TV Reviews

When I bought my new flat screen TV/VCR/DVD combo, I thought I would "upgrade" my antenna as well. I have to admit that I now receive two more channels and some of the others come in clearer now. The only thing I don't like is that every single time you go to a particular channel you have to fool with this antenna to get a clear picture. My old antenna once you set it for a particular channel, that channel always came in clear and maybe the others a little shadowy but it was always great for that channel. This one is not that way,if you set it say for CBS to come in clear and you surf the other channels during a commercial break when you come back to CBS you have to twittle with the antenna again to get it to come in clear even though you never touched it when surfing through the other channels. The non powered rabbit ears with the halo works just as well.
The positive is that Amazon's price was a lot less expensive than the competitions.

this is the first and only antenna ive ever owned. before I bought it I just stuck a copper wire into the tv input. the channels are much better now and some are cable quality with not even a single speck of fuzz. I also gained one channel that I never knew existed!!!

I have a condo in Shelter Cove on Hilton Head Island and will be using it only 4 weeks a year. I did not want to get cable service for such sporadic use. I could get only one broadcast station well and 2 stations poorly with the tv's rabbit ears in my condo. I bought this antenna and a 25' coaxial cable and placed them on my porch. I can now get 6 Savannah stations very well and 3 Charleston stations just well enough to watch. It sure worked well for me.

I bought one about a year and a half ago, and it got sent back right away. I have a friend that has one, and it worked great, but he used it in his house. I bought mine for an apartment and I think that all of the wiring, in apartment a/c, and the like just ran too much electric interference with it.

Unfortunately, this product is incompatible with other products sharing the 2.4 Ghz spectrum.

If you have a newer generation of cordless phone (2.4 Ghz) or a Wireless (802.11b) router/gateway, you'll get a lot of interference / lines with your picture.

The other "downer" is that the product won't transmit back a signal from your remote control - meaning if you want to change channels at the receiving tv, you have to get up & leave the room.

Oddities - There are also vestigial appendages on the device that aren't used - a small antenna on the side, an ABCD switch on the bottom (the manual refers to a channel 3/4 switch -which the A and the B settings are for, but the C and D settings don't do anything), and an IR port designated in the instruction manual as "for future use".

I've been using the Terk lf-20s for 3 weeks now, and I find that it provides excellent picture quality. I am a fairly picky person, and I expect good quality video and audio from my equipment. What I really wanted was a wireless system that could send S-Video, but I could not find such a product, so I setteled for the next best thing - composite video.

I am transmitting from a satellite system through a floor, a stereo cabinet, and 2 to 3 walls at a range of about 50 feet, and I can achieve very stable, well-saturated video and stereo sound. On the transmitter side, I use the composite video input. I have tried the receiver on 2 TVs and a computer with good results, and I plan on buying two additional receivers. Both the cable out and the composite video out work great.

...I have a 2.4GHz phone, a 900MHz phone, and a cell phone. I have tried operating all 3 of these around the terk transmitter and receiver. The only interference I have experienced is when the 2.4GHz phone is within 3 feet of the receiver. I have noticed that the picture quality waivers when someone walks directly between the transmitter and receiver. I also get interference (mostly in the audio) from the computer if I put the receiver within 6 feet of it.

I have been told that the only other wireless transmitter/receiver that is of similar quality is the Wavecom Sr. I hear that it has 1/4 the power of the Terk, even though they advertise 3 times the distance (300 feet). I believe that Wavecom is advertising best-case line-of-site (no obstacles), while Terk is advertising typical through 3 obstacles. Keep in mind that every obstacle basically cuts the distance in half, so walls, stereo cabinets, etc should be avoided if possible if you are having bad reception.

If you really need a more powerful transmitter, you might want to try the following reseller. They claim to sell modified Wavecom Sr. units that have 2,000 (extra) and 12,000 (super) foot ranges. For me though, the Terk works fine...

I'm normally not one to take the time out of my day to write a review for something but I feel that if my bad experience here might save just one person from blowing their money the time is well spent. Everything that everyone else has said about this being a piece of junk is true. I was fortunate enough to get less than three months out of it before the screen turned into an hour glass shape and the colors got screwed up. I called one of the "service centers" nearby and they said they were no longer dealing with APEX because they would not honor his service bills and parts took forever to come in if they did at all. I've talked to Apex numerous times when I finally get through to them and they also lie to me and will constantly try their hardest to hang up on me. I'm about two seconds from working to turn them into the BBB. There has to be some kind of consumer protection we can use.

I purchased this tv about a month ago and so far it hasn't disappointed me. I have to admit I didn't think the picture would be that good but with a good set of monster cables it's not half bad. It's not as good as some of the top of the line models but for the price I paid it's excellent. The sound is awesome and I haven't even hooked up my surround yet. The only problem I've had with the tv is when I use my dvd the picture jumps during the title screen when using the component hook-up but it clears up once the movie starts. Overall I would recommend this tv to anyone who wants a hdtv but doesn't want to pay 2 grand.

great tv for the price
sound is very good, picture is sharp especially with dvd,
does not take lot of space and is very easy to use
this is the 2nd apex tv i have bought
and i am very satisfied customer. all you need with the tv is the home theater system to enjoy the theater experience at your home. the tv's picture quality is next the sony projection hdtv and is $$less then sony.

I just received a new one (to me) in boxbut AOL tells me I cannot use this setas they no longer are available for this service?So I guess its absolutely worthless, I cant even sell it if I wanted.!Too bad, it is brand new in box never used......AndI guess it wont be.Nce gift.......NOT.!

This product is great for anyone who drove a Model T! I can only image what it was like to have to crank up the car while standing in mud and rain, then have to run and get in before it stopped. Better yet have to throw your foot out onto the ground to brake the engine.

1. Because this product is marketed by Aol you are totally limited to Aol as a service provider which is a nighmare in and of itself.

2. It takes forever to logon. By the time you do your fun justs begins.
a) Several websites are totally inaccessIble. You are given a message of "page too large to load." Now it happens with most government oriented websites, city, county, state, federal. It has also happens on other websites, shopping sites, etc., hardwood floors, kitchen fixtures, etc.
b) It has extremely limited software, many of the sites require Adobe Acrobat and other popular software, well tough, go tell somebody who cares.

3) Sending E-Mail , well keep it short and simple stupid.
a) If you stay on the e-mail page one minute too long, it disconnects/line drop., and you lose all of your typed text and you also have to log back on again and start your e-mail all over.
b) If you type too long an e-mail it locks you out (limited, very limited capacity), when you go back and try to shorten it, surprise it disconnects you and system shuts down again!

4) At night, when I suppose they do their batch processing/computer maintenance, from about 1:00-6:00 a.m., (by the way the best time to acess dial up internet access) it starts singing rickety, tick tick tick buzz and grind. Now all of this is fine except when you are USING IT AND ONCE AGAIN YOU ARE DISCONNECTED! THEN REPEAT THE CREEP CRAWL AND THEN STALL LOG ON PROCESS.
If you are talking on the telephone and the box starts singing it interferes with your conversation, it sounds like someone in your house picked up the extension phone, or that your telepone is being tapped. The other person's voice fades out.

Once , while online, i, was disconnected 5 TIMES in 45 minutes! This is a regular occurence with this not ready for the Jetsons, Computer Age, HIGH TECHNOLOGICALLY ENGINEERED ADVANCEMENT, TAKE ONE STEP FOR MANKIND ALAN DEVICE!

5) You cannot in spite what it says receive photos from 1 hour photo lab or anywhere else, nor many of the so called "features."

...

Creep, Crawl & Stall ___ .... __ ... _ .

I had heard a lot of negative press on the AOLTV but I just had to buy one. I spend at least 6-8 hours a day on the internet and I like the idea of having it my living room too. While it is slower than my computer, the graphics look great on my television. I like the on screen program guide too. The only downside is the ... additional charge for access. It should be less if I already have an AOL account.

This is basically the exact tv i bought in 1998, i believe the serial number is different, but it's the same thing. After MUCH wrangling, i am going to the store tomorrow to pick up my new 32" tv. why? they are finally replacing this horrible excuse for a tv for me. when did the problems start? the nite i got it home. there was a black speck in the screen, i believe a bad pixel. anyway, i had to bring it back and get another one. over the past couple of years i have had the repair guy at my house about 10 times. why? well..first of all it had a high pitched noise that appeared whenever it felt like. they fixed it..it came back. also, the sides of the picture would compress and black lines would shoot across the screen, this happened on and off. they fixed that. it came back. they fixed it again. it came back. i got fed up and let the thing sit for about 6 months, and watched my old 25" goldstar instead. finally i decided to see what i could do about getting a replacement tv ( best thing i ever did was spend $150 on the 5 year anything goes plan) i have finally figured out why the sides of the picture compress..when there is bright white or light on the screen. perfect example is a hockey game..the bright white ice completely throws the thing off. i had to watch the Stanley Cup finals on my old tv. Oh yeah, another thing..i recently purchased a DVD player, and it screws up the images in the background of a DVD..for example, window blinds or telephone poles appear bent..it looks terrible. i connected my player to my old tv, and it looked great. So in closing i'd like to say that i'm very happy about picking up a new tv, and that i will never, ever, i don't care if it's a pack of gum, purchase another product from RCA. if you are thinking of purchasing RCA, you may have a great experience, or one like mine. my advice, run. run far away and get a quality product..anything but RCA.

I bought my RCA 32" only 3 weeks ago and the picture tube has already blown. I bought it only because it was significantly cheaper than other 32" TVs. I guess I got what I paid for. I would highly suggest either getting an extended warranty on it or looking elsewhere for a tv. Its one highly redeeming feature in the new models is the on screen TV guide which costs you absolutely nothing.

O.K. to start with I would have rather bought a nice widescreen format digital but I just dont have 2 or 3 grand to spend rightnow.I was attracted by the ... price with no tax ...,not bad for a32in. t.v.. I was a little worried by the negative reviews but so farIm more than pleased with this t.v. . The cable system where I liveisnt the greatest but the picture quality on this set is much betterthan the 27in. I used before, the most dramatic improvement was withDVD's not only is the bigger picture better for viewing but thesharpness,contrast and color are all excellent, I was really surprisedby how good the picture is. Another surprise was the very good soundQuality of the sets speaker system. My previous t.v. was an RCA hometheatre 27in. which I owned for 6 years without any problems, I hopemy luck with this set will be as good. All in all I wouldnt hesitateto suggest this t.v to anyone looking for good quality video on abudget.As for the complaints I read about the gold+ guide I agree itssomething I didnt want either and its very easy to shut off just gointo setup and skip the setup for gold+ and it doesnt show upagain. Tho only complaint that I have and its a small one is that youhave to manually switch between the video and svideo inputs, I usevideo for my vcr and svideo for the dvd, I wish both video inputscould be active at the same time but it only takes about 10 seconds toswitch them using the setup guide so its really no big deal.Barringany reliability problems I think most people would be very happy withthis set especially at the price.

For:
Color:Good
Response:quick
Control: good
Size:compact
Channels availability: lots of

Against:
1.8" is a bit small.

I bought this as a gift for my finicky father, an avid TV watcher. He loves it! He is amazed at the picture quality, and can't get over how easily it dials to the right channel. He has used it to stay abreast of big games while playing golf, or to have on hand whenever. The only complaint is it runs through the batteries fast, which raised the total price for use. We ended up buying a battery charger to help.

It's been six months since he received it and he still loves it and uses it often.

I've had this TV for about six months now, and have had a very good experience with it. I bought it on impulse during the 2nd gulf war to replace the 5" B&W I have at work (another Action model that I've had & abused for about 15 years now and is still going strong). The screen is about half normal TV resolution which makes text and graphics hard to read, but you can still make out a weather map and most text, and the portability makes up for it. The tuner seems good and the antenna coupling is steady enough to position it unsupported for the best signal. The speaker is at a good spot to project sound towards you (unlike some other similar handheld LCD TVs) and is easily audible in most situations. Battery life is excellent, too- I'm still on my original set of batteries! All-in-all, this makes for a great emergency TV, or just one to leave at work for tracking hurricanes or other big news stories or to bring out over lunch break, as it's small enough to lock in my desk drawer or in my car. (Speaking of which, broiling in my car in the virginia summer doesn't seem to bother it one bit.) But the screen is just too small and I wouldn't use it all the time for day-to-day viewing. Also, leave it indoors; the LCD is bright even in a well-lit room, but next to impossible to watch in full sunlight.

If you are buying this for an alarm clock, not being able to read the time may be a problem.

I saw a couple of bad reviews about this product and wanted to add my opinion. I use this to listen to low volume music to fall asleep to. The CD player makes a little noise but is acceptable (I don't know how it would compare to other models). The sound it produces for a clock radio is quite nice (what do you want from a clock radio that costs about 70 bucks?). It plays everything I've put in it. There are options galore that I think are really cool. Have you ever turned off your alarm, then decided you'd like to sleep a little longer but have to get up because you already shut the thing off? No problem, just hit the Nap button and get some extra time. Several people mention that it's hard to read if it's not the right angle. I have never noticed any difficulty reading it other than if it's bright in the room it is hard to read from a distance (my wife still has a red LED clock so I can catch the time from her's when I can't read the Sony). I would recommend this to anyone that wants a CD clock radio with some extra bells and whistles.

I'm very happy with this little clock. After my old Sony clock radio started breaking which looked like a shoebox, I decided to opt for a bit more stylish one. After a couple weeks of searching, I came across this one and it had the best features for the price, was a more compact version, and generally looked nicer. After opening the box and plugging it in, I found it is a very nice alarm clock.

Pros: nice big display, adjustable brightness, the alarm is nice - I like that it starts out slow and gets annoying (sure to wake me up), TV, weather, digital tuner, smaller than my old one, nice design, easy to use, I also like that it plays CD-RWs.

Cons: just like my old one it has that stupid "mouse tail" of a FM antenna which is really dumb because you can't really adjust it with out literally holding it, at some angles the display is a bit hard to read - its best it you are standing up looking DOWN at it, the alarm may be a bit to "cute" and not loud enough for some people, sound on the CD player could be better - its kind of thin, but what do you expect - its not a Bose (I recommend turning on the base boost - it evens out the sound), I also wish it was a little smaller. However, I'd definitely recommend it!

This is the 2nd RCA box I have been through in the last 9 months. Granted it is not the most [costly] one around, so I guess you get what you pay for these days. I would recommend getting a midrange (price) of one of RCA's competitors products. It did however have nice features when it worked.

I purchased this receiver and have been thru 3 of them. There is always a new problem. Turns itself off, searches for signal in the middle of a program, etc. I have had nothing but problems with RCA products including my new VCR that lasted about 6 hrs.

You have to hand it to RCA. Their warranty for parts and labor is 90 days. Mine lasted exactly 95 days before it started to have problems. Won't turn off, set top buttons don't work, unable to access program guide menu, skips channels, etc. It is still useable, but it has lost many of the capabilities it had when it was working properly. This has happened to a couple of people I know. RCA was not alot of help. After speaking with them, I figure it is probably cheaper, and less of a hassle to buy a new receiver than return this one for repairs. I will be looking at Hughes or Sony for replacement.
In terms of the satellite picture, it is very good. In my area, it is definitely cheaper than cable. I have found the Direct TV people to be pretty good with changing packages, questions on services, etc.

I have the previous model, the HD-200 - the absolute worst AV purchase I've ever made. After being perpetually ignored by Sony's customer service reps, I'm not surprised to see that the same problems occur in the 300 model. I am really sick and tired of having to wade through 500+ channels to reset the custom program list (the only way to navigate so many signals), only to find it gone the next day. And the remote control doesn't work unless you are directly in front of, and close to, the unit. I have mostly Sony equipment, and have always considered it a good investment, until I got this $800 turkey. Sony should be ashamed for branding this (which, I understand, is actually made by Zenith). Buyer beware - it's a lot of money to regret spending.

I don't disagree with some of the other complaints, but the problems are, in my opinion, overshadowed by the advantages if you own a Sony TV and receiver. The remote works perfectly with my HDTV monitor and receiver. I have used HD DirecTV receivers from Samsung and Hughes and found them lacking.

I just recieved mine in mail last week, and have had no problems with it so far. The picture is awesome and has 100% improved the look of my local broadcast channels, which I believe are broadcast in analog format by Direct TV (I don't have an antenna hooked up to the reciever but plan too if Direct TV doesn't get there act together soon and start broadcasting CBS [DISH offers CBS HD], NBC, and ABC HD TV shows). My old sat receiver (the freebee that comes with the base install)was not able to convert them (and along with other non-HD broadcasts) that well for viewing on my Sony KV34HS510 Widescreen. The picture was a little blurry. I am not sure if the other lower end HD sat receivers can "scale up" analog and digital broadcasts to be viewed on a HD TV set, but this sony handles the job nicely. I have had no problems with "bugs" and the program guide has some really nice functions--you just need to have it set up properly. The hassle of clicking the remote button 2 extra times to get to you custom channel or favorite channel list, should not be a reason to dissuade you from purchasing this fine product. The first time you watch a program in HD or even programs not in HD, you will be happy you shelled out the extra bucks to buy the more $$$ Sony.

I have had 2 of these units replaced in less then a year. First time it was because no DTV signal second was no OTA signal. First time it was under warranty and second time it cost me $239 to get it fix. Thomson who makes this for RCA would not fix under warranty because the second unit had a 90 day replacement on it. I have had a lot of DTV receivers in the last 4 years and this one was the worst!!!! Stay away and spend your $500-600 somewhere else!

The DTC-100 has been quite a joy for my home entertainment system. Being one of the first HDTV receivers available, it is a very capable receiver and is extremely low priced. Despite being low-priced, its features include a standard and high-definition satellite receiver, and a digital and analog receiver for terrestrial television broadcasts.

It also is compatible with cable systems, however most cable systems to not support the 8-VSB modulation for HD broadcasts. Even AT&T's so-called 'Digital' cable is only a poorly implemented method of adding more channels at the expense of picture quality, and it is not compatible with digital television standards. The receiver will receive the standard analog signals on cable systems.

It offers digital and analog outputs for audio, and S-Video and VGA outputs for video. The VGA output is required for High Definition video. While many HD televisions do not support the VGA connection, electronic signal conversion adapters are available to convert the signal to the three-line component video output. Firmware upgrades, received via satellite, have addressed the issues of signal incompatibility with some early high definition televisions.

For this writer, a 21" computer monitor is being used to view the High Definition content, however, when programming to record, the receiver automatically switches to the S-Video output to send a signal to the VCR. The receiver will convert high definition material to standard definition when the S-Video output is used. The quality of the conversion is very good. Something that I've noted is that the S-Video output, in conjunction with a digital television station broadcast, results in a much clearer recording on video tape than the same recording made from the signal available on cable systems or over the air.

As for the availability of High Definition Television content, CBS should be applauded for their commitment to High Definition Television by having most of their prime-time offerings in High Definition. It is my hope that other major networks will soon follow suit.

If I had any complaint about the receiver, it would be that it doesn't send a signal to both the VGA output and the S-Video output at the same time. The receiver does make up for this by offering a button on the front of the receiver that switches between the VGA and S-Video outputs. There is also a button on the remote that can be set to do the switching between the two outputs. It reality, the only time this is a problems is when wanting to record while watching in high definition(not possible unless you record to your VCR through a different tuner, but then you don't get the digital picture clarity), and when wanting to directly compare high definition to standard NTSC. (But it can be done with a seperate tv tuner)

In summary, this is an excellent product that can get a person into the High Definition crowd for relatively little cost. And even after this receiver is obsoleted by newer receiver technology over the years, it will still make an excellent second receiver for the kid's room in conjunction with an inexpencive computer monitor.

After buying the best HDTV-ready TV for my money (meaning in my budget) last year which happened to be a 52" RCA, I was ready to experience HDTV for real and had been looking at the DTC100 for quite a while since it would be directly compatible with my TV, but the price was a little higher than I wanted to pay. All of the local channels are HD now and I don't have satellite so I was looking to use it strictly for over-the-air (terrestrial) HDTV. Well, I ended up finding a demo piece available at a local dealer and snapped it up since it was the last one.

I took it home, plugged it in, plugged in a standard VGA cable between the DTC100 and my TV, and I was up and running! It searched and found all of the HD channels locally and the picture quality was great! Finally I'd gotten the most out of my TV and I was impressed. The remote from my TV runs the receiver right out of the box so I didn't even need the remote for the DTC100.

I plan to eventually order DirecTV and this box will work with DirecTV.

As a couple other reviewers said, the biggest knock I have on it is that the analog output (RF or SVHS) and the HD outputs don't function simultaneously, but that's the only thing. I love having local channels in HD with Dolby Digital surround! AND it was cheaper that buying a new over-the-air ONLY receiver by another manufacturer...