Got some happy news about the RCA: I got rid of the snow in the picture! It basically was powerline interference; when I moved the plug from the powerstrip that has all my gear to another socket the snow went away. I must say for a cheaper 80s set it sure has a good picture! By the way, it is indeed a CTC117 chassis. I took the back off to see if I could find the number. I found it, as well as a capacitor the size of my fist
. Now all I have to choose which one stays in my bedroom and which one gets stored until I find my own place....
Glad to hear I'm not the only one who likes the old tubes. As much as I like the new LED and Plasma sets, I don't quite have the finances to buy a good-quality one at the moment, so its all tubes for me. I love my family's 22 year old Trinitron set. It has a stunning picture for its age, especially with the DVD recorder feeding through the S-Video port.
Another of my gripes with modern TVs is the sound quality. They are so thin that the speakers generally sound like c**p. I played a CD on my DVD player through the RCA tube set last night and it sounded almost as good as a nice radio!
Don't get me wrong though, I certainly would love a new LED or plasma set in our living room! I would, however, definitely keep the tubes for smaller applications.