Red Hot...RCA 20" Flat screen $189.71 Amazon Gold box (YMMV)

[Tarfin]

In my Gold Box today I received this TV which is a flat screen 20" with VPORT for $189.71 This TV lists at $279 but can be found for $250 at buy.com

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: Tarfin
In my Gold Box today I received this TV which is a flat screen 20" with VPORT for $189.71 This TV lists at $279 but can be found for $250 at buy.com

Hmmm..any other inputs, like Component? Reviews of V-port are pretty poor, worse than S-Video. Also, how much is shipping?

Chiz

 

[Tarfin]

$69 for shipping....sorry, forgot to include that. The VPORT connection looks good on my 27", no complaints there. Where has the connection been reviewed at?

 

[007bond]

Originally posted by: chizow

Originally posted by: Tarfin
In my Gold Box today I received this TV which is a flat screen 20" with VPORT for $189.71 This TV lists at $279 but can be found for $250 at buy.com

Hmmm..any other inputs, like Component? Reviews of V-port are pretty poor, worse than S-Video. Also, how much is shipping?

Chiz

It has one stand alone component input and the V-port according to RCA's website. And the V-Port is basically just another component input so there is no way it would be worse than S-video unless they really screwed something up. From RCA's site: "The Exclusive RCA VPORT? is a unique jack that simplifies the connection of the Xbox? Video Game System from Microsoft. When not using this connection for you Xbox Video Game System, it also functions as a second component video input."

 

[Kevin]

RCA makes some great equipment. It really surprises me that they don't get as much praise as they should...

 

[agent2099]

Originally posted by: Tarfin
$69 for shipping....sorry, forgot to include that.

I was just about to say, I'm pretty sure that T.V. would not qualify for free super saver shipping.

 

[Kreggo]

RCA is low end stuff. Take a look at comsumer reports and you'll see that RCA is always one of the worst rated TV's with the highest repair rates. RCA is like Bose, spend all their money on brand advertisement so consumers beleive they are much better than they really are.

 

[Kevin]

Originally posted by: Kreggo
RCA is low end stuff. Take a look at comsumer reports and you'll see that RCA is always one of the worst rated TV's with the highest repair rates. RCA is like Bose, spend all their money on brand advertisement so consumers beleive they are much better than they really are.

I disagree and speak from experience. We have 4 RCA TVs and all of them are excellent. Picture quality is superb and nothing has gone wrong. The oldest has to be around 6 years old and still has an excellent picture. My sister had an RCA TV that lasted over 10 years with no problems. She only replaced it because she wanted bigger.

Don't believe all the reviews you read. Most people only take the time to complain when something goes wrong. Very rarely do you read in-depth praises...

 

[Chadder007]

Originally posted by: Kreggo
RCA is low end stuff. Take a look at comsumer reports and you'll see that RCA is always one of the worst rated TV's with the highest repair rates. RCA is like Bose, spend all their money on brand advertisement so consumers beleive they are much better than they really are.

Yeah I agree, but they do make a high end systems. They go under the brand name ProScan. Now those are pretty nice....just hard to find.

 

[dannybin1742]

yeah...... this was not in my gold box

 

[ir0nw0lf]

1. I have the 27" RCA with VPORT, my XBox looks exactly the same connected to either the true component in (which currently has the PS/2 hooked up) or the VPORT port itself. Anyone who trounces on the video quality of the VPORT has either a screwed up TV or is just plain screwed up.

2. RCA isn't the BMW/Mercedes of televisions, true, but they DO make damn good TV's. Some of their lines/models might suck, but the line with the VPORT have gotten quite good reviews on all the sites I have read, I based my purchasing decision on those as well as in store picture quality as well as features/price. I was not a bit unhappy about my decision--I bought what I could reasonably afford and avoided overpriced Sony's, etc. in this TV size range. Would buy the RCA again.

3. Consumer Reports is laughable at best, IMHO and those of many people out there. I stopped reading their reviews. Easier, faster and more informative reviews can be found on the internet.

 

[di2iftwood]

Originally posted by: kevin000

Originally posted by: Kreggo
RCA is low end stuff. Take a look at comsumer reports and you'll see that RCA is always one of the worst rated TV's with the highest repair rates. RCA is like Bose, spend all their money on brand advertisement so consumers beleive they are much better than they really are.

I disagree and speak from experience. We have 4 RCA TVs and all of them are excellent. Picture quality is superb and nothing has gone wrong. The oldest has to be around 6 years old and still has an excellent picture. My sister had an RCA TV that lasted over 10 years with no problems. She only replaced it because she wanted bigger.

Don't believe all the reviews you read. Most people only take the time to complain when something goes wrong. Very rarely do you read in-depth praises...

I thought the same...my family had four RCA TVs before, all good quality picture, good price and all lasting years, one close to 20 years...until I bought my 25" RCA two years ago before I read consumer reports (didn't think I'd need it with my previous experience with them) - WRONG! the TV lasted one year and died..pretty annoying when the thing is shutting on and off by itself during the world series...anyhow, folks at hometheaterforum.com say that this has been the recent trend since thompson electronics bought RCA...reliability has been greatly affected as evident in the consumer reports chart for TVs requiring the most repairs (G&E is a sister company to RCA so caveat emptor)...I would suggest the extended warranty if you do purchase RCA but then that kind of offsets the cost savings of RCA units

 

[Frodolives]

Sorry, but RCA is not what they once were. Fine by me if they get back in contention though.

Currently I have a friend who paid top dollar for last years top high def RCA with all of the extras, and it failed before the one year warranty was up. That might not be so bad or unusual, but 3 months later he's still without a replacement for the TV that cost him well over $2k last year.

 

[Kevin]

Like I said, you have to look at ratios and percents to compare. I think with anything, people will have good luck and bad luck. I hate Sony products, everything I seem to buy sucks. Yet I've got friends and my grandfather (die-hard Sony fan) who swear by the company. If RCA wasn't treating me well, I'd probably switch to Panasonic. I think they have some of the best picture qualities on the market today.

A lot of companies are trying to make a comeback now. I never really considered Samsung a player but the last few years have changed that. I will go to my grave saying electronics are all luck...

 

[RobsTV]

As a factory trained certified tech, I can assure you all that RCA/GE/Proscan do indeed suck.
Been repairing these for 15 years, and they are repaired more than all other sets combined.
Ask any TV tech, and all will agree without any thought. RCA's are the absolute worst brand to get!
If it lasted more than a couple years without issues, consider yourself lucky.

When some of my customers complain that the TV broke after only 6 months, and I tell them to write
a letter to Thomson Consumer Electronics (makers of above), as most good companies still stand
behind products even after the 90 day warranty is up, I know the outcome beforehand. TCE replies
back to these customers that they only warranty the set for 90 days, and are not responsible after that.

Truely, honestly, they do suck!
Lately I have stopped replying to threads about TCE products because someone else usually steps in
and points out how bad they are. But when I see some actually saying they make something good, I
had to correct that idea.

I have three 35" RCA's on my bench in need of transformers that have been waiting for 4 months, and
these sets are less than 4 years old. (part # 227271). Still on national backorder.

Don't be fooled by High-End ProScans.
Internally, they have the same bad parts, and use same chassis as normal RCA/GE.

One class action lawsuit: http://www.tobsettlement.com/TOBNotice.shtml

Wait a minute....duh...
Ignore all of my remarks.
Please continue to buy TCE. They are great! ChaChing...$$..$$..

 

[l31itz]

Originally posted by: dannybin1742
yeah...... this was not in my gold box

not in mine either

 

[Kevin]

Originally posted by: RobsTV
As a factory trained certified tech, I can assure you all that RCA/GE/Proscan do indeed suck.
Been repairing these for 15 years, and they are repaired more than all other sets combined.
Ask any TV tech, and all will agree without any thought. RCA's are the absolute worst brand to get!
If it lasted more than a couple years without issues, consider yourself lucky.

When some of my customers complain that the TV broke after only 6 months, and I tell them to write
a letter to Thomson Consumer Electronics (makers of above), as most good companies still stand
behind products even after the 90 day warranty is up, I know the outcome beforehand. TCE replies
back to these customers that they only warranty the set for 90 days, and are not responsible after that.

Truely, honestly, they do suck!
Lately I have stopped replying to threads about TCE products because someone else usually steps in
and points out how bad they are. But when I see some actually saying they make something good, I
had to correct that idea.

I have three 35" RCA's on my bench in need of transformers that have been waiting for 4 months, and
these sets are less than 4 years old. (part # 227271). Still on national backorder.

Don't be fooled by High-End ProScans.
Internally, they have the same bad parts, and use same chassis as normal RCA/GE.

One class action lawsuit: http://www.tobsettlement.com/TOBNotice.shtml

Wait a minute....duh...
Ignore all of my remarks.
Please continue to buy TCE. They are great! ChaChing...$$..$$..

Many companies don't warrantee their products beyond the 90 days, even if you write/call/e-mail. Simply because people abuse the policies.

There's a reason why people coined the term "Your Mileage May Vary". I will always believe that no two electronic devices are created equal...

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: 007bond

Originally posted by: chizow

Originally posted by: Tarfin
In my Gold Box today I received this TV which is a flat screen 20" with VPORT for $189.71 This TV lists at $279 but can be found for $250 at buy.com

Hmmm..any other inputs, like Component? Reviews of V-port are pretty poor, worse than S-Video. Also, how much is shipping?

Chiz

It has one stand alone component input and the V-port according to RCA's website. And the V-Port is basically just another component input so there is no way it would be worse than S-video unless they really screwed something up. From RCA's site: "The Exclusive RCA VPORT? is a unique jack that simplifies the connection of the Xbox? Video Game System from Microsoft. When not using this connection for you Xbox Video Game System, it also functions as a second component video input."

Just a follow-up. According to users on the XBox forums, the V-Port is NOT another component input, b/c it can't enable the 480p/HDTV signals from your X-Box. This might be a limitation of the V-port connector that RCA sells, but if it was similar to component, you'd think this feature would be natively enabled. Also, people have said it looks no better than S-Video, however, colors appear to be washed out.

Chiz