 4 user reviews
Does it all, Does it well.
Pros: copies vhs to dvd seamlessly. Great for recording television programs to dvd. Disc library makes it easy to find the programs you have recorded.
Cons: Remote a little slow when used in conjunction with rca satellite receiver.
out of 4 user reviews
A good idea but....
Pros: Menu is easy to use and one touch video tape transfer is a great idea.
Cons: You have to be a gambler to like this recorder. After burning a disk it needs to be finalized before it can be played on another dvd player. Here is where the big problem arises. The more important the disk the less likely it will finalize. On some of
out of 4 user reviews
does a great job of copying vhs tapes
Pros: This product is easy to use and does what i want for copying vhs tapes
Cons: Menu is hard to use.
