RCA Scenium DRC7005N 40GB Personal Video Recorder/DVD Player - $219 (possibly less)

[bradolson]

Buy.com has the RCA Scenium DRC7005N 40GB Personal Video Recorder/DVD Player for $219.99 after an exclusive Buy.com $40 mail-in rebate. There are also a few coupons floating around to save even more if you are a new Buy.com customer. Might not be a bad deal if you don't want to pay the subscription fees of Tivo or ReplayTV:

Link

"The options are endless with this RCA Personal Video Recorder/DVD Player. Enjoy up to 40 hours of Record Time on the 40 GB Hard Disk Drive. Pause live TV, "Time Shift" your programming with total flexibility or enjoy simultaneous/record playback with the Digital Video Recorder. No subscription fee GUIDE Plus+ Interactive Program Guide allows for easy recording of TV Programming."

 

[geecee]

If you don't mind a refurb, Compgeeks has it for the same price without the rebate. Actually, the specs seem the same but the model numbers are not. Here's the link, if anyone's interested:

Link

Shipping is hefty from both places (~$16 for Compgeeks, ~$19 for Buy.com). Seems like an interesting enough combo appliance though. All it needs is a DVD +/- R/RW.

 

[hallf]

How would this unit using GUIDE+ compare, functionality wise, with Replay TV or TIVO? Free vs. monthly fee is obviously a plus cost-wise...

 

[geecee]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the Guide+ in these RCAs is the same or very similar to the Gemstar Guide+ that comes with the ATI All-in-Wonder cards. If you know someone who has one, maybe you can get them to demo it (the AIW) for you or here's their demo from the Gemstar website:

Guide+ Demo

Here are some random reviews of RCA Sceniums:

Review 1

Review 2

Review 3

I think a previous post from a few months ago had a fairly good review of an older model listed, so you might want to look for that. I've never actually used one of these before, just do a lot of reading.

 

[smw]

Anyone know if this has been hacked yet? 40GB isn't that much space.

Steve

 

[hallf]

geecee - thanks for the review links...I actually built a new PC over the Xmas holidays with an AIW 9600 Pro in it, but haven't had the time to load/play with the Remote Wonder and Guide+ yet. I guess it would behoove me to do that and see if my cable provider includes the necessary info in its signal for Guide+ to work.

 

[loganhunter]

Hi,
Would you mind posting the link to the rebate? Because buy.com seem to have taken the rebate form off right after Feb 29th. Thanks.

 

[sync]

Originally posted by: hallf
How would this unit using GUIDE+ compare, functionality wise, with Replay TV or TIVO? Free vs. monthly fee is obviously a plus cost-wise...

The advantage of Tivo (and Replay I assume) is that when a show changes it's air time or length, either temporarily or permanently, it automatacally catches that and adjusts. There are other advantages to the service as well. I've had Tivo for several years and I think it's well worth the cost.

I'm interested in the Scenium though, for my sister in Canada, where Tivo is not available.