The New RCA DRC8052

[grandmasterjayboogie]

Hey guys.

Just wanted to give ya'll a heads up about this new model from RCA. I found it by accident. I was looking for a recorder that played Divx/Xvid, VCD, SVCD, etc. and is region free. After doing a recorder search on VideoHelp.com I decided to go looking around at Wal-Mart. I saw nothing I wanted, as I already returned an iLO DVR05 (which is a major piece of crap, BTW). I then looked up on the riser and to my surprise I saw an RCA DRC8052 model that I had never seen or heard of before. It advertises on the box that it plays Divx and it also has HDMI upconversion all for just $149!

While I'm not a big fan of RCA, it had everything I was looking for and then some. I haven't tried recording with it yet, but I'll post a report when I get a chance.

The interesting thing about this model is that it isn't even on Wal-Mart's modular yet, nor on RCA's Web site. I also did a search for it on Google and nothing!

The region free thing is the same workaround that a lot of other players have (push title 1, enter, etc.)

Any questions, feel free to ask!

[daveandlib]

Hi there,
can you elaborate (clarify) the region free workaround you mention at the end of your post. I would like to use it on this on the RCA 8052.
Thanks for your help,
daveandlib

Hey guys.

Just wanted to give ya'll a heads up about this new model from RCA. I found it by accident. I was looking for a recorder that played Divx/Xvid, VCD, SVCD, etc. and is region free. After doing a recorder search on VideoHelp.com I decided to go looking around at Wal-Mart. I saw nothing I wanted, as I already returned an iLO DVR05 (which is a major piece of crap, BTW). I then looked up on the riser and to my surprise I saw an RCA DRC8052 model that I had never seen or heard of before. It advertises on the box that it plays Divx and it also has HDMI upconversion all for just $149!

While I'm not a big fan of RCA, it had everything I was looking for and then some. I haven't tried recording with it yet, but I'll post a report when I get a chance.

The interesting thing about this model is that it isn't even on Wal-Mart's modular yet, nor on RCA's Web site. I also did a search for it on Google and nothing!

The region free thing is the same workaround that a lot of other players have (push title 1, enter, etc.)

Any questions, feel free to ask!

Hi there,
can you elaborate (clarify) the region free workaround you mention at the end of your post. I would like to use it on this on the RCA 8052.
Thanks for your help,
daveandlib

[grandmasterjayboogie]

The workaround is simple:

Press the title button on your remote, then hit 01. This will take you to the first title on the disc and bypass the region lock. To get to the main menu, do a chapter/title skip until you get to the end of the disc. This will take you to the main menu.

[lonestarnot]

I have many of the same issues:
- I got the DRC8052 after giving up on my third CyberHome
- Pausing recordings is disastrous ... I've resigned to not having that feature.

The DRC8052 also behaves erratically sometimes, not recognizing discs it recorded.
I was hoping for a downloadable upgrade; but looking up DRC8052 at rca.com
got "No products found".

I did find a download for the Pause problem at:
- http://www.rcaaudiovideo.com/en-US/DRC8052NFirmware
But it explicitly reads:

MAKE SURE YOUR DVD PLAYER IS LABELED DRC8052NB or DRC8052NC,
as this firmware WILL NOT WORK WITH A DRC8052N

I also can't figure how to delete anything;
the system shows a Delete GUI-button, but always skips over it, disallowing its use.

Got any deleting hints?

At rca.com I did find a button-press-reset for the DRC8000 -- a possible alternative to
moving my entire 2x4x7' media cabinet out from the wall and unplugging the main power strip.

Reset the player by pressing and holding the STANDBY/ON button while
you press and hold the STOP button. Hold both for at least three seconds

[dugost]

I just got the RCA DRC8052N DVD Recorder for Xmas and am quite happy with it so far but I have found it freezes up sometimes but perhaps I'm a little too eager with the button pushing, who knows.

In any case, one problem I found is that while it can play and record to DVD-RW, it won't allow me to erase the finalized DVD-RW afterwards. The option is greyed out in the menu. The manual says it can read/write DVD-R, -RW, +R and +RW, and I bought a pack of Imation DVD-RWs (4X, 2hr) to test out the recorder. Those were the only kind I could find locally unfortunately.

Any idea why it won't let me erase the DVD-RWs? I tried putting a finalized DVD-RW in my Mac's SuperDrive to try and erase the disc that way but it gives me an unsupported disc error when I try using Disk Utility or Toast. My SuperDrive also doesn't support +R or +RW so this is why I'm hoping I can find a way to use -R and -RW to make sure the discs are compatible from player to Mac.

Also, when I make a DivX disc using Toast the recorder will play the disc fine except that rewinding and fast forwarding are basically impossible. There's no search preview or scanning, it sort of just sits and when I hit play it either picks up from where I left off or has only jumped ahead a very short timeframe.

Maybe I encoded them improperly using Toast but I had it set to automatic. Any help with either of these issues would be appreciated. Thanks.

[drole_le_canard]

I too got one for Christmas, but as I am trying to set it up I am having some issues with the simple things.... As I try to set up the TV Channels, I get really crappy picture and the auto scan only finds about 1/2 of the channels. BUT if I set it to Antenna instead of Cable, I get really good quality pictures on channels 2-13... and none on 14-above. Is there a way to manually set the channels? It looks like the player rushes through the setup too fast for the channels to come in clearly and then it keeps that as the signal.

Please help.

[mkc]

I am having problem reading subititles in Divx playback. When playing AVI file (Divx) with subtitles (srt file), the subtitles displays in a very small green font, making extremely difficult to read. In addition, the subtitles is often out of sync. Does anyone knows that there is a firmware upgrade, whether it is official or unoffical, that can make the Divx subtitle font bigger to make it easier to read.

Thanks,mkc

[GeeJaySee]

I have the exact same problem as drole_le_canard and I can find nothing to help me.

HELP!

[bobbyslav]

I had the same porblems with poor tuner reception at first as some other people mentioned. The way I worked it out was just keep rescanning, eventually the reception came out crystal clear and it did pick up all channels on my basic cable. Later I thought of something simple, but was too late! In the NTSC tuners the scanning doesn't do anything other than just block the empty channels from scrolling with the channel up/down buttons. Well my thought is just to skip the auto scan all together and go directly to selecting channels.

At first the picture was so bad I almost returned the recorder the same day, but the playback and recording came out as good as I've seen on my projector so I really wanted to get the tuner issue resolved. I am glad eventually it somehow worked out.

I wish I could verify somehow my believe that this recorder has the 12bit 108 Mhz DAC. I can't find that info anywhere from RCA, but the picture I get with this recorder appears similar to the picture of a Philips player with that DAC, and it is visibly better. Doesn't really make a difference on a small screen though.

The other thing I am not sure of is if this recorder can handle PAL discs. Someone said something aboiut bypassing the region code, but that still leaves the problem with different color systems.

[pa555]

I got the RCA DRC8052NC recorder as a X-mas gift from my wife, but never took it out of the box tell after the first of the year. So I've only been using it about three weeks to a month.

It was able to copy stuff I had saved on my DishDVR like a PPV movie and HBO shows. I have made a few DVD that turned out good, but had a few with problems like one that I started the recording & went to bed (DVD set to SP mode) but the next morning it was locked up, had to unplug it then plug it back in to get it working. Then it just read that disk as a bad disk, but recorded 1 hour and 20min before locking up on that disk.

When I record I like to edit out the commercials. The very first DVD I burned I paused to edit stuff out with no problems at all. But then I started having problems even if I paused two or three time for 1 hour show then bam it would be locked up and the only way to unpause was to unplug it.

I never had any problems with the tuner reception as I was setting the recorder up. I first set it up on a TV with 4:3 using S-video cable. But last week I got a new OLEVIA 232V HDTV and hooked this RCA using the HDMI cable and it's great. Now the TV can be set to 1:1 mode and cover the screen. This is the first time I have ever had anything to hooked a HDMI cable up with & I am digging it.

The link posted above by lonestarnot is said to fix the pause problem of locking up, but it says to update your DVD recorders software to version 23.3.N111. Well I already have version 23.3.N111 so I don't know if I will take this recorded back or not. If I do I want to replace it with something that has a HDMI plug for sure.

In any case, one problem I found is that while it can play and record to DVD-RW, it won't allow me to erase the finalized DVD-RW afterwards. The option is greyed out in the menu. The manual says it can read/write DVD-R, -RW, +R and +RW, and I bought a pack of Imation DVD-RWs (4X, 2hr) to test out the recorder. Those were the only kind I could find locally unfortunately.

Have you tried hitting SETUP on the remote going down to DISK, OK, Erase Disk ? Just a thought.......

Paul

[DB7]

This reply is for anyone having glitches and/or disc errors with the 5052. This device runs very hot, so take care to keep it well ventilated. The manual says not to stack with other components. I didn't believe it at first and stacked mine on top of my stereo reciever which made it fit snugly just below the top of the cabinent. I though to myself, "like a glove." Ironically it acted just like a glove and soon after I started having errors. I moved it to the top of the cabinent, which doesn't look as good, but I haven't had a problem since. Also, pressing the eject button repeatedly or right after you turn it on, seems to confuse it and make it take longer. Wait for it to stop saying Hello before opening tray. I do, however, recommend this item to anyone looking for a good all around DVD Player/Recorder.

[dugost]

I've noticed lately that when I'm watching cable with the source set to the tuner input that it sometimes causes lines to cycle through the picture. I've checked the cable connection by going directly to the TV and to a VCR and the signal is fine, no lines or interference.

The cycle seems to occur when the DRC8052 source is set to tuner while a recordable disc is inserted. The signal was fine until the disc tray closed with the DVD-RW in it and suddenly the lines appeared on-screen.

I ran the cable signal through my VCR and then through some RCA cables from the VCR to the rear input of the DRC. The signal looked fine when I changed the DRC's source to Rear AV and had a disc in. So that rules out the cable signal itself and isolates the problem to the cable-in jack while a disc is inserted. Makes for recording TV shows a real pain. Like I said, this is also something that has only started to happen recently so hopefully the thing isn't breaking down or something.

Anyone else experience this or know why this weird line cycle is happening? Better yet, how to fix it! Thanks.

[dugost]

Oh, pa555, I never saw your post regarding my earlier question. Yes, I tried what you suggested. If I finalize a +RW and then try to erase it in the Setup > Disc menu the option for Erase is greyed out. It's like it treats any disc once it's finalized as a DVD-R/+R and won't allow it to be erased again.

Maybe it's just the media I'm using but it makes wanting to watch content on another player or computer from an RW kind of pointless since making re-writables, well, un-re-writable defeats the purpose of using that type of media in the first place.