New PVR Gives TIVO / REPLAY a run for their money
Written: Oct 16 '02 (Updated Oct 16 '02)
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Pros: Excellent Recording Quality. Free TVGuide listing. Outstanding Value for All-In-One. Supports CANADA!
Cons: Remote. Clunky MP3 player interface. Slow skip feature. Confusing power on/off issue.
The Bottom Line: Don't like TIVO, don't like Replay? Are you disgusted with 'activation fees?' Want to save space with a chic all-in-one? Why don't you give the Scenium a spin?
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| magnusmx's Full Review: RCA DRS7000N (40 GB) DVD Recorder |
OK, if you are new to Hard Drive based digital video recorders or PVR (personal video recorders), please read this other review first, written by yours truly
http://www.epinions.com/content_43587112580
On with the review, but first a little bit of
RCA’s Product Information
digital media recorder
The Digital Media Recorder uses the most advanced technology to deliver a sharp, high-resolution DVD picture and the most viewing options. Record TV, pause live TV, store and manage music and photo files on the hard disc drive, with no subscription fee.
The RCA Scenium Digital Media Recorder (DMR) is the industry’s first combination progressive scan DVD player and hard-disc recorder, offering up to 30+ hours of recording time and a convenient, no-fee GUIDE Plus+ Gold™ interactive TV Guide. By combining the best features of a progressive scan DVD player with a personal video recorder, a powerful new entertainment product has been created.
Features
• DVD Digital Media Recorder
• Digital Video Recorder (DVR) with 30 hours of Record Time on 40 GB Hard Disk Drive (HDD)
• One-Touch Record using Gemstar GUIDE Plus+ GOLD™
• Music (MP3) Jukebox
• Progressive Scan Processor
• Digital PhotoView™
• Dolby™ Digital and DTS™ Compatible (with Dolby Digital™ ready audio equipment)
• Universal Remote Control
Specifications
DVD PLAYBACK
• Progressive Scan Output
• DVD Video: (Region 1)
• VCD/SVCD
• DVD+R/DVD+RW
• DVD-R/DVD-RW
• Red Book CD/CD-R/CD-RW/CD-ROM
• Disc Size: 8 cm, 12 cm
• Format: NTSC
• MPEG 2
• MPEG 1
HARD DISK DRIVE
• Capacity: 40 GB
• Recording Time: 30 hours
• Pause Live Programming: up to 45 Minutes
• Instant Replay
• One-Touch Record: with Gemstar GUIDE Plus+ GOLD™
• Audio Jukebox: up to 1,000 MP3 files
• Digital Photoview™: up to 10,000 JPEG Images
• Recording Quality Level: User Selectable, 3 Levels
• Programmable Record Timers: 16
• Play Disc and Record to HDD
• Play from HDD and Record to HDD
• Copy Files from Ext. Memory to HDD: thru USB
• Copy Files from Disc to HDD
PLAYBACK FEATURES
• Play/Pause/Stop
• Skip REV/ Skip FWD
• 30-Second Skip
• Program Play
• Random Play
• Repeat Play
• Headphone Volume Control
• Multi-Speed Smooth Scan
• Multi-Speed Slow Motion
• Multi-Speed Fast Motion
• Still Picture (Jitter-Free)
• Frame-by-Frame Advance
• Aspect Ratio Selector: 4x3, 16x9, Letterbox
• Screen Fit
• Closed Caption: NTSC
• Repeat Function (MP3): Disc/Track/Program
• Disc Name on OSD
• JPEG Slideshow
OTHER FEATURES
• Electronic Program Guide: Gemstar GUIDE Plus+ GOLD™
• Dolby Digital™ 5.1 Ch Output
• Dolby Pro Logic™: 2 Ch.
• DTS™ Digital Output
• SRS TruSurround™
• Parental Lock/Dealer Lock
• OSD Languages: English/French/Spanish
• External Flash Memory Compatible: thru Front USB Port
• JPEG File Move: Rotate
• Titler
• On-Screen Keyboard
• Screen Saver
• Black Level Adjustment
• Intro Scan: CD
• Auto Clock
CONNECTIONS
• Video (composite) Input: 1, Front & 1, Rear Panel
• Video (composite) Output: 1, Rear Panel
• Analog Audio (L/R) Input: 1 set Front & 1 set Rear Panel
• Analog Audio (L/R) Output: 1 set Rear Panel
• S-Video Input: 1, Front & 1, Rear Panel
• S-Video Output: 1, Rear Panel
• RF Coaxial Input: 1, Rear Panel
• Component Video Output (YPrPb): 1 set, Rear Panel
• Infrared Output for Satellite Control: 1, Rear Panel
• Infrared Output for Cable Box Control: 1, Rear Panel
• Digital Audio Out: optical/coaxial: 1 each on Rear Panel
• USB Input, Mass Storage Class: 1, Front Panel
• Headphone Input: 1, Front Panel
REMOTE CONTROL
• Model Number: RCR160DALM1
ACCESSORIES
• RF Cable
• AV Cable
• RF Splitter
• Batteries: 2 AA for remote
• S-Video Cable
• IR Blaster with Cable
GENERAL
• Dimensions: 16.9" W x 3.9" H x 14.4" D
• Approximate Shipping Weight: 13 lbs.
• Power/Voltage: AC 100V, 60 Hz
What’s In The Box commentary?
(1) Digital Media Recorder
(2) Remote control and batteries (part# 257873) with 2 AA batteries
(3) RF Signal Splitter
(4) Power Cord
(5) G-Link Cable (infrared controller for SAT/Cable box)
(6) 1 set of nice thick long A/V cables
(7) Nice thick monster cable like S-Video Cable
(8) RF Coaxial cable
(9) Decent user’s manual with connection illustrations
Connections:
1 set each of Audio / Video outputs with S-Video connectors.
1 G-link connector (controlling cable boxes etc)
1 IR Sat connector
1 Coaxial Digital Audio Output
1 Optical Digital Audio Output
1 Set of Component Video Output
Appearance:
I like the way it looks. Its all silver, with a reflective silver metallic face on the lower half. Definitely looks better than most of the hard-drive based units out there that I am aware of at this time. Features blue lit highlights to indicate power and disc operation. Basic blue LCD screen reflects the operation mode and status. Buttons on the outside for basic operation of the player are easy to find and operate once you get used to their location. Don’t try figuring out the buttons in your dark home theatre room without a light though – for that you’re better off using the remote.
Setup:
Set up was quite simply done. Plug the unit into the wall, connect your system and use the beautifully illustrated black and white pictures. When the unit comes on… First you choose your country, USA or CANADA, then your language: English, French, Spanish; then choose what is connected to what with a simple menu system. Next comes the Guide+ setup…
Guide+ System (setup continued):
To you possible future TIVO or REPLAY users with Satellite programming you are out of luck. On page 9 of the user’s manual it states: “The GUIDE Plus+ System won’t work if you use this connection because it doesn’t interpret information from satellite programming. It only downloads cable TV listings and/or off-air broadcast listings. Once set up you won’t see listings right away – the unit downloads and sorts the information overnight or over a 24 hour period while the unit is turned off but still plugged in.
OK, well you enter your 5 digit zipcode if you're in the USA (don't know about international versions, but CANADA is listed as a choice on this unit). Then asks Cable box, no cable box. Cable box output connection and setup is complete!
Since there is no telephone connection or ethernet broadband connection required to get listing information you do have to do the following:
Taken directly off the setup screen:
“You have completed setup of your Guide Plus+ system. If you have changed TV location or cable configuration settings, your TV will receive any changes to your local channel lineup and TV program listings within 24 hours. In the meantime you may continue normal TV viewing.”
The unit will do a channel search and provide a menu option for deleting channels that you rarely watch. The channels aren’t actually deleted, they just won’t show up during channel surfing (I have a lot of Hispanic channels here, so I appreciate this feature since channel surfing tends to be slow with hard drive based units). And if I ever get urge to pick up some spanish, I can just dial in the channel.
Time and Date is set manually.
Operation:
The heart of the recorder is set around a basic MAIN MENU. The following options are available:
1. Channels – watch live TV
2. Disc – DVD player status / operation
3. Video – equivalent to MY SHOWs on UltimateTV, GUIDE on Replay, NOW Playing on TIVO
4. Music – MP3 player operation
5. Pictures – Picture/slide show operation
6. Recording – Setup manual timers, auto-timers, etc
7. Setup
8. Card – card reader status for uploading pictures through USB port
Watching Live TV:
Nothing special here. A info screen does pop up every time you switch channels – ‘very digital’ and can get very annoying but you get used to it. The info banner provides information on the channel, the show, and allows you to change settings or choose recording options for whats being currently watched. Everything you watch is always being recorded so you can pause live TV at anytime.
Pausing Live TV:
Just press the pause button. You cannot pause what you’re watching and switch to another channel and come back to the paused state. In fact it operates like a VCR in many ways once of which is that it records exactly what you’re watching whenever you are watching live TV. If you pause channel 13 for 5 minutes, change to channel 11 for 10 minutes what gets temporarily recorded is exactly 5 minutes of channel 13 before you switched to channel 11 with 10 minutes there. I like this better than Replay where when you change a channel, the buffer gets reset. However the pause time has a maximum of 45 minutes pausing time. Any longer and the earlier pause gets wiped out
Recording:
I like the express recording feature. I can operate the unit like a VCR by pressing record and it does just that… no entering extra options, settings, etc unless you want. Press record quickly after on the remote and the recording time increases by 30 minutes with each successive press up to the maximum limit. People take it for granted that you can do this almost immediately with a VCR. With my replay it’d take at least a good 5-10 seconds to set up a predetermined time, date, recording quality etc before I can actually save something on the hard drive. Well…actually I should also note that it takes on average 6 seconds for my replay to actually start recording something on my replay unit - I've timed it. I guess it can vary depending on hard drive space, upgraded capacity, etc etc. and mine is a self-upgraded replay unit. (This was tested with pressing record button twice).
Recording from the Guide Plus+:
After leaving the unit plugged in overnight for info download you will get to use the most important feature: The Guide Plus+ on screen programming guide. To choose a program to record, just move using the RCA arrow keys to the program you want to record, press ֭’ on the remote (instructions also on screen) and it’ll record the program. This took a while to get used to since on my replay I just press the record button, but with RCA you press the 3. To change frequency you’d go to the schedule menu with one time, daily, weekly, etc. It also titles the recording for you – something TIVO and Replay users are used to. It also allows you to manually enter or re-enter a new title like – DO NOT ERASE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.
Navigating the Guide Plus+ system:
Basically it’s a TV Guide right on your unit with some extra features. Well you also get advertisements on the left hand side which take up about 15% of screen real estate, and just above that is a live preview screen of the programming currently highlighted. Besides using the arrow keys there is also a sort function. The sort function basically sorts all the currently playing listings in alphabetical order by title. This is a feature I miss on my replay but is more than made up for with a search function. There is no search function on the unit. So you cannot easily find your show using say your favorite actor, keywords, etc, but I say for that you can just use any number of popular on-line search engines like Tvguide.
News tab feature of the Guide Plus+:
Yup, this feature is actually pretty handy. You can get your daily helping of news right on your TV set with the latest headlines from the downloaded MSNBC news tab. Handy icons indicate what type of news, like sports, financial, etc and its quite readable on my 27” SONY. Some stories are quite long; this isn’t like a 1-2 sentence thing.
Video Recording quality:
It provides 3 different recording qualities 1, 2, and 3 or low, medium, and high. Low provides approximately 33 hours of recording, medium 20, and highest quality 12-15. Frankly the basic (low) quality recording is surprisingly good! I’d say it’s just a little bit lower than Replay’s medium some of the time, and mostly I just cannot tell the difference – its that good. (Keep in mind that my cable signal isn’t the greatest, and I haven’t hooked it up to my high resolution monitor). The sound is good the video is good. Basic quality is fine for my prime time shows. And well medium and high are better but they also take up more hard drive space. My suggestion is if you watch cable TV, use basic, if you watch stuff of Satellite use medium or high.
MUSIC & PICTURES
Besides playing the regular audio CD, you can also copy MP3 files to the built-in hard drive unit using a “Class compatible Mass Storage Device”. So far I’ved tried memory stick, smart media, compact flash, SD/MMC without a problem. Or you can also copy from a CD. Same thing applies for pictures except that they have to be in JPG format.
Just highly memory card/CD, and select copy. Copying to the Hard Drive takes a looong time. Ok, one more time, this is not your speedy CD ripper. You do not get to select what gets copied because it will copy every compatible MP3 and JPG to the hard drive. It copies the folders as well.
Accessing the information on the CD/flash memory is fast. Displaying pictures is slow if your pictures are large – 5 Megapixels took 30 seconds to display! I would resize to fit your TV screen resolution for best results.
You can also play regular MP3s (> 128 kbps) directly from CD. Just pop in a CD with MP3s and up comes a screen with truncated filenames of your music. While the unit does display ID tags on the TV screen you can’t tell what song it is until you select it to play if its completely trucated in the selection part. Options include random (within folder), play all, standard play (play), random all, resume. While there is no programmed play or playlist function there are ways to get around that but it will take some preparation on your part.
The system works, but its not as well implemented as I had hoped. It always seems to me that they add these things on as an afterthought. One would think that if they were to just add a little bit more capability to the machine they’d have a real winner in the music and picture category. My iriver imp-350 has way more functionality as an MP3 player than this $599 device does and its firmware updateable. RCA is not.
You can delete files that you do not want individually or by folder.
DVD Player:
It’s a basic RCA progressive scan DVD player which also plays VCDs, MP3 CDs, JPGs off the CDs.. Its good enough for me, but its no professional unit. Picture quality is excellent, navigation is fine. Typical for today’s generation of DVD player.
Coming from the replay unit it doesn’t take too long to get acquainted to operating the unit. Unfortunately the remote control was just a pain for me to operate…more on that later in gripes.
Navigation:
A really cool feature that used to only be available on high end VCRs and DVD players is the time search feature. During playback you can press INFO, punch in 00:15:00 (just the numbers) and it'll jump right to that time in the program you're playing. Handy feature indeed!
Remote Control:
The center of the user interface is the remote. It’s a standard RCA remote control – universal nonetheless and silver to match the unit’s color. I neither like or nor hate it. It gets the job done, controls all the most important functions, but could definitely have been better designed. I’d rather use my Philips Pronto anyway. It has a backlight function for a few of the most basic keys – hardly worthwhile in my opinion. Like the other hard drive based devices, If it weren’t for the arrow keys this unit would be unuseable.
‘Some’ gripes and suggestions for improvement (ok, I’m nitpicking):
Automatic commercial advance would have been nice but that’s not even my gripe. The skip feature skips 30 seconds each press but its not instantaneous (approximately 1 to 3 second delay) and you do have to physically press it and still run the risk of overshooting and then having to press the AGAIN button to step back 10 seconds. I know its faster than watching the commercials but you still waste 30 seconds for each set of commercials.
A small one, but when a recording is in progress, it doesn't show up on the VIDEO menu. You have to press LIVE and them search for the beginning of the show. This could spoil a show by revealing too much of the ending before seeing what happened earlier during the search. On the replay, you select the show that’s recording and choose ‘play from beginning.’
Remote control reception and sensitivity is too weak. I have to almost point the remote control directly at the unit for it to recognize and respond. Batteries are fresh and the IR receiver is unobstructed. Might be fine for most of you but I prefer aim anywhere and it'll get there remotes with strong IR blasters.
MP3 player / Picture view does need some work. Its too basic and dumbed down. No hopes of being a master DJ here with this player. Just put all the music you want to play and have it randomly play it all is your best, least time consuming bet.
Connections: Put some more outputs and inputs on this unit please! If I spend $600 on a device I want it to have connections – and good solid ones not the same ones I’d expect on a basic VCR and DVD player.
Video Editing capability: OK there is none. Zip. Zero. Zilch. Can’t do it. Don’t think about copying your camcorder footage to the unit to do simple edits and output it to a VCR or TV for viewing.
Make it easily upgradeable: ok, companies must know that we’re already opening up Replays and Tivos and upgrading them. Why not just make it easier and win some of us computer users over?
Power on or off: OK the unit powers on to record something, but if you happen to be operating the unit or choose to operate the unit during its scheduled recording time the unit stays on even after the scheduled recording is over. And you can’t turn off the darned thing because its still recording. So is it wasting more energy in this mode? You bet. Its probably negligible but I hate leaving things in the ‘on’ state when I’m not around. Regardless you should know that these units are never completely off as they are more computer-like. UltimateTV has this same problem – note that it is also designed by RCA. They’re only really off when you pull the plug.
Pluses:
No telephone line needed. No broadband line needed. No connection fees necessary. Space saving all-in-one design. Excellent recording capability. Simple menu design is relatively easy to operate than say 4 separate devices for the wife and kids. Easy plug and play photo viewing and mp3 music listening. Parental rating control setting to censor shows. FREE guide data. Relatively low cost entry fee for a unit with all these features.
Conclusion:
I think RCA has a real winner here. I don’t know how many times I’ve been asked (I’ve signed up as a self-proclaimed consumer electronics expert at a few sites) how to use the TIVO / Replay without paying for the service. You know, how to use it just like a programmable VCR. Well now you don’t have to ask, or I can just refer you to this unit and this review. The RCA Scenium DRS7000N is currently the only unit available in the US with a digital hard drive video recording / DVD combo with TV guide listing data for FREE. This new unit gives people more options than the half-way implemented PC PVR, and the two previously uncontested PVR providers (with guide): the TIVO and the SonicBlue Replay. While you can get separate components that do a better job of the RCA Scenium Digital Media recorder you’d be hard pressed to be able to do it under RCA’s $599.99 MSRP (when comparing the MSRP of the separate components and features.) Is it revolutionary? No. More evolutionary than revolutionary. Nonetheless, RCA found a niche and they filled it – good job!
Some might argue that it’s the same thing as the replay charging up front for the subscription fee. It’s a completely different model. Replay and Tivo’s main business model is to sell subscription fees to their service while the Guideplus *was* and *has* been around for a while and will continue to exist regardless of whether RCA sells enough of these digital media recorders. This is further backed by the fact that the unit does not need to call to check in for subscription verification, does not need any registration whatsoever, and is certainly costs less for RCA to maintain the listings through some small advertising in the guides than it does for say Tivo and replay to keep their local dial-in telephone numbers and guide data. Not to mention the fact that if TIVO or REPLAY were suddenly to go out of business tomorrow, owners would have a very expensive paperweight on their hands (ok I’m exaggerating a little, but you get my point). This unit was meant to operate without any subscription or fee. You pay for it, and you get to operate it like advertised – no confusion. The Scenium will continue to allow you to operate it like a regular but programmable digital VCR and let you record stuff and label as you see fit; even if RCA/Gemstar or guideplus go down under. Try doing that with a TIVO today and get nagged till you register and pay up. Free isn’t always better, and for me this is the case as I’m willing to pay extra for the services SonicBlue/replay provides. But that just might change in the future now that I know there’s some more competition and options available.
Personally, If I didn’t already have a replayTV unit, a decent DVD player and a CD jukebox I wouldn’t hesitate to keeping this unit. But for me, the extra money spent on the latest replayTV unit is worthwhile, and I already have several DVD players/recorders, and an Audiotron MP3 server with standard CD jukebox.
What? I’m not keeping the unit?!:
Actually, I'm giving the unit to my parents to use. They've got real issues with the need to call in a report what they're watching, and having to pay for service guides, and the TIVO/REPLAY going out of business etc. etc. They also watch the same things every week and would probably never do the search feature. Their main source of new shows is from word of mouth and its not very hard to come home and program every Sunday night at 9 PM on ABC with this unit.
Honestly I could live with just the RCA Scenium because I would just need to program it once using the search features of TVGuide.com or your favorite. It has the necessities that I'm looking for (but not the whole enchilada) to prove whether or not it is home theatre worthy. What was very important to me was the recording / playback quality, and this unit has the right combination.
Replay and Tivo could learn a few things from this unit. With that said, I prefer the replay unit as a PVR only unit.
Please keep in mind that while I am an experienced gadget reviewer, the above review is based on a few days of use – the unit *just* came out at the time of this writing. I will update my review upon discovering new ‘features’ and characteristics of the unit but since this unit won’t receive the benefit of manufacterer upgrades and firmware fixes I highly doubt that any new ‘features’ will pop up. What you get the first day is what you should expect the following months to follow.
I highly recommend this unit if the Tivo and Replay units just don’t fit your price/performance ratio and budget. $599 is full retail – I suggest you shop around after its been out a little longer than a few days.
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Well I hope you’ve found my review informative. I try to give as detailed a description as is necessary for most people to make a decision. It may not look like it sometimes (darn spell checker isn’t workin’), but I spend a lot of time and effort writing this review, so If you found this information helpful please sign-in and vote for the helpfulness of this article. Thanks! I will be updating this review from time to time in case new issues pop up.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 599
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Epinions.com ID:
magnusmx
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Member: Mike Mu
Location: Silicon Valley, CA
Reviews written: 27
Trusted by: 7 members
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