RCA "High Performance" Video System (1 Viewer)

[Dave Schofield]

Link Removed
What in the world is this?
I had dinner with a friend tonight and he claimed he bought an HDTV for $450. Naturally I suspected he'd been straight lied to by the salesman at the store he bought it at, but I was curious enough to do a search of RCA's site. I found his set (url above) and it speaks of a "High Performance Video System" that sports 705 lines of horizontal resolution. What is this? It isn't HDTV but its not standard definition either, is it? How would he take advantage of such a set? It doesn't have Component inputs, so I'm confused as to how RCA can claim this is anything but a standard-def television.
Secondly, how to I tell my friend nicely that the salesman lied to him straight out and that his TV isn't even a very good standard defintion set (no component inputs on a new 32" TV would be my standard of a sub-par set)? I suppose the best policy is to just leave it alone, but he's talking of buying another set for his home theater and I feel an obligation to at least steer him towards a set with component inputs.

 

[Dylan Savage]

I fail to see the point of component inputs if they aren't carrying a progressive signal at the very least.

 

[Dave Schofield]

Component (and S-Video) bypasses the Comb Filter. On regular TVs the advantage over S-Video is very small, but it is there.

 

[Matt Stryker]

High Performance Video System" that sports 705 lines of horizontal resolution

It doesn't matter if the tuner/svideo/component cannot feed it anything but a 480i signal. That spec is for the tube itself, but it still displays the same 480 lines as other TVs. Lots of manufacturers do this, but it really isn't very relevant unless it is an HDTV-Ready TV.

Tell him to go to Sams and check out the Akai 32" flatscreens. They should be a little more expensive, but you get component inputs, 16:9 squeeze, and a good picture (good blacks). They are actually exactly the same as Samsung, just rebadged.

 

[Dave Schofield]

But its not HDTV ready without component inputs, so those lines are completely useless... right?

 

[Matt Stryker]

Correct. Like putting tires rated to 170MPH on a moped. Still only going to go 15 MPH.

You can have him ask if there is a restocking fee if he returns the one he got; I think he could probably do pretty good for a little bit more ($50 or so).

 

[DaveF]

This appears to be a standard television (not HDTV). TVs have been advertised for years as having 500, 700, 800 or more lines of horizontal resolution. I've never understood what the benefit was, but more is better, right?

In any case, your friend did not buy a HDTV. He got a run-of-the-mill RCA.