Strengths: For the short time it worked, I was able to put my camcorder tapes on dvds, but it was not user friendly.

Weaknesses: It has completely stopped working after about ten hours of use.

Summary: After checking the Net, I found there was a physical defect in this unit that RCA will not stand behind. My unit has all the problems as described in several sites. When I called Thomson RCA, a foreign speaking person assured me it was my problem, not theirs. No more RCA products for our house.

Strengths: Nice looking

Weaknesses: Freezes up and loses channels

Summary: I bought one of these models that was on sale for $99.00 at Zellers in North Bay Canada I see others paid over $200.00 for same unit. Here is the deal weather its 200 dollars or 99 dollars it don't matter if it don't work eh! I got lucky the first day I bought one it froze up and I thought maybe its me cause I am one that never reads any manuals lol, well within hours of buying this vcr-DVD recorder I found my self bringing it back. I got another one this time I am going to ok right... sorry folks when RCA makes a lemon they make a lemon ... this one ruined a dvd disc and also has a tape stuck in its belly lol .. Tomorrow I am headed back for my cash lol 2 out of 2 is BAD

Strengths: Absolutely NONE!

Weaknesses: Everything! Nothing works.

Summary: I bought this piece of junk from the Heartland America online-catalog for $165.00. I thought it was a great deal. They didn't advertise it's model number (so it couldn't be researched beforehand) or the fact that it was refurbished, not new. I had to wait 6 weeks for delivery. Once installed, every complaint written about it on this site, happened to me too. Now I've got to return it and then they'll have both my money and the unit. The same thing happened to me with the Steam Shark and I'm still waiting for my refund more than a year later. I guess if you can't take it back and get in someone's face, you shouldn't buy it. There outta be a law!

Strengths: good paper weight

Weaknesses: everything; product and service

Summary: Worked fine the first day and then...the trouble started. Tuner had trouble holding the channels, the VCR and DVD mechanisms quit loading media. Fortunately they wouldn't take them in vs. not kicking them out, so i didn't lose any. Never got to try recording.Sent the first one back when it was stuck on "HELLO" and didn't even make a good night light. After receiving a second unit that did not work right out of the box, i am working through the BBB for a refund. Suggest you do the same for any Thomson product as they do not respond to consumers, only getting their name sullied by a poor BBB rating.

Strengths: Works great at first.

Weaknesses: Fails within a few months.

Summary: I originally purchased the model before this one, which failed within the one year warranty. It was replaced by this model, which has failed after only 5 months. Now I'm out of warranty and out of luck. You'd think RCA would go beyond their warranty policy after shipping me a second lemon, but no.

Strengths: none that I found.

Weaknesses: was once a good brand but what happened to quilty.

Summary: the first problem I had was it would not read a new Dvd format not found. Next vcr 50/50 split on no pictuer and bad sound. Or bad pictuer and very bad noise. returned to wally world with no porblems.

Strengths: None

Weaknesses: Locks up easily, has no service no phone number for problems

Summary: Returned the original to Texas, then kept following up,. customer service a frustrating joke. No one knows what the other dept. is doing. Finally they sent a replacement which lasted one month before not showing local tv channels. Now in the process of returning for full refund. Lots of luck.

Strengths: Digital Tuner, Price, Dubbing feature

Weaknesses: 1) Faulty VHS tracking,2) tuner -- unreliable switching; incomplete reception,3)audio -- weak output on playback through TV,4) OTR is unavailable for VCR,5) no instant on

Summary: ....Will not receive digital channels that display fine on TV,.No instant on due to software based boot up and disc read,.Neither DVD nor VHS can be viewed while other is recording,.Primitive function routines that require return to menu or viewing stop or disabled feature to access other.. I returned my first unit to Wal-Mart after about 6 weeks. It ruined a +RW disc after only a 2nd title delete. VHS tracking was horrendous. Recordings that were supposed to be in SLP lacked counter timing so that it attempted playback as SP which was unwatchable as FFW and chipmunk sounding speedup. . I bought the current unit from a different Wal-Mart in the region shortly before disconnecting and returning the first. Maybe the first was just a matter of sloppy construction rather than faulty design. The current one is some improvement but still problematic as listed above. .The instruction book informs that if the unit freezes it can be reset by holding the power button in for a few seconds. That is an annoyance when the tuner displays blank screen after simply switching from a menu function. It can not be trusted to receive a channel signal for a timer record setup if the unit must switch from off or other function. .The really disappointing problem is that it will not properly record tracking to a VHS tape. About the first 45min of a 6hr tape recorded at SLP tracks as SP on playback then might settle down to viewable play speed. . I think RCA should issue a recall on this junk, hire some qualified engineers and get some feedback from people with real use info instead of targeting for revenue from dumbed down consumers. .I will probably return this one also. What a hassle with no compensation. Now I have to research for alternate replacement.============[above remains unedited from 10/15/07]..11/28/07 --While reviewing for replacement, I tried to get "some" use from the unit..The DVD player began to stall intermittently. It would pause/play, pause/play, ... without any way to correct. A new prerecorded movie did the same but played fine in other players..VHS recording at SP was somewhat improved but it still had some tracking glitch that would not stabilize till after passing the first 10-25% of the tape..Then the VCR took a tape and got lost in its own "HELLO". (The boot up sequence splashes a logo on screen and scrolls "HELLO" across the panel display.) Neither "RESET" (hold power button) nor unplugging did any good. Then it was totally useless even for viewing as tuner. !!.The unit would not release the tape when plugged in at the Wal-Mart return counter. At that time the same model was being sold at $40 less than when I purchased..The under $200 price has its appeal and if performance would meet promised expectations, I would maybe purchase another.I recommend being aware of return issues and give the unit a thorough tryout. A liberal return option is probably less hassle than going through the warranty/wait/service routine.

Strengths: ATSC Digital tuner and price

Weaknesses: Video output can't be controlled for a 4:3 TV signals for the on board TV tuner, tapes or disk.

Summary: Video output can not be controlled from the the old NTSC 4:3 format when using the Component (Y, Pb, Pr) video output to a HDTV. The non-HDTV (4:3) picture is always stretcted out and therefore destorted. IF your HDTV has the ABILITY to switch from 16:9 to 4:3 when in Component video mode, this will not be a problem. I am using the composite (yellow wire) ouptut to my HDTV set since I can set my TV to 4:3, zoom 1 , zoom 2 and wide screen video in that mode.HDTV picture quality is not as good as my old ATSC set top box.ATSC signal reception is better than my old ATSC set top box.I bought the RCA DRC8335 inorder to record a TV show while watching another show from my old set top box. It is fine for that purpose.