TV Reviews

When I finally decided to upgrade my 14-year-old RCA 20-inch TV, I thought I would have to drop-kick the thing to get it to break down. (I ended up selling it for $75, good as new.) Shopping for a new one was easy; there was no way I would even consider getting anything but another RCA. Reasons: 1) performance and 2) durability. Check out the TVs in any electronics store, and the picture on any RCA TV will be right up there with the best of them, and better than many more expensive sets. My old RCA lasted 14 years without a single breakdown, and it still had a picture as clear as the day I bought it. My new one (27 inches) lives up to the RCA standard. The picture is great, the sound is excellent, and the on-screen menus are clear and concise. The TV remote is glow-in-the-dark, a feature I wish my cable box remote had. Everything about this TV works great. I have only two minor complaints: the GuidePlus feature, which is nice if you want it (I don't particularly) is programmed enabled into the TV and it took me several frustrating tries to disable it. Also, hooking up a VCR so that it will work with the TV's remote can be a chore. I'd as soon use the VCR remote anyway. However, these are small gripes. The bottom line is that this is a great TV at a very good price. I'd recommend it to anyone.

Well, I just got mine last weekend and could not be happier with it. I got an incredible deal @ Circuit City on a display model ($1089.00) DVD player didn't work when I tried, it said incompadible disk on 4 different discs, but they are coming to fix that. Shop around, I was going to get a non HDTV compatible TV, but found this on a whymm...

I've been a DirecTV subscriber since 1995, using the same RCA system (first generation) before I upgraded to this system. I also have digital cable in our bedroom, though I will soon remove it and add an additional receiver.

The reason I upgraded it complicated, but let's discuss why this is a great system to have compared to digital cable:

1) Broadcast satellite technology is hands down faster than digital cable. The simple act of changing the channel functions faster with a DSS unit (my signal strength is about 86).

- Digital cable seems to lag between every channel change and sometimes gets downright bogged down.

2) The onscreen guide for DirecTV lets you look furthur into the scheduling future with more accuracy.

- several times in the recent past we have turned on a channel because of the digital cable online guide and a different show was on. This happens from time to time with DirecTV, but with much less frequency

3) There are more channels on DirecTV, including a better selection of music. We often tune the television to one of the theme music channels while we clean house.

- sometimes on digital cable the music channels were garbled.

- The online guide on DirecTV shows the music channels, digital cable omits them

4) The original RCA DSS unit was the fastest selling consumer electronics item in history. After selling millions of units, many companies are now supporting this technology and pushing the technological curve forward. You can look at upgrading in these directions with DSS (and not digital cable):

- Tivo : There are several units out there that work directly with your DirecTV to let you record one show and watch another one.

- Integrated televisions: RCA sells a big screen television that has a built in DSS receiver. No additional boxes, and it tunes itself.

5) More pay per views with a wider selection

In digital cable's defense, DirecTV is slightly more expensive and my DirecTV unit has more outages than my local cable, but not many more. One noticable difference is that I always seems to lose at least one local channel on cable during a rainstorm, as opposed to losing all of my DirecTV channels during the peak of the storm. In the years I have had my unit, I would be able to say this happens to me four times a year.

After you get a dish installed, you can disconnect the main coaxial drop from your cable company and use the same coaxial to transmit the encoded signal to your individual units.

Why did I upgrade to this unit?

Because I had my card 'zapped' and lost contact with the person who did it. My access card died and it was cheaper to turn the account off, wait a few months and then buy a whole new system.

DirecTV has been plagued with these pirate access cards and has really stepped up security against them. I advise you not to let anyone manipulate any data on your access card because DirecTV can electronically turn them off and the card pirates themselves can permamently damage the cards.

You really can't get something for nothing, or at least not forever.

If you're looking for a multi-satellite dish for DirecTV (only) High Definition, this is the best 'bang-for-the-buck'. The 5x4 multi-switch is built into the head of the triple LNB's. This makes it less versatile than other similar products, but it's compact; picks up all three satellites at 101, 110, and 119; and easy to install. Rugged build and... cheaper than other multi-sat dishes.

We just purchased a new home and this TV is the ideal fit for our kitchen. It is small enough not to be in the way and has great features like auto on at a certain time and an FM radio.

Highly recommended!

We received this TV 3 years ago for a wedding present and have been using it on almost a daily basis. The picture is crisp and the sound is clear. My 17-month old son gets "muck" on the remote anytime he gets his hands on it and I just wipe it off with a sponge. I have mine hooked up to cable so I cannot say anything about antenna reception. I am looking to buy this same model again for my mother.

unfortunately I see it has been discontinued. I've had the TV for three years and works it still works great. The picture is still sharp and vibrant. I wish I would have bought two.

This 20" TV from RCA delivers an exceptionally sharp and well balanced picture with stereo that makes you feel like you are in the theatre. One slight drawback is that the sound is heavy in the bass range which means you may have to adjust the treble to the high end in order to compensate. The Guide+ system is a sursprisingly ingenious feature where program information is automatically downloaded onto your tv making recording programs with a VCR as simple as a click. Getting Guide+ to work isn't hard, but it is a little bit of a chore, though the manual is very simple and clear. But the real selling point on this set is an exceptionally good picture (it looks as good as most flat tv's even if it isn't a true flat) which is due to the comb filter which is not a given on all TV's at this price.