RCA DRC8005N Progressive-Scan DVD Player/Recorder with USB Port
Everything OK but no firewire for my digital camcorder!
This is a very nice unit for the money, and I would recommend it to certain consumers, but personally, I've decided to return it.<br /><br />The \\"dealbreaker\\" was the fact that while it has a USB port for viewing media (pictures) cards through a card reader, it lacks a firewire port to transfer movies from your digital camcorder!  This is a serious lack of judgement in having the \\"fru-fru\\" option and not the \\"basic\\" option (better would have been both).  I suppose I could use one of the SVHS connectors, but what's the point of having a digital camcorder?<br /><br />Now for the pluses.  First off, everything worked out of the box.  I admit to be \\"techno-savvy\\".  I'm quite comfortable with audio and video components.  Still, I think it was nice that I didn't have to read a single page of the manual to hook the thing up and start recording.  Other DVD recorders have been reported not to be so \\"user friendly\\".<br /><br />Next, I found the 3 hour recording mode (on a DVD) to be equal to VHS 2 hour mode.  I think this would be a great unit for those looking to replace their old VCR's.<br /><br />Along those lines, I also found it no problem to record programs from my TiVo onto DVDs.  Again, if this is what you want, this would be a good unit for you.<br /><br />I suppose that if I were to spend 2x+ the money, certain things would be better.  I found, for example, the remote control to be poorly designed (although not the worst I've used) and the system generally lacked responsiveness.  When I press a button, I want something to happen - NOW.<br /><br />I'm giving it 3 stars because:<br /><br />3 stars for being what I expected and everything worked.<br /><br />+ 1 for good price<br /><br />- 1 for the lack of a firewire port, which I would consider to be a basic feature for a DVD recorder.