Rca = Junk? (1 Viewer)

[John Di Lauro]

Yes, it is sad to see what RCA has turned into.

I remember an RCA console set my uncle bought circa 1975/76. It was RCA's top-of-the-line model at that time, and it was amazing. It was the first set I ever saw that had an on-screen display (time, channel, etc.) and an infra-red remote. I believe all the remotes prior to this were ultrasonic. The Zenith it replaced could be made to change channels by jiggling a pack of keys on a keyring!

The remote to this RCA was awesome. It must have weighed 5 pounds, was roughly the size of a CD-ROM drive, and had a dense foam rubber pad around the perimeter. It probably could have survived a fall from a second story window onto concrete.

I think the thing that amazed me most was that the remote had a full keypad which allowed direct channel access. This is taken for granted now, of course, but then it was truly leading-edge.

Sadly, my uncle had a serious stroke in 1977 which left him mostly incapacitated. I think after that the TV must have been on an average of 12 hours a day. My uncle passed on in the fall of 1986 but that set kept chugging until sometime in the early 90's when it finally quit. I don't think it was ever serviced during its life of more than 15 years of hard use. Remarkable.

 

[Matthew Anker]

Thin circuit board + thermal expansion/contraction = cracked solder joints = RCA TV = JUNK.

I've gotten a few nice trade-ins where if you're willing to resolder an entire circuit board by hand eventually make nice sets. Until they crack again. . .

 

[Jim Lenneman]

Mathew,

Boy you hit that right on the head. I bought 2 RCA direct views from Sears on the same day. A 20" and a 35". Both failed withing a month of each other, not too long after the warantee expired. Both had cracked solder joints on the tuner board. Calls to RCA customer service were met with the response that "we have no reported problems with these models". This despite 3 different RCA authorized repair shops telling me "it happens to all of them". My local Sears store eventually reimbursed me for the repairs. They also were aware of the problems. Sears keeps my business, RCA does not.

Jim L

 

[Matthew Anker]

That's exactly where it happens, on ALL of them. The tuner is built into the main board, and the metal shielding soldered on to the board is too heavy. They all crack there. If one hasn't cracked yet, then it's only a matter of time.

 

[Jack Briggs]

Well, there was a time back in the late '70s that I felt the RCA "Colortrack" sets produced the best-looking pictures outside the Orient. For that era, the colors possessed a neutrality that rivaled the stuff coming from Sony and Mitsubishi. If, back then, I would have had to choose an American-made set, it might have ended up being an RCA Colortrack model.

But that was then, and now is now. The reports in this thread probably represent people's experience as a whole. Most of the units fail at an alarming rate, while some seem to work forever.

For now, though, purchasing an RCA-branded product is a gamble. (Look, I've been impressed by the picture I've seen on RCA's now-defunct 38-inch 16:9 direct-view behemoth, but what the dealers have told me about them only reinforces my reticence to purchase anything made by Thomson.

(I once looked with horror at an acquaintence's 27-inch GE tabletop TV. I asked him if I could play around with the picture settings to see if it were possible to produce a watchable picture. Nothing I tried worked. The set's basic performance limits were so far removed from what could be construed as acceptable it was ridiculous. I don't see how people can look at those kinds of televisions. But, then, GE is produced for the masses—the same people who are forcing the studios to release pan-and-scanned DVD titles. So there you go. Despite Thomson's "Scenium by RCA" line, the company doesn't consider the HTF crowd as its target market.)

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Jack's right about the DTC-100 being a good box. I'm really pleased with it. Three years old and still going strong driving my CRT FP.

 

[Justin Ward]

I have an RCA 5240P DVD player. It's been going well for over a year and has only skipped on a couple of rental DVDs.

 

[Tommy*M]

My jaw hit the floor as I read the posts under this thread. I have been a long-time RCA fan....I have never had any problems whatsoever with any RCA product I've ever bought. Apparently I'm in the minority. Then again....if you have a large enough group of people together, there will be a number of negative votes for almost any product name that is brought up (especially lower-end product names). Apex is another brand I have trusted and had no problems with so far, but have heard mostly negative things about. I will agree that RCA doesn't have a lot of the high-end features, but if you buy RCA you're not paying a high-end price, so I suppose it's a trade-off. I have a 32" RCA television that I've had for about 7 years now and I've never had so much as a blip on the screen, an RCA DVD player that I've had since early 1998 and it has never given me any skips or any problems playing any discs (even MP3 music discs, amazingly), and two RCA VCRs which have both served me well over the past few years. All of these things are what I would consider high use, so I've apparently been pretty lucky. I'm sorry to hear all the negativity about RCA.....but I'll probably remain faithful to them until I have problems myself (or until I can afford to buy the high-end stuff )

 

[Chris Brown]

Well, there was a time back in the late '70s that I felt the RCA "Colortrack" sets produced the best-looking pictures outside the Orient. For that era, the colors possessed a neutrality that rivaled the stuff coming from Sony and Mitsubishi. If, back then, I would have had to choose an American-made set, it might have ended up being an RCA Colortrack model.

That 20” TV I talked about in my earlier post is a Colortrack. This TV is amazing. Survived being the main TV in the living room for about 10 years, and then it was my TV when I was growing up, then passed to my little brother, and when he got older passed yet again to my other little brother. And we all went through a phase of “afraid of the dark” stuff, where the TV would serve as our nightlight and pull more than a few 24 hour days. This thing survived Pong, Atari, Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Sega, Nintendo 64, Playstation, 6 cats, 3 dogs, and still has a bright, sharp picture. I feel quite sure that this is a TV my grandchildren will have the pleasure of viewing.
If only they made things like that now’a days. :frowning:

 

[Shane Martin]

When I was 16(1991), I got a 20" RCA monitor/tv. It is still in working condition and hasn't screwed up yet. However I wouldn't buy another RCA product.
At the service shop where I worked We nicknamed them Royal Crap of America. Their sets broke all the time and their other electronics sucked too.
I wouldn't recommend RCA to my worst enemy.

 

[Ron McBadger]

I purchased a Commercial Advance RCA VCR and love it. The first one lasted 6 years and would still work if I could get someone to replace the power supply cheaply. I bought a 2nd one because I tape everything and was not happy with the commercial skip features on the Sony vcr I bought.

I know, I probably should look into a digital recorder but for $100 the commercial advance tech works just fine for me.

 

[Scott Tucker]

I've been using a 1st generation RCA satellite for about 7 years now. So far so good. I also have what was the top of the line 35" from '96. Both have given me outstanding performance so far. I will keep my fingers crossed.

 

[Guy Usher]

Don't get me started on RCA. I will say that I used to own an old "Round Tube" RCA color TV circa1957 or so, anyway after a number of years when the heat hardned the insulation on all the wiring to the point where it was so brittle you couldnot touch without breaking and it took about 2 hours for the picture to come up to a brightness that you could see, I decided that I would leave it on 24/7, at night we would turn it down so we could sleep.
4 years went by and one day sitting out on the patio my wife asked who was Bar-B-Quing (?) you could smell smoke but to me it kinda smelled electrical, OH BOY run in to the house filled with smoke, didn't bother unplugging it just picked it up and outside we went (it unplugged itself). Seems that the transformer melted down, that was 1982.
You couldn't give me another brand of TV. Bought a 20 inch Colortrack that lasted a long time, bigger screens were comming out and those "TRINITRONS" lured me away. I forgot about TVs untill RCA came out with the "High Resolution" 36MM100. I was unaware of what was going on with RCA, however I learned real quick when I took that monster home (it pays to do your homework now when buying a TV)
. Seems like it would just pop like a pistol shot every so often and go dark. Only thing was it wouldn't do it for anyone but me. Quick return it (only a week old) bring another one home, this time it took a couple of months to start this same crap, only thing was I now live in Dallas about 800 miles from where I bought it. I call RCA they refer me to their "Digital Products" group and of course they never heard of such a thing. Finnally they came to my house picked it up and said if they couldn't fix it in 2 weeks they would replace it with a "New in the Box" TV, 10 weeks later and at least 100 phone calls they bring me what they said was new in the box TV. Only new in the box TV I ever saw with a big "R" branded on it right where everyone could see it. I called about this refurb and they pretty much said take it or leave it as they were finished and they had honored their agreement. Long story short this set started the same crap as the other 2 but by this time the warranty period was up and they again said they just don't understand as they don't have problems with these sets.
I wish I could put my frustration and grief into words but this post is too long already, I cannot believe I wasted over a year with these people. I bought a XBR36400 and loved it now I just bought a new Mits 48311 and its great so far (only 2 weeks). There is nothing in my house with RCA, Whirlpool, GE (maybe a light bulb that I am going to look for as soon as I finish this, be fun to break it)If the car races werent on NBC I wouldn't watch that either!!!

 

[Jim_F]

My DTC100 is OK, if a little flaky at times. As a rule, I avoid the Really Crappy Apparatus logo.
But then, I'm a Sonyphile, so what do I know?

 

[Steve Schaffer]

Guy,
RCA is now owned by Thomsen, a French firm.

They don't own NBC anymore and haven't for a very long time. GE bought NBC a long time ago, and may still own it, but that GE is not associated with Thomsen either. Thomsen bought the GE name for their lowline electronics products but are not associated in any way with GE Financial.

You can continue to watch NBC with no fear that you are in any way supporting RCA or Thomsen electronics.

 

[JackS]

Not interested in promoting RCA and have no preference over any one brand of TV versus another. Four years ago I bought a 31' RCA from K-Mart for $399 which had a regular price of either $649 or $699 (can't remember). This TV has operated continously with only occasional power downs for vacations and extended time away periods. The picture is as good now as it was the day I brought it home. I think RCA is a good value brand and should be purchased only when there is a substantial reduction in the MSRP. I think if everyone would think of RCA in this context, many would agree that at times RCA does offer a value that most other brands may not. RCA certainly wouldn't be my first choice but if the price is truely right, why not.

 

[Guy Usher]

Steve,
Thanks for the info. BTW it was easy to find the GE light bulb, was the one that didn't work. . .
I guess I was a little over the top on my post but everytime I think about my experience I get a little crazy.
I will say when the thing worked it was great. The set was packaged right, every input known to man (except a Pscan componet) and I know people who own some of these new generation sets that love them. Planets must not have been in alignment the day I bought mine.

 

[ChrisRC]

What the new RCA stands for.....

RCA = Repairs Cost Additional



Few others...
Toshiba = The Owner Should Have Included Breakage Allowance
Emerson = Every Machine Expects Repairs Soon Or Now
Sony = Stores Offer None Yet (PS2)
Sharp = Shouldnt Have Accepted Repaired Products
Pioneer = Please Inspect Our Newly Engineered Electronic Rejects
Fisher = Forget It, Sanyo Has Engineered Replacements