Cheap China Junk

[coppercity]

Ran across the cheapest crappiest TV I found to date! I was out running about and I found a 2003 RCA 27" tabletop set with HD RCA ports, the only reason I brought it home.

Plugged it in, big spark from the wall outlet, sits there making a clicking noise over and over again, pushed the power button, picture came up, shaking like a leaf in the wind, color is almost totally gone, blurry as you can get. Just for fun I tired adjusting all the controls nothing could save it.

The plastic cabinet was a joke, a few steps above a milk jug. I have seen kids toys better built then this!

What happened to RCA?

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by coppercity

Ran across the cheapest crappiest TV I found to date! I was out running about and I found a 2003 RCA 27" tabletop set with HD RCA ports, the only reason I brought it home.

Plugged it in, big spark from the wall outlet, sits there making a clicking noise over and over again, pushed the power button, picture came up, shaking like a leaf in the wind, color is almost totally gone, blurry as you can get. Just for fun I tired adjusting all the controls nothing could save it.

The plastic cabinet was a joke, a few steps above a milk jug. I have seen kids toys better built then this!

What happened to RCA?

I have the clear cabinet RCA jail sets. They're only 13" and a bit newer. They have the digital tuner and work great, just with a set-top antenna, 41 miles from the transmitter.
I also have the civilian 14" RCA stereo TV's with the digital tuner, that work really well. They're made by TCE.
IIRC, TCE products are made in Taiwan, instead mainland China, where the real junk comes from.

[radiotvnut]

I've had my share of dealings with the larger Chinese-built RCA's in silver plastic cabinets and I agree that they are total junk. Some have built-in digital tuners and some do not, while others have built-in DVD players and some don't. The front panel buttons on these sets are bad about "leaking"; which, causes all sorts of goofy things from a set that powers on by itself to the wrong command happening when a button is pressed. Also, the flyback transformers are a high failure part and I've seen quite a few bad CRT's in these sets.

Just a couple of months ago, my friend who resells stuff picked up a 20" RCA truflat TV/DVD combo. Someone had broken the tray out of the DVD player and it's buttons were flaky; but, the TV worked. However, the CRT was gassy (it used an LG/Philips CRT) and the only way to get a watchable picture was to turn the contrast almost all the way down. Otherwise, the picture bled like crazy. I think he sold it for $10 at his sale.

I was replacing flyback transformers (mainly M134C, ATC010, and ITC008 chassis) in those later RCA's when they were only two to three years old. The transformers were not that expensive; but, the replacements are just as crappy as the originals and when a CRT TV is only worth a few dollars on the used market, it makes it not worth the effort.

As junky as Funai and Orion are, I'd take one of those sets over a later model RCA. The smaller RCA's seem to be a little better; but, the 27" and larger ones are not worth the powder it would take to blow them up.

[Sandy G]

General Sarnoff is likely spinning in his grave...He would have HATED to see his beloved Radio Corporation of America brought so low..

[Jon A.]

Well, the public demanded the latest and "greatest" for cheap, and this is what they got. Sad.

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

General Sarnoff is likely spinning in his grave...He would have HATED to see his beloved Radio Corporation of America brought so low..

If so then he reaped what he had sown...Once he was sued out of his radio royalty racket after WWII by Zenith, he got his revenge by teaching his associates in the Japanese electronics industry how to take over OUR electronics industry. At least the Japanese were capable of making quality electronics unlike the Chinese who have supplanted them. It is deliciously ironic that his own company got caught in the fallout.

Back around 2003 my folks bought an 27" BPC RCA CTC203- set because it best filled a space in built in cabinets in our house. It was a Shadio Rack display model, and despite all the hours they put on it before us, it survived a few moves and was reliable for us until we gave it to charity. The cabinet seemed reasonably solid for it's time...RCA must have gone down hill from there.

[Reece]

Coppercity, don't know that particular set but sounds like power supply cap or caps. Worth bridging for a test. Should be a fairly large electrolytic rated 200 or 250 volts.

[Geoff Bourquin]

I hate those sets. I've seen all the problems you guys have mentioned. I have also seen some with poor soldering. The CRTs are just about the worst ever. IMHO they're on par with the early 90s Zenith jugs. I also see those CRTs in some other brands, like JVC and they look awful there too.

[pac.attack76]

Pure junk. only thing i can stomach above the year 1999 are the Sony trinitron sets. I came across an RCA From around 2001-2002 can't remember but was not worth my time. was a total mess and just plain cheaply made. I won't even pick them up when i see them.

[radiotvnut]

The CTC203 was the last halfway decent RCA. The CTC203 was used in 19" sets all the way up to 36" sets; but, even the 32" and 36" versions of that chassis suffered from bad flyback transformers. The most common problem on the 203 was a coil in the horizontal driver circuit that would develop cold solder connections and the result would be intermittent HV and blowing of the HOT if the problem was not corrected.

[coppercity]

The chassis was a ATC113 if I remember correctly, it's outside waiting to become a snack for the garbage truck. My living room console has a CTC203, I can agree I think that is RCA's last decent chassis.

[Sandy G]

The American consumer electronics industry did themselves in, I think. The Sony 5-303 series of TVs SHOULD have been a wake-up call."They're selling a transistorized 5" B/W set ? Fine. Let's US bring out a 5" transistorized COLOR set, & call their bluff.." Said NO American TV mfger, ever... But they SHOULD have....

[rcaman]

ctc203 chassis are fine and can be a workhorse.

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

The American consumer electronics industry did themselves in, I think. The Sony 5-303 series of TVs SHOULD have been a wake-up call."They're selling a transistorized 5" B/W set ? Fine. Let's US bring out a 5" transistorized COLOR set, & call their bluff.." Said NO American TV mfger, ever... But they SHOULD have....

That would have been one heck of an undertaking as we had troubles even making a 20" rectangular set until 65'-66'...Those Sonys came out about 62'(IIRC). It would have been dumb economically speaking too as it was not until about 1967 that color sets sold as well as monochromes, and TV makers were turning profit on their previous investments in color. The Japs created a cartel in Japan that protected their market from competition so they could jack up prices in Japan to pay for dumping sets in the USA at a loss to force US makers out of business....Which they did,just as David Sarnoff advised them to. He did this because he got revenue from the Japanese branch of RCA JVC(Japanese Victor Corp.) for sets made in Japan that used patents of his research branch in the states...Since he could not shake down American makers anymore (aside from on color patents) he decided to have his friends in Japan force them out, so he could resume making money off every set sold. What we needed was a way to substantially reduce the price of our products to out do the low prices of the dumped sets, or put proper trade restrictions in place to end the dumping(though Sarnoff's cronies in Washington probably would have blocked the restrictions).

[Trance88]

That's weird. Thompson must have really cheapened out in 2003. The 2002 RCA 25 inch I bought new is fantastic! It has an american made picture tube in it although as typical of RCA Thompson, it was assembled in Mexico. I dunno the chassis number off hand, but it must have been one of the last good ones.