RCA HD-DVD Player ...Buy or Not?

[ChrisRA]

I found the RCA HD-DVD Player for $375.00.....is this worth purchasing or not? I will not pay $1000.00 for Blue-Ray so this is not an issue. I guess its just a matter of weather I should wait for the Toshiba A2 at the end of December.

All suggestions welcome!

[fredwi]

just try it,you have nothing to loose.if you dont like return it,but it s a great deal.

[eapleitez]

It's the same thing as the A1, so I would say that it is worth it.

[Eric Giles]

Personally, I would not buy another RCA player. Although it is identical to the Toshiba, your only support option if there is a problem is RCA's. And I can tell you-RCA's customer support for the HDV5000 is pathetic-absolutely pathetic.

If they will EVER decide to actually let me send them back my player to be fixed, I will be turning around and selling it.

[x-ray]

Well I paid 500 plus tax, and do plan on upgrading it in maybe a year, but will get a second one of these http://www.svsound.com/products-sub-cyl-plpow2.cfm

and a better A/V ,before even considering dumping the RCA. In short I think its a great value compared to what is available currently.

[egcarter]

Actually, the RCA is NOT identical to the Toshiba HD-A1...the RCA also has an RS-232 port for control.

[GISMO1]

if you like it i would buy it hopefully soon all video stores will be renting HDDVD AND BLURAY.to me $375.00 would be worth it because HD movies are awesome.i just wish video stores start renting very soon i do not like online rental i like going in the store much easier i think.i know alot of BB stores are renting them now just not the ones near me.

[GMan4911]

For about the same money, you can get the core XBox 360 + HD-DVD Add-on drive. $200 after MIR at Microcenter and $160 after coupon for the HD-DVD Add-on from Circuit City.

[Deja-vue]

FYI:
I visited Sams Club today, and they got stacks and stacks of the RCA HD DVD player.
They sell this model for about $425.00 i believe, and with their excellent return-policy... ;)

[ChrisRA]

GISMO,

Where are you renting your movies from? I belong to blockbuster online and they have about ten pages of HD-DVD's to chose from for renting.

About the X-Box 360 with HD add on.....is this the same picture quality and what about the 5.1 sound? Does the x-box allow for the same sound quality as the RCA?

[GISMO1]

hey,chris i am not renting from any where right now i just bought my 360 add on 2 days ago. right now i have KK watched it twice and i have WE WERE SOLDERS i have not watched that yet will tonight.the 5.1 sound for the 360 sounded good to me just have to cut the bass up a little bit.

[ChrisRA]

I suggest you try Blockbuster Online....For about $20.00 a month you have a large selection of HD-DVD choices. The come in the mail 3 at a time and you can keep a list of new movies to rent. Send one back and they send you a new one. OR you can take the movie back to a Blockbuster store and exchange for a new one, which cuts down mailing time. Its definately worth the $$$$.

[Otter0911]

I have had the RCA for about 4 months now. Runs perfect only had 1 skip with Batman otherwise no problems at all. Never did a firmware update still running 1.0 !

[oldcband]

Depends how much you want HD DVD. I bought one at my local wally's for 300.00 and never opened it and decided that I'll wait for a universal player. Its just too early for this stuff unless you can afford this luxury. My upconversion DVD player looks good enough for me. I'll wait.

[gwsat]

FYI:
I visited Sams Club today, and they got stacks and stacks of the RCA HD DVD player.
They sell this model for about $425.00 i believe, and with their excellent return-policy... ;)
Sam's Club in OKC has them now, too. Unfortunately, the price here is $487.95, plus our rapacious, 8.375%, sales tax. I am not interested at that price. Still, it’s an improvement, as up until now neither Sam’s nor our local Wal-Marts have had either HD DVD or BD players.

[Jerry Curl]

I bought mine for $300 at Wal-Mart. I havent had any issues so far, even with the Toshiba 2.0 FW update.

[JOHNnDENVER]

Well, if you want one, I would not sit on the fence to long or you may not get one.

I consider the A1 one of my best HT scores ever, so you can't go wrong.

[TrevorS]

I have had the RCA for about 4 months now. Runs perfect only had 1 skip with Batman otherwise no problems at all. Never did a firmware update still running 1.0 !

Almost five months and also with 1.0 -- works great -- entirely satisfied! :)

[FremontRich]

I found the RCA HD-DVD Player for $375.00.....is this worth purchasing or not? I will not pay $1000.00 for Blue-Ray so this is not an issue. I guess its just a matter of weather I should wait for the Toshiba A2 at the end of December.

All suggestions welcome!


I bought one from Amazon and I couldn't be happier. I upgraded the firmware to V1.4 and it works flawlessly. :D

[xterraml]

I just picked up one of these at walmart for $160.00. Did I just steal this from them? No really they said that they were not selling so they lowered the price. I just noticed tho that it's displays are 480p, 720p and 1080I. Doesn't this player do 1080p? Do I need to do a firmware update to play 1080p? If it does not display 1080p back it goes. Thanks for the help.

[yakuzaboss1975]

I found the RCA HD-DVD Player for $375.00.....is this worth purchasing or not? I will not pay $1000.00 for Blue-Ray so this is not an issue. I guess its just a matter of weather I should wait for the Toshiba A2 at the end of December.

All suggestions welcome!

i purchased mine off of ebay about 2 weeks ago and i havent had any regrets at all.

[eapleitez]

I just picked up one of these at walmart for $160.00. Did I just steal this from them? No really they said that they were not selling so they lowered the price. I just noticed tho that it's displays are 480p, 720p and 1080I. Doesn't this player do 1080p? Do I need to do a firmware update to play 1080p? If it does not display 1080p back it goes. Thanks for the help.


If you have a 1080p television, it will deinterlace the 1080i signal back to 1080p, with no loss of information. Set it to 1080i. The material on the disc is mastered at 1080p, so it IS a 1080p format, in case you weren't sure.

[Eric Giles]

As long as the player works properly, then everything is great. But I am telling you-pray that you don't have an issue and have to deal with RCA's tech support-it is absolutely horrible in regards to this unit! I hope none of you have to deal with them as I have-it seriously is that bad.

[TrevorS]

As long as the player works properly, then everything is great. But I am telling you-pray that you don't have an issue and have to deal with RCA's tech support-it is absolutely horrible in regards to this unit! I hope none of you have to deal with them as I have-it seriously is that bad.

OK, so spill the beans -- what happend to you!

[Kosty]

Rs232 port and a better remote than the HDA1. Same on the inside.

[Eric Giles]

OK, so spill the beans -- what happend to you!
Original post about my problem was posted a few weeks back:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=746792

[mcrexx]

Where is this player made in? I doubt it's Japan like the HD-A1 & XA1.

[TrevorS]

Where is this player made in? I doubt it's Japan like the HD-A1 & XA1.

If it's the same guts, why would you expect it to be built elsewhere?

[swifty7]

I just picked up one of these at walmart for $160.00. Did I just steal this from them? No really they said that they were not selling so they lowered the price. I just noticed tho that it's displays are 480p, 720p and 1080I. Doesn't this player do 1080p? Do I need to do a firmware update to play 1080p? If it does not display 1080p back it goes. Thanks for the help.

did you buy it for that much new or used?

damn!! my local walmart doesn't even carry any kind of hd-dvd.

[Davespy]

i picked up my rca off ebay about a month ago. my buddy has the a-1 toshiba so i upgraded with his 2.0 firmware. this player gives an awesome picture with hd dvds and the upscaler in this thing is fantastic for the money. i have read in some posts here that it does a better job upconverting than some flagship sd dvd players costing thousands more. so look at it this way even if hd dvd doesnt last you have one of the best sddvd players. one other bonus, i have noticed my sd dvds sound alot better using the analog outs and letting the player decode the soundtrack. and true hd....game over

[mdbarke1030]

Walmart #2855 as of 9pm central time, had one RCA HD-DVD player marked down to $196 I used my 20% off on the other one and ended up picking it up for $156+tax. Couldn't pass that one up.

#2855
Shawnee Kansas

[TrevorS]

Walmart #2855 as of 9pm central time, had one RCA HD-DVD player marked down to $196 I used my 20% off on the other one and ended up picking it up for $156+tax. Couldn't pass that one up.

#2855
Shawnee Kansas

Hey, man -- at twice the price it's a steal! Geez, must be nice! (I dropped $498 + shipping on mine.)

[jcpom]

I belong to blockbuster online and they have about ten pages of HD-DVD's to chose from for renting.
How do I pull up just HD DVDs on BB.com? When I checked their website, I only got one hit.

[hawaii sun]

I got mine from Walmart for $398 (or something like that) and no problems so far. however i have a question regarding the audio. i have no problems hearing the loud sounds, however i'm having a hard time listening the dialogue. any suggestions?

[PCMusicGuy]

Got mine about 3 or 4 months ago for $325. Recently flashed to 2.0 for TrueHD and everything is going well. I would certainly do it again.

[duhmetree]

Was working great... Great PQ and SQ with the Toshiba 2.0 update.. but my gf got to it and somehow broke the HDMI port on the player just by unplugging the HDMI plug from the TV.. I've tried every possible thing to fix it but it just doesn't work.. For an HDMI port to break that easily would be a concern if I was to get another one..

Lucky me I returned it to BrandsMart (where I got it) and they don't have any HD-DVD players in stock and dont plan on carrying them anymore.. Only Blu-ray... They had a personal dispute/altercation with Toshiba so they don't carry their products.. Now im stuck with a $400 credit slip and only Blu-ray as an option.. :(

I also have some HD-DVD's if anyone is interested...

[duhmetree]

I got mine from Walmart for $398 (or something like that) and no problems so far. however i have a question regarding the audio. i have no problems hearing the loud sounds, however i'm having a hard time listening the dialogue. any suggestions?
Click setup on the remote and under audio there's a Dialog Enhancment option..

[hawaii sun]

thanks i'll try that.

[eapleitez]

Was working great... Great PQ and SQ with the Toshiba 2.0 update.. but my gf got to it and somehow broke the HDMI port on the player just by unplugging the HDMI plug from the TV.. I've tried every possible thing to fix it but it just doesn't work.. For an HDMI port to break that easily would be a concern if I was to get another one..

Lucky me I returned it to BrandsMart (where I got it) and they don't have any HD-DVD players in stock and dont plan on carrying them anymore.. Only Blu-ray... They had a personal dispute/altercation with Toshiba so they don't carry their products.. Now im stuck with a $400 credit slip and only Blu-ray as an option.. :(

I also have some HD-DVD's if anyone is interested...


One question, what the hell was your gf doing fiddling with the connections :mad: :confused: ? I think what you had was a handshake problem. Did you try component after that? I can't see the player broken just from unplugging the connection.

[doobydolby]

Called 5 Walmart store today. One store had 3 at full price - $448. The others had none. Bummer.

[Deja-vue]

Called 5 Walmart store today. One store had 3 at full price - $448. The others had none. Bummer.
Like i said before, Samsclub has tons of them.
;)

edit: ok, so you found some then.

[doobydolby]

Like i said before, Samsclub has tons of them.
;)

edit: ok, so you found some then.

I checked the Sam's right next to the Walmart that has 3. Sam's had zero.

I'm looking for the golden egg on clearance; otherwise, I'm getting the A2 that is on order.

[Sarcoptic]

Damn and I thought I got a steal today....I got one from my wal-mart for $250...

[TrevorS]

Damn and I thought I got a steal today....I got one from my wal-mart for $250...

Lucky you -- no Walmart anywhere near me even carries them. For $250, I would seriously consider picking up a second :)!

[Sarcoptic]

Only had the one left or I might of done that....now I need to sell of the HD-DVD addon for the 360. Very happy with the HDMI on my SXRD

[GizmoDVD]

The RCA can be updated to the A1's 2.0? I didn't know that. One of the CompUSA's going out had 1 for $449...im sure it will go down in price too. Wouldn't mind picking that up for $200 or so and giving it to my dad.