Still no comparison

[Whirled One]

Originally Posted by Pete Deksnis

Heck no! Am straining to keep myself from ordering that cool $95 ATSC CRT set you found at Walmart.

Funny, I was at Wal*Mart last week and noticed all those new ATSC "SDTV resolution" CRT sets. I've actually been kinda thinking of getting one of the 14" RCAs just because this probably marks about the last generation of small CRT TVs (possibly excepting certain special markets). That 14" RCA flat-tube set costs $119.97. Interestingly for that screen size, it's not only stereo, but has *component* video inputs in addition to composite (but no S-Video input). They've got a similar RCA flat-face CRT set in 20" for $149.96 (or $188 with a built-in DVD player). [BTW, just my opinion, but those three RCA sets are about the nicest looking low-end CRT TV's I've seen in a while. Maybe it's just the fact that the manufacturers have finally started to get away from that cheezy silver-painted plastic look (which I always really disliked)]

Now, considering that you can get a 15" LCD *HDTV* at Wal*Mart for under $200 nowadays, I'd say (and as others here have long pointed out) it won't be long before the end of road for CRT sets, especially in the 19"-and-under category. In addition, it seems like practically all of the new CRT sets with ATSC tuners are "SDTV" resolution. The only CRT HDTV's I can recall seeing in stores recently are the Samsung "SlimFit" sets.

[Pete Deksnis]

Originally Posted by Whirled One

...those three RCA sets are about the nicest looking low-end CRT TV's I've seen in a while.

I agree. It was too good to pass up, what with component input and such. Once the little set is adjusted (factory contrast is set at 90 percent!) it reminds me of the similar small-size trinitrons. Bright, contrasty, and impressive. BTW, the sensitivity of the ATSC tuner appears to be superior to earlier RCA HDTV's.

Here's a picture I use to convince myself the $119 was well spent: it completes my RCA COLOR TV collection: CT-100 to first RCA HDTV to this little gem that, as you say, may be among the last of the CRT sets.

[Whirled One]

Originally Posted by Pete Deksnis

I agree. It was too good to pass up, what with component input and such. Once the little set is adjusted (factory contrast is set at 90 percent!) it reminds me of the similar small-size trinitrons. Bright, contrasty, and impressive. BTW, the sensitivity of the ATSC tuner appears to be superior to earlier RCA HDTV's.

Of course, when I said "nicest looking" I was thinking in terms of the cabinet styling, but I will say that I did notice that they didn't seem half-bad performance-wise either (for low-end sets), especially the 14" version (though with whatever video distribution system they use in the store, it's hard to tell too much about performance in the store). Glad to hear from someone here that they actually aren't that shabby after all..! Y'know, I think I'm going to have to go pick up one of those cute li'l suckers at that.

Also, regarding that photo, another interesting aspect to that juxtaposition is when you notice that the screen size of that new ATSC digital 14" set is very similar to that of the CT-100.

[Pete Deksnis]

Originally Posted by Whirled One

Also, regarding that photo, another interesting aspect to that juxtaposition is when you notice that the screen size of that new ATSC digital 14" set is very similar to that of the CT-100.

Nice catch. Actually, they measure the same. Here's what I wrote for that photo on my site:

On the right of this little cell picture, the first RCA color set. Made in Bloomington, Indiana in late March 1954, it cost $1000 1954 dollars. It weighed 165 pounds. It has a "15-in." screen that's actually 8.5 by 11 inches.

On the left is the first RCA high definition television set with its huge and heavy 38-in. wide-screen CRT. It was made June 2002 in Mexico. Cost about two-thousand 2002 dollars. Weighs in at 216 pounds without the stand. Its screen is 19.5 by nearly 34 inches.

And the baby of the bunch running there on the floor is special why? It has a flat screen CRT with both NTSC and ATSC tuners, and it has component (composite too of course) inputs just as its big brother on the left. Made in April 2007 in China, it cost just $119, which is slightly less than the New Jersey sales tax on the hi-def set. It has a "14-in." screen that, coming full circle, is actually 8.5 by 11 inches.

[fsjonsey]

Thats a nice little set for $119. ATSC, NTSC tuners and Component input? I'm impressed.

[rcaman]

you know there is no repair on those sets. exchange only under warranty. after warranty. guess what in the dump it goes. no support or parts from rca. steve

[compucat]

Originally Posted by rcaman

you know there is no repair on those sets. exchange only under warranty. after warranty. guess what in the dump it goes. no support or parts from rca. steve

That's wasteful. I won't buy I set I can't service. I wonder how serviceable the typical LCD set is going to be.

[andy]

---

[wa2ise]

Speaking of digital TV and CRT displays, I'm using a VGA monitor with a screen with viewable area that measures 19" diagional, and an ATSC Samsung tuner. Looks really good. I might house all this in that empty CTC19 cabinet I have around here.... To create a console HDTV set

[fsjonsey]

Originally Posted by compucat

That's wasteful. I won't buy I set I can't service. I wonder how serviceable the typical LCD set is going to be.

Ive actually replaced a backlight on an LCD panel that took a spill off a table before. Most computer stores sell cold cathode lamps that gamers use to illuminate their fancy computer cases. These lamps are pretty similar ones to the ones used in the backlights of LCD panels. All i did is remove the fragile glass lamp from the colored plastic tube and solder it to the inverter board. Once I put it back together, you couldn't tell the difference.

http://microcenter.com/single_produc...uct_id=0248872

[Whirled One]

Originally Posted by Pete Deksnis

I agree. It was too good to pass up, what with component input and such. Once the little set is adjusted (factory contrast is set at 90 percent!) it reminds me of the similar small-size trinitrons. Bright, contrasty, and impressive. BTW, the sensitivity of the ATSC tuner appears to be superior to earlier RCA HDTV's.

Okay, curiosity got the best of me, and I plunked down my $119 for one of these li'l sets. It's an RCA 14F514T built in March 2007. When I got it home it occurred to me that this is the first color TV I've bought *new* since the 25" Zenith I got in 1993. Er, actually, come to think of it, that's the *only* other color TV I've ever bought new (that wasn't a gift for someone else, at least).

Anyhoo, I've only made a quick informal check of it at this point, but so far I think it is actually fairly impressive from a price/performance standpoint. Now, I'll point out that this is the first digital set I've had any experience with, so I don't have anything to compare it with, but I'd say I'm pretty pleased with its reception of OTA digital signals. After all the "horror stories" I've heard about how bad digital reception is, I didn't have very high expectations in that regard, but I gotta say, the local digital channels come in nicely enough even with an ordinary VHF/UHF indoor antenna (with a plain UHF loop), but more stably with an old-style RadioShack twin-bowtie-with-reflector UHF indoor antenna. Compared with analog, it is rather disconcerting when the signal momentarily falls below the set's threshold and suddenly "drops out", but that mostly seems to be sensitive to proper antenna orientation. OTA digital reception looks very nice indeed. As Pete says, the factory default for contrast is set too high, but when set up correctly, picture quality with a good source is definitely not too shabby at all for a "standard-def" TV in this size. This set also apparently has a built-in QAM tuner for (unscrambled) digital cable, but I don't have digital cable.

Sadly, by comparison, its NTSC tuner has poor sensitivity. It's probably okay for analog cable (though I haven't tried it on cable yet), but for OTA use it's definitely sub-par to say the least.

The automatic channel set-up process appears to be well designed, and automatically searches all bands for both analog and digital channels.

Perhaps this weekend, I'll see if I can arrange a comparision "shoot out" between this quite-possibly-last-generation 14" CRT set and the other small-screen color sets I've got around here just to see what this thing can do when put up against some competition.

Oh, BTW, one bit of "keeping old trademarks active" I spotted on this TV is that the jack panel on the back sports the old "meatball" round RCA logo. It's small, but it's there. Gee, I wonder if any of the other current RCA-branded TVs still have the old "Victor" logo somewhere, just to keep that trademark active too?