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Bought a Cheap DVD Player: RCA DRC200N

by Flexo on October 4, 2006

in Uncategorized

As you know, I greatly reduced my cable subscription to the most basic analog service: 30 channels of mostly mind-numbing boredom, including 2 Spanish language channels and 1 channel that is Korean part of the time. Therefore, my primary visual entertainment is now my DVDs.

Unforunately, the Sony DVD player (DVP-S350) I inherited from an old roommate, the only DVD player I’ve ever owned, no longer works consistently. It fell ill with a case of Flashing C:13:00, a disorder claimed to be curable in some instances but most often fatal. Put simply, it stopped playing many of my DVDs, even after being cleaned as some Disc doctors diagnose.

I picked up a compact DVD player from Best Buy (RCA DRC200N) for about $35. It’s about one quarter the size of the Sony and supports progressive scan, which already sets it ahead of the old player. I was planning not to buy a new DVD player until it was time to upgrade my entire entertainment system, but I was getting frustrated trying to watch House, M.D., Season One on my computer’s monitor.

The DVD player wasn’t the least expensive in the store, but it still managed to cost less than the DVD set. I’ve had no problems with playing dual layer and double-sided discs so far, so I am satisfied.

There’s only one annoyance: the remote control takes a CR2025 battery rather than the more standard AAA or AA. One is included in the package, but they’re normally not available at your local supermarket like standard batteries.

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About the Author

Flexo, the owner and creator of Consumerism Commentary, has been blogging and writing for the internet since 1995 and has been building online communities since 1991. Find out more about him and follow him on Twitter.

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  • ib
    recently i heard that the lasers wear out on the dvd players at some point, rendering them useless; not sure if that's what happened to yours. it makes a lot of sense not to spend a lot on them b/c of that. i actually got mine free from signing up for an at&t credit card. was hard to wait until market saturation brought the price to my liking (owning only the vhs player) but to me it was worth waiting. haven't had one problem with it ever.

    enjoy! i love house....
  • Len
    I'm having that problem as well, the battery issue. I've found some online, but does anyone know where i can find one in a store? I live in LA, California, i was hoping to avoid having to order one online. Besides that, my DVD player has never given me a problem. I think it was a great deal considering a bought it for like 30 bucks.
  • Frank Amato
    I bought one of these as well, an it works great. No problems at all!
  • chico
    This is weird. I bought this same one and was trying to figure out if I can play PC Video files on it, so I googled it, and ended up here. I borrowed House Season 1 and Weeds Season 1 from a friend and I bought the new DVD player to watch them on. My old one busted while moving.
  • chico
    radio shack or best buy have the batteries you need!
  • Peter Stein
    It works fine, but lacks a critical function. If you press the stop button, it rememberw where it was, when you resume play as long as you return in a short time. However, but if you return several hours later, the DVD oplayer has turned itself off, and forgets where it was when you turn it on again. To pick up from where you were, you have to write down the reading, and fast forward to the spot.
  • Lsara
    I want to buy this DVD player for my mom for Xmas, but I can't tell from any of the sites (Best Buy, RCA, etc.) if it comes w/ the necessary cable. So maybe you can tell me: Does it? And if not, what would I need to get? Thx!
  • Trey
    Walmart has the CR2025 battery, at least the one near me carried it. Target used to carry it, likely still does but I haven't checked for it in awhile.
    The player does come with cables to plug into the TV RCA type plugs on your TV both for audio and video. Any other type connection that you want you would need your own additional cables.
  • FYI: I had some real problems with this unit, esp. the sound - it developed a terrible hiss, sadly, *after* the warranty expired. Highly UN-recommended.
  • don young
    the drc200n comes with a cable my t.v. only has a cable plug in, where can I get a cable adapter?
  • raj
    could you plis tell me if it has the 6 ports required to hook up a 5.1 ch surround sound system (on its back)? the description in bestbuy's site says it supports 5.1 ch but they didnt put a picture in there.
  • jackiek
    Can anyone tell me how to get a hold of a user manual for this DVD? I received one second-hand and cannot set it up properly without it.
    Thanks.
  • Becci
    Did you ever find a manual for RCA RDC200N DVD player? We just got one from a friend and cannot get video from it although it is counting off time and playing audio.
  • edlewis
    I bought one of these players earlier this week. Spent a good part of yesterday afternoon trying to get it hooked up and working. I was able to get sound, but no picture. I also have a digital cable box and it is plugged into the red/yellow/white plugs on the back of my T.V. (I have a Samsung T.V.) There are two additional ports on the T.V., but only in red and white. No extra yellow. Has anyone else had a probleml like this? Is there any way to get it to work?

    Thanks for any help you can offer!
  • cbearnm
    Just picked up this DVD player for the bedroom, works great so far.
    As far as the remote, the battery is VERY common, you should be able to get it at any pharmacy, dept. store, as others mentioned WalMart, Target. Check at the watch (jewelry) counter. Should not be hard to find at all. This battery also tends to last quite long.
    The only cables that come with it are the standard RCA type cables (yellow/white/rad) although you can use component cables as well. Unless you are using this on an HD set, DO NOT set the output to progressive. It will be very hard to set back to interlaced, as the screen will appear garbled and scrolling.
  • cbearnm
    A couple of other notes:

    The play and resume feature works fine for me. Just be sure you don't press the STOP button once it is stopped. As long as I press STOP, then power it down (for instance), I can come back the next day and pick up where it was. Naturally, removing the disk also clears the location memory.

    5.1 audio does not require 6 ports. You use the standard white/red cable (or coax) for all standard audio types. Your audio receiver handles decoding the signal to the appropriate monitors (speakers). It is NOT done by the player.
  • I was hoping to use this unit to play my DVD-RW discs but it doesn't work with the Sony discs I have even after finalizing them. Does anyone know for sure which DVD-RW/DVD+RW discs will definitely play in this unit?
  • gandog
    I answered my own question through trial and error. This unit will play home-made DVDs that are burned on Maxell DVD+RW blanks. I hope that helps anyone with the same question!
  • Robi
    Poor DVD player. mediocre quality although does have high quality component output (looks great on an hd lcd tv). Major problem with it is that automatically shuts itself off after about 15 min. When you turn it on again, you don't resume where you left off. Instead, you have to load up the whole dvd again and fast-forward to your spot. NOT RECOMMENDED
  • Antonios
    I happened to lose the 4-page manual for this DVD player. Does anyone know where I can get it? The dvd player seems to have read errors around the middle of movies and I read somewhere that I need to "soft" reset it. However, I do not know how to do this without the manual.

    Thanks
  • Tammy
    I just got a display model, did not have a manual. And I cant get the remote to work. All it says is (Select-0) Does it need to be programed? And if so How do ya do that
  • The issue with cheap DVD players is the motor is normally a toy motor and will break down after a short time.
  • Derek Gendvil
    Hi, I just happened to know that my RCA
    DRC200N player is broken. However, there's this weird message when I turn it back back on it says PS off. Does this mean it's not operational or that it's not working. How do I get it fixed? I've only had the player for about a half a year now & this is my second one that I've had, probably on my way to getting a third one, hopefully it will be longer than the other two. I hope it explains your answer, O.K.
  • John Caruso
    I purchased the RCA DRC200N a few months ago while waiting for HD player prices to drop. Last week my remote stopped working, though I could play DVDs by using the meager player-top controls (basically eject, start, stop). I replaced the battery and the remote still does not work. It's a pain not being able to fast-forward through unwanted DVD material and I can't stop playing without having to restart at the beginning. Has anyone else had problems with the remote? How did you resolve the problem?
  • runnunghawk
    Go to Eckerd drugs and you can buy a battery fro about $3.50
  • Mad Hatter
    Does anyone know the code so I can add it on my new tv remote player? RCA says there is no such product ad DRC200N DVD player. How dumb can you get?
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