recommendation: -AVOID buying this crud, looks good but isn't
physical description: Much like the RTDVD1 in appearance, except with only two slim speakers (instead of a full set of surround-sound speakers like the RTDVD1), and a blue LCD display.
SCORE: Manual: 3 out of 5 (lots of languages, lots of rough info, but no real explanations as to what menu item does what) Radio: 2 out of 5 (have known dollar-store pocket radios to have had better reception) DVD player: 4 out of 5, falling to 0 out of 5 after 3 months
DEVICE REVIEW It worked great at first, though it had trouble reading the odd rental dvd disk (like 1 in 8 disks gave a "no disk" error at first) After six weeks the device began giving more and more "no disk" and "disk error" messages (though oddly audio cd's still worked fine the entire time). "no disk" appeared on one in every three or four dvd disks (we assumed it was just slightly bad dvd copes from the rental place). After 3 months the device began giving the error for all dvd's and all audio cd's. Unfortunately my dad misplaced the recept and box for the device so we can't take it back to the store we bought it from for exchange/refund. Since it was so cheap I opened it up to try and see if it was something obvious like a melted wire or loose component or too much dust in the gears. All moving internal parts appear to be in perfect working order and there was nothing obviously loose or burned. I can see the disk spin and the laser come on and the read-head moves and it looks like its gonna work, but then it just sits there spinning the disk for 30 seconds or so and then stops and the LCD display shows "no disk". Obviously one of the microchips inside was a cheap For all intents and purposes this thing went all nexxtech on us. (Nexxtech is that Radio Shack turned The Source aka Circuit City store brand. Some cheap stuff, some expensive stuff, mostly crappy "made in a 3rd world country sweat shop" or "assembled in some descent country using parts made in a 3rd world country sweat shop" stuff that either doesn't work or partially works or suddenly stops working two minutes after the super-short warranty runs out.)
RCA COMPANY REVIEW Remember back in the 1980's and early-to-mid 1990's when RCA was a quality company with a quality service department and didn't make 3rd-world nexxtech-like crud? Ya, me too. Now they've jumped on the bandwagon and you can find everything from high-quality stuff to "why didn't they just ship it straight to the garbage dump" stuff, and unlike some companies you can't tell the good from bad by the price alone. I cannot find this model listed anywhere on the RCA website (which doesn't appear to have been updated once in the past year though it does say RCA is copyright 2007). I cannot find this model at all anywhere on the web except for a few mexican and/or spanish ebay-wannnabe type sale sites. (Leaving me to wonder if it's a knockoff RCA product or something they recalled but never actually made sure that all units were recalled and never told the public about the recall or what.) Emails to RCA have never been answered. Questions/requests entered through their website's "ask for help" section have never replied with anything more than computer-generated "our staff will look into this and reply back to you as soon as possible" form emails.
