RCA RC5240P DVD Player
RCA RC5240P - Multi-Use machine on a budget
I originally bought this DVD player not for its DVD playback but because I wanted a player that would play VideoCDs that I burned on my PC. Before I talk about the DVD playback let me discuss the VCD playback of this unit since this may be the reason many people would buy it. <br />VCD/SVCD Playback <br />If you are not interested in, or have no reason to care about VCD burning you may skip this section. <BR>Right away this player gets points with me because it is CD-R/W compatible. I know from experience that it is very difficult to tell if a player will read these discs and the box clearly states it will play these discs which eliminates any uncertainty. For those of who who burn VCD/SVCDs I can tell you the playback is excellent and I have not had any trouble getting any VCDs to play no matter what the media type. It also has a nice feature called a \\"Track Index\\" which has the player generate 9 thumbnail pictures from various points in a track allowing you to start from your desired location without fast forwarding. If you are like me and like to make vcds and svcds with higher then normal bitrates then you will like this player. I have made VCDs with bitrates up to 5000 kb/s(the standard is 1150 kb/s) and they played perfectly. So as a VCD/SVCD player this unit is the best. <br />DVD Playback <br />Even though I bought this unit primarily to play VCD/SVCDs I still have an interest in watching DVD movies. Normally I have the player hooked up to a 25' GE television through an RF modulator. Even through this low quality hookup the picture was significantly sharper then the picture provided from the satellite tv broadcast. I really wanted to see how good the player actually looked using a high quality display. I convinced a friend to let me use his NEC projector and we had a movie night with my PC speakers(Altec Lansing ATP3) providing the sound. The picture was brilliant through the S-Video connection on the 60' display. <BR>DVD playback never skipped nor did I ever find the layer change a distraction. <br />Sound <br />Sound is good through the analog stereo outputs, but this player shines when hooked to a Dolby Digital/DTS reciever through the optical or coaxial digital connection. The analog outs have a slight hiss, the headphone output has this problem as well. In digital mode though the sound is superbly clean and well detailed. <br />Outputs <br />For a cheap player this unit has all the goodies. <BR>It has the following: <BR>Video <BR>2 composite video outputs <BR>1 s-video output <BR>1 set of component video outputs <BR>Audio <BR>2 sets of phono outputs <BR>1 coaxial digital output <BR>1 optical digital output <br />It has a built in stereo AC-3 decoder and will play Dolby Digital and DTS if you have a the appropiate decoders. <br />MP3 Playback <br />This player uses and all business no frills method to play mp3s. It will play mp3s up to 320 kb/s and will play VBR mp3s also. The playback sounds good, not cd good, but good. <BR>The mp3 playback is the weakest part of the unit though. You can't fast forward and the player seems to skip the first 1/2 second of a file. <br />Miscellaneous <br />The remote that comes with the unit is a universal and it controlled my GE tv with no adjustments. The remote is well laid out and useable. The only thing wrong with the remote is the color scheme, pink and purple on black just doensn't do it for me, plus some people may find the sixe of the remote unappealing. I like the look of the unit overall especcially the front panel. The front panel has all the basic controls needed to run a movie. The play button is large and glows blue making it easy to see in the dark.