Review of RCA DRC257N

[psquared]

I read about as much as I could stand to read here and other places about the different upconverting DVD players. Sony, Oppo, Samsung and Panasonic seem to lead the way depending upon what model you choose.

My ambivalence was driving me crazy so I decided I would make a list of 3 or 4 players I wanted to look at and start with the cheapest on the list.

Walmart has the above model with an MSRP of 99.00. (see RCA website). It was a good bit less than that. It comes with an HDMI cable and composite cables. I brought it home and hooked it up via HDMI to my Samsung LNS32 LCD HDTV. I also bought the DVD set of Battlestar Galactic 2.0.

What follows is not a professional review. This is me eyeballing it and watching for about 3 hours.

At 480p the picture is outstanding. At 720p it is even better and at 1080i it is remarkable. At each resolution the picture got better. No macroblocking issues that I saw, no skips, blurring, bleeding and yet the picture was soft - which I liked. So it was sharp and soft. Blacks showed remarkable detail - especially in a movie like Battlestar which has some very dark scenes. The bright outdoor scenes were like looking through a window on a bright sunny day. Just as it should be.

I don't know what else to test, but unless it breaks or I notice something today this baby is staying. Maybe the Sony or Panny or Sammy are better. If they are I wouldn't be able to tell.

Oh, and the setup is a breeze. None of that nonsense of using composite to setup HDMI. Just plug the HDMI cable in, pop in a CD, set your TV input and the DVD player output to HDMI and off you go. Took me all of 5 minutes.

I have not tested the digital camera card slots, but I suspect looking at photos in HD will be pretty awesome.

I have nothing to compare it to but the reviews of other units in this forum and others but I would give it 4.5 stars out of 5. Only reason I wouldn't give it a 5.0 is because I can't compare and I have not tested the component hookup or the camera card slots.

[soonertoad]

I can't agree more. The picture is unbelievable. The price is right and it was so easy to hook up. The HDMI cable comes along with the unit, so I saved an extra $30.

[psquared]

Have you noticed a popping sound just as it starts up? It may be nothing because I didn't hear it last night, but I do hear it occasionally.

[etp]

May pick one up Sunday for a test drive.

[etp]

OK! Got one and have it on a temp setup until my monitor gets here Tues. So far so good.

Hey all= where can you download a real manual and was the preferences menu greyed out?

What does the VOD do?

[etp]

OK! Got it hooked up man! The DRC257N feeds my LVM-42w2 with HDMI connections with no problems. My wife commented that the picture was better on the DMI with the RCA 257 than the Component hookup with the Liteon 5005.
However, one small issue I need to resolve. How do I get a vertical fill on this beast? I know zoom works good but clips the picture. Do I need to get a DVD player that does vertical fill? If so which one with a HDMI output?
Also the display is 1920X540 into my monitor from the DVD player. I guess you have to have a true HD player source to get higher than that?
Thanks all.
BTW, Nice deal for $79 and a cable to boot.

PS/My black bar on the top is slightly larger than the bottom over HDMI. It has to be a player/HDMI issue because the liteon doesn't do it over component.

PS/PS/ This really irritating, how do you buy a monitor that has a display that fills the screen for widescreen DVDs.

[aaron052522]

I bought this player, along with the 32" Polaroid FLM-323B LCD, at Wal-Mart about 2 weeks ago. Everything looked beautiful through the HDMI input until about 2 nights ago. It looked incredibly washed out. I compared it to the component feed, and while this was not as sharp as the HDMI (it doesn't upconvert over component, correct?), the colors were much more lifelike and vibrant. Needless to say, this is somewhat irritating. There also appears to be what I would call "ghosting" (but I'm not sure if I am using that word correctly; it just seems like the right word to describe what I see) over HDMI only.

Is anyone else experiencing a similar problem? Any idea what part of my setup (TV, player, cable) could be causing this? Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[hoops10]

I was told that this player does upconvert over component. Is this true or not?

[apd183]

Originally Posted by aaron052522

I bought this player, along with the 32" Polaroid FLM-323B LCD, at Wal-Mart about 2 weeks ago. Everything looked beautiful through the HDMI input until about 2 nights ago. It looked incredibly washed out. I compared it to the component feed, and while this was not as sharp as the HDMI (it doesn't upconvert over component, correct?), the colors were much more lifelike and vibrant. Needless to say, this is somewhat irritating. There also appears to be what I would call "ghosting" (but I'm not sure if I am using that word correctly; it just seems like the right word to describe what I see) over HDMI only.

Is anyone else experiencing a similar problem? Any idea what part of my setup (TV, player, cable) could be causing this? Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I had the same ghosting problem over HDMI (no washout... yet). No settings I could play with corrected it, and since I have a different TV (Samsung LNS3251D), this ghosting problem seems to be with the player or HDMI cable. Anyone else with this issue or a solution?

Originally Posted by hoops10

I was told that this player does upconvert over component. Is this true or not?

Correct, upconverted signal will not output over component on this unit.

[mzmtg]

Originally Posted by etp

However, one small issue I need to resolve. How do I get a vertical fill on this beast? I know zoom works good but clips the picture. Do I need to get a DVD player that does vertical fill? If so which one with a HDMI output?

I'm having this same issue using the DRC257N with my RCA D52W17 monitor.

I can't get either piece of equipment to zoom/fill the screen correctly...

[anomie]

Do any of you mind answering a few questions I asked on a similar thread about this player? Here.

I'm trying to decide between this and the LG-DN191H. The chip (looking for Vaddis 888) and features (long file names, etc) will make the difference.

[gerryq]

bought this player and hooked up to akai pt4250a via dvi. does not play regular dvds only back up copies. is there a way around this?

[jLp vAk3r0]

Originally Posted by apd183

I had the same ghosting problem over HDMI (no washout... yet). No settings I could play with corrected it, and since I have a different TV (Samsung LNS3251D), this ghosting problem seems to be with the player or HDMI cable. Anyone else with this issue or a solution?

Wouldn't ghosting be a tv issue?


Are you guys still having this ghosting problem? I was about to buy one of this models untill I stopped here.

[jLp vAk3r0]

Well no one answered so I went ahead and bought it last night.

I hooked it up with my Samsung LNR238W with the HDMI cable the dvd player came with.

Setup was a breeze. I set up the picture to 1080i. Remote control is horrible.

I popped in Van Helsin and I inmediatly saw the difference in PQ.

The picture just looks more "clean".

I didn't notice any ghosting, but I wouldn't know what to look for to see if it's actually happening. What should I look for to catch the ghosting effect?

[richof]

After reading this glowing reviews, I picked one up today. Yes, setup is a snap, but mine would not read a single DVD! Tried some new, old, borrowed, and home burned and the best result was getting a file structure on the home burned unit. After selecting a file, still no go. Also realized after setting up that there is no DTS support. Its going back.

[adavis720]

Originally Posted by mzmtg

I'm having this same issue using the DRC257N with my RCA D52W17 monitor.

I can't get either piece of equipment to zoom/fill the screen correctly...

It is not an equipment problem - the answer is to buy anamorphic wide screen (1.78:1) DVD's. They will better fill your 16:9 TV. The standard widescreen DVD's are shot between 1.85:1 and 2.40:1 thus leaving the small top and bottom bars. Check the FAQ's at the top of this section for more detailed information.

[DavidCapps@peopl]

Is there a way to disable the auto power shut off on this unit?

When you stop a DVD to leave the room when you come back the power has shut off and you lose your place,

[rraxbbax]

I have a few problems with this player. I guess you get what you pay for.

First, the first one I brought home didn't have a remote in it. I took it back to Wal Mart and got another one... this one, I got home, set up and it looks pretty good. BUT.. it annoys me on several fronts.
1) when it's in standby mode it makes a highly annoying screeching sound. And of course, there's no way to disable the automatic shutoff, so it will always shut off to standby mode.
2) the tray started to crap out after just a couple weeks
3) I've noticed this on two separate DVDs, both of them animated, that the angle icon stays on the screen and there's no way I can get it off.

Anyone know of any fixes for these issues?

[Idaho spud]

I bought one from Wal-Mart a week ago and It wouldn't play any DVD I had. It gave me the error message HO7, that I've heard about on Panasonic players.

I exchanged it for another. This one plays, but will do crazy things if I ask it to do more than just play. It doen't like 16x fast forward for very long, or pausing and trying to go slow forward or reverse, or a lot of other things. It will stop responding for minutes at a time, and will lose sound-sync. Sometimes I have to turn it off & start over. It's going back for a refund and I'll try a more expensive unit from another company on the internet.

I just read in this month's Consumer Reports where Wal-Mart is rated second from the bottom of the list. The quality of it's electronics is the worst.

I think I'll buy my next one from Amazon. It's rated very high with Consumer Reports, and I've had good result from buying some electronics, many movies, some other things.

[DCannon]

I've had two of these players, both of which exhibited intermittent lagging, broken video, and freezing (the first one did this, so exchanged it for another one thinking it may have just been a bad first unit). Also, on both, whenever I'd view home DVDs of TV movies burned on my Pioneer DVD recorder and Fast Forward through commercials, when I'd hit Play to return to the movie, it'd play smoothly for a couple seconds then act like it was in extreme slow, jerky motion with no sound for a few seconds, then resume play. Both players did this and was very irritating. There were also many instances of momentary audio sync lagging with the video that would eventually catch up. Both did these things whether using component or HDMI. My TV is a 42" Panasonic TH-42PX60U Plasma. Even my cheap little nexxTech DVD player I was trying to update never, ever missed a beat with the same TV.

Using the RCA player with the TH-42PX60U, I got better video quality with component than HDMI, and the video quality was very good when it was smooth and not weirding out. Just as a test, my brother and I watched the same DVD twice on the DRC257N to see if it'd act up in the same places. It didn't. The first time, we were able to watch nearly the whole movie with no problems, then near the end, it began lagging and exhibiting sync problems. The second time, we saw a lot of glitches and lagging throughout the movie. At one point it completely froze.

The other thing I didn't like is the remote with the miniscule buttons.

Needless to say, I returned the second player. I ended up getting a Panasonic DVD-S52 and what a difference. Smooth video, no video/audio glitches of any kind with any type of disk, a little better overall picture quality than the RCA in either component or HDMI (HDMI is best on my TV with this player), it has an amazing amount of video control to fine tune image quality....and it was only $10 more than the RCA.

[blsakstarz]

Originally Posted by psquared

Have you noticed a popping sound just as it starts up? It may be nothing because I didn't hear it last night, but I do hear it occasionally.

I had gotten that noise too as well...i went into the menu option to change the sound I think to PS or vice versa and it went away.....you just have to change the audio setup and it fixes that.

[unleashed]

I have two of these players.
Yes, two!
And I don't encounter any of the problems I read in this forum.
Maybe you guys got a bad batch?
It plays DVDs or burned Divx movies just fine.
It comes with an HDMI cable included in the box.
It's got a Multi-Media card slot, which is a big plus since the player is capable of playing the .avi files (Divx movies) right from your flash memory card.
I've tried my 1 GB SD card with a 700 MB .avi file on it - plays perfect, exactly the same way it does from the burned DVD-Rs or CR-Rs.
All you have to do is slide the card into the media card slot, push the "select" button on the front of the player to access media in the card reader slots, BAM, it plays the movie.
That feature alone can save some $ on the recordable DVD or CD media.

[inkubus]

I bought this player yesterday for the only purpose that I received component cables for my PS2 and didn't had any left to plug it so I wanted an HDMI player without paying 200$ .

At my big surprise this player included an HDMI cable in the box so I didn't had to buy another one.

The Goods:

I plugged in my Samsung LNS4092D and I was surprised by the result the colors and the contrast were better than on my old Toshiba component player, and the picture looked sharp and crisp . After multiple comparison between the both player I can say that the picture is better on the RCA than on the Toshiba, not by a lot, but enough to keep me satisfied for the 75$ price. The player played everything I putted in, even old Divx and SVCD I had for years, I'm sure he would have played a bologna slice if I asked for.

The Cons:

1. The tray is extremely fragile and my cat almost broke it.
2. The remote feels cheap and weird but My Logitech Harmony took care of removing this crap out of my sight
3. The black borders a slightly bigger than on my other player (almost) 1CM lost in total Image .. really annoying at start but you get used to it


Overall:

I'm satisfied by this player considering it cost 75$ + taxes and comes with an HDMI cable. I say it's a good intermediate solution for a low budget while waiting for next gen DVD's (HD or blu-ray) to drop prices.

[tdogroeder]

Does anyone know if this player is close to being as good as the oppo 970 or 971?

[inkubus]

Originally Posted by tdogroeder

Does anyone know if this player is close to being as good as the oppo 970 or 971?

I can't really compare the both since I don't own an Oppo player. The reason I choose this player was because of it's low price and the HDMI cable. I'm sure the Oppo will be better but by how much I can't tell, but the Oppo with the shipping will double the price of this player , so it was a no-brainer for me.

[tdogroeder]

Originally Posted by inkubus

I can't really compare the both since I don't own an Oppo player. The reason I choose this player was because of it's low price and the HDMI cable. I'm sure the Oppo will be better but by how much I can't tell, but the Oppo with the shipping will double the price of this player , so it was a no-brainer for me.

Where did you get yours for $75?

[inkubus]

Originally Posted by tdogroeder

Where did you get yours for $75?

got mine at my local wall mart the price was showing 99$ but when I payed for it It ended up to be 87 with taxes. which is 15% here in Quebec so it rounded around 75$. don't know if it's an error but I'm not complaining

In the US Sears have them for 79$

[tdogroeder]

Originally Posted by inkubus

got mine at my local wall mart the price was showing 99$ but when I payed for it It ended up to be 87 with taxes. which is 15% here in Quebec so it rounded around 75$. don't know if it's an error but I'm not complaining

In the US Sears have them for 79$

Cool, I will have to check sears out.
Can I assume this player will look better than my Sony DVP-NS425P?
Also, I have went back and forth between a lower priced player and Oppo 970/971, or when I get a Xbox360 and purchase the add-on dvd player.

[inkubus]

I cannot guarantee because I don't own a Sony DVP-NS425P

but the best thing to do is to try it if you don't like it return it to the store and get your money back so it's a win win situation.

here is a link for sears:

sears[.]com/sr/javasr/product.do?BV_UseBVCookie=Yes&vertical=SEARS&sid=IDx20061127 x0000107&pid=05757546000

[tdogroeder]

Originally Posted by inkubus

I cannot guarantee because I don't own a Sony DVP-NS425P

but the best thing to do is to try it if you don't like it return it to the store and get your money back so it's a win win situation.

here is a link for sears:

sears[.]com/sr/javasr/product.do?BV_UseBVCookie=Yes&vertical=SEARS&sid=IDx20061127 x0000107&pid=05757546000

the sony is just a progressive scan player, it does 480p in progressive mode and 480i in non progressive. What is supposed to be better 480p or 480i?